6 Reasons Website Development is like DJing
Building my own business websites and being a Disc Jockey have a few glaring similarities when people want to give advice or tell you what to do.
1. Everyone has an opinion based on their personal feelings and they’re not afraid to share it.
At least in a nightclub they’re drunk, so at least thats an excuse.
2.People assume its easy.
After pirating a cracked copy of Photoshop/Virual DJ and spending half an hour messing around on it they decide that they have become experts in the field and they’re not afraid to spread their knowledge.
3. The context is decisive.
There is no point making recommendations unless you know the context of the situation. The number of times that I get told by clubbers in nightclubs to “play dubstep” or “music you love, man” when that would literally kill the venue and make 50 people leave is ridiculous.
“Why do we need a contact form on the website?”
“Um, because we want customers to contact us?”
4. They all have “The Friend”.
The Friend is the person that is a wicked SEO wizard/Club DJ that is so awesome at their job that they are currently unemployed. Thankfully this proves to be a godsend because they are willing to work for us for a special price. No doubt their work will consist of regurgitating ideas and theories they misinterpreted on a blog or playing crap music that is MASSIVE in underground Berlin Clubs. Or at least that’s what The Hype Machine says
5. They focus on short term goals.
Website development and DJing is a long term proposition, black hat SEO and 15 minute DJ sets work in the short term but they don’t build long term profits. Anyone can burn the top 10 songs in half an hour, it takes a great DJ to play them over a whole night.
6. They’re out of touch with the customer.
Britney Spears and Internet Explorer are both crap, but if thats what your customers want then give it to them god damn it. Most people don’t care about obscure 80s ska bands or the latest Opera build.
On the upside there are a lot of positive similarities too. Both are an iterative process where you get feedback from every step, through looking at the body language on the dancefloor or the analytics on the website. Both are about creating relationships with your customers and finding out about their wants and needs and solutions to their problems, then giving it to them.
Whitehat SEO is very similar to the way that you build other communities in nightclubs. Creating value for people is still the number one thing that will work regardless of external competition and economic circumstances.