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If you want to start your own blog, learn how to make money from it and monetize it on the internet. Whether you’re just starting out or already have an established following, this article will help you hit a home run with your music blog and get started earning passive income from day one!
If you want to start a music blog, there are many ways to monetize it. One way is to create an Instagram profile and start posting pictures of your band or concerts. You can also use Patreon as an option for funding your blog.
You want to establish a music blog, but you don’t know where to start. There is no need to be concerned. There are just six basic steps to creating a music blog. This blog will teach you those methods as well as how to start a profitable music blog.
I’ve spent the greater part of a decade assisting hundreds of new bloggers in starting their blogs from the ground up. My best advice for beginning a music blog is to choose a dependable and versatile blogging platform.
To start a brand-new music blog, I suggest utilizing a self-hosted WordPress website. WordPress is the world’s most powerful and adaptable blogging platform. Bluehost is my preferred WordPress blog hosting provider. Bluehost can provide you with dependable and secure blog hosting without breaking the budget.
Starting and monetizing a music blog is as easy as following six basic steps. They are as follows:
1. Determine your niche.
The major question you must ask yourself as an aspiring music blogger in this first phase is, “What sort of music blog do I want to start?” Now is the moment to be very specific about the topics you’ll cover on your blog and who your ideal blog audience is.
Music Blog Niche Examples
A niche is a certain topic area or overarching theme on which you want to concentrate your blog. There are a variety of music blog niches to choose from. Your specialty might be anything from a little to a lot narrower. Your blogging specialty, for example, may be the whole genre of hip-hop music, or it could be just focused on hip-hop performers in Boise.
Here are a few specialty suggestions to help you narrow down your blogging focus:
- Hip-hop, metal, rock, rap, and dance music
- News and developments in the music business
- Music trivia and facts
- Technology in music
- Brand-new music
- Local or self-employed artists
- Recorded Reviews of music
- Festivals, concerts, and other events are all part of the music scene.
- Lessons in music or performance approaches
- Instruments that are specific to music
- Your music or your band
Choose a topic that you’re enthusiastic about and certain you’ll be able to produce content for in the long term. Do your study by looking up other music blogs in the categories you’re interested in. Learn from what others have done well and what they haven’t done well, and look for ways to build something more unique than anything else on the internet today.
Trying to cover every genre and form of music is the worst error you can do right now. It’s just impossible to concentrate on the whole width and depth of the music world. If you attempt, visitors to your site will get confused. That’s why the most popular music blogs tend to specialize in a small area.
The worldwide dance music community is the focus of the Dancing Astronaut blog. (Image courtesy of dancingastronaut.com)
Who do you want to read your music blog?
You should think about who your target audience is for your blog as you decide which topic to pursue. Consider who will be most interested in visiting your website and returning for more.
Here are some possible target markets for your music blog:
- Fans of a certain musical genre
- Fans of a specific generation of music
- Fans of music in a certain area or city
- Your band’s or your music’s fans
- Musicians who work as professionals
- Musicians that are just starting off
- Music instructors
- Students of music
- DJs
Take a look at where your target audience is presently on the internet. How are those people’s needs for music news and information now being met? What sorts of information piques their attention the most? As a music blogger, the more you understand your target audience’s requirements, goals, and interests, the more successful you’ll be.
The Rap Radar blog’s target audience is rap music enthusiasts. (Image courtesy of rapradar.com)
2. Establish Goals & Select Monetization Strategies
Setting objectives and selecting how to monetise your music blog is the second step in launching a music blog. You may be tempted to skip this step and go straight to choosing and setting up a blog platform, but I highly advise against it. Bloggers that take the effort to create a well-defined blog business plan have significantly more success than those who establish blogs on the shaky “just wing it” technique.
Here are some common aims shared by prominent music bloggers:
- Make money with your blog
- Get others to notice your music.
- Promote your music-related services, such as DJing or music production.
- Make a name for yourself as an online influencer.
- Concerts, festivals, and events are all free to attend.
- Obtain gigs in the music business.
Set aside sometime now to determine your top priorities, which may or may not be on the list above.
The Consordini site monetizes via affiliate marketing and advertising and provides reviews of musical instruments and equipment. (Image courtesy of consordini.com)
Top Music Blog Monetization Strategies
If one of your top goals is to Make money with your blog, I’ve got some good news for you: there are many ways you can earn a living or a lucrative side income as a music blogger. Here are a few top monetization techniques:
- Use a prominent advertising network to place ads on your website.
- Publish sponsored content
- Offer music or music-related services for sale.
- Affiliate marketing
- Charge artists a fee to feature brand-new music on your blog
- Create an online shop.
