The Pressure is On!

I came up with a little hook to a song that just popped into my head when my baby girl started strumming my acoustic guitar.  She’s only 14 months so no she really can’t “play” the guitar but something she kept plucking actually sounded a little jazzy, neo soulish and just inspired me to sing certain lyrics.  I promise to share them when I am finshed writing the song.  You know as a songwriter, you never know when you will finish one song over the next. Sometimes I can write a whole song in 30 minutes.  Other times it can take me weeks, even months to finish with the inspiration.  But I am challenging myself to get a song compelty written by next Tuesday…yeah Tuesday right?

So, I had a doctors appointment today and my  blood pressure is up.  What?  That has never happened to me.   I’m thinking its the remnants of the guacamole and chips I was downing on my Cabo vacation a few weeks ago.  Gotta work on getting it down.  I might be putting too much on myself with my challenges (the 90 Day and the 7 Day Shot), which may be stressing me out, which, I don’t think is manifesting externally, because I don’t seem anxious or anything like that.  Instead the stress maybe manifesting internally, so I really need to get some rest and remain unstressed.  I just wrote a blog that I entitled “Too Blessed To Be Stressed”.  I need to slow down and make sure that remains the case.

Hopefully, if you are reading this you are also receive my newsletter too.  Go ahead and sign up for it at the top right.

Gotta Give a Shout Out To Vassistant Services

I have to give props to Suzanne Byrd Harris of www.vassistantservices.com. She is the amazing tech savvy woman behind my ability to finally launch my website which coincides with the re-launch of my singing/songwriting and overall entertainment career again.  She is awesome to work with and very patient and easy to understand.  Suzanne really is a good soul.  If you need a website or would also like to start a blog, she is the go to person.  Her prices are reasonable and she gets the job done is a fairly efficient manner.  Check out her Portfolio section to see all of the variety of websites she has helped to build.  Suzanne also offers a “Summer Camp” so that you can learn how to run and manipulate your own site anytime you want without having too much of a computer or website background.  Big ups to Suzanne!

90 Day Challenge To A Better You

OK.  I heard about a 90 day challenge where you post your blog comments or a YouTube video blog everyday for the next 90 days, from September 1st to December 1st.  These posts are documenting your commitment  to improve your life in some way.  I am going to take the challenge and go full force with it.  The post can be about anything that documents areas of your life you would like to change and improve.  I can’t say that I stuck to blogging over the past months and half, due to analysis paralysis ( I was trying to figure out how my blog actually worked instead of just doing it) but I am committed to doing it now.

My focus of, course is on singing, health, and family and spiritual health.  I want to take you on the journey with me for the 90 days.  You can do it with me too.  My goal is to, each week, put up at least one video performance of some great songs I always wanted to learn and perform or those that I had written myself.  Singing makes me happy, it uplifts my spirits.  I just feel an overall sense of fulfillment when I sing and that happiness translates into every aspect of my life.  Some say that music resonates in your being and can actually change the cell make up in your body from rigid and sharp to rounded and harmonious ( I think it was in the movie “What the Bleep”).

I also still need to work on my weight loss.  So that I keep myself accountable, I am announcing to the world that I am committed to an exercise routine and cutting down on my food intake.  I also need to work on getting my baby to sleep through the night so that I can get enough proper rest to be my best in all areas of my life…which aint been happenin’ with my little 14 month old. 

So, let me know if you are down to go through this journey with me…what are your commitments?  I have an accountability partner  and  we state our specific commitments for every 30, 60, and 90 days.  Even if we don’t reach every commitment we just re-adjust, acknowledge each other for all that we have accomplished and keep going.  You would be amazed at how it really keeps you on track with your goals and gives you clarity in the direction you want to take in life.

I want to sing…I love to sing…so watch me sing like crazy over the next 90 days.

Putting your music artist or band website together

I was just thinking about how I first started this blog. I wanted to share some of the things I was learning on my journey back into the music world, that can asist other artists like me in getting thier music out there to be heard by the world. At first I was blogging like I was giving a class, but I want you to know that as I am learning you are following me on my journey.

