In my mind, there are two types of rock stars on the market…the long lasting icons and the fly-by-night flavor of the week. While each flavor-of-the-week rock star has dreams of making it big for the rest of their career, there are certain aspects to their style and management that make that never possible. The iconic rock stars have elements to their work and how they run their business that brings success year in and year out.
So…what can we learn about blogging from rock stars? As you continue to build and expand your blogging, you need to look at other creative avenues and see what makes them see massive success and bring that success into your business and blog. Here are the top 7 things that iconic rock stars can teach us about our blogs.
Top 7 Things Rock Stars Can Teach Us About Blogging
What to be a rock star blogger?! Here is your chance…
- Long-Lasting Niche – Truly successful rock stars that have ultimate staying power are in long-lasting established niches (rock, country, rap). While the competition is higher in these fields, they have the ability to have long term success. The rock stars that just ride the latest “it” wave typically see fast growth and a large following, but when that fad fades off into the distance…they are no where to be found (where are most of the boy bands today?). When you are blogging, is your topic on that could be gone at any point? All of that hard work will go down the tubes with it. You need staying power and by blogging on a subject that is not a fad that will go with the wind…you solidify that staying power.
- Diversification – Iconic rock stars have clothing lines, music videos, theme parks…and all of this is built around their central branding structure so that their name is EVERYWHERE and it is all profitable! While the flavor of the week’s try to accomplish this task, they see to fall short in favor of making a quick buck over providing quality. As a blogger, you need to look into areas where you can diversify your offerings over time to create a wider spread (clothing, forums, wider niche, sub-sites, etc.) and bring the same amount of consistent quality to each of your new assets.
- Appeal To Large Audience – You can not be a iconic rock star without appealing to a large audience. While there are some fantastic musicians that have an incredible amount of talent in the underground, eclectic music market…they will never make it big because they do not appeal to a wide enough audience. As a blogger, you can have fantastic content, but if that content does not appeal to a large enough audience…you are going to have a hard time really making a run at it.
- Be Different – How many “copycat” rock stars ever make it big? They might have their 5 minutes of fame, but the original always wins out. People like originals…they like hearing something new…and they can spot a copycat right away. As a blogger, you need to come to the table with something new and original. This does not mean it has to be a new and original niche…but you do need to present it in a way that is unique. If you are just trying to ride the coat tails of another successful blogger, you are just going to get frustrated as no one really grabs onto your content. Why would they? They can have the original at another site!
- Bring Personality – People connect with rock stars that have personality. This personality can take many forms and is unique to the rock star (Garth Brooks, Jim Morrison, Eminem). Their unique personality bleeds through their music and listeners directly relate to this inner feeling. If your writings as a blogger lack feeling and seem more like a research paper, your readers are not going to connect with your content. Readers read blogs to connect with people and read what you have to say. Sometimes…using the hardest points in our lives as personal examples can bring the largest amount of success. What is your favorite song and why? Did it speak to something you had going on in your life at the time? The same will hold true to your blogging with your readers.
- Manage Your Business – One of the main reasons some great talents never make it is because they do not manage their life or their business. As they start to see success, the success goes to their head and all rational thinking goes out the window (Axle Rose). You can have all of the talent in the world, but if you do not manage your life and your business, you will never make it big as a blogger. Get ready to be your own accountant and manager in the beginning and make sure you have everything lined up correctly including your time management. Poorly managed businesses fail just like failed rock stars.
- Adapt To The Times – Rock stars that span decades have been able to adapt to the times and appeal to audiences that span generations (Aerosmith). They were also able to accomplish this without losing sight of who they really are and that is why they do not lose loyal fans. Are you able to adapt with the changing atmosphere of blogging? The Internet is the fastest changing field you will find anywhere. You have to stay on top of trends and continue to learn or you will get left in the wake of old CSS code.
Long lasting, iconic, business blogging is possible if you play your cards right. Are there some bloggers that are going to ride the flavor-of-the-week wave a lot longer than you thought was possible? Of course…but the percentage is incredibly small. Your best bet as a blogger is to focus on your staying power and put things in place that will allow you to grow over time and become that rock star, iconic blogger you have imagined in your head. Be original, be yourself and continue to push the envelope looking for ways to continually grow your business.
16 comments
These points are all so very true. I was thinking about this same type of topic last night.