As a blogger, your income potential is determined by a variety of variables, including blog traffic and audience interaction. It’s a good idea to employ numerous monetization strategies on your site if you want to generate the maximum money.
The online shop for DJs on the DJ Tech Tools site generates revenue. (Image courtesy of store.djtechtools.com)
3. Choose a Blog Name & Domain
It’s time to come up with a name for your blog and choose a domain. The name of your music blog is the cornerstone of your brand. The ideal blog names are brief (between six and eighteen characters), memorable, and simple to spell. Blog names that incorporate terms that describe the blog’s topic are more powerful than those that are less descriptive.
Check to verify whether the domain name for your blog is available before deciding on a name.
4. Select a Blogging Platform & Set Up Your Blog
Which platform to choose is one of the most significant choices you’ll make when starting your blog. Switching platforms later may be a real pain in the neck, so start your blog on a platform that will grow with you as your site expands and save yourself a lot of time and trouble.
The best blogging platforms are stable, scalable, and easy to use. For those who want to Make money with your blog, I always recommend going with a self-hosted WordPress site—which is what I use when building new blogs.
Top music blogs and websites created on the self-hosted WordPress platform are shown below (Source: wordpress.org)
WordPress is the most popular open-source content management system (CMS) in the world, with more bloggers using it than any other platform. Thousands of design templates, themes, and plugins are available for use with WordPress, allowing for maximum blog personalization.
To start your self-hosted WordPress blog, you’ll need a safe and dependable hosting service. Bluehost provides hosting plans beginning at $2.95 per month, with a free domain and personalized email address included in the first year.
WordPress themes for music blogs examples (Source: justfreethemes.com)
Create a WordPress Blog
It’s quite simple to set up a WordPress blog. You’re ready to choose a WordPress theme after you’ve bought your domain and chosen a hosting provider. A theme is a style and layout guide for your blog that guarantees it appears attractive and professional.
You may get your theme from a variety of places, including StudioPress, ThemeIsle, and Elegant Themes. There are even WordPress themes designed just for music websites. There are several providers from which you can obtain your theme, including StudioPress, ThemeIsle, and Elegant Themes. You’ll even find WordPress themes explicitly for music websites. On average, expect to pay from $0 to $149 for your WordPress theme. to $149 on average.
The next step is to install various WordPress plugins on your site. Plugins are pre-written bits of code that make adding new features and functionalities to your blog simple.
Here are a some of the most widely used WordPress plugins:
- WooCommerce: Adds eCommerce functionality to your blog so that you can create an online shop.
- Akismet: Prevents spam comments (and most blogs get a lot of these)
- Contact Form 7: Creates forms for your blog visitors to contact you automatically.
- WordFence: Provides an additional layer of protection for your blog.
- Yoast SEO: Assists you in optimizing your blog for better search engine exposure.
- Social Snap: Allows blog users to easily share your material on social media.
- MemberPress: Use this plugin to create a free or paid membership program.
5. Produce Blog Content
You’re now ready to start creating and posting blog articles. You may make a page or a blog post out of your blog material.
The way a blog page and a post are utilized is the major distinction. Pages usually have a single emphasis and are more static. Blog posts are the bits of material that you publish on a regular basis and keep track of using your blog editorial calendar.
These pages may be found on most music blogs:
- The main page is similar to the front door of your house—a it’s the key method for people to access your blog, but it’s not the only option.
- A captivating About page informs your readers about who you are and why your blog exists.
- A contact page, as the name suggests, provides information on how your blog’s readers may contact you directly.
An online shop page and a website with video clips of music are two more sites you may wish to include in your music blog.
Tip: I don’t advocate posting videos on your website directly. Video files are huge and can slow down your site as well as increase your hosting costs. Rather, upload your movies to YouTube or Vimeo and embed them into your music blog.
Make Interesting Blog Posts
Your ability to write captivating pieces that captivate your readers and keep them coming back is critical to the success of your blog. Paying attention to what’s going on in your blogging field and then developing fascinating material around it yields the finest blog post ideas.
The following are some examples of material that you may wish to include on your music blog:
- Best brand-new music
- Discussions about music events
- Interviews with musicians
- Content for learning
- Reviews of music
- Video clips of music
- Playlists of music
- Artist biographies
- Concert schedules
Music blogs, more than any other sort of blog, rely primarily on videos and audios. For music blogs, stunning photos are also required.
Interviews with indie artists may be found on the Obscure Sound blog. (Image courtesy of obscuresound.com)
Create new content for your blog on a regular basis.
