Are You Wondering Why Blogging Is Important
Unfortunately, this won’t be the first or last article that tells you blogging is good for business. Blogging offers several advantages; these include:
Search engines love seeing that websites are evolving over time to bring the best content for their viewers; if search bots detect that your last update occurred in 2017, they’re going to assume your website has become outdated and demote you accordingly.
Content Ownership
Your blog content remains fully in your control compared to images posted directly to social media platforms; such as friendster, MySpace and Periscope which come and go over time. Instead of investing energy creating content for an unknown entity such as Zuckerberg – create it instead for yourself!
Increased web traffic
Blogs provide potential clients with easy access to more of your website; provided your content is interesting (read on for more on that), they should stay and explore further. Plus, all that extra traffic tells search engines you’re important.
Trust building with your brand
An ever-evolving blog shows your target market that your work is consistent and valuable; additionally, the right content can establish you as an authority in photography or your particular niche market.
“Don’t Reject Free Marketing No one is suggesting you don’t pay for ads on Facebook or Google or in local magazines as part of your marketing strategy; but if there is free promotion that drives prospects directly to your website then why wouldn’t you use it?”
But it isn’t enough just to blog; what matters is how you blog!
Your Blog Is Underutilized By now I hope I have convinced you of the value of blogging as part of your marketing mix. For optimal success, effective blogging must incorporate both quantity and quality content creation. Your blog may not be reaching its potential if:
No Blogging
Blogging cannot succeed unless it happens! It must become part of your routine.
Your Blog Is Too Short Blogging may feel daunting at times; especially if photography is what interests you. Yet if your posts are too infrequent or short for their intended impact to pay off. While not daily blogging may lead to reader burnout or come across as spammy, make it part of your routine nonetheless; for best results aim for posts of 300 words or longer – words matter too!
So You Only Blog Client Work
Let’s say you just shot an absolutely breathtaking wedding, with photos galore to share. As soon as you sit down to blog about it all, what do you write? “Joe and Amy got married at this gorgeous hotel in Anytown USA with Amy’s dress looking absolutely breathtaking and these wedding details being absolutely #swoon.” Sounds boring? Exactly why many of us gave up blogging; these blog posts are painful to write…but guess what – most everyone but Joe and Amy finds them equally unreadable.
Recent client work is what bloggers refer to as “decaying content,” meaning it will get plenty of hits when first posted (probably from Joe and Amy’s family), then its analytics will quickly drop back down towards zero as no one comes back later looking for content about this wedding; no future bride is looking up “Joe and Amy’s wedding,” no one cares.
So to boost engagement again, to restore engagement you must post more recent clients on social media… and so forth… Much like an endless treadmill we all experience through social media? Aren’t we all exhausted with its endless cycle?
Now there is a more efficient way to utilize your blogging energy.
Maximizing Your Blog to Market Your Photography Studio
So you know blogging should be part of your marketing plan, yet blogging client sessions is tiresome and yields little results in terms of new leads or conversion. What else are photographers supposed to write about online? Read on, friend.
Remember what I said earlier about no one searching “Joe and Amy’s Wedding” online? That is true. So if your target market are couples getting married, consider what their concerns and information needs might be if searching online? Inspiration photos might help, but consider deeper issues such as timeline management assistance or questions such as does having more bridesmaids than groomsmen look strange? Your blog could become an excellent platform to provide this kind of helpful guidance to future clients.
Focus on Evergreen Content
As you write helpful information that is useful and timely for Joe and Amy, or more generally useful and timely in nature, evergreen content becomes what bloggers refer to as an “evergreen post.” Over time it grows viewership steadily as it climbs search engine results rankings.
Note that your blog does not need to consist of 100% evergreen content – instead it should contain both evergreen and decaying posts, including recent weddings/sessions as well as how-to’s and listicles that keep readers coming back. Watch the accompanying video for some topic ideas!
Your online presence should help leads get to know, like and trust you before they inquire about a session. In addition to educational/helpful posts, consider articles that explain your “why” as a photographer or share personal anecdotes/opinions – anything to become more than just another photographer; let your personality show through!
Let’s set the right traffic pattern. If you post an image on Facebook, those viewing it typically remain there – leaving your social media content buffer dwindling away rapidly as a result of trying to swim upstream. So let’s change things around: blog first and social media second
Create your blog content first: decide on your message, write the text and generate images, then gradually release them through various online outlets over time. This works well both for decaying and compounding posts alike – for instance if you blogged Joe and Amy’s wedding as decay filler content for your blog, take one image and excerpt of their story for social media posting to draw viewers in then link back to your original post for full reading pleasure!
Two days later, use different images and excerpts from your blog post to post to social media again. By doing this, your social media job just got a whole lot easier!
Now let’s take it one step further: Take this blog post and turn it into email content for your newsletter, using the same approach: use an eye-catching image with click-worthy text that links back to the post. This strategy can also be an effective way of revitalizing old leads; those leads who inquired only to be forgotten? Remind them you exist!
ProTip #1: Build Links
Search engines use how many outgoing and inbound links there are as a measure of trust between sites. Your blog offers you an ideal opportunity to increase this measure, by linking out to vendors associated with an event, portrait sites or clothing retailers who provided services or provided wardrobe items, then asking those same vendors or retailers to link back. Some vendors even pay you when people share images from you via social media – like Amazon with its affiliate program whereby some vendors even pay you commission if their traffic comes via links that come back – maybe you could make some serious cash!
Pro Tip #2: Add Read Times to Increase Link Clickthrough
Have you seen how news and popular blog sites display “three-minute read” notes under articles? That is known as read time, which research indicates is an effective metric to increase link clickthrough rates. People tend to be distracted these days so showing that your article won’t take too much of their time is an added incentive for readers.
Article read times can be calculated based on the total words within an article and average reading speed, making this simple math. But rather than doing the work manually yourself, there are numerous plugins that automatically calculate and publish this info for every blog post you publish.
Pro Tip #3: Keep ’em Clicking
In order to truly maximize the unique appeal and SEO power of your blog, it’s crucial that viewers stay engaged after reading each post. Don’t simply end on an empty note by providing links or calling-to-action buttons at the end. Involve readers by asking them to contact you or share the post through social media channels so they don’t abandon you! Give them something worthwhile they can take with them instead.
Build Value, and They Will Come
There are numerous rules, SEO tactics and strategies involved with building a blog; all can quickly become technical. But the main goal should always be creating content people enjoy reading – such as informative, interesting or helpful pieces which people will come back for more and eventually convert. That is after all what marketing is all about?