IN THIS ARTICLE · 8 PARTS
An artist or event website has several audiences at once: fans who want tickets, programmers and venues who might book you, and journalists who want information. A good site serves all three without getting in the way of the work.
Lead with the work
Open with what makes people care: a trailer, a song, striking photos or a short video. Keep the first screen simple, with the name, one line about the show or the artist, and the main action, usually "book tickets".
Dates and tickets
List upcoming dates with the city, venue, time and a direct ticket link. Remove past dates or move them to an archive. If you sell through several ticket platforms, link to each clearly. Google can show events directly in its search results when the page describes them with event structured data [1].
When we built the website for Arcana, a music-theatre show by Fay Guiffo at the Edinburgh Fringe, the dates, the venue and the ticket links were visible from the first screen, next to the trailer.
The story
An "About" section for the show or the artist: what it is, who made it, what inspired it. Keep it short and personal. For the artist, a biography with key credits. More in what to write on your About us page.
For programmers and press
Venues and festivals look for specific information:
- a short and a long description
- high-resolution photos with credits
- the cast and crew
- technical requirements
- a downloadable tour pack or press kit
- a clear contact for bookings
Putting this on the site makes it much easier to get booked.
Audience quotes and press
Short quotes from reviews and audience members build excitement. Keep them short and attribute them.
Building an audience
A newsletter sign-up and links to social media help you stay in touch with people between shows: should a small business have a newsletter? Keep the sign-up form simple. Social networks are still where the audience is: Pew Research Center reports that 84% of U.S. adults use YouTube and 70% use Facebook [2].
An artist's website works when it shows the work first and makes the next step, a ticket, a booking or a sign-up, obvious.
Fast and beautiful
Artistic sites often use large images and video, which can make them slow. Compress media and test on a phone: why is my website slow. See more of our work. Google's guide to images on the web [3] explains how to serve each image in the right size and format so the page stays fast.
References
- Google Search Central. "Event (Event) structured data." developers.google.com
- Pew Research Center. "Americans' Use of Social Media in 2026." pewresearch.org
- web.dev (Google). "Learn Images." web.dev
