7 Tips for running a blog (as a D.I.Y. Rock Star)
Loosely accompanies Gab & Jam,
326. 7 Tips for running a blog (as a D.I.Y. Rock Star)
(video: https://bit.ly/326topblogtipsvid and podcast: https://bit.ly/326topblogtipspod )
Here are 7 top tips for D.I.Y. Rock Stars who want to start and run a blog for their band.
This post was inspired by a Wix post: https://www.wix.com/blog/blogging-for-beginners
If you’re not sure where to get started with a blog or need some tips on how to work smart and not hard, this post is for you. Both Zandalee and I run blogs, so here are some things that we’ve learned through trial and error that we think might help some of you interested in the process.
Our guest today, Zandalee Indigo, is not only a fellow creative, but she has run how own blog for 4 years now. As a relatively new blogger, she shares her top tips for anyone considering starting a blog.
Check out the episode for the full discussion.
Here are 7 top tips for running a blog
(as a D.I.Y. Rock Star): ⭐️
1. Decide on a niche
Deciding on a niche simply means what is the focus of your blog. And who do you want to reach? If you plan to share about your songwriting process, for instance, maybe the people you want to reach are fellow songwriters and musicians. Narrowing down what you want to say and who you plan to say it to will help with all the rest of the decision-making that is involved, which takes us to our next piece of advice when running a blog as a D.I.Y. Rock Star.
Curious about branding for musicians? https://bit.ly/brandingassetblog
Here's our newest "Clouds" Obtanium Flow t-shirt design: https://bit.ly/obtflwtshirt623
2. Get a domain
Not only does purchasing a domain name help people find you easier, but it also helps with your branding. So, choose a name that supports what you have decided works for the niche you are writing about or the people you want to reach. For us, we’ve used the name “prejippie” for decades in association with our music, so it was a no-brainer that this would follow through to our blog. And since we were just starting out in the blogging, podcasting, and YouTube-ing thing, we decided to add that into the name, which is how we came up with “Blooming Prejippie” in the first place. So, again, think about what brand identity you want to convey and use the domain to help further that idea.
Once you decide on your name, you will need to purchase it from any of the various domain name providers. It IS a yearly fee, but by purchasing it, it means that no one else can use it, but you can connect to whatever website host you choose.
Did you know that along with putting together our next album, we are working on our first book? Here’s the link, if you want to pre-order: https://bit.ly/diybookorder
Use the code NEWYEAR2024 at checkout for a 25% off discount. Limited time only!
3. Create an editorial calendar
Though this sounds fancy, an editorial calendar is simply a list of topics that you want to cover and how often you will publish. Doing so takes some of the pressure off of trying to figure out what to do when. When you find new things to talk about, just add them in. –As hard as it is to believe, there are times when I think we’ve run out of things to discuss, but then I go back to my list of topics and find that one or two of them inspire me to write. A quick way to get out of a creative rut is to build up your stock of ideas when you ARE feeling create, so an editorial calendar gives a place to store all those nuggets.
In THIS post, we tell you 7 reasons why having a website is better than simply posting on social media.
4. Outline first
There is SO much power in taking the time to outline points before writing posts. The first advantage is that you can organize your thoughts easier. –You MAY end up reorganizing your ideas, but this gives you a place to start. –It also helps assure that you’re not going to leave out something that you originally thought was important to discuss—which I used to do more often—as you are building out your ideas. So, whether you create a more traditional outline—like me—or you use an idea web—like Zandalee—taking a few seconds to jot down some major points FIRST makes fleshing out a coherent post so much easier.
Write faster and better: https://bit.ly/228writebetterblogpost
5. Cross post between posts
What this means is that, as you create more and more posts, you can start referencing those posts in other posts. For instance, we have a post about blogging and we will leave you a link HERE to go check it out. This allows people to stay in the world you’ve built longer, if they are interested in your topic, your writing, and/or you. Also, doing cross posting between blog posts is supposed to be good for SEO—or search engine optimization—so that Google indexes your blog at a higher ranking than it would if you did not. Another benefit to cross posting is that, eventually, you will have enough posts on a certain topic to start doing series. For instance—and in a similar fashion—we now have playlists of our travel vlogs, etc.
Here's how we got on 18 playlists in one week: https://bit.ly/286playlistsblog
6. Promote on social media
We know it’s likely a given to share your blog post on your social media accounts, but be sure to let folks who follow you know that you’ve got something that you’re proud of that they can consume. Sharing on social media is a first way to easily promote your posts. Write a short intro about what folks can expect in the post and share a photo and the link to your people. Even if they don’t end up checking it out, it lets them know that you’re out there making moves and who DOESN’T appreciate having someone in their life that’s passionate about something?
Benefits of having a blog (for the D.I.Y. Rock Star): https://bit.ly/325diyrockblog
7. Prioritize enjoying the journey
We KNOW we probably sound like a broken record, but since you are likely wanting to blog for the foreseeable future, it’s important to put your OWN happiness first. THIS is counter-intuitive to MUCH of the advice we see out there for blogging, but if you don’t need the blog to pay the bills, you can afford to ask yourself what YOU like writing about and just point yourself that that direction. So, YES, we try to optimize our posts as much as possible, but we don’t stress over how many links get clicks and how many people we reach, in general. We have the belief that if we put our “good stuff” out into the world, the folks who are meant to find it will and that, even if it takes a while, we have already done good things by creating and publishing.
