Starting a photography blog is an excellent way to build exposure for your business. A photography blog shows off your best work while encouraging customers to contact you to have their own events shot. Avery Arjang details the reasons why every professional photographer should have a blog, and how to optimize it to drive more traffic to your business.
Reasons to Start a Blog
A photography blog can give your business much-needed exposure while forming an integral part of your marketing plan. Freelance business owners like photographers need to pay just as much attention to their business plan as larger companies. Blogs are unique in that they allow you to showcase your best work in a freeform setting. Blogs are also inexpensive to set up and keep running.
A blog is an excellent complement to your portfolio site. Posting content regularly, with exciting stories about your travels or about the events you have attended, makes customers more engaged. Make sure your portfolio site and your blog are linked together.
Different types of photographers will be able to see the benefits of blogging. Travel photographers may want to bring their readers with them on a trip around the world or around the corner. Wedding photographers will want to show off the unique shots they have created to showcase the bride and groom.
Give Your Readers a Taste of Your Work
“Letting viewers travel along with you gives them an insight into your personality,” says Avery Arjang. “When I’m looking at the blogs of other members of the photography community, I really enjoy seeing their work and the context through personal stories.
“Also, giving blog readers a taste of your personality makes you more approachable as a photographer. If a customer feels like they know a little bit about you, they won’t hesitate to contact you when they have an event they would like you to photograph.”
While personal sharing is an excellent way to make you approachable, don’t go too far. Keep a curated version of yourself for the blog. Giving too many personal details can backfire on you.
In your blog, you can showcase the unique parts of a shoot that you might not want to feature on your portfolio site. Everyone has photos that they love but that don’t quite fit into the plan for the shoot. Featuring these on your blog gives it a quirky twist and may help drive business.
Maximize Your Blog’s Effectiveness
Use a blog in tandem with social media. You can set up Facebook to automatically publish blog content on your business page. Put the blog address in your Instagram bio. Encourage your visitors to share their favorite photos. This will draw in potential clients organically.
It’s essential to keep your business information up to date on your blog. Create a post that details all the information the client will need before hiring you. This includes the areas you can travel to for shoots and the types of services you offer. It is also wise to post a price range for your services so that your customers have a realistic idea of whether or not they can hire you to do their shoot.
Make sure you have testimonials on your blog. Have some of your favorite clients write a post about how much they enjoyed having you as their photographer on their special day. Include a few selected photos from their event.
It’s also crucial to have a way to contact you on the blog. An email address is fine, but a web form that emails the information to you is inviting for the customer to fill out. Having a way to contact you says Arjang, “makes your business look more professional.”
Things to Watch Out For
One caveat for the blogger is that if you don’t have time to update it regularly, you shouldn’t have a blog. Visitors are disappointed when they read a blog and find that it hasn’t been updated in some time. This can damage your business’s reputation and make it seem like you are not an active photographer. This will make it harder for you to get business in the future.
It’s also smart to keep yourself from posting too much. Keep it to once daily, or two or three times a week. Multiple photo posts in one day can make you look desperate and unprofessional, especially if your blog posts are linked to your Twitter or Facebook. Ideally, you want to give your blog readers a taste for more content from you, not spam them and make them unfollow you.
Setting up a photography blog can be a great part of building your business. Keep these tips in mind when you are creating your blog, and watch your photography business grow.
