For photographers, taking pictures comes naturally. Marketing, creating content, and blogging, however, may not flow as easily. Here are a few ideas to get your creative juices flowing when creating content for your blog.
It’s a natural tendency for photographers to create blog posts showcasing their work. Whether highlighting a past project or photo session with a client, this is probably every photographer’s “go-to” blog post. However, if this is the only type of entry you’re creating on your blog, you’re missing out on significant opportunities to generate more website traffic, which in turn, can help you get future photography jobs.
Give Readers What They Want
Consider your own habits when you hop on the Internet. When you land on a website, it’s because you were searching for something. When we browse the Internet, it’s because we have some sort of pain-point that we’re trying to address. Even when we’re bored, solely browsing the net to cure boredom, we’re addressing our own pain-point.
The same is true for website visitors who land on your blog. They’ve landed there to address some sort of pain-point. Pain-points can be anything from needing a question answered to looking for inspiration. When considering what to blog, you should be thinking of your target audience and what their pain-points may be.
For example, as a wedding photographer, I may write a blog post explaining how to plan a wedding in my city or a blog post that gives brides an idea of what they’ll need to bring on their wedding day.
If you are a service-based photography business, consider looking back at past client interactions and finding questions that your clients have asked you. Any recurring questions could be viewed as a common pain-point among your clients and may make for great blog content. Not only will this help establish your business as an authority to readers, it may also help you rank better with Google. Any pain-point you address on your blog has the potential of becoming a search result on Google for a commonly asked question.
Taking time to brainstorm content ideas for your blog is essential when creating blog post ideas. Make sure you're setting aside time to come up with a master list of blog entry ideas for future posts. Photo by Negative Space via Pexels, used under Creative Commons.
Educational Content and Inspirational Content
When creating content, you should always approach the creation process from the standpoint of adding value. You want to add value to yourself, your brand, and your blog, and you should want to create content that helps your readers.
By keeping in mind what your end-goal is while blogging (hint: your end-goal should be to create valuable content for readers), you can start to brainstorm topic ideas for future blog posts. This can include educational content, as I mentioned above, that helps address the pain-points of your readers, as well as inspirational content like highlighting past photo sessions and work. Another excellent content idea for your blog would be to create lists that help give readers ideas and inspiration for their future photoshoots or projects. Lists like “Five Photo Locations in Las Vegas You’ll Love” are not only inspirational for readers but can also help address a pain-point if a reader landed on your blog searching for photo location ideas.
Creating Blogging Strategies
Blogging can be an overwhelming idea, particularly if you’re not sure what to blog about or if you don’t like writing. A great way to overcome this blogging barrier is to set aside an afternoon to do a “brain dump” of blogging topic ideas.
Start with the foundation of wanting to create top-quality content that addresses your readers' common needs, and break topics into categories of “educational” and “inspirational.” This will help you brainstorm a wide range of topic ideas for future blog posts.
So long as you’re creating top-quality content on a consistent basis, your blog will become an essential tool for growing your photography business. You’ll find by using these tactics, blogging will become more natural and less of a burden.
Don’t shy away from your blog. All photographers have some expertise that they can offer their readers. If you haven’t blogged in a while, purpose to begin writing again. It will get easier and help you grow.
Lead image by Stokpic via Pexels, used under Creative Commons.
Informative article, but “pain-point” is usually addressed when going to your doctor. Poor choice of wording there ....
Huh? Not all pain is medical.
Pain point is actually the correct technical term for the concept. That's precisely why she's writing this article. Because most photographers have very little business sense. . .
Yes, I do accept that, actually, her use of “pain-point” was correct for the concept she was trying to convey. However, I do strongly believe that, like myself, most people visit photography blogs as source of information and creative inspiration rather than necessarily to address pain-points - real or perceived problems.
She writes: “When we browse the Internet, it’s because we have some sort of pain-point that we’re trying to address”. This generalization is absurd, in my view.
"Consider your own habits"
There is a blog website that I visit to help me time my travel plans too certain areas (another state). I go to the website to learn about the area and what too expect at a particular time of the year. That's how I address my blog for my state.
"if you’re not sure what to blog about"
I've started to mentally record my private conversation with my mother and sister. I go into greater detail about an area that was in. What I saw, what happened, even what failures. So when I write. I write as if I'm explaining it to my mother. Writing seems simpler when I think that way.
Next time pay attention to your conversation with your friends and family. That is your blog post.
I think it depends entirely on why you're blogging.