Disc Jockey News

I don’t understand why any DJ would “PAY” to put a “reciprocal” link on their own web site to a DJ locator site with so many of their direct competitors are waiting with baited breath to steal their business.

I get offers all the time from DJ locator web sites wanting me to advertise on their site along with hundreds of other DJs in my area. Some even offer “Free” spots and then you can upgrade your listing to draw even more attention to your advertisement.

The “free ads” are typically just the business name and phone number and nothing more and are always placed on the site long after all the paying ads. By the time a potential clients looks through the other twenty to one hundred ads, they as a rule don’t waste their time with a “Name and Number” only ad. Why would they when they have already received so much information from the paying ads.

These web sites promise all kinds of things like thousands of hits and users and viewers. They say it will drive business directly to you and increase your business. Unfortunately most DJs (including myself at one time) will believe their sales pitch and jump on the band wagon to upgrade their listing and can spend anywhere into hundreds of dollars a month to try and get noticed but in return get little to no REAL business from it.

Something I have been seeing more and more lately is that these web sites want me to list with them and as part of their instructions wants me to put a “reciprocal” link from my web site back to their DJ locator site.

At first you may think “Hey what’s wrong with that” but lets take a closer look.

If a potential client is on the DJ locator site and click on the link to go directly to your web site they will hopefully look around and see something that they like and contact you. If they don’t see what they want they just then click on the return or backwards arrow to return to the original DJ locator web site.

But if a potential client googles a “key word” or “phase” that brings them directly to your site then they are there to see what you offer. So let’s say they kind of like what you have to offer but want to look more. They find your reciprocal link and click on it and it sends them to a web site with twenty, fifty or even a hundred DJs in your area who are all fighting for the same business, this then gives your potential client the ability to forget about you and hire another DJ with a cheaper price, cooler speakers or what ever it is that catches their fancy.

If a potential client is on your site and looking at your information I can’t understand why any DJ would want to give them the ability to just click and be gone. Americans for the most part (including myself) can be very lazy and want to do the least amount of work they can to find what ever it is they want.

Google is a great example of this. There is nothing in the world you can’t research on google with just a couple words and a click. Google has one of the highest “Page Rankings” in the world because everyone uses it.

So why do these web sites demand that you put a “reciprocal” link back to their site?

Because it helps them with their rankings on the World Wide Web. When they get hundreds, thousands or possibly millions of businesses to link to them it helps their standings on the web rankings, but yet there is only ONE link to yours.

It DOES NOT help your rankings in the least to be connected to them with a “reciprocal” link.

It may help you to be found by potential clients if they take the time to surf through all the DJs on that site, but the greater majority of viewers to the page will automatically stop after the first few (because all the sites look and sound the same) they will then select one of those first few and may never even get to your listings.

The “Reciprocal” link is only a benefit to the DJ locator web site and can actually lead your potential clients to another DJ.

The “Reciprocal” link is only good for a DJ like us if you link to other vendors in the wedding/entertainment industry. This way if a client is looking for a photographer for their wedding and sees your link then clicks through (or vise versa) it helps both of you.

Make sure that whomever you “link” to also has a “link” back to you or this can also hurt you web page ranking. You will also want to stay away from “linking” to vendors who has a page rank lower than your own or below a 2 this also can hurt your page ranking.

If there is a vendor with a lower page ranking that you like, trust their work and want to refer business to them, then just put a listing for their web site (without a link) on a vendors page. It can still help them with their business but not hurt your page ranking. If their page ranking goes up then ask then to “link” together and it will help both of you.

If you don’t believe me about “reciprocal” links, try putting a “link” on your web page to your biggest competitor in your immediate area and see what happens. Putting a “reciprocal” link to a DJ locator page is the exact same thing.

Jeff Richards: Party Time Productions

http://www.PartyTimeProductions.biz

Posted by Jeff Richards at 11:51 AM | Permalink

Today on the news it was reported that the price of gas (barrel) and per gallon has hit an ALL TIME high and will continue to go up. How will this affect your DJ business?

Last year at this time I was paying $2.35 per gallon of gas (or less) today I paid $3.35 per gallon.

My truck is equipped with a 13 gallon tank. Last year at this time for one tank of gas it would cost me $30.55 but today it cost me $43.55. That is a $13.00 difference per tank of gas.

