Frequently Asked Questions

How Can My Station Make Money With These Websites?

Every bit of content that you put on air should have an online component and your talent should be promoting these features.  This can be news stories, events, funny blog posts, contests, obituaries, podcasts, etc. Once you have this in place, selling your website is very similar to how you already sell commercials, sponsorships, weather reports, live spots, etc.

Think of banner ads as your commercials. Specifically targeted banner ads become sponsorships. So, there’s very little difference between selling on-air and selling online. Just keep in mind that just like ratings, page views, and unique visitors numbers need to be checked and increased so you can charge more.

Do you require a ‘setup fee’?

Yes.  We require a nominal setup fee of $400.  If you are creating or merging multiple websites, an additional setup fee of $250 per site is required beyond the first website.  We’ll also create up to ten new client banner ads in two different sizes.  Most often, your website is 95% complete before your staff has access to the admin area.  Click here for a typical list of content items we need to get started. 

Is Skyrocket Radio market-exclusive?

Our websites are not market or area exclusive but we understand the concern.  We do our very best to make each website unique.  If competing stations are in close proximity, we will go above and beyond to ensure websites do not look similar.  Understandably though, there are certain times when we will take an existing client’s preference over bringing on a competing station as a new client.  We take these instances case by case.

How soon after we sign up can we be online?

This depends on your eagerness to get your new site active. Upon signing up, we collect your content and start establishing a pre-launch website.  Customizing the pre-launch site typically takes anywhere from two to ten business days depending on how soon we get the requested content and the volume of content.  Your new website is constructed on our in-house local server at the beginning of the setup process.  At roughly 80% completion, it is moved online for your review.  Once your pre-launch site is approved, it is moved to a production location on our server to which your domain name will point to.  You are updated at every step along the way.

Does your service come with a contract and term commitment?

There are no contracts and no commitment requirements because we are confident that our websites will generate a return on your investment month after month.  We only require a 30-day notice to ensure that you can get a proper backup of your content.  There will never be hard feelings if our websites do not make you 100% happy.

Does Skyrocket Radio require any spot, banner ad, or link requirements on our website?

Absolutely not.  We believe the site is your canvas for generating revenue.  We do have a very small “Powered by Skyrocket Radio” link at the very bottom of the footer but even that can be hidden if you desire.

Why choose Skyrocket Radio over a website I can have developed locally?

When it comes to websites, there are endless options available to you. You can have a website designed for as little as $350 and pay just $4/month to host it. Keep in mind that cheaper is rarely better. You won’t be able to customize a cheap website without paying a developer an hourly fee to help you each time.  Cheaper hosting plans will not have the resources that are required for several hundred visitors at one time.

A cheap-looking or brochure-type website will get you online – but it won’t connect your brand to your listeners and keep them returning.  Return visitors are the key to an effective online strategy and your website generating revenue.  If you’re not currently selling your website, you are leaving lots of revenue out there for someone else to find.

Can I host a Skyrocket Radio site myself?

Skyrocket Radio does not create web templates and plugins for public use. Instead, we offer an optimized hosting environment where all sites can be easily maintained and backed up regularly. We feel this model offers the best experience and value. We just don’t feel it’s good business to leave clients to fend for themselves after the sale. We’re here to help stations succeed using our tools.

I see your sites are built on WordPress. Why?

From a client’s perspective, WordPress has become the easiest content management system to learn and manage. Admin areas just make sense. This means that less time learning a new content management tool and more time is spent making magic happen – and making money.

Some follow up this question with “isn’t WordPress free”?  While WordPress is an open-source (free) software, the themes and plugins we have designed to work best for radio stations are not.  To have a developer custom code everything we offer would cost well over $25,000.

What does ‘responsive’ mean?

Responsive web design is an approach to web design aimed at crafting sites to provide an optimal viewing experience—easy reading and navigation with a minimum of resizing, panning, and scrolling—across a wide range of devices (from desktop computer monitors to mobile phones). In essence, your site will look great no matter what size device it’s served to – from large-screen TVs to mobile phones.

What kind of analytics are offered with your sites?

The ultimate in analytics is Google Analytics, so we have chosen not to compete with that. All stations should signup for a free Google Analytics account and place their tracking code within the website admin area. Google offers extensive training on how to get the best data from their analytics tool.

What type of training do you offer?

We provide one-on-one training via online video conferencing. Extensive video training is gradually being developed where we walk through every aspect of the admin interface and thoroughly explain every tool. These videos are available on-demand with the admin interface.

I don’t want my site to look cookie-cutter.  How customizable are your sites?

