I’m going to start a series of posts here that will focus on the benefits and power of blogging. It will even have it’s own category (Hip Hop Blog). I’ll be sharing how, after almost 3 years of running this blog, How I’ve been able to generate income and benefit from it while also being a music producer. A lot of what I’ll be sharing in these posts will be helpful to you no matter what the nature of your business is. Whether you’re an artist, a beatmaker, or a run a clothing line, starting a blog can be one of the best things you can do to capture an audience and keep a fresh presence on the Internet. So for this introductory post, I’ll start with 5 basic reasons why you should be blogging.

1. SEO benefits: SEO stands for search engine optimization. Because blogs can be so rich in text content, they are favored by search engines like Google. This makes it easier for you to be found on the Internet, and this needed for your success. Search engines also favor blogs because they are frequently updated. This is seldom the case with typical websites. If you lived in Cleveland, you could build a blog that’s focused on the hip hop scene there, so that anyone searching for “hip hop in Cleveland” will discover you and your blog. This is just one of many examples of how blogs can be used to widen your reach. It’s the way I constructed this blog to make the first Google search page for “independent hip hop”. Many new readers searching for the term, discover this blog that way.

2. You’re putting too much faith in social media networks: As if Myspace wasn’t lesson enough, far too many artists I run into still don’t have websites or blogs. They’re using Facebook pages or some other service as their stand-in web page. This is no good because just like Myspace, they all have the potential to lose their popularity and then you’re stuck with having to rebuild your network on the next new social media fad.  And if these sites shut down, you’re screwed. Blogs are much different in the way that they can create a more personal connection between you and your fans without the distraction from all of the other conversations on social networks. Then you can use those networks as an extension of your blog.

3. Earning potential: Social sites like Facebook, Youtube and Twitter are all worth fortunes because of the content you and others provide on them. The amount of traffic they generate from these connections makes them valuable to advertisers. These platforms can serve as helpful tools when connecting with your fans, but you can create value by driving traffic to your own blog. For instance, an artist with a popular blog could offer an ad banner placement in exchange for tour sponsorship. Micro blogging platforms like Tumblr make this next to impossible to implement. There are many other income opportunities that can be easily generated by placing ads on your blog, but I’ll explore those, in detail, in a future post.  Also, most of the 3rd party sites where you may be hosting your music like Bandcamp, Reverbnation, or Tunecore, all have widgets that easily integrate into most blog platforms.

4. Ease of use: Blogs are basically free to set up. Indiehiphop.net is a WordPress blog. I did pay for my domain name and hosting so that I could have full control over what I what I could do with my blog. And I suggest you do the same. From my experience, WordPress is the best and easiest blogging platform to use an maintain. Updating a website can be a tedious nightmare if you don’t know what you’re doing. Blogs are much easier to update and manage.

5. Archived history for your fans. Tweets and Facebook updates almost become irrelevant the second you post a new one. Each blog update not only helps to strengthen the ability for your blog to be discovered, it also serves as an accessible history of your progress. New fans can go to your first blog entries to re-experience your journey and even search for specific posts.

In my next post about blogging, I’m going to explain how I used it to bring traffic to my business, meet some very interesting people, and even share some of the mistakes I made that you can avoid. If you haven’t already, SUBSCRIBE to the blog to stay updated.

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