This may not sound like much to you but if you use one tank of gas per week (if you’re lucky) your yearly gas expense went from $1588.60 to $2261.60 making an increase of $676.00.

For some DJs that is as much or more than they charge for a wedding event. Every extra penny you spend in fuel results in a decrease of your profit and bottom line.

Can you afford to do one FREE event this year because of that “small” increase in the price of gas?

I would suggest to you if you’re not already charging a mileage fee to begin tacking on this fee or pay the consequences in the long run.

If you still feel a need to “GIVE AWAY” your money you can allow a certain amount of mileage from your location as “free” and then tack on a fee after that amount, but remember you need to count it as a round trip when figuring out the mileage fee. If you're like me and always make a trip to the location site prior to the event then you will also need to figure this into your numbers or your losing even more money.

This evenings news reported the last time Gas was under one dollar (.99) was in 1998. That's right it has been ten years since you paid a buck or less for a gallon of gas. That same gallon of gas is now THREE times as much. So if you had a 13 gallon tank in 1998 and paid .99 per gallon a full tank was only $12.87 today at $3.25 it would cost you $42.25 with a difference of $29.38 in just ten years.

I don't know about you but my over all price as risen 3 to 5 times as much as I charged in 1998 (depending on the wedding package) and it is still tough to pay the bills.

I only mention this because there is one DJ service here in my area (also in other states) that is charging the EXACT same price today as they were in 1998. How can that be?

Jeff Richards: Party Time Productions

http://www.PartyTimeProductions.biz

UPDATE: 5/21/08

Today the news announced that the price of a barrel of oil has risen 400% just since George W. Bush has taken office. Not bad for an OIL MAN!

Has your rates increased 400% in eight years? No.
Has it increased even 40% No.
What about 4% No.

Think about this, the average American Worker receives a 2% to 4 % raise each year for just showing up to work. Many get an even bigger raise when they are productive and do a great job.

What's you excuse for not raising your rates?

Posted by Jeff Richards at 06:30 PM | Permalink

Starting at the beginning of this year I decided I would no longer be paying for advertising in any type of phone book. Is this a good idea or a really bad one?

Last year I was going through my advertising expenses and found that it was just astronomical and I wasn't getting my moneys worth with some of my advertising means.

I started to really keep strong tracking on where the phone callers, the e-mail information requests and my actual bookings were finding my business to get hold of me.

I was very surprised with some of the advertising means and not surprised with others at all.

The majority of my clients are, be it a wedding, corporate function, or private party either had a referral to me from a past client or had found me on the internet.

Most of my business is weddings and those clients are typically between the ages of nineteen and thirty years old. These clients grew up with computers and the internet. Many had a computer in their bedrooms since they were in the first grade and tend to use the internet for any and every aspect of their lives.

It is my feeling that the majority of people between the age of thirty and fifty are also very internet savvy and use this for their connection to the world. The great thing is now even those in their 50's, 60's and 70's have discovered the World Wide Web and are now using it for their everyday needs.

So when I got a call today from one of the five local phone books in my area asking me about renewing my "paid" advertising with them I had to decline. This is the second time in a few weeks that one of these phone book representatives have asked me to renew with their book. This was the second time I had to get into a debate with some young person over where my clients are finding me.

Spewing out statistics, telling me about my competition and their advertising and their general lack of listening to the customer (myself) has really gotten to me.

I know they are only doing their job, but when a client says "No Thank You" but the sales person continues to get louder and angrier it's just not worth it.

In my area there are five different phone books from five different companies that all make it sound like if your name and number isn't in their book the world will END! They all spew out statistics of customers who use the book and the sales that come from it. They all try to make you feel like a loser if you decide not to pay just to have your business name and phone number in the book.

By the time you add your second phone number and/or a web site listing, it can run you into the hundreds each and every month for each book.

When ever I answer my phone and get an immediate "What do you cost" I know that this person found me in a phone book. After speaking with them for a few moments I will advise them to see my web site for specific details on my pricing but when I give them a general starting figure they either begin swearing at me or just "HANG UP" on me. No thank yous, no I didn't think it would cost that much, no pleasantries - just verbal abuse and a quick slam.

So why was I paying over five hundred bucks a month for someone to call me names or to hang up on me? Good question!

