5 Steps to Blog Like A ROCKSTAR

Mega-music festival season is in full swing, with successful events including Coachella and Bonnaroo going off without a hitch, while Lollapalooza and Austin City Limits are just around the corner.Many musical artists choose these venues to show off some of their new work and feel the crowds out to see if they’ve pieced together their next big hit. And while PBJ Marketing might not have any Grammy Award winning recording artists on staff, Social Media Consultant Mack Collier recently outlined in a blog that comparing web content production and song writing might not be that farfetched. They might have a lot more in common than you think…

Step One: Get it all down on paper

Now I don’t know how many musicians you know, but the ones I’ve come across tend to carry around a small journal or notepad to jot down ideas and inspiration for their next piece. This is where a song (and a successful blog post) start – getting your thoughts down on paper in a rough draft.For a musician, this might include the title, some hard-hitting lyrics, and a catchy course. While your blog needs a catch title (I mean, Stairway to Blogger Heaven? Genius!), instead of writing poetry, focus on big ideas, including keywords, sources, and maybe a few subheads for the outline. Don’t worry about ironing out the details just yet, with a general idea you can now revisit the piece and revise as necessary.

Step Two: Get in the recording studio

Luckily you don’t need a multimillion-dollar studio and audio engineer to start producing your blog – all you need is a computer (and ideally an internet connection). Like a musician, your first take will probably be pretty rough, but that’s what a producer (or in your case an editor) is for. Giving your piece to a second or even third set of eyes can provide clarity on what works and what doesn’t.

Step Three: Everyone needs a good promoter

Although musicians promote their work through very different mediums, the concept remains the same. Musicians often have to rub elbows radio stations to play their songs and music venues to let them on the stage. Similarly, once you post your search engine optimized content and properly link it to Twitter, Facebook, and other sites, don’t be shy about courting friends and family to share your work to their social media networks.

Step Four: Handling your first hit

Once a musician’s work starts to gain traction and their fanbase grows, they’ll need to book a tour and fan appearances to really drive home their legitimacy. You can do the same, since the popularity of your post makes you more marketable, Collier explains. Reach out to popular websites in your niche and ask if you can guest blog to cross promote your name through established outlets. In addition, with the growing popularity of twitter chats, ask to co-host an event to further discuss the details of your post with followers.

Step Five: Make your Greatest Hits Album

The best selling Greatest Hits Album of all time was put together by The Eagles, and only used songs that came out between 1971 and 1975. Despite this narrow window of songs to use, the 10-track album went platinum 29 times (that’s nearly 19 million units sold).As a blogger, you want to make your most popular posts easy to find in one place. Over the years, track how many shares, Retweets, likes, and traffic your posts rack up. Once you have a decent sample size, create a most-popular blog posts section on your website so readers can get a taste for your own Greatest Hits.

PBJ’s Pro Tip

Like the music industry, you want to surround yourself with a well-established group of professionals who have nothing but your best interest in mind. (I mean, look what happened to Little Michael!)