We’ve seen the cookie-cutter sites, so we’ve tried to think of everything to avoid being another. Changing colors and fonts can be dramatic but they are just the beginning. You have customizable header options, dynamic lead choices, the choice to show ads within article listings, how many articles to show before ads, default images, business landing page options, list options, weather display options and so much more.

Our new Skyrocket Page Builder within “Launch” takes customization to the next level by offering drag and drop page editing with pixel-perfect precision.  In fact, “Launch” is so customizable that we used it to build this website.

We are low on staff. How easy is this to update?

There are tools for stations with a large staff (like jock blogs, etc) and there are tools in place where one person can effectively manage everything with minimal effort. This is why we have taken extra effort to make things simple without extensive bells and whistles that might confuse visitors.  In fact, most of our current subscriber stations only have one or two people with access to the website admin area.

What portions of the website can be updated automatically or imported?

The weather is the only portion of the website that is automatically updated.  The rest of the content (articles, contests, events, etc) must be curated by your team.  Properly structured RSS feeds can be imported into news articles using our RSS Importer premium extension.

I own my own domains. Should that change if Skyrocket Radio is hosting my site?

No way. We believe domain names are assets to be protected. At no time are they transferred to us.  We will provide you NameServer and/or DNS information that will point your domain to our server. This transfer process normally takes anywhere from a few minutes to several hours. We are happy to make this change for you.

We are in a medium or large market. Can we use your website product for our stations?

Our website products are scaled and priced to offer the best benefit to small-medium-sized markets. However, let us know about your particular situation. We still might be able to help.

Where is the news content on your demos imported from?

A majority of the content on your website should come directly from the station.  We believe that local content is the best content.  Besides, most imported RSS feeds require that the visitor jump back to the originating website to read the entire article.  We do not promote taking visitors away from your website and your advertisers unless it’s to another one of YOUR websites. Otherwise, it just doesn’t make sense to us.

We offer a premium extension that allows importing specifically designed RSS feeds to be imported as content.  Our demos use United Station’s Pulse Web Content as a great example of this.  This barter service provides format and entertainment news daily that can be imported into your site as if you were creating it yourself.

Who has ownership of the site and its components once it’s launched?

The station will maintain ownership and responsibility for all of the content that it publishes. Only the code that drives the website theme and plugins is owned and maintained by Skyrocket Radio. In the event you wish to switch service providers, a backup of your content (articles and media) will be provided to you.

Do you offer streaming or podcasting services?

No. Our services only cover the website. We work alongside many streaming providers to ensure that your streaming player and podcasts are best implemented.  The reasoning behind not incorporating podcast hosting is due to the bandwidth requirements a podcast can impose.  Several clients have come to us from other website providers because their websites became slower over time as podcasts have become more popular.

Do you offer mobile apps?

They are coming soon!  We did not want to offer a new product without ensuring it is the absolute best.

What SEO strategies should I employ for my site?

By default, all WordPress sites are SEO optimized.  However, each page, news post, and image should be tagged with appropriate keywords to ensure you’re getting the most benefit. These will ensure the organic optimization of your website. Next, push your on-air listeners and social media followers to the site at every opportunity. Relevant content + more visitors = great SEO over time.

How will banner ads be managed and targeted?

Our powerful banner ad management system within the website admin allows you to schedule banner ads just like you would on-air ads. Schedule per day of the week and target specific pages and locations. You have full control.

Can web display advertising integrate with our radio advertising traffic systems?

There are limitless traffic system options, so there is no way to traffic online ads within our system from your on-air traffic system. However, we do offer a pathway to implement Google’s DoubleClick for Publishers tags within our station websites.

How will social media platforms integrate with this site?

We provide widgets to display each social media service feed, buttons to easily share each page or post, and an option to add Facebook comments to pages and posts.  The absolute best integration for social media is for your social streams to drive traffic to your website where you can monetize the traffic – not the other way around.  Widgets that display your social media feeds are available but discouraged as they can move visitors away from your website and paying advertisers.

How can we drive visitors to our site from social media platforms?

We provide options to manually and automatically share content to Facebook and Twitter when it gets posted. Nothing is required on your part for automatic sharing.  There are also some great tools out there that allow you to auto-post to social media channels like Hootsuite and Buffer.

What disaster-recovery processes are in place?

The Skyrocket Radio servers are backed up each day. In the event of a disaster, backups would be implemented immediately.

What is your cancellation procedure?

We fully understand that the time may come when our service is not the right fit for your organization.  It happens.  Just let us know 30 days prior to a cancellation date so we can ensure that you get a proper backup of your content in case you wish to move it to a different provider.  The articles and other content that your organization adds to the website during your subscription belongs to you.  So, it’s only right that you should have the opportunity to take it with you.  We still want to ensure you receive the very best customer service until the final day.