Destination wedding photographer Winston Salem, North Carolina, Winston Salem photographer, North Carolina wedding photographer, Multicultural wedding photographer
Blogging. Who has time for it with all of the other things on our to-do lists? I know that maintaining a blog on top of trying to book new clients, shoot weddings, delivery galleries and everything in between feels like the last thing that you, a photographer that’s already busting their ass, wants to do. I’m here to tell you, it is such a good use of time and you might even be surprised at how simple it can be to integrate a blog into your business strategy.
WHY WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHERS NEED A BLOG
First thing’s first. You might be thinking “why do I even need a blog?” And that’s such a good question because blogging feels like its own thing, right? Bloggers are well… bloggers, not wedding photographers. The thing is, anyone who has content and value to offer should have a blog because it’s such an effective way to boost your reliability.
A blog is the perfect way to let people know who you are, what you do, and why they should hire you. It gives you your own space to showcase your personality, your core values as a business owner and, of course, your photography style. Choosing a photographer is a really big deal and can be very personal for potential clients. So when they’re able to see these things on display in what’s essentially an online portfolio, it can serve as the tipping point for choosing to book you over another photographer.
Another added benefit of a blog? You own it. Let’s be real. We’ve all felt the frustration of Instagram outages for a single day. Can you imagine if social media just vanished tomorrow? How would you share your work, updates, or helpful information? How would you communicate with past, current, and potential clients? If you have a blog, you can still do all of those things and continue being a resource without relying on platforms that you have no control over.
HOW TO EASILY FIT A BLOG INTO YOUR ROUTINE
Before we dive into how to really get the most out of your blog, let’s talk about how to fit a blog into your current routine without it feeling like an entirely new task you have to dedicate yourself to each week.
- You don’t need a separate website – You can easily add a new page or category to your existing website for your blog. You absolutely do not have to spend the time or money developing an entirely new website for a blog. In fact, it’s a more user friendly and less confusing experience for clients to stay within one website, so it’s actually best if you keep everything in one easy place.
- You don’t have to blog often, just consistently – You don’t need to blog every day or even every week. And you certainly don’t need to blog every single session or wedding you shoot. Just aim to be consistent. If all you have time for starting out is once a month, that is totally fine! Just make sure you’re showing up at the same time each month. That type of consistency is a great way to showcase your organizational skills to clients.
- Use what you’ve got – You’re a photographer so you already have a ton of beautiful imagery on hand. Use it to tell your stories. You’re in the perfect position where you don’t have to go out and constantly create new stuff.
- It doesn’t always have to be ground breaking – We’ll talk more about how and what type of content to create and share, but don’t stress over making sure it’s always ground breaking. Of course you always want to offer value, but that doesn’t always have to look like some earth shattering piece of information. Sometimes the value people want is simply inspiration to guide their vision for their own wedding. Just know that it’s okay to mix up informative blog posts with creative inspiration.
- Collaborate and feature guests – Having a guest post on your blog is a killer hack for so many reasons. First, it gives you a small break from creating content when you’re feeling overwhelmed or even having a creative block. Second, it’s a great way to strengthen vendor and peer relationships. It always goes a long way to shout out others in the industry, but to full on give them the stage is next level. And last, it boosts your reliability with clients. Clients will love to see helpful information coming from other vendors or experts, and they’ll appreciate you sharing those additional resources with them.
5 TIPS FOR A SUCCESSFUL BLOG
Hopefully now your mindset has shifted more in the direction of “that actually does seem totally doable” because I’ve also got some good tips on how to make sure your blog is a success! I mean, if you’re going to spend a little extra time on this, it’s gotta be worthwhile. I fully get not wanting to invest time and energy in the wrong places.
- Pick evergreen topics – Choose to write about topics that will be useful for weeks, months or even years to come. Writing a blog about a winter wedding that you photographed is perfectly fine for providing that creative inspiration we talked about. Just keep in mind that it will only be relevant to a handful of people at certain times of year. Be sure that you’re supplementing with other topics that apply to everyone, no matter what. For example, write a blog post telling your clients how to prepare for their upcoming engagement session. Not only is this relevant to any client at any time of year, but it’s also something that a non-client may stumble upon and find useful as well. Providing value beyond your client base is a beautiful way to grow your business!
- Give people information that they need – This sounds kind of obvious, I know. But I’m the first to admit that it’s easy to get wrapped up in what we’re excited to talk about and forget that it might not be valuable information to everyone else. When you feel that happening, take a step back and ask yourself “what are people googling?” or “what questions have I been asked lately?” and use that as a way to determine what types of resources you can provide. I know we’re never trying to add on more than we can manage so if we’re going to take the time to write a blog post, we might as well give it our all, right? And honestly, some blog posts can be real time savers in the end because you can include a link to them in automated emails and answer clients’ questions before they even have a chance to ask! That’s a win-win: better client experience and less time answering emails. I mean, that’s the dream, right?
- Provide digestible solutions – On a related note to giving information that’s needed, make sure you do it in a way that’s easy to digest. Blogs that tend to do well provide solutions to problems in bite sized pieces. Lists do really well because they’re easy to skim but can also be jam packed with value. “20 Ways to…” and “How to…” lists are classics. We all know and love them, am I right?
- Include industry and location specific keywords – Be sure to include keywords that are specific to your location and industry. For example, “Winston-Salem, NC Wedding Photographer” or “Asheville Elopement Photographer.” Think about the focus of your blog post and use that to consider what keywords fit it and would be likely to be searched. Then sprinkle those words throughout the post as naturally as possible. SEO can be super daunting, but if you’re utilizing keywords to the best of your ability, you’re off to a great start!
- Make people want to share it – A blog is a great opportunity for your work to be shared. People love to reshare valuable information, so a helpful list is likely to be shared by anyone. If you blogged about a wedding, the couple and their families might share it to their social media. All of these things will, in turn, send traffic back to your website. And this raises your ranking in Google, making it more likely to be found through search. It’s the best kind of viscous cycle and is exactly why you want to make information valuable and exciting!
What it boils down to is this: blogs are a beautiful, free, and customizable way to grow your business by adding the benefit of being a reliable resource and providing an easy to find portfolio. A blog helps strengthen your personal brand because you can use it in any way you want. You can feature client work, share the latest information you learned, offer a tutorial teaching a coveted skill set… you name it. Your blog is yours and yours alone and allows you to communicate exactly what you need to with exactly who you need to.
If you’re looking to take a plunge into blogging, check out 50 Wedding Photographer Blog Topics on Etsy (use code THANKYOU15 for 15% off your purchase). Or – we’re sharing over 6 months worth of blog post ideas in Psyched Society and an easy to follow blog template outline. Plus, we release new tools each month to help you dive into the mindset behind your personal brand and core values and how they impact your business development, marketing, client experience, and workflow. Come check out what it’s all about! We’d be psyched to have you!