There are thousands of photographers that are now blogging on a daily basis. They have made time in their day to sit down and write. Why? It is because writing makes you a better photographer. Writing helps you in a few different ways
1. Reflection
This might come off as warm and fuzzy but the reality is writing is a great way to reflect on your work. Where you have been and where you want to go. Photographers can get caught up in the many different aspects of running a photography business and they often forget to sit down and ask the big questions. Is this what I had in mind when I started? Is this where I wanted to be? Whats next? What are my creative goals? If you know the answer to these questions then you should share your decisions and work with the photography world through blogging. Think of all the people who have similar goals to you and that could use your knowledge to get where they want to be. If the answer is no then you should share your work and goals so that readers can help you get to the place you want to be. Digital Photography Department is read by thousands of people every month, if I post a questions I get emails and comments with all kinds of great answers. It is blogging that has given me this amazing network of people to reach out to.
If you take blogging seriously it can start to become a timeline of your work and thoughts. You can look back in the archives of your blog and see where you were 1 year, 2 years, 3 years ago. This can be a powerful tool. It helps to visualize your successes.
2. Social Media
Social media is incredible. It has connected people in ways that we have never been connected in the past. Being able to capitalize on this connectivity and use it as a driving force in your business is one of the benefits of blogging. When I see a great article or some amazing photography I know that the DPD community expects me to share that with them and I do. That means I can potentially share your work with around 10,000 people with a few clicks. That can be amazingly powerful. The fun part is to see those people share it with other people and then you see how things go viral. Social media has the power to launch careers. If you make some incredible images and they go viral you could have an inbox full of people asking for you.
Every time you publish another post about your work, your success, your goals, anything really that is another opportunity for people to connect with you and share your ideas. That means that is another chance you will have an inbox full of potential clients.
3. Client Relations
Building relationships is how you turn potential clients into clients and how you turn clients into lifelong clients. This does not mean that you have schedule ten lunches in a row. You can leverage the internet. People what to stay updated with what you are doing. Blogging is a simple way to keep them updated on your recent work and what kind of work you are looking for in the near future. With every post they get another opportunity to connect with you. This phenomenon is even more powerful when you use video and images to illustrate your ideas. As a photographer the images part should come pretty natural for you. Sharing your work will allow people to get to know you more and more. You will be amazed at how many people will talk to you about past blog posts when you finally see them face to face.
4. SEO
Most photographers are location based. One of the most powerful ideas that few people are even seeing yet is that blogging allows you to dominate your local search results. You know the local photography locations in your area. So write a few blog posts about great wedding venues in Denver or Houston or Nashville. Go to the locations and take a few shots of what it looks like. You will be amazed at how quickly those posts will dominate your local searches for search terms like Country Wedding Venue Nashville or Wedding Venue Denver. Then when people are planning there wedding they will be searching for this exact thing and they will find your site. Oh and by the way the are still in need of a photographer and you look like you know your stuff. Blog about your local area, blog about things people need that are in relation to your photography business. Local search results are in most areas still an open market for anyone to grab.
5. Guest Blogging
The most powerful way to use blogging to grow your business is to Guest post on other blogs. Bloggers are often more than happy to have guest writers. So write a few guest posts and send them out to some national blogs like Digital Photography School, DIYPhotography or even here at Digital Photography Department, we love guest writers! This can allow you to leverage all the readers of someone else’s blog. There are a few things you need to know before writing your guest posts. First they will not publish any cheesy advertising post like your prices and packages. They want good content that actually benefits their readers. The articles that do best are Tips, tutorials, and How to type articles. This can be anything from 5 Reasons Blogging Makes You a Better Photographer to How to Build a Steady Cam out of Moldy Bread. Then at the bottom you can give a link to your contact information maybe a Facebook page and email address. This is a great way to grow your blog and to continue to snowball all the above benefits of blogging.
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Do you keep a photography blog? Has your blog helped your business?
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Also, the emergence of a website/soial gathering place for photographers that I am a part of has had stunning growth within the past year. It is bulging at the seams with quality advice, some good tutorials, some great discussion, and even some great “for fun” contests that are daily, weekly, and monthly. It is a very open gathering, but the people involved are usually genuinely bent on making everyone else a better photographer. If you get a chance, take a peek at http://www.picturesocial.com/ and discover another great gathering for photography!!