Musician Website Quick Fix #6: Host Your Own Blog

The "Website Quick Fix" blog posts are written by musician website and marketing platform Bandzoogle.

When we do website evaluations here at Bandzoogle, there are two broad categories we look at: Design and Content. With poor design, it will be hard to find interesting content on the site. With great design and poor content, there is little reason for fans to visit. With that second category in mind, let’s talk about blogging.

Why Should You Blog?

There are plenty of reasons for musicians to blog on a regular basis:

Drives people to your website

First and foremost, blogging is one of the best ways to drive people to your website. Every time you create a new blog post, it’s an excuse for you to invite fans to check out your website. Some artists create a blog separate from their website and host it on one of the various blogging platforms, but why give traffic to a site that you don’t own?

Instead, host the blog on your website that you own, where you can collect valuable data to know where those fans are from, what songs they listened to, how long they stayed on your site, etc. And by using your call-to-action, get them to sign up to your mailing list, or shop in your online store.

Gives you content for social media

Many artists struggle with what they should talk about on Facebook and Twitter. Creating new blog posts gives you great original content to push out to your social media profiles, and in turn, drives people to your website.

Shows that you’re active

Blogging is one of the best ways to show that you are active in your career. If a potential fan visits your site, enjoys your music (which you made easy to listen to), and then sees that you have months of regular blogging under your belt, they might click on a few posts to get a better sense of your personality. If they really like what they read, you might have a fan for life.

Note: If you do decide to start blogging, it’s really important to keep it up to date. Just as an updated blog can show that you’re active in your career, if your last post is from a year ago, it can create a negative impression. Focus on regularity, rather than trying to make each post perfect.

Creates stronger connection with your fans

Blogging is a great way to show your personality and give insight into your career, allowing fans to get to know you better. This can help turn a casual fan into a super fan by creating a stronger connection with them.

For the fan, reading about you and about your art on your blog adds some context to the music, and that’s how they’ll come to value it more. They might be fans of your music already, but if they become fans of you on top of that, then the music gains an increased perceived value. Our CEO David Dufresne likes to make the comparison of having your music in a gallery versus at IKEA.

Mike Masnick, of the blog Techdirt even turned it into a formula:

Connect with Fans (CwF) + Reason to Buy (RtB) = The Business Model

Blogging is great for SEO

Improving your SEO (search engine optimization) is another great reason to blog. Simply put, the more you blog, the more Google can find you, and the higher in the search results you will potentially appear based on the keywords, titles and content of your blog posts.

For example, let’s say you’re a ukulele player, and besides blogging about your career you also blog about how to tune a ukulele, how to repair a ukulele, what to look for when purchasing a new ukulele, etc. Chances are, people who are passionate about ukuleles might stumble on one of your helpful blog posts, and while they’re on your site, they’re exposed to your music, your personality, and you might gain a new fan.

Where to place a blog on your website

Your blog should ideally be part of your main menu navigation with it’s own section, and not a sub-menu item. You’ll want people to be able to find it easily if they want to find out more about you.

Many artists put their blog right on their Homepage. You can do this, but instead of putting the entire blog there, offer 2-3 entries, then direct people to your full blog on a separate page. You’ll want to use your Homepage as a welcoming page for potential new fans to give them a taste of who you are as an artist, and focusing their attention on your call-to-action.

Note: Although a blog should definitely be one element on your site, remember your website should not simply be a blog.

Blogging ideas

Not sure what to blog about? Here’s a quick brainstorm of 10 things you can blog about that might help trigger even more ideas:

1. Preview an upcoming show
2. Review a recent show
3. Stories from tour
4. Blog about rehearsals
5. Stories from the studio
6. New gear
7. Talk about other great bands/musicians in your genre
8. Stories from your personal life (if you’re comfortable with it)
9. Talk about your crazy pet(s)
10. Talk about a passion outside of music (maybe you’re a big sci-fi geek, or have a favorite sports team)

Photos & Videos

Some of you might be thinking “Well, that’s sounds great, but I’m not good at writing blog posts”. That’s ok, your blog posts can contain mostly photos, or can even be videos. Whichever method you are most comfortable communicating with, go for it. The important thing is to post new content on your site on a regular basis where fans can gain some insight into your career and who you are as an artist.

Do you have a blog on your website? How often do you post? What do you blog about? Share links to your blogs in the comments below!

Previous Website Quick Fix posts:

• Musician Website Quick Fix #5: Add A Mailing List Sign-Up
• Musician Website Quick Fix #4: Make it easy to listen to your music
• Musician Website Quick Fix #3: Focus on one Call-to-Action
• Musician Website Quick Fix #2: Lose the Intro Page
• Musician Website Quick Fix #1: Turn off auto-start music

Hypebot contributing writer Dave Cool is the Director of Artist Relations for musician website and marketing platform Bandzoogle. Twitter: @Bandzoogle | @dave_cool