There are two ways to approach a blog about music. The first approach is promoting yourself and your work, which will do better on social media platforms, especially thru YouTube and Facebook.
The second approach is by helping others thru your music, providing them helpful content, and monetizing your blog thru different methods.
This lesson is about the second approach.
How Do I Get Started With A Music Blog?
Start by deciding what you can offer best. Make sure it aligns with what you are passionate about or your expertise.
Doing it this way will make everything easier for you, and will also give your blog a better chance of succeeding because people can easily decide if their "mentor" is the perfect teacher for their needs.
For example, if you can play the guitar well, then you might want to consider teaching others how to play it.
Learn keyword research to know what people are looking for.
Here are some sample keywords you can build your content around:
- How to play guitar chords
- Guitar lessons for beginners
- Acoustic guitar songs for kids
You will find many other queries in your keyword research, and you can use them when creating content on your music blog.
Narrow down your niche to cater specific target audience.
If you choose "guitar lessons for beginners" as your niche, you need to create an imaginary person as your target audience.
Here's an example profile of a target audience:
Janna is 7 years old. She would always watch kids her age play classical music and have always wondered if she can do it too.
She doesn't have a guitar yet.
They lived in a place where guitar lessons in person are not possible. The only way to learn is online.
Her parents are non-musicians but Janna is insistent to learn it even if it's just online.
By having this "imaginary story" that you are trying to solve, you are giving your blog a chance to be unique.
How Do You Monetize A Music Blog?
Before you can make money with your music blog, you need visitors (a.k.a traffic). These can be done thru Search Engine Optimization or SEO.
When you do SEO, you are aiming to reach out to your target audience coming from search engines such as Google, who type search queries to help solve their "problems."
How do you start helping Janna?
Start by producing content on how her non-musician parents can choose what guitar to buy. You can even recommend accessories to accompany their purchase.
Product reviews work best when you have the expertise about things you are reviewing. Reviews are usually monetized thru affiliate marketing.
Affiliate marketing is when you recommend a company's products and services, often with links to their website, in order to get a commission on every sale.
Pointing them to Amazon or any other online store you choose to be affiliated with will give you commissions on qualified purchases.
As a beginner, I would always recommend applying to the Amazon Associates program since you don't necessarily need to sell a specific product in order to get commissions.
Any purchase made thru your Amazon affiliate link can pay you!
Once you think you have provided enough guidance on what guitar to buy, the next content to produce are the basics, like understanding the parts of the guitar and what are they for.
These types of content are called "evergreen content" or content that doesn't easily expire.
In theory, the more evergreen content you produce now, the lesser work you will have in the future since concepts don't easily change.
Evergreen content is usually monetized thru display ads which you would normally see on a blog sidebar, within the content, and even on the header and footer.
Producing more product reviews is the fastest way to earn since you are talking to audiences who are in the buying stage, or those who are already going to buy anytime (depending on the quality of your review).
However, take note that because there will always be new products coming every time, your reviews can expire fast, too.
Producing video lessons will easily help Janna to learn fast. Make sure that you upload them to YouTube and embed the videos to your blog posts.
Doing this will help with SEO a lot!
As your YouTube channel grows, you can monetize it too with ads.
Are Music Blogs Worth It?
Compared to using just YouTube alone to teach Janna how to play the guitar, having a blog in place will give you the freedom to produce long-form content.
When you accumulate content that always ranks well in search engines, you can attract more visitors.
This can make you qualified for several other monetizing methods like selling your own music course thru your website, selling digital or physical products thru an online store in your blog, and even paid partnerships with companies who are interested in your niche.
For these reasons alone, it's worth investing in starting a blog about music!
How Much Money Do Music Bloggers Earn?
Your earnings will always be dependent on the content you are producing, how well you understand keyword research, if you are reaching your target audience well enough and if your content provides value in the first place.
The amount of traffic you receive largely determines how much you'll make through advertising revenue.
As far as salary ranges go, that will depend on how much time you have available.
You might have an active day job but finds some extra time blogging in your “spare” time. Or you can work full-time hours during the weekdays and just occasionally produce content over weekends.
The more time you spend building your site, the more earnings could happen.
You are the only one capable of making it happen.
Conclusion
It doesn't matter how good your blog looks, or what you're doing to market it. If there is no content or the content doesn't have any value at all, then there's no point in continuing on with that niche!
The only way this strategy will work is by providing great content on a regular basis.
It's not an easy task, but it is achievable and worth the effort.
There are many ways to do this. Find what works best for YOU! What I want you to take away from reading this post is that with proper knowledge, consistent hard work, and dedication, anything can be accomplished!
What do you think?
This is a very interesting and informative blog post for music lovers – also for people who play music themselves. Now they can convert their passion and monetize it through blogging. Most people play music as their hobby and they are really good with it – just that they don’t have the channel to showcase their work.
The music industry is an ever-changing landscape, and with so many musicians out there, it’s hard to get your voice heard. But you can use a blog as the perfect way to showcase what you’re capable of! If blogging isn’t for everyone, then at least this gives some insight on how people in other fields might run their online business. 🙂
I love music!! I really enjoyed reading your article, these are very good advice for someone who wants to start a music blog.
I like to listen to different kinds of genres, and when I was younger I also learned to play the piano. Unfortunately, I am not very good at it, but it is good to do it just for fun and to have something to relax on. Music can really help our mind and soul when we are in distress.
Thank you,
Maja
Hi Maja,
Before starting a blog, it’s important to determine exactly what you want your blog to be about. The world overflows with experts in every field, and people love standing out by providing niche content. For instance, if you can figure out a distinctive point of view that sets you apart from other music blogs while still related to music, then there’s no reason why it will be hard for you to attract a readership.
Can I be successful with a music blog even if I am not very good at music? Yes! You can definitely be successful if you have passion for it. The tips I share in the article detail that you need a diverse set of skills and qualities in order to make it work. Good luck! 🙂