Optimizing Your Film’s Website Part 1: Content

Websites are the independent filmmakers’ marketing foundation.  Over the next few weeks, I will be sharing advice on building a successful film website for your production.

 

Focus On The Right Content

Film hype is not earned, it is created.  Think of your film’s website as the online press kit.  Focus on delivering valuable content across your website that will actively build and engage your audience.

Trailer
The trailer is your film’s primary marketing and sales tool.  Decisions are often based off your trailer.  You know the importance, make it awesome!

Synopsis
Sum up your film’s storyline in no more than three quarters of a page – your film’s synopsis should fit on the back of a DVD/Blu-ray jacket.  You may also link to a short, medium and long synopsis to make it easier for journalist syndication.

Recognition
Viewers trust people they know (or feel like they know).  Reviews and third party endorsements provide viewers with opinions from trusted sources.  Include newspaper/magazine articles, press releases and links to online reviews.  List the journalist, publication and excerpt, along with a link on the homepage.

FAQ’s
Every journalist asks filmmakers the same ten questions about their film’s production.  Create an FAQ section on your film’s website to provide answers to the most common questions.

Production Stills
Hire a professional photographer.  Stills will be used throughout your film’s marketing, from t-shirts to cover art.  If you are running a tight budget, hire a photographer on the day(s) that you are shooting the most action.

Filmmaker Interviews
Everyone loves to get inside the mind of a storyteller.  During the shoot, hire a documentary filmmaker to shoot the making of your film and interviews with the cast & crew.

Filmmaker Bios
List each of the filmmakers’ credits and link to the other websites/coverage of productions that the filmmakers have been involved with.  Make them short and make them interesting.

Connect
Just as a car with no gas is useless, so too is a website with no way to connect – they may be nice to look at, but that’s about it.  A film production’s website needs to make it as easy as possible for viewers keep in contact and stay up to date.  Use tools like RSS, email newsletters, direct contact and leverage the power of social media (more on this in a later post).