What if I told you that your blog was one of the top 3 most valuable pieces of online territory that you have? (The other two are your home page and your email list, but that is another story for another blog). And I say this to not just all business owners casually including photographers so they don’t feel left out. I’m saying this to photographers ESPECIALLY. Photographers, you need, yes I said NEED a blog for your photography business. Blogging regularly and strategically will help build your business wisely, boost your sites SEO, establish you as an expert in your field, help clients connect with you more, and lighten your client communication workload. Blogging is no longer just some cutsey habit for influencers or travel queens; it is essential for almost every business, but especially photographers. Read on and apply all these proven tips to get solid on your blogging “why” and have a baller execution plan.

5 Reasons Your Photography Business Needs a Blog

1. Blogging builds your marketing strategy around ground that you own (your website) instead of ground that you are renting (your social media).

Social media is so.much.fun. However, to put all of your marketing and content creation efforts there is like building your dream house on rented ground.

2. Blogging high value content regularly helps to boost your website’s SEO

• I have another entire blog devoted to why every business needs to blog where I elaborate more on the SEO benefits of blogging. However, just to touch on a few stats here as well…
  • Businesses that publish regular content receive 8x more traffic
  • Blogging helps reduce overall marketing spend by more than 60%
  • Businesses that blog get 55% more website visitors than businesses that don’t. (HubSpot)
  • Marketers who prioritized blogging received 13X more ROI than companies that did not in 2019.
• The overarching principle is this:
  • When search engines see that your website has been updated frequently with keyword rich content, it indexes your site higher than your competitor who does not blog regularly.

    Translation- more people will find YOU and HIRE YOU when they are searching for a photographer.

3.Blogging strategic content establishes you as an expert

• These days everybody has a decent camera in their pocket… literally. Having a “nice camera” and taking “pretty pictures” isn’t enough to convince people that they need to hire you as their photographer. Educating them in a way that establishes you as the expert and informs them of what an amazing client experience you provide is a brilliant way to get more of your ideal clients knocking on your email door begging you to let them hire you.
• When you can show your clients, through your blogs, that you’ve already planned ahead for problems they might encounter, thought of answers to questions they didn’t even know to ask, and demonstrated that you know more than just how to “point and shoot” they begin to see you as the caring, thoughtful, expert that you truly are.

4. Blogging can smooth out your client experience and save you work in the long run.

How many messages do you get from clients that say something like:

• I don’t know what to wear! How do I coordinate outfits for my kids?
• How long is thing going to take? How should I prepare?
• Will you help me not look rachet on camera (is rachet still a word? Do we still use that? Someone help me, lol)

   

  Or better still, what questions are your clients NOT asking that they should be that would allow for a smoother experience for everyone?

  Blogging about THESE things makes you look

  • Super prepared
  • Like the expert that you are
  • Makes your clients easier to work with because they already know what to expect and how to prepare.
• Bonus Tip: Include links to relevant blogs and FAQs in your client onboarding process!

5. Blogging strategically lets your clients get to know you, the genious behind the lens, a little more before they book you.

• Don’t you love those sessions with people that you KNOW? With people who already feel comfortobale around YOU so you can automatically connect with them through the camera a little easier? What if you could increase the percentage of clients who feel like THAT to work with? You can, pal, if you start to blog consistently, write like yourself, and about some things that you’re passionate about.
• Believe it or not, clients want to connect with you, the actual person, not just the work that you do. Everything that you write and post should be serving a purpose whether that is to educate, connect, or encourage. But please don’t discount the fact that clients want to hear things in your voice, get to know your opinion, and a little bit of your methods.
• Even if there are 100 other photographers who have written a blog on the same topic, write YOUR perspective, your methodolgy, and YOUR heart.
  • Obviously don’t copy, mmmmm K? Plagorism sucks. But if you will learn to appreciate your own unique genious, your own methodology, and mostly just keep your head down and do your own work, I think you’ll find that writing original blogs with your unique perspective comes easier than you think.

 

Photographers, I know that it’s easy to think “Oh I’ll just let my work do the talking,” but pal, the days of photo only content marketing being effective are gone, long gone. You need words. Real, quality, thought out and put together words. I know Blogging can feel like some “pie in the sky” kind of goal, something far off that would be nice to start someday OR just so dang overwhelming that you just ignore it and hope it goes away. Well don’t let the overwhelm keep you from starting something that will be so beneficial to your photography business in the long run. Start small. Start slow. Start with help from me or another friend. Just start.

And to get you started creating long-lasting content and writing smarter not harder, here is a list of 10 Blog Topics for photographers (cuz let’s be real, when you’re already struggling to blog, you don’t need to be overwhelmed with 500 Topics)

 

 

So grab this download and start brain-dumping all of your blog ideas on a Google Doc. Send me a screenshot after you’ve started and I’ll cheer you on. And if you’re ready to have a solid framework to create strategic blogs consistently, make sure to grab that freebie so you’ll be the first to know about the next round of Blogging for Photographers: A Live Masterclass. You’ll learn my exact step-by-step blog creation and repurposing system that has worked for me, my clients, and my students.