Do you still need a website to promote your career?

[supafuzz]

My websites were hacked a little while back and now show up as attack sites harmful to your computer on Google etc.
It's going to cost a lot to redo the websites from scratch. I was wondering how effective a website is for creating new business?
I found the website of a big advertising agency and all they had was one page with their name and contact info and e-mail link.
I was thinking that a lot gets done thru facebook and having a blog and most of my work is from networking and word of mouth.
So the idea is to have a single page with info and links to my blog etc.
I would love to hear what you all are doing in this regard.
thanks
I have a myspace but that seems doomed.

[Waltz Mastering]

In this day and age I think having a web site that is clear and easy to navigate is a must for bringing in new clientele and describing what you do and have done.

Myspace is a joke and I would not trust other peer to peer sites to accomplish much professionally.

[TheRealRoach]

I don't think it's as important to create a custom website that's built and coded from the ground up. I think 2-way blog formats like Tumblr, Bandcamp, Soundcloud have really taken over as the better option.

The days of "website as a 1-way billboard" are over.

If you are going to put up a website then it has to efficiently provide the information and media that potential clients want access to: discography, music, press, contact info. If they are impressed by those then they will call and inquire further.

[A.David.MacKinnon]

I guess it depends on what you're doing and what you need.
My business has always come through word of mouth. Once I've talked to the band, artist or label I still need to direct them somewhere to hear more of my work, see photos and so on. The answer for me was a free blogspot page. It covers all the bases I need covered and it doesn't cost me a penny.

[fossiltooth]

In my own experience and interviews with others, word of mouth is always bigger than web presence.

However, web presence does help legitimize and amplify the word of mouth you're getting. If a potential client has friend who tells him you're great to work with, and he's still on the fence, a quick google search can have the effect of helping tip the decision one way or the other: "He just has a myspace page?", the potential client thinks to himself. "Maybe he's not that serious".

If you have a simple site that's thoughtfully designed and comes up easily with a quick search, some of those natural fears are assuaged. You don't necessarily need a whole big production. A simple wordpress, typepad, blogger, or tumblr page can do the trick for many small studios.

You may be able to run a successful career with no web page at all, as long as you have an amazing network of people around you. But why stack the deck against yourself?

[supafuzz]

these are all good ideas..keep em coming!

[Marwood Williams]

I think it's vital to have a web presence. While there are good sites to put your info, like Tumblir and Blogspot, I personally like having my own website and 100% control over the content I post. (especially not having ads and pop-ups.)

Hosting sites are relatively cheap and free interfaces like Wordpress are easy to customize. There are literally thousands of themes and plug-ins to give your site the look and feel that you want.