It’s so easy to get lost in the little details. Management of your business is huge. People need to be aware of all of the different things that need to be managed when owning a blog (i.e. design/branding, marketing and seo, monetization, administration, accounting, legal, technical and server maintenance, technology etc..).
I think the important thing is to be ready to blow up because it could happen over night. Making sure you have all of your ducks in a row for when that time comes is necessary.
I think to really manage this in the long run is to outsource your weaknesses and learn from your team of people. Once you get enough traffic I think that it becomes increasingly difficult to manage everything on your own.
Like you said also adaptation is key as well. If you can’t adapt with the times and make sure that your information is current and up to date you’ll find yourself in the gutter. There are topics and niches out there that are timeless. If you have a hard time adapting think about sticking with a timeless topic.
Great post Robb, thanks for the insight.
Thanks Brad. Outsourcing is something I have been concentrating on a lot lately and it is the key to long term growth. You can not do everything as things grow and you need to be able to leverage the strengths of others. It can be hard to give up responsibilities to others though…
I see that definitely being something that is difficult. Outsourcing is like giving up control. It’s difficult to put your full trust into people especially if you are paying them for it. If they don’t do a good job this can make you all the more upset and turn back to your old ways of controlling everything yourself.
Regardless leveraging other people’s strengths and giving up control of some of the key aspects is inevitable. We all need a little leverage it’s just too bad that outsourcing isnt entirely free.
Robb, I’m glad that I found this blog. I look forward to reading what you have to say. I also agree with the points you made on this most recent issue. I would like to point out that your examples on the Personality point while good examples one of your examples was killed by his strong personality and the other two had lucrative careers destroyed by their strong personalities.
Keep up the good work.
Thanks Greg! I’m glad to have you here.
Hey Rob,
This is great stuff. I love the part about personality. As I start my new surfing blog, since I’m not a pro surfer or anything of the sort I know the real key is gonna be bringing my personality into it. As I read through Gary V’s book I realized that was such a big part of his appeal.
It’s all about bringing your personal touch and personality to the table. Gary V brought that to the public’s eye in a big way. Other’s had already figured it out…he just really capitalized on it.
How blogging is like being a rock star is one of my favorite synonyms. You brought up some things that I’ve really never even thought about. I also like how a beginning blog is a lot like a beginning band. It takes a lot of hard work and time to be the next Problogger or Aerosmith. There’s a lot of small shows you have to play and hope more than just your parents show up.
Mike…I was thinking about beginning blogging and startup bands too…that was the inspiration for this article!
Your fantastic design kept distracting me from the amazing article, haha. I love rock music (alternative) and I love offbeat connections so this post is totally amazing.
I’m kind of 50/50 on the ‘long-lasting’ niche one. Sometimes new waves DO last long. Like personal computers. Or deodorant. I see no reason not to explore some options to hit where you rock the best. =)
LOL! Thanks Corey!
I hear you on the “long-lasting”. While it can be hard to predict the future…I think choosing a niche wisely is important. I wouldn’t pick something that is specific date based or something that is glaringly just a fad. Thanks for the feedback!
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As a musician I’ve always known this Robb and it’s something I’ve taught so many times to my students.
I’m only now realising how it relates to what I’m doing online… This article has been a real ‘aha’ moment for me.
Thanks for the insight.
Most (all?) of the major rockstars also started out as small touring acts. Their sound evolved as they proved themselves in the trenches, playing bars and nightclubs, touring the country packed into a crappy van.
The method for music, and more than a few blogs, today is to spend as much money as possible up front in marketing and present themselves *immediately* as a rockstar.
Buying traffic, buying clicks, buying links and having the most expensive design isn’t a substitute for good quality content. And writing good content is really HARD.
Well said Robb! Now you know why I compare bloggers/podcasters to Rockstars. 😉
Not only for the name, but also because it is very similar to how our industry works. I see tons of “flavor of the day” people pop up and fade out. Being in this industry for a number of years has taught me many things, and the people I trust more are the ones who are around for the long term. Sure, we could go all out and become a fad, but how long do they really last? Not much. The long term may contain roadblocks that the fads never even see, yet overcoming those barriers cements our position in the industry.
Hi Robb,
I feel that persistence is the key. You’ll pick up everything you need to be a better blogger by sticking with it. Rockstars kept at it through all types of discouragement; I note someone telling Elvis that he should stick to truck-driving. The same is true of bloggers. Seeing no visitors, comments, or profits can be frustrating as hell but you have to hold a clear vision and keep going to get through these tough times.
Great analogies 🙂