Gone are the blogging days where people could hold the attention of the reader for more than a minute. With the impact that social media has made to our online lives, we consume content much more quickly these days. Even in the photography community, there has been a transition to share quick sneak peeks of images after the session on Facebook and Instagram instead of making the client wait for a blog post. As much as we photographers might neglect it and hate it, blogging is still very important to photographers.
Why you ask? It’s a great way to give potential clients a well rounded feel of what type of work to expect from a session or wedding, not just the three images we may share on social media. It also gives you that extra chance to communicate expectations and tips to your reader, whether that’s potential clients or other photographers you’re hoping to educate and market to. Not to mention the SEO benefits of blogging versus just sharing on social media.
Here’s how to get the most impact out of your blog:
- Keep it short. The sweet spot is to keep posts between 300-500 words with short paragraphs and simple sentences. This will ensure the content keeps your SEO happy but is still in the range of holding the readers attention. Narrow down your images to 20-30 at the most. (Yes even for weddings!) People don’t have the time or patience to read lengthy blog posts anymore. Plus a carefully currated blog post of images will have a lot more impact versus a post with a hundred images where the images run together and get lost.
- Pay attention to SEO. If you’re doing an image post, take the time to name your images so that Google can find them and add in the alt tags when you upload them. Yoast is great for helping you keep your SEO in check. You can also check out this is great article from Yoast about optimizing your images for SEO.
- Be Consistent. If you want to generate a following with your blog, you have to be consistent with how often you’re posting. If you’re someone who doesn’t blog very often, the likelyhood of someone remembering to come check out your recent posts is very unlikely. Plus if they come back to visit a few times and the content is still the same… why would they want to waste their time checking when there are others who are putting out new posts all the time?
- Educate. Create posts for potential clients on what to wear for their session, how to prepare, your favorite wedding day tips, WHY it’s important to photograph your family… By creating this content, you not only have educate material you can easily link and send to your client, but you are also making yourself more visible on Google. How often do you think clients are typing in these very things into searches before booking a session? It’s not all about just sharing your recent sessions!
- Share on Social Media. Blogs are awesome for generating extra content for social media. Make sure to post an image with the link in the text (or profile if you are sharing on Instagram.) Posts with an image are more likely to be seen on Facebook.
- Don’t be afraid to blog personally. Some of my favorite blogs to follow give little glimpses into their daily lives. A lot of us are already sharing personal glimpses through Facebook and Instagram. So why not blog about it every once in awhile? By sharing personal stories or opinons, it helps your readers feel even more connected to your brand and message.
If there’s one thing you can do for your business to help market it (and for free no less), it’s to start and continue to blog. Use it as a tool, and if you hate doing it, find a way to outsource it! There are great bloggers out there who will do it for a fee, you could even find an intern at a local college to come work and write for you for the summer, or hire an assistant and make it part of their weekly duties. The potential benefits to your business are too much to ignore!
How often are you blogging now? Have you seen an impact to your business?
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