The web is a wonderful place to find local businesses and vendors (and cats). If you want to get your dry-cleaning done, right now, you can do a quick Google search for “thousand oaks dry cleaning” and find some addresses, directions, services offered, and probably a few reviews. This makes things quick and easy and quite frankly, I could not survive without it. But what about hiring a DJ or entertainer? Probably 1/3 or less jobs come through the web for most DJ companies, but the percentage is increasing, and it will likely continue. DJ’s are generally not hired the same way that you may hire, say, a plumber. A plumber has a specific job to get done, and he either does it or he doesn’t (not to say that all plumbers are men, I’m sure there are plenty of women out there sporting the “plumbers crack” as well). My point is that if your plumber does the job wrong, they don’t get paid and you can hire a different plumber. A DJ needs to do the job right at the right time every time and so the biggest concern when looking for one is knowing that will be the case. Your event only happens once and you have never seen this DJ perform.

No matter how many paid advertisements, sexy websites, and internet directories you find yourself bombarded with, there really isn’t an obvious way of knowing that $250 DJ “Cracker Jack” from Craigslist is going to show up on time… or at all – let alone, put together the kind of experience you’ve been dreaming about. So here are a few tips that I’ve come up with to judge if you’re choosing the right DJ through the web.

Make a list

When searching through various sites try to find as much pertinent information as possible and write down pricing and the features the company includes. This will be very useful when choosing your DJ online.

Does the company list pricing?

Often times, DJ companies will not list any pricing in an attempt to get you to call in for a quote. Although it is certainly important to at least speak with your DJ prior to booking, if you have to call in to get a price quote, be prepared for a high pressure sales conversation. The representative on the other end will attempt to determine how much money he/she can get out of you for the least amount of service given, which, in my opinion, is unethical. Like most reputable businesses, DJ’s should not discriminate in their pricing significantly for similar events and in fact an honest company should help you find the most amount of service they can give you for your hard-earned dollar. For instance, if a client called in to me and said “I have $800 to spend on a DJ for background music at my 40-person BBQ” I would not take the $800 and give them the $425 package, because they don’t need to spend $800. It’s a 40-person event and our base package can handle about 100 attendants at a basic event. Their price is $425… and that’s it. UPDATE: Now, of course there may be variances in price for numerous reasons, but when you’re hiring a DJ online, based on the information on their site, you should have a fairly good idea how much you will be spending.

Pricing does not always indicate quality

This is a common misconception. Although it’s a good bet that a DJ costing less than $300 will likely be below par, a DJ that costs a little more than another doesn’t necessarily denote a “good” DJ. Pricing is based on a number of choices the company makes, and one of those is a trade off between having lots of competitively priced events booked for a year, or a few less frequent but more lucrative events per year. If you’re choosing between two seemingly equal DJ’s at a different price, why not see if they will match the lower price?

Check reviews carefully!

Reviews are a good way of gauging the talent and reliability of a particular DJ, however they are very easy to fake. Testimonials within a DJ company’s own website can be made up very easily (we keep a written record of every single one on Loud DJs if you’re wondering) and reviews can be spoofed with nothing more than creating multiple accounts on review websites. I won’t point fingers but I have even seen a company with over 500 reviews and suspect most of them of being absolutely contrived. There are several ways of getting an idea (but not being certain) if a review has been faked by the company itself:

• Did the reviewer only post for that company?: Click on the reviewer’s name, did they only post for that vendor? This doesn’t immediately mean the review is fake, but take it into account. Additionally, see if the reviewer posted for an affiliated company, this would be very suspicious.
• Do any of the reviewers have head shots?: many review websites allow for a picture of the reviewer, look for those!
• Are reviewers connected to personal accounts?: For instance, almost all our reviews on Insiderpages are connected to Facebook accounts. Sometimes reviews can also be connected to Gmail accounts and so forth. Anonymous reviews should usually be ignored.
• Are reviews written in a similar fashion?: People tend to write in different ways, read all the reviews and judge if they seem to be written by the same person.
• What dates were reviews given on?: It is very unusual for more than one client to review a business on the same day unless the company is quite large and has plenty of reviews. If for some reason I asked 20 past clients to write a review today, it would probably take two weeks to hear back from all of them. This is probably the biggest red flag in searching for local DJs. It’s better to hire a DJ with no reviews than one with all fake ones.

Are There DJ Bio’s?

Any DJ website should contain a short biography and photo of the disc jockey you could be working with. See if they sound appropriate for your event. If for any reason a particular local company doesn’t sound appropriate for you, this may be a good outlet to call for recommendations of other DJ companies. We all work in the local area and know which DJ companies do it right or wrong.

Is there an online booking system?

Probably the BEST thing about searching for an entertainer online is the opportunity to use online booking forms. These are no-obligation tools to getting quotes and availability information from several businesses very quickly and without the hassle of listening to a sales pitch. Also, we DJ’s love these systems because they allow us to prepare the best options for you before we get back in contact with you. For instance, if you are looking to get a DJ for your Boys And Girls club, we can have already made certain our best youth DJ and appropriate equipment are available. In general providing a phone number and email address is a good idea, you should never hire a DJ without at least speaking to them on the phone and hearing what they are like. Online forms are great but your DJ should certainly be good at talking to people!

Sexy websites and tons of photos mean nothing!

Content, content content! Gone are the days of websites being static digital business cards. A good website is not always one covered in photos of brides and grooms, lighting equipment, and plastered with sales pitches. When you read through a site you should be able to get a good idea of the character of the company you are hiring. You should be able to tell that the company is active and keeps up-to-date information without any question. Anyone with a couple hundred bucks can get a nice Flash website designed professionally, or download templates for free that look just fantastic. Professional stock photos can be purchased from websites like iStockphoto and you would never know. Additionally, Adobe Photoshop is an amazing program, to say the least. And it’s important to consider that it is often taboo for a DJ to take pictures at a private event and post them on their website. We perform for celebrity events and cannot take pictures! My point is that a company that has never previously performed could trick you into thinking they have done tons of events. When you look through their website, can you tell how much time they are investing into their business and the industry? Are they a part of it, or are they selling you a broken down car… but with chrome rims and a nice paint job?

Still not sure?

Get references. If you ask a company for references they usually will have a few recent clients and one or two other vendors they work with. If the DJ gives you email addresses use that form of correspondence instead of the phone number. It is much more courteous! If you’re still not sure, shoot us an email, and we’ll try to help you out!