How to Use Blogs and to Promote Your Music Online (I)

When I think back to my early days on the internet, it all seemed so simple then. You had only so many ways to promote yourself online: email, a website, and online discussion forums made up the bulk of available marketing tools.

How times have changed!

Now you have MP3 audio, embedded flash players, and other streaming media formats, as well as cascading style sheets, search engine optimization, VoIP, and wikis to contend with. Not to mention terms such as ActiveX, JavaScript, P2P and XHTML to stay on top of.

Then we have blogs, podcasts and RSS feeds.

I’ll make this easy and dedicate this entire article to wrapping our heads around those last three items. Why? Because blogs, podcasts and RSS have become a huge part of the way people produce and consume information online, and they will continue to grow. So if you want to make the best use of internet music marketing, guerrilla style, you must understand and embrace them – and put their magic to work for you.

What you need to know about blogs and feeds

As you may know, the word blog is short for “web log.” A blog is basically an online journal that its author uses to publish “posts,” which are separate entries to the journal. Blogs can be used for any reason and subject matter imaginable. From teenagers and activists to politicians and best-selling authors, anyone can easily and inexpensively publish a blog.

In many ways, blogs are just another version of a website with multiple pages. You can visit and read a blog page in the same way you would any other web page. The main thing that sets a blog apart from a basic web page is a nifty web-based file format called RSS.

RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. In general, it is used to publish and organize frequently updated digital content, such as blogs, news feeds and podcasts. The coolest thing about RSS is that it gives people the ability to subscribe to blogs and podcasts.

Feeding the RSS monster

In the old days, when you found a website you were interested in and wanted to stay on top of, you had two choices: 1) subscribe to the site’s e-zine and get updates by email, or 2) bookmark the site by adding it to your browser’s favorites list (but you had to remember to visit it often).

In essence, an RSS feed allows you to subscribe to a website, which just happens to be a blog. You can subscribe to blogs using something called a news reader, feed reader or aggregator. These readers are popping up everywhere. The latest versions of the Firefox and Internet Explorer browsers allow you to subscribe to feeds directly from the browser. You can also subscribe if you have a personalised page set up on Yahoo, AOL or Google. Or you can use programs and sites such as Newsgator, Bloglines, Rojo, FeedDemon and more.

Perspective: If you’re not familiar with how these feed readers work think about how your email inbox operates. You open your email program and up pops all of your latest incoming emails, listed by subject line, with the most recent message at the top.

Feed readers work in a similar way. Open it up, and all of the blogs you’ve subscribed to will show up, with the latest content at the top, usually with just the headline and maybe the first few lines of the blog post displaying. It’s a pretty awesome way to have only the information you want delivered to your desktop.

Eight cool things about blogs

You should get cozy with blogs. Here are some good reasons why:

1. Blog messages don’t get trapped in spam filters. If someone subscribes to you music blog, they will always get your latest posts (as long as they check their readers).

2. It’s easy to subscribe to a blog. And unsubscribe too. A fan simply adds your feed link to his or her news reader to subscribe. They can unsubscribe at any time by removing it from the reader.

3. Blogs are easy to publish. Most bloggers use free automated services or software. Little knowledge of HTML is required. Use a template, enter your text, and publish. You’re an instant blogger.

4. Search engines loves blogs. Google and the rest eat up fresh content and reward websites that regularly update.

5. It’s a great way to stay in touch with fans. Easily let people know about life on the road or how the new studio sessions are going.

6. Other bloggers like to blog about blogs. Once you publish a blog, you’re are part of the blogosphere, where cross-pollination rules.

7. A blog can be a great creative outlet. Expressing yourself in writing on a regular basis can be fulfilling and leaves a public record of your ideas and experiences.

8. You can build community and encourage interaction. Activate the comments feature on your blog and get immediate feedback to your questions, stories and rants.

If you’ve been shying away from the blog world, dive on in. The water’s fine.

What you need to know about podcasts

Now that we’re comfortable with blogs and RSS feeds, let’s turn to a phenomenon called podcasting. Even though the name was inspired by Apple’s iPod, you don’t need an iPod to either produce or listen to a podcast. In essence, a podcast is an audio blog that features links to MP3 files (and even video content). A podcast can include music or spoken-word content and often features both. Think of it as a radio show that anyone with the right tools can produce and broadcast to the world.

Using the same RSS feed technology as blogs, people can subscribe to their favourite podcasts using a “podcatcher,” a program that automatically downloads the latest media files from a selected list of podcasts to the subscriber’s computer.

Some popular podcatchers include iTunes, Odeo, PodNova and Juice. You can also use Yahoo! Music Engine, NetVibes and a growing number of common applications to subscribe to and manage podcasts.

Reality check: A podcast takes more technical skills to publish than a simple text-based blog. You must be familiar with microphones, audio editing software, bit rates, etc. But if you can swing it, podcasting offers another great way to interact and share yourself with fans.

Top blogging and podcasting resources

There are tons of services out there that can help you produce and publish your own blog or podcast. Here are some of my favorite resources:

To publish your own blog…

- Blogger.com – a free blog service owned by Google – very easy to set up and use

- Wordpress.org – free blogging software you can run your own website

- SixApart.com – a company that offers multiple online journal options, including TypePad, Moveable Type, LiveJournal and Vox

To publish your own podcast

- Gcast.com – a free podcasting service from GarageBand.com

- Libsyn.com – a low-cost service to host and publish your podcast

- Blogmatrix.com – another inexpensive option for podcasting (free for blogging)

To pump up your blog and podcast feeds

- Inoreader.com – a free service that can help you streamline your RSS feed subscriptions, add interactivity, and include lots of cool features (use it in combination with one of the blog services) – highly recommended!

For creating and hosting your podcast

- Audecity.sourceforge.net – free, open-source software for recording and editing sounds

- OurMedia.org – a site that provides free storage and bandwidth for your videos, audio files, files, photos and more