Website Marketing

Lucy and I drove down to OC yesterday to meet with our web developer.  We met him through a friend of mine who just started his own IT consulting business.  We talked through what we're looking for, and used websites of other romantic comedies as examples of the "look and feel" of the "www.love10to1.com" website.  Our main goal for the website is to generate lots of traffic to the website so that we can promote the film, promote the cast and crew, and hopefully show potential distributors that we have a built-in audience.  To drive traffic to the website, we're planning to include some fun and interactive things on the website, links from other popular sites such as YouTube, as well as use search engine optimization and the like.  

As I noted earlier in a prior post, marketing is probably one of the most significant challenges for a filmmaker, possibly more so than distribution.  The reason why is because distribution channels have opened up, i.e., the internet, though the supply of indie films has increased due to the relative lower cost of making a film nowadays (i.e., making a digital video rather than using film).  However, with so many indie films out there vying for attention, which ones will actually attract audiences?  That's where marketing comes in.  Big studios can afford to cast big name stars to attract the big audiences, but what about the indie filmmakers?  Our marketing plan is still evolving but we started brainstorming on how to market our film even before we wrap with production.  Hopefully one of our ideas will stick.