Do you have an interest in Music? Are you a musician and want to share your talent with the world? Or Are you somebody really passionate about music?
If your answer to any of these questions is a ‘Yes’ then it’s time you turn your passion into revenue.
How?
By starting a Music Blog.
Starting a Music blog might seem fun and games until you work towards making a living out of it. you need to follow a clear path to achieve success.
We have curated a simple 8-step guide to becoming a Music Blogger, especially for you, so that you do not have to read multiple resources to find a way out.
In this blog post we will walk you through:
- Scope Of Music Blog
- Famous Music Blogs
- How To Start Your Music Blog In 8 Steps?
- How to Earn Money Through Music Blogging?
Let’s begin!
Table of Contents
SCOPE OF MUSIC BLOG
As Robert Fripp says “Music is the wine that fills the cup of silence.” Some so many people like to listen to music but if you are someone who wants to make a career out of it, GREAT!
Art is something that will NEVER DIE and music is one of them. With time music will only grow.
As per statistics, the keyword “music” itself is the 3rd most searched term.
Moreover, Global music sales rose for the seventh consecutive year in 2021 with recorded music revenues growing in every region and each of the world’s top 10 markets, according to the International Federation.
These facts clearly state that the demand for music is HUGE making Music Blogging a great career option.
Now that you know the love for music amongst people. Let us show you some POPULAR MUSIC BLOGS that you can not miss.
Let’s dig in!
SOME POPULAR MUSIC BLOGS (TOP 7)
1. Pitchfork
It is a great music blog that talks about various music-related subjects like music news, reviews, best new music, entertaining music videos, listicles, and upcoming music events. Interested already? Click to know more.
2. Hypebot
Hypebot is an interesting music blog that talks about Music news, various music technologies, DIY, and chart depicting monthly emerging artists worldwide. Want to explore more? Click here.
3. Brooklyn Vegan
Brooklyn Vegan is an independent music blog that gives readers the latest news and gossip about the International music industry. It also gives its readers content on different genres of music including tours and festivals information. Click to know more.
4. HIP HOP WIRED
HIP-HOP WIRE as the name suggests talks about Hip Hop related subjects. It talks about the latest hip-hop news, politics, and technology related to hip-hop culture. Are you a hip-hop fanatic? Click to know more.
5. YOUR EDM
Your EDM is a blog totally dedicated to EDM lovers. It talks about EDM-related news, reviews, and event information. What is interesting is this site has over 50 posts per week making it the best place to grab EDM-related gossip. Interested already? Click to know more.
6. RAP-UP
Rap-up is the ultimate music blog for all the rap and hip-hop lovers out there. It talks about various subjects related to the rap and hip-hop world like news, music videos, new music, and exclusive Music Gossip. Are you a rap fanatic? Click to know more.
7. ROLLING STONE
Rolling Stone is a legendary blog and a magazine that covers music-related topics and popular culture.
It is an all-in-one website that talks about all the music genres and give gossip about the music industry. Interested enough? Click to know more.
These blogs must have given you some understanding of Music Blogs on the web. Now is the time to figure out how to start one, right?
8 SIMPLE STEPS TO YOUR MUSIC BLOG
1. EXAMINE YOUR FOCUS
Whether it is music Blogging or any other form of blogging, you need to choose the focus of your blog. In other words, you need to pick a niche and a target audience for your Music Blogging.
Do not try to be an expert in too many subjects. It is great if you can only focus on one category. Else you can mix two or three categories and form a niche to suit yourself and your target audience.
TIP: To project yourself as an expert pick one niche and specialize in it rather than boasting about your knowledge in various areas. As they say it correctly “Jack of all, master of none”.
Consider these things while choosing a niche for yourself:
- Passion and expertise
- Monetization
- Audience demand
- Competition
- Longevity
You’re probably wondering what to do now. There are so many alternatives on the internet that it can be daunting at times. But do not worry. We have a few popular niches for you to choose from.
LIST OF MUSIC NICHES
- A specific music genre such as hip-hop, EDM, metal rock, or dance music.
- Music Industry gossips
- New Music
- Music news
- Music Technology
- Reviews on music
- Local or independent music artists
- Music festivals, concerts, and events
- Music trends
- Monthly featured albums
- Music bands and many more
Pick a niche that you are passionate about. Never go for money over passion. if you are passionate enough, money will follow!
2. GET TECHNICAL
Now that you have worked out your target audience and your blog focus. It is time you get a little technical.
Figure out a blogging platform and hosting for your website. Without hosting, a website is just like a house without land, impossible!
