I'm working on jazzing up my website a bit - actually it's a total makeover. What a chore, for a luddite like me!

I'd like to include links to:

1) Online music games for the students
2) Interesting articles or reference for the parents
3) Anything else that would be of interest to students or parents

Can anyone give me some ideas? Any specific websites, articles, whatever that you recommend?

Thanks!

Some good info for parents and prospective students:

http://musicalresources.blogspot.com/2011/07/truth-about-piano-lessons.html

http://musicalresources.blogspot.com/2011/08/what-makes-good-piano-parent.html

http://elissamilne.wordpress.com/2011/08...-piano-lessons/

http://musicalresources.blogspot.com/2011/07/how-to-help-child-with-piano-practice.html

http://www.composecreate.com/students/wendys-piano-studio/studio-info/where-does-my-tuition-go/

http://ottawasuzukistrings.ca/makeuplessons

Read the Kristin Yost "how I made $100,000 a year teaching piano lessons" and it will jog some good ideas. I have decided to start a running list for when I bite the bullet next year and pay someone to design me a site. That book got me thinking about the visual feast I want to let parents see when they visit my still imaginary site.

She made me realize that it is important to show the good looking space that you teach in, citing the expensive grand piano they get exposed to if that is offered. That is something I never thought about that would be important to parents looking online. I have noticed this now on a couple of teacher sites and it can be quite impressive and a selling point.

I am also going to get a picture next year of all of the medals and framed certificates I give out at the recital, which hopefully I will be able to impressively pile together in a fancy way on a fancy surface.

Likewise, if you offer any fun incentive programs, like a studio store, you should get a shot of that with piles of the composer bucks to illustrate it. (Added later: or you could imbed online pics from Kjos or amazon)

If you teach with manipulatives or games you should get a shot of happy students working or playing with them. (Don't put the pictures online without a release though.)

I have kept all of the cute notes students have written me over the years about my teaching and will probably get them scanned and put online. I think two have nominated me for "Kindest Kansas Citian" so I will be SURE to put those essays online with their names redacted. I will also solicit some statements from parents and a graduating senior.

I also want to find a graphic designer to come up with a logo for my studio that includes a grand piano since that's what they get lessons on 100% and is not that common of an offering. Then I will slap that on everything. Also, if you are a NCTM you need to put up a giant graphic of that. I have also thought of hiring an artist to do some rendering of my house (check out the blog Mrs. Blandings and her former dreamhouse for an example) but that is going to cost me some bucks to get the image in my head so I am still thinking about it.

If you use mostly Piano Adventures, you could figure out a way to display the images of all the books. Or, if you were me, you would ask Jon Ophoff to do it for us all wink.

I can picture your site now! It will look great, Lisa!

You can embed an Amazon.com "carousel" graphic with pictures of any of the books they carry... and they carry PA, of course! I added that to my pianolex site for the books I use.

Getting studio pics can be challenging unless you have a camera with a big lens, or you can actually stand far enough back to get a good picture. I struggled with that (still am).

I have Kristin's book, too. Had a lot of neat ideas in it. Now the book is hiding somewhere in my bookcase, and I wish I could find it, drat.

Thanks for that imbed tip!

Something to consider, mentioned by Kristin in her book, is to get professional head shots. I would say kick that up a notch and pay a professional photographer to come out and do the picture onsite, at company headquarters, and to include studio pics done with a professional eye and camera lens.

Ditto on having a good photographer. My son, who is building up his photography business, is known as my 'studio photographer'. We did a photo shoot last month to update the pics on my website. Parents received a coupon towards music lessons, for letting their child participate.

Having a website is SO important these days. And pics of smiling kids having fun in their music lesson go a long way to promote what you do.

I just did a new website (almost completed). The new site is maplegrovepiano.com if you want to check it out. My old site, mvpianostudio.com is still online, but I've migrated most of the lesson information to the new site, but I still have my blog, documents, and links on the old site, and will take my time moving everything around. I'll gladly take comments if you take a peek at the site if you find something you do like, or don't like. I'm still fiddling with contents, pictures, etc.

I changed the name by which my site goes. I wanted my location (Maple Grove) in the web address for marketing purposes. I'm also thinking of setting up a DBA with my bank. I've been thinking about this for years, so I think this is the year to really do everything right.

The old site has a lot of links you might want to consider on your site. If you are someone that has a link on your site to mvpianostudio.com, would you consider also putting a link to my new site on yours? Thanks in advance.

Something that a lot of people don't consider is having internal links, that is putting a link on one of your pages that leads to another of your (pertinent) pages. For example, on my Register Online page I have a link to my policy page so as they are getting ready to pay their registration fee, they can refer to the part of the policy that tells what the registration fee covers. I'm working gradually on including more of these and including some on the home page, so a prospective parent might get interested in viewing more pages in the site, rather than just spending 10 seconds on the home page.

Thank you, everyone, for all your input - I have a lot to go on now!

Yes,everything is linked internally to everything else - multiple places linked to policy, location, etc. You can get anywhere from anywhere.

I'm adding photos, I think they really help make my studio look more personal and inviting to see real kids: engaged in lessons, enjoying the parties, performing at recitals, receiving certificates/trophies. I need to get some pix of them playing games! Also, much as I hate photos of myself, I included some.(Gotta get over that.)

When I get closer to being done, I'll launch my new website and maybe ask for y'all's feedback. (Ok, I'm from Michigan, but spent 3 years in Tennessee, so I'm allowed to say "y'all's.")

Thanks again, and any more suggestions are most welcome!

Finally, my website is done. Well..... nearly done. My "Current Students" page is still under construction, but I've launched anyway. www.jenkinspianostudio.com

Any feedback would be appreciated! I've never done anything like this before, and it took many, MANY hours. MANY. And redo's, and startings over, and much swearing.

My son helped me make a logo when I was with him (in a distant state), but I can't get it to work right, so I'll have to wait until October, when I see him again.

Thanks!

Very nice, Leigh! It's also nice to put a face with your name. I love the orange accents! I also love your use of photos and another color accent on your Policies and Expectations page. Your site looks nice and clean, and I like that. It's easy to navigate and tell where everything is. Good Job!