Talking On The Blogging Side Of Music

LLast week I was interviewed by MicControl’s Jonathan Ostrow for his Blogging Side Of Music interview series. We spoke about the strategies for establishing direction and engagement within a music blog (at least I tried to share my modest experience gained while working on Dotted Music), and blogging in general. The whole thing was exciting and I had a great time answering Jon’s questions, so huge respect to him and his project.

The full interview is available at this location, read few excerpts from it below (the most practical ones, in my opinion):

What sort of tips can you give to new music bloggers and new musicians looking to establish the direction of their own blogs?

As Seth Godin recently warned, “the Internet is almost full”. Picking readers’ attention is harder and harder and harder each year and even month or week. I don’t think you need to afraid to fail though, remember that it’s all about fun (good luck if you began blogging to get rich). Experiment, try things that no one or only few have done before, see the results and either stick to the new direction or try something new again. Your goal is to stand out against the crowd of blogs in your niche, so experimenting by itself will do a lot for you.

If you are a musician, of course just blog in any way you can, even if your grammar skills suck. Don’t do it for the sake of being trendy, do it for fun. Keep your posts short if you are not wordy (most readers will appreciate that!), but say something cool each time you leave a post. You are a rock star, and your life IS interesting to others by default. What seems boring to you will sound spicy to others, especially your fans.

Did you do any research to learn new and more effective ways to establish and promote your blog? If so, where did you receive the best information from?

I had been spending hours reading dozens of blogs dedicated to that, like Copyblogger, ProBlogger, Blogging Tips etc. They are all great, that is fact, but these sites are mostly recycling the same information over again. I’ve learned absolutely essential things from such blogs, but also understood that there is no need to constantly keep up with each of them to get your website running great. Instead of falling into the learning trap, like I love to do, just open your online editor and write a new blog post!

Did blogging present new avenues for networking and establishing connections with people that may not have been available to you through social networks?

Yes and this is one of the most amazing things about blogging to me. Owning a blog gives great opportunities in finding new connections in your industry. Most of the people nowadays realize the influence of blogging, so you’ve got very strong chances to get a response from a high profile person even if you blog is young and small.

How can a blog network benefit new bloggers looking to establish their own brand?

If you want to build a name in your niche (and I know that you do), you should find as many blogs of the same topic as possible and start not only reading them, but constantly leaving comments in their posts, contacting their founders, asking to do guest posts. And if you do a guest post, share the best stuff you’ve got!

Networking is crucial for establishing a successful blog and spending more time on networking is one of the top priorities in my to-do list for Dotted Music.

How long did it take you to establish a ‘voice’ within your writing? Do you have any tips for new bloggers looking to find their own voice?

I think I’m still establishing my voice! Writing in English is an exciting challenge by itself, as I’m Russian. But I have to note that expressing ideas in a language different from your native one proved to be healthy. You don’t have a too wide scope for writing unnecessary stuff, and so this is my advice to everyone – keep it clear and to the point.

If interested, read more over here, and be sure to check out other articles from the series – very inspiring.

Also, using a chance, I want to apology for writing here so rarely lately. You will see a lot of interesting stuff on Dotted Music very soon, so stay tuned!

Thanks for reading :)