HostBaby has recently launched a new blog page feature in the HostBaby Wizard.  More on that here.

What better time to address how musicians can use a blog to advance their career then right now?

Most of you know that a blog (short for web log) is a web page that allows articles, videos, and pictures to be posted in a journal-like format. Blogs also typically allow users to leave comments and therefore are a great way to interact with fans.

Blogs can also be subscribed to by clicking an RSS icon and using a ‘feed reader’ to view the content. Most browsers have a feed reader built in–so you shouldn’t have any trouble viewing and subscribing to feeds right from FireFox, Safari, or Chrome (IE is an exception, but it’s not our favorite browser anyway).

Most internet phones also have feed readers available. A feed reader is a great tool to channel all your favorite news in one place.  It’s like creating your own newspaper with only the articles, subjects, and writers that you like. If you haven’t tried using a feed reader and have a Gmail account, Google Reader is a great tool and a good place to start.

Why is having a blog important for musicians? Because a static page isn’t enough to generate return visits. A website that never changes isn’t worth visiting very often. A website that has new videos, new music, new pictures and new articles every week is far more likely to generate return visits and more sales.

Another great thing about blogs is that every post you write has the potential to be picked up and re-posted, distributed, and talked about online. Yes, blogs can go ‘viral.’

It’s the viral aspect of blogs that you should keep in mind when you are writing your posts. Don’t just write for your fans and friends, write for the world.

Say you write an article about how you got this really cool effect on a certain instrument in your last recording by doing X, Y and Z. Say one of your readers thinks it’s an awesome tip and pastes a link on Facebook to all 200 of his friends. Say one of his 200 friends is an audio engineer and she reads the article and posts it to her audio engineer buddies. Suddenly, you get 4000 people hitting your site trying to listen to the song that you wrote about. Say 300 of those people download the song. That’s how a blog can become viral.

If you hope to use the viral aspects of blogging to promote your music, write for an audience that has no idea who you are. Write as if your content is going to be published in your favorite music magazine. Write about things you are interested in. Be careful not to treat your blog as a walking advertisement for your music and your website. Most people who visit your website already like your music, so you don’t need to convince them. Sure, if you had a great show, a new single, or some cool pictures from your tour, you should post them–but look for the STORY. People loooooove stories! If your van broke down and your drummer dropped out mid tour–write about it. If the opening act at your concert spontaneously gets naked on stage–write about that. If you find yourself telling your friends this same amazing anecdote over and over again–write about that.

Being a blogger means that you are running your own publication. You are the reporter, editor, designer, photographer and publicist (Luckily running your own blog costs a lot less then running a magazine or newspaper). If you don’t like wearing all these hats, share the responsibilities with your band mates.

Most of all, have fun and experiment. A blog can be whatever YOU want it to be. Read other blogs by musicians (Check out Finger Tips) and see what works and what doesn’t. Ask your friends to submit articles. Ask other bloggers to ‘guest blog’ and publish their articles on your blog.   And, no, you don’t have to be a great writer to blog–just a good entertainer.