The music industry is always evolving as brand-new music, and new artists enter the spotlight all the time. That’s why it’s vital that you create new content for your blog on a regular basis. At a minimum, you’ll want to post new content once a week. Adding new posts even more frequently may help you grow your blog faster, yet, never sacrifice content quality over quantity. If you want to stand out in the crowded world of music blogs, producing exceptional content is a must.
The Pitchfork music blog has a section devoted to the best brand-new music. (Source: pitchfork.com)
6. Market Information About Your Music Blog
One of the toughest tasks you’ll face as a brand-new music blogger is getting the word out about your blog. There are three highly effective ways to generate more blog traffic, including search engine optimization (SEO), blogger outreach, and social media.
SEO
The technique of increasing your blog’s visibility in search engines is known as SEO. More visitors will notice and click through to your blog articles and pages if you rank higher on Google.
Taking the time to undertake keyword research—which is the act of identifying and employing phrases that correlate with content that your target audience is looking for—is one of the keys to good SEO.
Google’s Keyword Planner (which you can access via your Google AdWords account), Answer the Public, Google Trends, and Ubersuggest are some of my favorite free keyword research tools for bloggers (which also has a paid option). ahrefs and Moz are two of my favorite premium keyword research tools.
For bloggers, Answer the Public is a popular keyword research tool. (Image courtesy of answerthepublic.com)
Blogger Outreach
In the first few months after starting a blog, most music bloggers don’t have much of a following. That’s why it’s a good idea to reach out to well-known bloggers and music influencers who can help you promote your new music blog. This is referred to as blog outreach.
Offering to write guest articles for other music blogs, appearing on music podcasts, and reaching out to influencers to offer services are all popular methods to undertake blog outreach. Helping people and adding value to their lives is a guaranteed approach to building a strong network that will support your music blog for years.
Promote & Market Your Blog on Social Media
By mastering social media marketing, you may create a big audience for your music blog. Popular social media channels where you’ll likely discover admirers for your blog include YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and Twitter.
Because keeping social media accounts may be time-consuming, I suggest concentrating on only one or two social media platforms when you’re just getting started. If your budget permits, engage a social media manager to assist you in managing social content and growing your social following.
On Instagram, the Stereogum music blog has 147,000 followers. (Image courtesy of Instagram.com)
Music Bloggers’ Success Tips
Your blog is up and running at this stage, and you’re routinely posting fresh material. You’ve mastered the fundamentals, but there are a few more pointers that can help you take your music blog to the next level.
Invite artists to submit music to your blog
You can build massive interest in your blog by inviting artists to submit music to your blog. The artists you choose to feature or review on your blog all have followings—some of which are larger than yours—and will likely share your blog posts with their followers. Plus, blog audiences enjoy hearing about brand-new music—so sharing music is a win-win-win for you, the musicians you feature, and your blog visitors.
Create a Visual Mood That Is Consistent With Your Blog’s Identity
Don’t scrimp on design when it comes to building your website. You’ll want to create a consistent brand image that reflects the tone and mood you want your music blog to convey. For example, a heavy metal music blog’s strong, in-your-face style will be quite different from a classical music blog’s restrained, high-end aesthetic.
Get assistance designing your brand identity, which includes your logo, basic color schemes, typefaces, and general blog tone, if your design abilities are limited and your money permits. On Fiverr, you may discover creative and economical designers.
An example of an Inkwell Music brand board (Source: tarragonstudios.com)
Post Lots of Video clips of music on Your Blog
It should come as no surprise that if you plan to blog about music, then you need to include Video clips of music on your blog. Some music bloggers post several different types of videos on their blogs. Videos will keep your site visitors more engaged than just about any other blog content you place on your site.
Six video categories are available on the Metal Injection blog. (Image courtesy of metalinjection.net)
Using Guest Bloggers
Creating high-quality fresh blog material might take a long time. If you ask people to become guest bloggers on your site, you may post more material more rapidly. While you’ll still need to verify material contributed by others to ensure it meets your quality requirements, utilizing guest bloggers to develop an information-rich music blog is a terrific way to get started.
Conclusion
Choosing a music specialty, a name, and domain, a blogging platform, and then generating blog material are all simple steps in starting a music blog. To start a lucrative music blog, you’ll need to provide amazing material on a regular basis and use clever monetization strategies.
Another important aspect of developing a fantastic music blog is to choose a reliable blogging platform that will allow you to expand your blog as your company develops.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do music blogs make money?
Music blogs make money by supporting the artists that they feature and promoting them through social media. For example, a music blog may offer their audience to support an artist in return for exclusive content or merchandise.
What should a music blog have?
A blog is a web site that features articles, news stories and other content related to the field of music. Blogs can include reviews or opinions on various albums by local artists or international superstars.
