I think the benefits of blogging are largely underestimated. Perhaps blogs suffer from the misguided perception that they never evolved from the amateurish prose seen at the dawn of the Internet. Or maybe they just don’t seem as exciting or valuable as other digital or multimedia tactics?
The reality is that blogs can be powerful for your photography business, no matter how big or small. They can help increase your web presence and personal brand, and therefore can help increase your potential customer base and professional opportunities.
How to start
Before you start writing, take a moment to assess your potential topics. What are you an expert in? Is there a niche that doesn’t have a lot of established web content? What are your potential customers looking for? Are there keywords that you want to improve your search ranking for, in order to better reach your customer or make a dent against your competition?
It’s smart to write about a solution you provide for your customer, rather than overly promote yourself. There are more subtle ways to show your value, such as finding topics that can also showcase your work. Potential customers like to think they stumbled upon solutions without the hard sell.
You may not get much interest at first, but over time blogs can only help. In my case, writing blogs helped lead to other opportunities in my areas of expertise. So, while it can be about getting more customer business, it can also be about gaining more opportunities on a larger professional scale.
SEO booster
Blogs can have an awesome impact on your search engine optimization (SEO). This is because they provide more pages on your site that speak to topics relevant to your customer. It will help your site match search intent of potential customers. Google notices this, and soon your site starts to become more of an authority on such topics. There’s also the chance that blogs will create more referring domains and backlinks to your site.
All of this helps your site climb the search engine results page (SERP). The more pages of relevant content you provide around keywords and topics important to your services and customer needs, the better chance of being found in search. So whether you’re a beginning wedding photographer or Nat Geo’s go-to person, this tactic helps pull in more organic traffic.
Ramping up
Once you’re figured out your approach, create a plan for a consistent series of high-quality writings that execute your strategy – slowly working up to a known cadence of articles that have variations on your central theme. Note that high-quality writing doesn’t always mean lengthy. Sure, you don’t want to be overly short with 200 words or less, but you also don’t need to necessarily be 2,000 words or longer. Write enough to remain engaging and impactful.
Play around with your approach. Be sure to include multimedia content (photos, videos, etc) to keep audience engagement and break up long blocks of text. Always have a call to action, and consider if you should throw in some customer testimonials or offers at the end. Do you need a push from your social channels or paid search ads to get your blog known?
Remember to look at the data of your blogs. Analyzing the numbers can help you realize which approaches are working best, or if you are writing too much or too little.
Stand out
Finally, see if there is a way to stand out in a sea of blogs. Sometimes the most successful blogs for your business don’t seem related to your business at first glance. For example, if you love newborn photography, you can write a blog on tips for new parents. There will be a lot of competition in that space, but if you have a fun, interesting, and informative approach, you’ll get people calling you for photos from a blog that really isn’t about photos. Likewise, travel photographers can write a travel blog with tips on hidden gem restaurants to pull in an audience.
Get known for something. Find that niche. And, see the impact on your profession. Do it all with blogs, the often forgotten digital tactic.
