If you have a website, but you are not actively maintaining a blog…

You are seriously killing your marketing game.

Let’s dive in.

1. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

One of the most popular questions I am asked:

“How do I get my website on the front page of Google?”

It’s not easy.

One of the most significant factors considered when ranking websites in search results is the freshness of your content.

If you built your website 6 months ago and have not updated it since, forget about it.

Blogging at least once a week can considerably increase your chances at ranking higher in search results.

Other factors include:

• relevance of your content.
• are you a reputable blogger with a loyal following (this is starting to play a bigger role).
• keywords and key phrases found inside your content.
• meta titles, descriptions, and keywords.
• are you using <h1> and <h2> heading tags in your content?
• images, captions, and meta information.
• other websites including links back to yours.
• do you have a Facebook Page? are you on Twitter? signed up for Google+ yet?

That is not the full list but this article is about blogging, not SEO.

2. Blog, Engage

Your #1 goal (no matter what) should be to drive all web traffic to www.yourbandname.com.

You should then aim to engage with visitors.

You want them to 1) click play, 2) join your mailing list, 3) buy your music, and (most importantly) 4) engage with you.

It is one thing to say that, but it is a completely different monster to pull it off effectively.

Blogs (no matter what platform) are designed for community discussion. That’s why all blogs have a built-in comments system.

Even if you choose not to put any emphasis on blog comments, you can still use each blog post to entice fans to consume and share your content.

Blogging is how you keep current fans coming back. It also increases your chances at connecting with new fans.

In order to engage people, you need to have great content. Keep reading for examples and ideas.

3. Share, Spread, Go Viral

It is a simple process to implement social sharing and bookmarking buttons into your blog articles.

If you want your content to spread, this is key.

This also helps your SEO.

4. Long-tail traffic and the importance of Great Content

Another part of SEO (and blogging) is considering keywords and phrases for the long term.

The best way to explain this is to give you an example.

Our article, 3 Ways To Increase Your Chart Rank on ReverbNation, was written over a year ago but today remains the #1 read article on this site.

100% of the traffic comes from searches including phrases such as:

• how to raise rank on reverbnation
• how to cheat charts on reverbnation
• ranking reverbnation
• how to increase rank on…
• how to better band equity score
• how to increase reverbnation fans

And the list keeps going.

If you are clever with your website design, you can take the opportunity to direct this traffic to other parts of your website. But, again, this is easier said than done.

How does this apply to my band?

You create music in the blues rock genre but also receive a lot of influence from the classical guitarists you enjoy.

You are a studio geek and have a deep understanding of the gear and software used during recording.

Some ideas for creating blog content include:

• Buy albums from popular artists in your genre and write reviews on your band’s blog – you have a chance at ranking high in searches for people trying to find reviews of Keb Mo’s newest album.
• Blog a video of your band in the studio then write a paragraph or two describing the music, the songs, and the equipment or software you were using during the recording process. Including names of studios, engineers, or producers that worked with you can also help grab people’s attention.
• If a piece of art, a book, a movie, a historical figure, or any other icon of mainstream culture influences one of your songs – blog about that song and explain how that book you just read inspired your newest lyric.

The possibilities are endless.

Notes

One of the best example’s of a band implementing this strategy is Mr. Hunter of San Diego, California.

If you visit their website, their blog feeds into the front page so simply scroll down. Pay attention to the headlines and the content.

Their newest post is titled, Mr. Hunter’s Songwriting Secret Formula, and discusses the creative process and the importance of setting a goal.

From this 1 article, the band has a chance of ranking in searches for “songwriting formula”, “creative process”, “songwriting goals”, or other variations.

They have 14 pages of blog posts including songwriting strategies, photos of events, videos, pictures of their new equipment, and blogs about influences to their music.

Do you still think blogging is a waste of time? Leave a comment below.