The effectiveness of Florence and the machine’s website and evaluating their on-line presence.

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In an effort to establish the aims behind Flo’s marketing I am going to explore her website and see how she promotes herself.

First off I tried a combination of key words and search engines to establish the optimisation of her (official) websites presence in the listings.

Google

Searched:

• ·         “Flo and machines website” -> Listed 2nd, 1st was the Ceremonials section which is a linked page of the official website.
• ·         “Florence and the machines website” -> The first 5 listings were pages of the official website and the 6^th and 7^th listing were her MySpace pages.
• ·         “Florence and the machine” -> The 1^st listing was a sponsored link to buy tickets to her March 2012 tour, followed again by the ceremonials page, a Wikipedia article, images and then 4^th was the official website page.

Bing

Searched:

• ·         “Flo and machines website” -> Listed the same as Google search.
• ·         “Florence and the machines website” -> The 1st listing was the Ceremonials pages of the official website, with the 2^nd also a link to the official page and the 3^rd a Wikipedia article.
• ·          “Florence and the machine” -> The 1^st listing was also a sponsored link to buy tickets to her tour, however it was for a different company this time “viagogo.co.uk”.  Followed again by the ceremonials page, a Wikipedia article, images and then the official website page was not listed until search page 3!

These findings show that, as a matter of fact Florence’s search engine optimization is very effective and in all cases she appears very high on the listings (if not 1^st), it is also effective how many different pages of her website appear when searched and as a result the bulk of the search list is controlled by what messages Florence wants to portrait of herself rather than information written by other sources. 

However the only peace of research which did not match this hypothesis is the 3^rd search using ‘Bing’, in this criteria the website link was not featured until the 3^rd page of searching.. this is highly ineffective because most people would only attempt to click the first few links it would be rare for them to scroll all the way to page three of the listings. Although because this is minority and all the other key words (and the other search engine) worked efficiently it is not such a problem as most people would just re-enter another keyword and then the website will appear in the first three listings once again.   

The objectives set for the website would most likely be more about promoting Florence and the machine, mostly focussing on providing the fans (target audience) with all the information about Florence, by constantly publicising what  Florence is up to, whether it be another tour date or an appearance on a TV show. By providing this information Florence’s fan base can follow what the star is doing and it will keep her fans interested especially if they are waiting to see her on one of her tour dates, knowing where she is on the touring schedule will constantly keep up the enthusiasm and excitement.

Analysing the website I would say at it is very effective, it provides just enough info without it being reals of nonsensical rubbish (that would just put a reader off when they see that amount of words on a page). Aesthetically the pages are very pleasing, the graphics are simple but artistic and eye catching but don’t distract the eye away from the information, the use of multi-media is good in the way they provide videos and music alongside pictures and other graphics, which is stimulating to look at.

In the way of advertisements there are not many. Every time I have been on the webpage there has been the same advertisement which is ‘Rimmel London’, it appears as you scroll down the page, and there is then an advertisement box on the right. This is a relevant link to Florence because most popular artists often have an image that there fans want to follow so by promoting a make-up brand on her page it associates the two together and therefore her fans are likely to consider buying Rimmel products because it is a link with Florence.

Most of Florence’s virtual presence is done through her social media (Facebook and twitter). On the actual website there on not many posts directly from her i.e. in 1^st person, however there are links to her social media sites where she does regularly update and keep her fan base up by way of 1^st hand communication.

The site itself uses a clear layout in which there is a main links bar along the top of the home page which highlights the following eleven main areas;

Within each of those pages there are different Medias and many different videos are available to watch. The website also provides access to the latest news and updates to keep their fans attentive and up to date.

Florence’s site has its own blog which is mostly updates of Florence’s current activities and letting her fans know where they are in the world and at what stage of the tour. It includes pictures of Florence and co. which make her seem very interpersonal and give the fans more insight into who they are following intently. It also makes her fans feel included and a part of her ‘world’. There are also links to the Facebook, Youtube, Twitter and Myspace sites to further follow the artist.

The website has its own merchandise set up named; ‘Flotique’. All the merchandise is available in three currency’s; Euro, Dollar and Pounds. This makes it more widely accessible to fans around the world as they have the choice of using three preferable currencies.  

The merchandise includes posters, prints, clothing (i.e. T-shirts), Vinyl’s and accessories.

Having goods to sell also adds to the profits that Florence and the machine can generate and is a reasonably good source of income considering in the modern music climate most artists generate the bulk of their profits from other means than direct sales of music (i.e. Cd’s and downloads), including live performances, products, paid appearances etc.