Because a business like ours are led to believe that without advertising in the phone books no one will find your business and hire your service. Their sales people all try to trick you into believing that this is where all your business comes from and without it you will lose.

This tends to only be true if you are a low end; discount DJ who is charging little to nothing for your talents and skills or a newbie just starting out and can’t afford a web presence to begin with. So who is still shopping in the yellow pages…. People who can't afford the internet connection! If they can’t afford an internet connection then they definitely can’t afford a quality professional entertainer.

I love it when they say that it would only take one party a month to pay for this advertising and that's a great deal. What they don't understand is that I also have to do one party a month for other books, one party a month for web site advertising, one party a month for my mortgage and so on and so one and so on..... There just aren’t enough weekends in a month to afford all the advertising and business in general. You have to know where to stop, what works and what doesn't. For me and my business the phone books just don't work.

Think about it. When was the last time you opened a phone book? When the books are delivered to my home I automatically throw it into the recycle bin and forget about it.

I'm in my mid 40's and grew up with the phone book but it’s been years since I looked in one for any type of service.

When I first started my business there just wasn’t an internet and the phone book WAS the only way to advertise.

Today the use of the phone book has almost gone the way of the eight track tape and the cassette. Sure there are a few people in this world who are still only using eight tracks and cassettes but good luck finding them.

Even the largest publisher of phone books that are supplied to phone booths has recently sold off that portion of their business knowing that the numbers of people using phone booths and/or the phone book is disappearing fast.

If that wasn’t enough to show you that the phone book is disappearing, I read an article a few months back that stated a date (I believe it was 2012 or 2015) that there will no longer be any phone books published due to the lack of usage, the demise of the forests and the concern for the planets clean up of waste.

If you haven’t already noticed, all of these phone book publishers are now operating their own on line phone book and will charge you big bucks to place your business name, phone and e-mail in their listings. They know that the printed book will soon be gone like the dinosaur that it is.

Jeff Richards: Party Time Productions Exceptional Disc Jockey Entertainment

http://www.PartyTimeProductions.biz

Posted by Jeff Richards at 02:50 PM | Permalink

I was watching the show “Rich Bride, Poor Bride” and once again the media shows DJs in a bad image.

If you’re not familiar with this show, it follows a Bridal couple around as they plan their wonderful wedding day showing all the details that lead to that magical moment of marriage.

If you haven’t already noticed, on most of these shows on the WE network (Women’s Entertainment) they almost never show any details when it comes to the Disc Jockey and when they do they typically play music that the show had written specially for it and own the rights to and not the song that was actually being played at the time.

The only time they show the DJ is typically when something goes wrong by the DJ. .

On this particular show the Bridal Party was lined up and waiting to be announced for the grand entrance. The DJ began his announcements but unfortunately the order he was announcing them in was not the order that they were lined up in. This caused panic and frustration for everyone in the Bridal party and defiantly made the DJ look unprofessional. With a few minutes of planning and preperation this mistake could have been avoided.

Of course the cameras filmed this mistake and showed it as their one image of what a DJ is like. They never showed another second of the dinner or dance where the DJ was involved. For this show they didn’t even tell the viewers the cost of the DJ as they normally do, I wonder why?

A few days ago there was a show that the theme was an Asian motif mixed with a Disco Party Theme. The Groom was a big John Travolta, Saturday Night Fever fan. The Bride & Groom even took dancing lessons so that for their first dance together they would recreate the slow dance Travolta did during the dance competition in the movie.

I couldn’t believe it when the Wedding Planner said she had "no idea" how to mix Disco and an Asian theme together. You would think that she would get a DJ involved to plan for a special “Disco Dance” theme with a lit floor and 70’s clothing. All she did was get cardboard cutouts of disco mirror balls and use them as the numbers on the tables.

They never even showed the DJ but added their price in with the photographer & limo.

Why is it that the only time any of the TV programs show the Disc Jockey it’s when they mess up and do something wrong?

These things wouldn't go wrong at weddings if the wedding planner took the time to actually interview the DJ company and work with them to plan the perfect reception but it seems like they just ignore the whole entertainment portion of the event and leave it up to blind luck and the cheapest DJ they can find.

Here's a little surprise for you. Many of the shows they tell you the cost of the wedding planner and most of the time it's between $1200 and $2000.