For you to put your blogging website on the web and make it accessible to the public you must get hosting. Moreover for you to publish, edit, update, delete, and modify your blogs it is important to have a platform that supports everything. this is where a blogging platform comes into play.
Now that you know why you need hosting and a blogging platform. What if we tell you, you can get both in one place? GREAT isn’t it?
There are two kinds of blogging platforms available:
- SELF HOSTED
- HOSTED OPEN SOURCE
In a common man’s language just understand self-hosted platforms are where you have to get hosting on your own and also manage your data. This lets you have more control over your website. Example is WordPress.org
Whereas, Hosted open-source blogging platforms are where you get hosting included. All your website’s data is included in the blogging platform’s server. You don’t own it directly and hence have lesser control over it. Example is WordPress.com
So, which one should you opt for?
Both have their pros and cons but we would recommend you go with a self-hosted blogging platform since they can be monetized easily and gives you more control over your website.
Here are a few top Blogging Platforms for you to consider:
- WordPress
- Wix
- Blogger
- Squarespace
- HubSpot
- Joomla
- Tumblr
- Ghost
- Weebly
- YouTube
3. CREATE A BRAND
With so much competition online, you need to stick out from the rest. Therefore you need to build your brand.
Building a brand means choosing a logo, and tone that you will use in all your blogs. formatting style, font style, and also features that you would like to include in your website. Figure it all.
Every brand has a different personality that relates users to it. You need to find your flavor!
What does this mean?
If any user sees your content on social media they should be able to recognize it’s you! no matter what the platform is. Do you see Mcdonald’s differently on different platforms? No. Simply, because it has maintained brand consistency across all the platforms. You need to build one too.
You can draw some inspiration from your competitors. However, do not copy them. make your brand elements unique and memorable.
4. CHOOSE A DOMAIN NAME
A domain name represents the face of your brand. People will see your domain name first and then your content. So make their first impression memorable.
You must be wondering- “What is a good domain name?” Do not worry. We got you informed.
Here are a few features of a good domain name:
- It is a reflection of your brand’s content.
- Unique
- Memorable
- Easy to pronounce
- Not fancy but trendy
- Easy to search
- Contains keywords
- SEO friendly
- Contains the name of the blogger, if he is famous
- Short and sweet
You can either purchase a domain name or utilize the free domains offered by your Blogging Platform.
We would recommend you purchase one since free domains come with branding (like .WordPress.com) and do not look professional.
Since domain names get sold out quickly, make sure yours isn’t! Click here to check.
5. CHOOSE A THEME
A theme is a template chosen for your website that decides the ‘look and feel’ of the blog.
Choosing the right theme for your blog is essential to give your audience a seamless user experience.
WordPress, Wix, Weebly, and other blogging platforms provide hundreds of templates that you can customize according to your business needs.
You need to customize the fonts, color theme, and the number of pictures. videos and podcasts as per your requirements.
Some themes also allow you to drag and drop elements like pictures, images, etc making it fully customizable.
While choosing a theme keep a few things in mind:
- How do you want your web pages to look like landing pages, about us page, contact page, and many other pages?
- How many pictures, videos, and podcasts do you want to add?
- Do you have customer support to solve your queries?
- Is the theme SEO compatible?
A great theme will glue your customers at very first sight, so make sure you choose it wisely.
6. PLAN AND CREATE YOUR BLOGS
Now that you have set up your site fully, it’s time you do what you are BEST at. You are right! You need to create content for our blogs to attract visitors.
As they say it correctly “Content is the King”. You need to create content for all the web pages like the Homepage, About Us page, blog page, and other site pages.
To captivate your visitors, it is crucial to create a visually appealing homepage. As it is often the first page that visitors see, it should be given extra attention. As the saying goes, “First impressions are lasting impressions.”
Consider the following when creating your content:
- Add pictures and especially videos and podcasts since it is a music blog.
- Make your content short and sweet.
- The content should be skimmable, add more headings, subheadings, whitespaces, and short paragraphs to achieve this.
- Do not write complex language. Keep it simple to attract a wider range of audiences.
- Use SEO tactics (On-page SEO and Off-page SEO) to help Google rank your content.
- Make use of Seo tactics but do not overdo it. SEO-focused content is boring and difficult to read. Please write content for humans and not machines.
- Use catchy titles and intriguing images which work as clickbait for visitors.
Keep these things in mind while planning your content and you will be happy with the results.
7. PROMOTION IS IMPORTANT
Once your content is live, it is time to promote your blogs. Otherwise, how will you tell the audience about it?
Marketing is the key to a successful Blog.
