Leaping Into The Web
In the 21st century the internet is to business what music is to dance: essential for creative growth.
“Having an internet presence is indispensable for dance studios of all sizes,” says Doug Fox, a pioneer in establishing dance as an entity online. His collaborative website GreatDance.com continually provides innovative ideas that dancers, companies and schools can utilize to their advantage.
Though a computer-illiterate director might find the depth of cyberspace to be as daunting as an empty opera house, connecting with online tools is a necessary way to build and maintain audiences and students. “Many people do research for dance classes online,” says Fox. “If you don't have a website, then many students simply won't know your studio exists.”
One director, Veronica Moretti Niebuhr of The Studio in Savannah, GA, has gone beyond the assumed prerequisite of offering a website to find alternative ways of reaching the greater dance world through the web. She became a contributor to The Winger, a group dance blog with over 20 contributors from all niches of the dance world: dancers, choreographers, directors, writers, photographers, doctors, and everything in between. By writing entries alongside some of whom she calls the “most interesting and inspiring people in the dance world,” she keeps readers in the know with happenings from her studio.
In addition, she is an active participant in a social network for the dance community called THE (INTER) MISSION, spending about 5 hours per week communicating with students and parents. The site has over 900 members who initiate personal conversations, carry out forum discussions, post media, and share news about their dance lives. Registration is free and open to “individuals with a vested interest in the future of dance” according to its mission.
“Being online keeps me totally connected to my students,” says Moretti Niebuhr. Through social networking online, dancers and moms often contact her. “I get a lot of advice oriented messages, as well students struggling with their emotions and trying to balance life and school with their dance commitments.” She maintains an open policy in her corner of dance while simultaneously promoting herself as a teacher and her studio to the larger community.
Another studio, Tracey’s Dance Center in Milford, MA, focuses its online efforts by using a website as an aide to enrolled students. Director Tracey Wright argues that her website “is my most valuable asset in both marketing and communication with my existing students and parents.”
She updates it regularly to include class postponements or cancellations due to inclement weather, important dates and deadlines, and performance information as an easily accessible resource. “It is designed to be user friendly, informative, and creative.”
Whatever the budget, time, and internet familiarity restraints, any studio can make the shift to online with a little effort. If blogging and social networking better reflect the character of your studio, a few straightforward sites can set you up in minutes. Blogger.com and WordPress.com are 2 of the most popular blog platforms, with easy to learn tools to publish news or images. “The biggest benefit I get from blogging is exposing my students,” says Moretti Niebuhr. Accomplishments can be announced conveniently through these content management systems.
Another option for social networking, articles, and news within the targeted dance community is My Dance Place hosted by Dancer magazine’s own DancerUniverse.com! The site allows users to create a profile, start a blog, include their studio in a national dance directory, join local dance groups and interact with many others involved in the various aspects of dance. You can use it for most anything-- to get connected, promote yourself or educate yourself.
Outreach through these networks is not always necessary, but a basic studio website can create an identity online for current and prospective students to search. The most effective homepages keep it simple and include all necessary information. “Current students want clear, concise information about classes and schedules,” says Fox. He advises directors to keep an organized, up-to-date list of classes online but to avoid using time consuming PDF files that need to be downloaded.
To attract the new student market, he recommends providing a link that clearly leads to an explanation of how to get started. “Many newcomers to your website may not have taken dance classes before, or their children may not have. Take visitors to a page that walks them through the process of taking classes at your studio. Which classes? What's the order of classes? And other relevant information that will make dance newcomers feel comfortable with how process works.”
Every studio website will be unique, but each should give the best presentation to your online audience, which will hopefully become your students’ audience. Moretti Niebuhr’s advice to teachers who want to build an online identity is “to play to your strengths. Build a simple website that shows what you do best. Show your students achievements -- this is the best example of what kind of teacher you are.”