It’s #TravelTuesday and I, Dave Williams, am here as always. This week I write again from Norway where I have now fully set up camp and am basically a Viking. It’s taken some time and work, but it’s happening now. This week I want to elaborate on a recent post I wrote here about social media. Let’s talk about blogs.
Deciding where to post online is hard work. Each platform serves a different purpose, as I showed last time. The solution to having complete creative control is to start a blog, so let’s dive into that.
Starting a blog can be quite a nerve-wracking experience, and it can throw up some surprises. I used to have an extremely successful blog when I went by the pseudonym ‘Hybrid Dave’, and it gave me a bit of a kickstart when it came to being known a little in the photography community. It’s one of the reasons I write here, in fact. That blog was hosted on WordPress – one of the most common blog hosting platforms. WordPress is an ‘all-in-one’ solution that offers hosting and domain, with various options to cater to different budgets. And that’s the first point: – budget.
Running a blog requires some budget. It can range from a few bucks to many, depending on your need. For example, selling products or services such as prints will require a shopping cart and an e-commerce system, which requires a higher cost. Having a basic blog with no frills and including the details of the hosting service in the footer is likely to cost very little if anything (if you can find the right deal.)
WordPress is an open-source system that allows developers to create their own themes and widgets, which they then sell to you, so each of these things can cost extra. For this reason, it’s important to have a good idea of exactly what you want initially and what you think you’ll want in the future based on your projections and expectations and budgeting correctly for this. It may be worthwhile looking at other providers such as Squarespace or Wix, for instance, as they may have more of what you need in a cheaper package to begin with.
Then what?
Once you have your hosting and domain all in place, just write! Having a good blog will generate attention for your images, and it will boost your sales, whether that be your wedding or portrait sessions or your print sales. When you write a blog post, it’s important to consider the format you’ll follow, keeping each one consistent so your readers know what they’ll get each time. It makes them more likely to return. For example, tell them at the beginning what it is they’ll learn, then go straight to business telling them that thing. We’ve all seen those ‘click-bait’ blogs that go on and on without making a point, punctuating the entire thing with adverts, right? That’s exactly what we need to avoid to gain a trusted following of readers. Each blog post should provide value, and it shouldn’t be difficult for the reader to find the value contained within it.
Staying on the theme is also a key consideration. If you shoot architecture, stay on the topic of architecture photography. If one of your readers comes to your blog expecting to read something about architecture photography each time but then finds posts about macro, for example, they’re more likely never to return. It’s just the same principle for social media – if you shoot wildlife and they see food on your feed, it’s out of place and not the reason they followed you.
Answer their questions by finding out what people are searching for. It’s a simple concept, but if you search for something within your niche on Google, you’ll likely see a series of similar questions that people are trying to find the answer to. If you concentrate on answering these questions within your blog, you’re more likely to receive traffic from search engines, and you know it’s the right kind of post because people are looking for the answers!
Keep it regular, if you can. Unless your blog provides your main income, it isn’t so serious to consume all of your time, but keeping a regular schedule of posts means people return to your blog regularly to check for updates and new posts. These regular updates also show search engines that you’re providing fresh, new content regularly and it increases your visibility.
If you’ve been considering starting a blog for your photography, there’s no time like the present. If not now, when?
Much love
Dave
