Guide to Music Blogging

Music blogging to some seems too easy, listen to music throw in your input and publish it. Wham bam and you’re done, but really it has a process and you need to know a few things before you get started. When starting out you need to let people know what they are going to be reading and how you are going to present your input. This gives right off the bat, three possible outcomes for the person. 1) they won’t read your blog, 2) they will be slightly intrigued and will come back only if they have nothing else to do, or 3) they will be an avid reader and make many comments ( a FAN). None the less you will be stepping into a bigger world than you can think of called the Blogosphere. If you aren’t prepared you will surely not get the attention that you want. So here is some advice for music blogging.

Development and Endurance

Starting out is a major part in the building of your blog. When making anything, there needs to be a foundation. In the blogging world this is your Mission Statement. A mission statement is what you will be presenting and how you are going to present your stuff. I had trouble with this because I like to change the way I write or present information just because that is how I am. In my mission statement I told the audience that I would bring them this and I couldn’t follow through because I ended up changing what I did. What I can say if you do like to change things up a bit then tell the audience that you could change the way you write or present ahead of time, a fair warning. Now I (as in it might not mean a lot to others) think that the way your blog looks is a big part. You want to grab the attention but not so much that you take away from the writing but something that is your personality. The endurance part of writing is keeping up with the blog. I am a multiple offender of this rule. I would take big breaks in between and it affected my audience. They expected weekly posts and sometimes I didn’t deliver. Also, endurance can mean your views, if you start one thing you got to finish it out. Otherwise you will be labeled as a hypocrite. If you do change your view on a subject make it known by writing an extra post letting your audiences know that you have had a change in heart. This will be accepted in the blogging world.

Coming up with Ideas

This can be easy or it can be hard, it is totally up to you. If you are creative then it is an easy obstacle. Creativity brings in different aspects and views. If you do the same things in every post, then it gets repetitive and boring. Bring diversity to the table and you will bring in a more diverse audience. If you are one of those “by the books” people, this can be difficult. Coming out of your shell will be hard. The point I’m trying to make is that music isn’t a day-to-day thing. Yes, new things happen everyday, but new bands don’t. Take for example my situation, I just wanted to write about ROCK but it quickly got slow and repetitive. I wasn’t getting comments and in the end I changed, took a look into different genres, and went with it. And it worked. I no longer had to struggle with coming up with ideas they simple came to me, just by exploring.

Writing Processes that Work

Writing Processes is kind of like coming up with ideas you need to be diverse. Try different things, that don’t mean change your views just change the way you write it. If you use the same words and pattern then people won’t be interested, your audience wants changes. That is what keeps them coming back.

Attention Getters and Connection

So how do you keep there attention? Easy you combine “Coming up with Ideas” and “Writing Process that Work” and you will be able to keep there attention. That is not all you need to do but you need to do what I like to call “Testing the Chords” you try something if it doesn’t get attention then simply done do it anymore. If it gets stuff stirring then it’s a winner you have your hook now all you do is follow through with it. You will need to change your hook once and awhile but it works if you bring different thoughts or concepts to the table. Get them to agree or disagree with you. You are looking for a reaction. Reaction is attention. What I did was ask questions, Example “Who is the best Rapper”. When people agree then they will tell you if they don’t they will tell you. You need to be the one who sparks the reaction. This will eventually create a connection with your audience. They will be with you or against you. It doesn’t matter either or just that they are connected to you.

Your Voice

This is the biggest step in blogging because this is you. Your audience will look at you through your writing. Your posts equal to your personality. You have to be careful when establishing your voice because it can make you or break you. You need to think your voice through. Don’t rush it because once you got it it’s with you till the end. You can’t change either. If you change it looks bad, it looks like you are weak and that you can be pushed from side to side. You have to sit back and think about your voice and in the end it has to be real and genuinely yours. Good Luck.