The secret to a good photography blog at your fingertips
As photography professionals, we are always looking for ways to increase our reach and gain more audience. And an audience is what a photographer needs the most. And as a company that has built a community of thousands of loyal online audience over the past decade, we think that creating a photography blog is definitely the step towards it.
You might be wondering why we’re writing about creating a photography blog when there are so many other social media outlets to reach people. Well, we’ll tell you. It’s definitely not the same as social media, but blogging has its own host of advantages to you and your business as a photographer. It gives you a separate platform to showcase more of your work, images that don’t make it to your social media. You can engage more personally with your audience, show the people the person behind the work and connect with them on a more intimate level. In the past years, blogging has become a significant marketing tool used to attract audiences and boost businesses.
What you intend it for and how you use the platform is on you, but we’re here to just tell you the basics of establishing a good photography blog. So if you’re an aspiring photographer who wants to expand your business potential or just someone who is an enthusiast, read on to know more.
#1 Know the basics
It goes without saying that frequency is important in establishing a good blog. If a visitor lands upon your blog and sees a post that is at least a month or two old, they’ll assume that your blog is inactive and move on. So try and post at least once a week. Posting regularly also helps in building good SEO, which we will come to later in this post. But when you keep posting consistently, your audience will also come to expect your posts and look forward to them. If you want to build a long-term community of readers and photographers, you should follow a schedule and stick to it. Posting content regularly is the only way to keep people coming back to your blog and build your audience.
Bring your personality out in your writing. People may see and admire your photos but they also want to know the person behind the work. So keep it conversational and light, and bring your quirks, funny observations out in your writing. It’s quite possible that whatever you choose to write about may have been done before, but what will make it different is the things you add to the writing.
#2 Make sure your photos take centre stage
As a photography blog, people will expect to see more of photos when they visit. Of course, writing is a huge part of blogging, but it’s the pictures that are central to your work. So choose a template that best displays your pictures. Even in your articles, add at least 4-5 images between the text. This will serve two purposes – one, it will break the monotony of the text by a visual, two, your audience will relate to the text more when they see a related image with it. So always accompany the text with an image in context to it.
When you add images with alt titles and tags in your posts, you will also generate traffic to your website from image search engines. For example, when writing about “Tips for Shooting Good Bridal Portraits”, add alt tags to your bridal photo. This way when a bride searches for “bridal photos” on Google, you might come up in search results.
#3 Blog for the right reasons
If you start a blog with the intention of getting free deals, gear, and cameras, you’re doing it wrong. It should never be about money and products. You should do it for your passion for photography, and the money and deals will come to you eventually. When you focus on content, it shows in your writing and your audience will see it too. Once you have the attention of a large number of people, brands and other companies will realise the worth of collaborating with you. So blog to inspire, to put your ideas out there and to engage in conversation with your peers. Correct motivation is the key to a successful photography blog.
#4 Find your niche
Decide what you want to write and talk about and who is your audience. Starting a photography blog is great and all, but you need to figure out what you want to say when you start one. Is it going to be an extension of your website with more work and portfolio pictures for clients? Do you want to be a thought leader and voice your opinions on ideas related to the industry? Or will you help aspiring photographers with your knowledge and inspire them to do better? Whichever direction you want to go, it’s important to make a decision. Once you’ve defined the category in which you’re going to play, tailor your content accordingly. Defining your niche will also help you target a specific set of people and market your content so that it reaches the right audience.
#5 Stay relevant
Once you know which topics you’re going to write on, stay relevant. Keep up with the latest news in that sphere and write about topical things. If you’ve decided to write educational posts about photography, stay updated on the current trends, issues, and discussions pertinent to photography. Give your audience tips to improve their skills, voice your opinions on the problems plaguing the industry or encourage a discussion on the current trends in the industry. Whatever you choose, make sure it interests your readers and is of use of them.
#6 Follow good SEO practices
Start with building good quality internal links and backlinks. You gain credibility when a website or blog other than yours links to your website (backlink). Imagine it like a good reference in an interview. Ask for a link to your website/blog when wedding blogs mention you. Also, link any of your older posts in your text, but keep the internal links limited to 2-3 in one post. This is a good way to improve your bounce rate.
The next step to a good SEO is using the right keywords in your post. What would your average consumer search for when looking for a wedding photographer online? Choose one keyword relevant to the content of your post and use the same in the following – post title, URL, H1/H2 tags, meta tags and spread them evenly throughout your text, but don’t spam. We’ve spoken in detail about good SEO practices for wedding photographers, so head on over there to read about how to rank your website better.
#7 Engagement and marketing
Encourage discussion on your post, so that people keep visiting and coming back. End your post with a question or encourage readers to comment about their experiences, give suggestions or ask questions if they have any. Another way to get more engagement is by commenting on others’ blogs. When you consistently engage with other blog-writers, eventually they will come to your blog and comment too. Make sure to reply to comments and questions on time. Readers appreciate prompt replies and will be more inclined to comment again. You could even get another photographer to be a guest-writer for you.
Another way to increase engagement is by making it easy for friends and family to share your posts. The more people share articles from your website, the more it adds to your blog’s credibility and Google ranking. This will also add to the traffic on your website.
It sounds like a lot of work, but we assure you it isn’t. If you don’t think of it as a chore, it won’t be. In fact, we can tell you from experience that it becomes a fun process along the way. You can always decide how often you want to write and choose a pace that suits you. But also remember, that this isn’t an overnight process. It takes a while to build a community of loyal readers and gain credibility.
If you have any questions or tips you would like to share, please drop a comment. We’d love to answer any queries and take your suggestions.