So here are the steps I took to put my website together:

1. I looked at several other websites to find a few format that I liked. I actually liked the design of a couple of templates on template monster but wanted to include some features that I found on other artists websites that I thought were nice.

2. I decided on the color of the website that would fit the mood and the image I wanted the world to see as far as my artist site was concerned

3. I figured out the pages that should be in the site from what the other sites that I like and I looked at had…they were of course a Home Page, Music, Videos, Bio Tour Dates Contact Us

4. Some other links that I wanted on my site that I hadn’t really thought about were links to my social network pages on Twitter, Facebook and MySpace. (Even though I am a singer/songwriter…I really have gotten into facebook more than myspace…it seems so much more personal and less spammish).

5. I wanted to make it really easy for my friends and fans to be able to access and buy their favorite music of mine so I definitely am putting a link or links to the individual songs that they can download on Tunecore.com or buy the whole CD off of CDBaby.com.

6. I wanted to also do the merchandising of some of my songs, so I am incorporating a cafepress.com store.

7. Start a blog or two.

8. Make sure you have a place where your fans can sign up to receive notices or become part of your VIP list so that they can be invited to your upcoming shows. You can do this with a ConstantContact.com newsletter.

Ok…I think that’s it. If I think of anything else, you’ll see it on my website. Got any suggestions?

Marketing Your Music-Blogging Tips

One of the best ways to brand yourself as an indie music artist online is to create a blog. It can be about your experiences as the band, where you are going and what you are planning for the future, or it would be set up like a diary of some sort. It can also be set up to share information on how to produce music, or play an instrument using some original chord progression or something. Whatever your blog covers, has got to relay info from your experience or your opinion to really be good and intriguing to your readers. Here are few tips to great blog writing.

1. Be consistent with your Posts – You should post your blog regularly so that your readers have fresh content to look at, at least once week. One way to set up your blog so that you are not tied to it all the time is to write some of the posts in advance and then set them for the date you want them to post in the future.

2. Find Your Niche – Make sure you are targeting those people that you want to reach with the messages in your blog. Hone in on the audience you are addressing and make sure you are giving them the content that they are seeking. For instance, are they your fans, or are fans of hip-hip underground you write about, or are they guitarist who want to learn more about playing acoustic…you have to choose your audience and focus.

3. Refer to Other Blogs or Articles in your Niche – By referring to other blogs or articles that can give your audience the information they are for, you become a resource that they can come back to. While I’m on this point, there is great course called www.thenicheblogger.com, where this house wife, Amy, created a day by day instructional program to help you get started blogging, and shows you how to make money with your blog.

4. Become a Decent Writer – You should concentrate on writing well, gramatically, as well, as in how you relay the information that you are writing about. I learned from June Jordan, famous poet, that you should write how you would speak, and someone would understand you. Make it easy to read and not too stuffy. I’m not the best writer, but I hope I’m getting my point across.

5. Write About Things You Know – Write about this that you can back up with experience and stories about the experince you have. You’ll become some what of an expert as your blog grows.

6. Be a Real Person- Let people know that you are real by including a bit of your personality in your blog. Do you have any special sign off at the end of your posts? Can you share a little story that reflects the kind of person you are, that your readers can relate to? Do that and your readers will become more connected to your blog.

7. Make it Easy to Look At – Make the design of your blog inviting but don’t over do it. You want to make it easy for your readers to stay on your blog and read each post.

8. Blog, Blog, Blog – Sometimes blogging can get a little boring, but it can be so rewarding, financially, if you use it as a tools to market your music. You can also market affiliate programs you belong to as well. For instance, you can talk about certain books that you like and link people to them on amazon.com and make money if they buy it, if you are member of Amazon.com’s affiliate program. For more affilate programs check out clickbank.com

9. Use Tag Keywords – Use some great tag keywords. Maybe your blog can relate to something else that is “hot” going on. Use those “hot” tag keywords to attract more people to your blog.

10. Market Your Blog – Make sure that everybody knows the name of your blog. Allow search engines to search for your blog for relevant content.

Stick to it and you will be successful. For more help on blogging go to www.thenicheblogger.com and join the course.