You can promote your blogs in many ways some of which are listed below:
·
SOCIAL MEDIA
If we talk about promotion, 90% of people will think about social media, it is that important!
You need to create your brand accounts on different social media platforms and promote your content on each of them.
Do not forget to link your website to all your social media accounts which will help people follow you.
Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat are some social media platforms that can be helpful for you.
To draw visitors to your website, create engaging posts and share them on various social media platforms. This can include interesting captions, brief and intriguing posts, captivating images, or even provocative videos.
Try out different strategies, considering your target audience, and observe which approach works best for you.
EMAIL MARKETING
Email marketing refers to taping email users. As per a study, For every $1 you spend on email marketing, you can expect an average return of $42.
Add a signup form to your web pages to tap visitors’ email ids and tap them consistently. Create engaging newsletters to keep your visitors in the loop. Send them personalized emails, huge discount codes on your products, welcome email, and other brand-related emails to make them feel valuable as they are!
You need to maintain a win-win relationship with your customers/readers. That is, you need to keep them happy and they will keep you happy.
SEO
Search Engine Optimization is hands down a very important technique for promoting your blogs. SEO techniques optimize your website according to Google and help Google rank it.
If you want to help visitors find your blog then you need to make sure it appears on the result page which is why you need to do SEO.
Use various on-page and off-page tactics to optimize your web pages. Add keywords to make it searchable but remember not to stuff them unnecessarily. Google personalizes Keyword Stuffing.
We would also recommend you use long tail keywords at the budding stage since they have lesser competition and hence are easier to rank on Google.
You need to also build backlinks to your web pages. You can build a backlink profile in so many different ways!
Follow SEO but always keep readers on a priority than Google. Write for your readers first and then optimize it. Read this again.
Go ahead. Promote your website and attract more visitors.
8. EARN MONEY THROUGH BLOGGING
At this stage, you are all set to make money from your blogs. There are so many lucrative ways to do so.
Some of them are discussed below to help you:
ADVERTISING
Advertising is the most common way for music bloggers to earn money. This is done by displaying ads on banners, sidebars, and pop-up ads.
Google AdSense is the most common way of doing so. You just need to create a Google AdSense account and make some spaces on your website for advertisements. Google recommends some ads related to your niche and you can choose what to put up on your website.
Google starts paying you after you had made a revenue of 100 Dollars. It pays you either on Cost per click basis or Cost per view basis depending on what you have chosen.
What is more interesting is that you can monetize multiple sites from a single Google AdSense account which is free.
REMEMBER: Google blocks your account for policy violations. So strictly adhere to them.
AFFILIATE MARKETING
Affiliate Marketing is when you promote a retailer’s products or services on your social media accounts or website to boost their sales. And, you get a commission when somebody strikes a purchase.
There are so many Affiliate Programs available online that you can join in or you can tap brands on email or their social media handles to collaborate with them.
Make a list of affiliates matching your niche and make sure to tap at least one per day. After you become famous brands will reach you on their own.
Remember to choose premium affiliates because your reputation will depend on the products/services you promote.
Your loyal following will buy your recommended products but will stop buying if the quality isn’t great affecting your affiliate commission. So make sure you recommend QUALITY PRODUCTS ONLY.
SUBSCRIPTIONS
You can earn money by providing monthly subscriptions to your loyal readers. Make your trendy and exclusive content only for your subscribers.
This way you can earn fixed revenue every month.
SPONSORED POSTS
Sponsored posts are written by bloggers for someone else and are paid for it. Generally, this post highlights the products of the payer.
Brands similar to your niche approach you or you can approach them for the same. It is a two-way process in which both parties enjoy benefits.
CONCLUSION
Music Blogging is a great way to turn your passion into revenue. However, starting a music blog may seem easy but in reality, demands a lot of “smart work”.
To make this easy for you we have discussed a few easy steps to kick-start the process.
Let us discuss here briefly:
- Pick the Focus of your blog. That is, pick a niche.
- Get Technical. Choose Hosting and a blogging platform for your website.
- Create a brand. Prepare logo, formatting style, color scheme, and many other important branding-related things.
- Choose a domain name for your site.
- Select a template or theme for your website.
- Plan the content for your web pages.
- Promote your content so that you can attract visitors.
- Start making money through your blog.
Follow these simple 8 steps to start blogging the correct way. And let us know the results.
Did you find this post helpful? Tell us why you want to be a Music Blogger and what motivates you the most. Additionally, suggest to us a few topics you would like to read next, and we will be happy to share them with you. Stay tuned for more content. See You.
