The Blogging Side Of Music - Part 5 of 5 - Christina Duren

Friday, 11 June 2010, 2 Comments

Today is the 5th and final part of The Blogging Side Of Music. Over the past week we have discussed key aspects of music blogging from the point of view of both music blogger and musician. After discussing how to establish a blog, including all of the finer points of style of content, the importance of consistency and the benefits of blogging, we discussed strategies for establishing direction and engagement for your blog.

Today, we will conclude the series by speaking with the General Manager of digital PR firm Ariel Publicity, Christina Duren. We got a chance to speak with Christina about how to properly promote a music blog, as she has done with the music marketing strategies blog for Cyber PR Urban:


Who is the target audience of your blog?

The target audience for our blog is broken down into two groups 1. DIY Musicians and Artists, and 2. Entrepreneurs.

How do you set goals for yourself; how do you know results are "good"?

I set monthly goals for myself based on specific content I would like to make sure goes up on the blog, as well as based on he amount of times I post. I can tell that I’m getting great results just by the comments alone and the amount of re-posting I receive from other blogs

Do you find that consistency of topic coverage and frequency of posts plays a role in success?

Yes it does for sure! One of my main goals I’ve set for the blog is to stay consistent with fresh content. I want to make sure that I’m sending out unique and desirable content so I’ve set a goal of a one new blog post every two weeks, and have stuck to it. I’ve also set a goal of using the blog as a tool to drive more people to sign up for the Cyber PR Urban newsletter. Just from the hard numbers alone of about 2-3 comments per post and about 2-3 people signing up to the newsletter on a consistent weekly basis, shows me that the results have been pretty favorable.

What sort of thought-process goes into creating a title for each blog post? Do you believe that an attractive link can help to gain exposure?

At Cyber PR we put a ton of thinking into our blog post titles. Our blog posts titles usually are also the subject line to our newsletters we send out as well. We’ve attended many online marketing programs that give you some great advice for titles, such as phrasing it as a how – to question. We are thinking how can we get the reader to want to click and read the full post. I do feel that an attractive link can help as well. Bit.ly helps us with this. Since we have our own bit.ly account it allows you to create customized smaller URL’s that you can use on Facebook and Twitter.

Do you use any sort of SEO programs (search engine optimization) to help increase traffic to your blog?

I’ve never used a specific format but we do have a spreadsheet of each place to repost our blogs. Since we are catering to DIY musicians with how to blog posts there are ton of other sites such MusicThinkTank.com that we also utilize to repost on. Also making sure that all of our social networking sites have been updated with the link to the new blog post helps with our SEO.

[NOTE FROM JON: After receiving these responses from Christina, I joined the Music Think Tank community and have found very positive results! I would STRONGLY recommend checking Music Think Tank out and get involved in any way possible. Word to the wise though: The community is very specific, so make sure your content fits the style and desire of the community before posting. With my experience, the old adage 'it can't hurt to try' does not work with blogging. Submitting your content to a place where it does not fit just makes you look out of touch.]

Do you share your articles on sites like Digg, Delicious or Reddit? Do you find these sites to benefit your blog in terms of traffic? Engagement?

All of our blog posts are equipped to be shared with several sites. We do use delicious.com heavily for sure. Being able to tag our posts with specific words that people may searching/googling for helps in funneling more people to the blog.

Have you found social networking sites like Facebook or Twitter to help your blog to expand its reach? If so, are there are sort of specific strategies that you have found to be more beneficial than others?

Yes, tremendously! The majority of the readers of my blog are generally through Twitter alone. We installed a plug in onto the blog that automatically does a Tweet, and Facebook update and Facebook note when a new blog post is up. Usually just from re-tweets from other people and people liking and commenting on the Facebook updates we are able to get a lot more traffic to the blog.

What are some social network tips you'd recommend for others?

Number one tip would be make sure that every time you blog you are updating each of your social networking sites with a link to the blog post. You have to meet the people where they are. It’s great to have a new blog post but promoting is key for you blog to flourish. Each social networking site now usually allows plug in’s for you to update most of them automatically when you post. A great suggestion is to use ping.fm to update all of your social networking sites at once with the URL to the new post.


 What is the advantage to guest blogging? Do you guest blog or have guest bloggers on your site?

There are several advantages to guest bloggers, at times we can get very burnt out in trying to think of new topics to write about on the blog. Guest bloggers come in with fresh new content, and maybe a great perspective on a topic you may not have thought of. Guest blogging on other sites also puts you in what’s called an “authority” position where you can know be viewed as an expert on a specific subject.

How have you used outside commenting on others' blogs to promote your blog? Is there a right and a wrong way of doing this?

There is right and wrong way. The right way is a very subtle way. You want to respect the other bloggers blog! Making sure your comment is strictly about the post in itself. What you liked, didn’t like, etc. then what I usually do is in my signature also add a link to my blog. Usually every comment section also allows you to add a link to you comment, which is where you should be linking back to your blog. The wrong way is to disregard the post entirely with your comment, and the comment that you leave is just solely about your blog. Most people moderate their comment section and don’t even approve comments like that, so in the end it’s a waste of time and energy either way.

What is the greatest benefit of networking with other bloggers?

Tips! I’m not the savviest person the web. I was totally clueless about plug-ins on word press. Just from attending web meetups and connecting with other bloggers I’ve learned a ton of new promotional tools that I can use on my blog.

Do you connect with other bloggers offline?

Definitely. Since Cyber PR works with hundreds of bloggers we hold yearly Digital Press Conferences inviting bloggers into our office to meet the staff, as well as are clients. We do understand there is still a life offline and being able to connect a face with a screen name or email address is priceless.

Where do you go to learn more about how you do what you do?

Since my blog is a wordpress blog, the wordpress site has an excellent customer service site that really helps me a lot with installing new plug ins or just understanding how to do basic things on their wordpress dashboard. I also suggest attending some of the web meetups on meetup.com that’s in your area. Talking to other people that are also blogging helps with not just how to do things on your blog, but inspiration and motivation to continue blogging.

As an overview, what is the most important thing a blogger can do to promote their blog?

Making sure that are you are being consistent in your content. Having a scheduled time when posts go up and sticking to it will have readers anticipating the next post and coming back for more. Also utilizing social media is key here! This is really the best time to have a blog, and an online voice. You have literally the world at your fingertips, everyone knows how to use social networking sites so make sure you are promoting your blog where the people are and not just blindly thinking that will automatically come to you.


The Blogging Side Of Music will explore the dos and don'ts, the styles and techniques, and ultimately the tips and strategies of a successful music blogger. Each day, Each interview will feature of a different style of music blogger, ranging from a musician who uses a blog as part of his promotional strategy to the general manager of a major digital PR firm who runs a music marketing strategies blog.

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Have suggestions or feedback about today's interview? Please feel free to email me or leave a comment below!

2 Comments

• Chris B.. Friday, 11 June 2010, 8:51 AM

  The best tip in this interview, by far, is to be subtle when plugging you blog in the comments section of other bloggers. There's nothing I hate more than to get that notification e-mail from Wordpress for a new comment, just to find out its some jackass saying "Hi! check out my [insert thing I won't ever look at]!"
  
  Gotta become an active community member and gain some respect before anyone is going to care about what you do. :P

• Jon Ostrow. Friday, 11 June 2010, 9:07 AM

  I couldn't agree with you more Chris! A spam comment left on a blog is not only poor blogging etiquette, but if it disrupts an existing conversation, can hurt your reputation as a legitimate blogger.