As you look to attract more business as a photographer, you may not be sure where to begin. Starting a blog could be the perfect way to garner attention for your brand; you can promote your posts on social media, showcase your best work, gain awareness from friends and family, and build your following. There are a many great blogs out there you can review to not only get ideas for your own but also to see what people are looking for in a blog (and thus a photographer they may be considering hiring).
Related: 3+ Ways to Combine an Online and Offline Marketing Campaign
How to Start a Photography Blog: Tips for Beginners
The following tips will help you start a blog for photography that will impress your readers and earn more clients for your business.
- Turn readers into customers: Make sure your blog covers everything your readers will need to use your services. Include your location, prices, contact information, and services.
- Keep up with your posts: Post on a regular schedule. Having an outdated blog can send the wrong message to your audience, so you should decide on how often you want to post and stick to it to ensure your fans come back for more.
- Be selective: Don’t overwhelm readers with a ton of photos. Choose your most prized photographs and use those to feature on your blog.
- Always be a professional: The blog shouldn’t be used to air your grievances or complain about assignments. This could give your readers the wrong idea. It’s fine to show your personality, but keep it positive and don’t over-share details about your personal life.
One way to really promote your photography blog is by including the website on your business card and handing that out to every prospect and customer you have.
Related: 6 Picture-Perfect Photographer Business Cards [Showcase!]
How to Have Success in Photography Blogging
Here are some concrete ideas when you want to start a successful photography blog:
- Reveal Photos: Post the “reveal” photos—or the final results of your most recent shoot—on the blog and direct your customers to download from the blog and/or share the announcement on social media. Not only will their friends and family want to see the photos, but they’ll be going directly to your blog to do it.
- Use Galleries: Try grouping photos from the same event or which follow a theme with one another. It will make your site more user-friendly and will make you look more professional.
- High Resolution: Upload photographs with high resolutions to make it easier for potential clients to view your work and see the level of your craft.
- Pay Attention to Load Speed: You could lose a potential client if your picture takes too long to load, so make sure your page is optimized for desktop and mobile users. This means you should have a lower resolution thumbnail that links to a higher resolution image when the user clicks on it.
- Write Engaging Content: Answer specific photography questions, create tutorials, write reviews, or give advice based on your experiences. The more unique content you have to offer, the better chance you’ll have to connect with your audience.
- Host Contests: Offer photography contests based around a particular theme. You could generate excitement around your blog while building a community of devoted followers.
- Tie It to Social Media: Make it easy for visitors to Like, Share, Tweet, or Pin their favorite pictures, and you could expand your audience and find new clients.
- Find Your Niche: There are hundreds, if not thousands, of photography blogs, but you can still stand out from the crowd if you specialize. Focusing on your strengths can help to build your brand, allowing you to branch out later.
Where’s the Best Place to Start a Photography Blog
Location is key to the success for any business, and this same applies to your photography blog. Photographers today are spoiled with a profusion of platforms they can use to build a professional website at a low cost. Choosing the right one, then, comes down to picking the one that is best suited to your type of photography and what you hope to do with it. Take a look at some of your options to find the one that is right for you.
WordPress
WordPress is free, it is open-source, and it offers thousands of plug-ins and website templates created by a devoted community of developers. However, WordPress has many low-quality plug-ins that may fail or introduce security vulnerabilities to your website. In addition, you’ll probably have to pay for the best plug-ins. WordPress also only offers customer service to premium customers. Nonetheless, its ease of use makes it one of the most popular platforms out there.
Squarespace
Squarespace is a closed-source alternative to WordPress that offers a smaller array of options, but all have been tested and shown to work. Squarespace offers more consistency all-around in terms of quality and also has a customer-service team that promises to field calls within the hour. However, you do have to pay for this, and you have fewer opportunities for customization.
Weebly
Weebly offers a fast and simple solution for your website needs. It is easy to use and allows anyone to set up a website quickly. However, since it is so simple, it doesn’t offer the same opportunities for customization as WordPress or the level of sophistication you could find with Squarespace, making this a better option for beginners.
Wix
Wix has become a popular website builder thanks in part to its user-friendly interface and the wide variety of templates it has to offer. Wix is also free to use, making it great for anyone working on a budget. However, while it offers a number of apps for form building or customer reviews, there is little opportunity to customize them to your needs.
3 Photographer Blogs Done Right
These photographer blogs are excellent examples of how you can build your brand with an online audience:
Joe McNally Photography: http://blog.joemcnally.com/
This blog belongs to Joe McNally, an award-winning photographer who has completed assignments all over the world. His blog is successful because it displays his work beautifully in an easy-to-view layout. On the landing page, his latest blog is front and center with an engaging photo. Previous blogs are displayed underneath in two neat columns. Underneath the archive, Joe keeps his readers in the loop with Latest News from Joe, Upcoming Events and his social media information. Everything his fans could possibly want is easily accessible.
Chase Jarvis: http://www.chasejarvis.com/blog/
Another award-winning photographer, Chase Jarvis uses his blog to not only reach out to his fans but also to host live discussions with other industry professionals. Utilizing a combination of the traditional written blog and video, he provides his readers with tips on how to become successful in the industry through a series of informative posts. His blogs have been shared hundreds of times on social media platforms, so his readers clearly enjoy learning from his experience in the industry.
Scott Bourne: https://photofocus.com/blog/
Photographer Scott Bourne uses Photofocus to reach those who are interested in learning more about the trade. Through regular podcasts and blog posts, he provides tips and tricks for photographers of all levels, and he discusses new products and other industry news. With more than 100,000 Twitter followers, Scott continues to engage readers through his informative posts. The Photofocus blog is easy to navigate with a handy search function so that fans can find the Scott Bourne posts they’re looking for.
As a professional photographer, starting a blog is a great way to market your brand and get more customers. Use these tips, and your photography blog may just become as successful as the greats. If you need help developing your promotional materials, our design experts can help you craft business cards and more that are just as show-stopping as your photos are.