Top 20 Prince Countdown: https://bit.ly/princecountdown
Finally...
If you are thinking about starting a blog and want to learn a little more about the process and some tricks to keep it running smoothly, we hope this post was helpful.
If you like this post, you might like:
Why do I need a website? https://bit.ly/252websiteblog
Here’s why to be on more than one social media platform: https://bit.ly/Ep141moresocmedblog
10+ Social Media Tips: https://bit.ly/socmediablog
EPK Basics: https://bit.ly/251epkbasicsblog
How to get out of creative rut: https://bit.ly/324outofrutblog
Join our independent artist community Facebook group: http://bit.ly/diyrockstarjoin
Here are some great reasons to use a pseudonym: https://bit.ly/128pseudonymblog
Why creating a vision board matters: https://bit.ly/rockstarvision
Self-Care for the D.I.Y. Rock Star: https://bit.ly/7self-care
What do you think?
Do you have a blog?
If so, what was YOUR reason for starting one?
What did we leave out?
We’d love to hear what you have to say! Leave them in the comments below.
Want to know how to take better band photos? https://bit.ly/betterbandphotos
Which is better; releasing singles or an album? https://bit.ly/294waterfallblog
MPC One+ Unboxing: https://bit.ly/mpconeplusunboxingpost
File Management for the D.I.Y. Rock Star: https://bit.ly/229filemgmtblog
So, will we do it again? HELL, YEAH! 🙌🏾 In fact, our NEXT livestream is scheduled for soon, where we will debut the next music video for Bourgeoisie Paper Jam’s album “Obtanium Flow” --unless you are a member of our Patreon community. (If you’re in our Patreon, you will see the video one week earlier. Join here.)
Limited edition “Obtanium Flow” designs:
· “Clouds” T-shirt design: https://bit.ly/obtflwtshirt623
· “Retro Flow” T-shirt design: https://bit.ly/flowretroshirtaug23
81+ types of social media posts: https://bit.ly/277socialmediapostsblog
If you need to do social media, here are 10+ social media tips: https://bit.ly/socmediablog
Need Contest Ideas for D.I.Y. Rock Stars? https://bit.ly/contestideasblog
Here’s what we’re into now:
· We’re featured in Variety Magazine! https://bit.ly/featuresxsw2023
· The video for “Every Heartbeat” is doing well in Indonesia! https://bit.ly/everyheartbeatvid
· The Tony Webb "Funkalicious" video is going crazy in Honduras, y'all! https://bit.ly/twebbfunkaliciousvid
· One of our videos for our song, “Tell Me What You Want,” is going gangbusters in Vietnam! https://bit.ly/tellmewhatyouwantvid
If you like this, you might enjoy:
· Basic Recording Studio Setup: https://bit.ly/246basicstudiopost
· What to do when real life interrupts your artistic process? https://bit.ly/241reallifeblog
· 7 Strategies for rebounding from creative burnout: https://bit.ly/239digoutofburnoutblog
· How to give better interviews (for D.I.Y. Rock Star): https://bit.ly/236betterinterviewsblog
· How to give better live performances: https://bit.ly/219betterliveblog
· How to collaborate better (for D.I.Y. Rock Star): https://bit.ly/Ep163collaborateblog
· How to write quicker, but better (for D.I.Y. Rock Star): https://bit.ly/228writebetterblogpost
· Should you ever play for free? https://bit.ly/214playfreeblog
· 17 Tips for taking better band photos—ESPECIALLY if you taking them yourself: http://bit.ly/betterbandphotos
NOW:
New single, "Lovely Mystic (Obtanium Flow),” by Bourgeoisie Paper Jam http://bit.ly/BandCampPMG and
follow on Spotify at https://bit.ly/bpjspotfollow
More Ways to experience B L O O M I N G P R E J I P P I E :
· All things “Obtanium Flow”: https://bit.ly/bpjobtflwlinks
· Blog: http://bit.ly/bpblogsubscribe
· Shop: https://bit.ly/prejippieshop
· Patreon: https://bit.ly/PMGPatreon
· YouTube: http://bit.ly/youtubesubprejippie
· Gab & Jam podcast: https://bit.ly/gabandjamhq
· Soundcloud (music): https://soundcloud.com/prejippie
· Join the Bourgeoisie Paper Jam Street Team! https://bit.ly/BPJstreetteam
· Prejippie Patreon: https://bit.ly/PMGPatreon
· Be the NEXT D.I.Y. Rock Star Handbook Pre-order: https://bit.ly/prejippiebklanding
· Funky Happy People (Who Listen to a Variety of Genres of Music) Facebook Group: http://bit.ly/funkyhappyjoin
· Be the Next D.I.Y. Rock Star Facebook Group: http://bit.ly/diyrockstarjoin
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Until next Monday, here’s wishing love, peace, and chicken grease!
Did you know that along with putting together our next album, we are working on our first book? Here’s the link, if you want to pre-order: https://bit.ly/diybookorder
Use the code HOLIDAY2023 at checkout for a 50% off discount. Limited time only!
