Steps you need to take to successfully implement blogging in the music industry
Blogging is a way of “express yourself to the world. A place to share your thoughts and your passions. Really, it’s anything you want it to be.” (Hahns, 2011), this has given anyone the power to write what they want about anything. But to be able to carry out this successfully there are various ideas that need to be implemented, this is what I will be blogging about: how blogging is successfully implemented into the music industry.
Beginning steps to take that will ensure a good start
When it comes to successfully implementing a music blog page there are various steps you need to take in order for it to be user friendly. Step one, you need to find your own reliable host, this is very cheap nowadays. Secondly, you need to download WordPress, as its the most used platform of the top 100 blogs worldwide by far. Step 3, preferably download a premium (paid) theme, as the free ones lack a lot of features. Step 4, you need to make your blog stand out, if not people will not bother to read it, and the click through rate will be low. Finally, you need to figure out a way to get people to visit your blogs, weather that be the use of twitter or other social media sites. For more detail on each of these steps, please visit the website in the link shown: http://www.sophistefunk.com/start-a-music-blog/ .
One website that is know to have carried out these steps successfully is pitchfork, as they have become one of the biggest music review/blogging sites in the world. They did this by releasing out the ordinary reviews, such as Jet’s second album shine on. This lead to a viral piece of content that spread round the internet like a virus. Pitchfork also managed to come up with innovating ideas that the other site lacked, for example its new web layout combined with it print design which reinforce the image of a forward-facing, vibrant title that is at the foreground of digital media. For more reasons on why Pitchfork is so successfully please visit this link: https://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/oct/16/pitchfork-music-magazines-nme-q-mojo
Creating a volume of traffic for your blogs
Creating traffic for your blogs is perhaps one of the most important things to do, after you have set up a webpage. According to a recent article in Portland’s Business Journal, step number “10) Increased Traffic to My Blog” says that one way of generating traffic, is the use of twitter as many companies have an account with followers, so this can be a good start up for generating followers for your blogs. Another very successful way of generating traffic is the used of emails, most successful bloggers have go a email list that they have to send there new blog posts too. The reason this method is so successful is that your email list will only grow and rarely decrease. Darren Rowse is a successful blogger who sends an email to his list about a new blog post, below is an image showing the number of one of his traffic spikes:
(Cami, 2016)
What content to include in a music blog
When it comes to blogging, content is key. As there is a limited amount of words you can put into a blog, the quality has to be very high. One of the most important aspects is headings, as they tell the reader what part are important and how the are all interconnected. As they have different aims, a single post needs another heading structure than your blog’s homepage. Another thing to keep in mind is the resolution of your images, as not everyone has a high resolution screen, so the images need to be as clear as possible. Also make sure to use images that correctly portraits the emotion you are trying to give off. Lastly you need to make sure that your blog is compatible for mobiles, as this will be the most likely device that users will use. Effective formatting in a clear manner make the points you want to cover. For more information on this topic visit: http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/26-tips-for-writing-great-blog-posts/
References
Hahns (2011) Home. Available at: http://blogbasics.com/what-is-a-blog/ (Accessed: 26 February 2017).
Cardew, B. (2017) What did pitchfork get right when most music magazines are losing sales? Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/oct/16/pitchfork-music-magazines-nme-q-mojo (Accessed: 27 February 2017).
Maynard, W. (2009) 10 surprising ways that Twitter has helped my Business…and ideas on how it can help yours too. Available at: https://www.kinesisinc.com/10-surprising-ways-that-twitter-has-helped-my-business/ (Accessed: 27 February 2017).
Cami (2016) Start a Blog. Available at: https://startbloggingonline.com/how-to-promote-your-blog-and-get-visitors/ (Accessed: 27 February 2017).
Hemley, D. (2017) 26 tips for writing great Blog posts: Social media examiner. Available at: http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/26-tips-for-writing-great-blog-posts/ (Accessed: 28 February 2017).