On this one perticular show the Wedding Planner who has made it "big and famous" because of the show is now charging.......$12,000. What's the difference between a $1200 Wedding Planner and a $12,000 wedding planner?

Some would say $10,800.
Some would say talent, skills, experience and the guts to ask for it!
Sounds like a DJ to me.

Jeff Richards: Party Time Productions

http://www.PartyTimeProductions.biz

Posted by Jeff Richards at 04:10 PM | Permalink

I came across an ad on craigslist: "Do it Yourself" DJ Service Saves You Hundreds. then I had a little chuckle. Here is the actual ad, what do you think?

"Do It Yourself" DJ service Saves You Hundreds

******Now, with light show option! You asked for it, You got it!*****

Hi, Here is the deal with "Do It Yourself" DJ Service...

I will supply, set up and tear down a full sound system with a CD player and mics to do announcements for your event. I help run the system and trouble shoot any issues. I am also able to make any announcements you need.

Since YOU know best what music you like and YOU already have most of it on your iPod or on CD, you supply the iPod and/or CDs. (I can supply some CDs as well if needed, I have thousands...)

I have only top quality gear including Yamaha, Bose, JBL, Shure mics etc.

If you have someone who wants to "spin discs" (ie run a CD player or your iPod) for your party, you can save a bundle. And you don't have to worry about renting a system, picking it up, setting it up, tearing it down and returning it to the place of rental. Or dealing with DJs of questionable talent. You just have a good time!

Great for parties of all sorts...

Weekends (Friday-Sunday)for 4 hours of music $275 (additional time $50/hr)
Weekdays (Monday-Thursday) for 4 hours of music $225 plus (additional time $40/hr)

Contact me to see if I still have your special date open.

PS My typical lighting is minimal. (6 lights, 3 per side yellow, red and blue)

BUT if you want a big light show, I can bring in a light show with a number of "specialty" lights, a laser and fog machine, for an extra $200.

So if you are looking for the Big Package, for $475 you can have a great sound system and light show on a weekend, and only $425 on a weekday...

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I understand that this person is a small business person just like any of us and I understand that he is just trying to make a buck or two. I also understand that the service he offers really has little to no effect on my business, but when it comes to actually running the business and having a value, he has a little to learn.

Here’s my point of view:

1) He travels to/from event, sets up all the equipment then stays at the event to trouble shoot any issues that may arise. (Sounds like a DJ to me)

2) He is also available to make announcements if needed, what event don’t need announcements? (Sounds like a DJ to me)

3) He can supply thousands of CDs if needed at no extra charge. (Sounds like a DJ to me)

4) He offers a small and a large light show to choose from. (Sounds like a DJ to me)

5) His regular price with small light show is $275.00 His “Big light show” is $475.00 (Sounds like a DJ to me)

He offers to supply all the equipment, set it up/tear it down, supply the music, he does many of the things (announcements) any DJ would do for an event but because someone else (you or a friend) actually selects the songs to be played then pushes the button to play it, he calls his business a “Do It Yourself” DJ service. He offers everything any DJ would be expected to do except - maybe he doesn’t have the talent to “Push Play?”

He states in his header, “Saves You Hundreds” and then goes on to say “Dealing with questionable talent” when it comes to the DJ.

I see DJs all around the area who charge LESS then his “Big Light Show” package and they actually do all the work. Even if they are of “questionable talent” at the least they should have a pretty good idea of how to “ENTERTAIN” the group, keep the party flowing and everyone having fun.

I don’t know about you, but I know my friends who are not DJs do not have what it takes to make an event successful. Sure they could “push play” but there is so much more to being a DJ then just “playing music.” Even if it was all just “playing music” there is a method, system and a talent to knowing what to play, when to play it and what is appropriate and not appropriate to play. There’s the interaction and motivation of the DJ with the crowd and the ability to read the group to know what to do next. What about the “specialty” things done at every wedding and all the planning that goes into a wedding reception? Who is going to do that? The Friend?

To the guy offering this service: You’re there the entire night, your making announcements, your providing music, sound and lighting equipment, YOU ARE THE DJ! You’re just not making the DJ rate! (Sounds like a DJ to me)

Jeff Richards: Party Time Productions

http://www.PartyTimeProductions.biz

Posted by Jeff Richards at 08:14 AM | Permalink