How We're Changing The Way Magicians Get Gigs: Book A Magician
Magicians get a lot of gigs from referrals and word-of-mouth. But what if it was easier than ever to reach new clients online?
It all started with a few website designer friends at The Session magic convention discussing how most professional magician websites could easily be improved. Soon, the conversation grew to a brilliant new idea for magicians – what if we pool our resources and work with web design and SEO experts to get every magician to the top of Google search results? And what if there were zero commission fees?!
This is an exciting topic for professional, part-time and hobbyist magicians. One of the ways we can grow our art form is by funnelling more money into it, and the best way to do this is by getting magicians more work. And right now, if a friend asks you where they should go to book a magician for an event... what are you supposed to tell them? Ummm, Google it, maybe?
Imagine a platform like AirBnB or Booking.com but for magicians—a trusted online directory of the best magicians worldwide. You can already imagine all of the cool features that could be on there, how it'll inspire new clients to book magicians and feel safe while paying fair, high rates. Maybe TV bookers will find new acts on the site instead of trawling through old YouTube archives.
One of the magicians on the current season of America's Got Talent, Mike Jacobson, was scouted by the producers who saw his performance on Ellen from 2010! Perhaps this highlights how difficult it is for laypeople to find and book magicians – 2010!!
I've worked on many magic TV shows. I've watched bookers get stressed looking for magicians to hire. Many magicians' websites do not list their primary location, and most magicians do not appear on the first page of Google. Even if they do everything right, their website is too small. And to be fair, if you asked a random person to hire a magician, they likely wouldn't know how.
According to Ahrefs, the number one question people search about hiring magicians is, "How much does it cost to hire a magician?" The second most searched question is, "How do you hire a magician?".
So! At 1 AM on the Saturday night of the magic convention, the domain name "bookamagician.com" was purchased for a tidy sum of $1,500. It's the sort of money most magicians would never rush to spend. But it's precisely what this project is about. The value of a .com domain like this is enormous if used correctly, and I knew that if it could get to the number one spot for "Book a magician" Google searches, then any magician on the site would be easy to find by new clients.
I decided to buy an expensive Webflow site template (usually reserved for real estate listings) and pay for Webflow itself and Ahrefs (a search engine optimisation platform). This was when the hard work began because to get a website to the top of organic Google searches, there are three things you need to do:
- Optimise the website. Ensure things like H1 and H2 tags are set up correctly and things like image alt text.
- Build a healthy site. Compress images and ensure the site loads fast with fully working buttons and links.
- Get powerful backlinks. Reach out to blogs and publications and get them to feature and link to the platform.
Book A Magician is now six months old! Time really does fly, but it's also crucial for this project; the site's rankings should slowly increase as time goes by. Plus, the site already ranks high for Google searches like: "Magician near me", "Book a magician", "Magician for hire near me", "Local magician", and more.
Please give it a go! Google search "Book a magician near me". Comment or reply to this post and let us know where the site is in the search results. You can click on the site in the search results to signal to Google it belongs high.
So, what's next? Well, the goal this year is to focus solely on boosting the organic reach of the platform. It'll involve adding more optimised pages, blog posts, and lists to the website and securing time-intensive backlinks.
After then! We'll focus on platform features, like better search tools, profile layouts and a more streamlined way for clients to contact magicians with their event details. If you have feedback or suggestions, reach out anytime.
