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.
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