Blogging as a Photographer: What is Dynamic Content?
To blog or not to blog, that is the question that every photographer finds themselves asking at some point as they grow their photography business. For you as a photographer, read the key points below to see why the answer should always be a resounding YES! Regular and consistent blogging can help your business flourish and attract new clients better suited to you and your brand.
Dynamic Content
The number one reason to blog as a small business is to build Dynamic Content. What’s that mean? Don’t worry, this phrase was thought up by some marketing web person to describe content that is being replaced with new content on a regular basis. As opposed to Static Content, or pages on your site that tend to stay the same, like your about me page, blogs provide a place for you to update and share what’s going on in your world on a regular basis. The immediate benefit of Dynamic Content on your site is that the search engines are constantly looking for new content and will reference your site more often as the blog is updated, raising you higher in the search engine algorithm.
Business Content
Your blog is the place where you can share your unique view and your experience as a photographer. The word ‘blog’ originally came from the term ‘web log’. It began as a a space to record whatever it was in your life that you wanted to record. Then the functionality to comment on these records were created and communities started to form. Communities of people that thought and felt the same way. Blogs with enough followers started to be able to monetize and sell things – thoughts, ideas, products, ads and blogging was brought to the masses.
You, as a photographer, are probably using this thing called a blog in a slightly different manner. More of a marketing tool for your business, rather than a business to market. (That usage of blogging is usually reserved for people who claim blogging as a job on their tax forms). The biggest challenge to using it as a marketing tool is to think about what to blog about. A professional blogger usually posts at least 5 times a week, but when using it for marketing your business, you don’t need nearly that much content. If you blog once a week, taking 2 weeks off for holidays, that is 50 weeks to fill. That’s not talking about how your week went, but 50 posts relating to your business. Say you shoot 20 weddings per year, add in 15 engagement sessions, 10 portrait session, and 5 strictly personal posts (with images!). You have 50 weeks of content already planned and ready to be scheduled out.
Content Ownership
By choosing to blog on a WordPress self hosted platform, you own every part of how and what you choose to display to your clients and to the world. In today’s increasingly social media world, a blog on your website is usually the only place you post your images that you own and control. Places like Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Linked In, Google +, while all essential parts of a complete SEO (Search Engine Optimization) plan, are owned and controlled by someone else. As soon as you upload your images, you are relinquishing control of how they are displayed to those entities. We’ve all been through enough Facebook changes to know nothing stays the same for long. Ownership even affects where you choose to place your images for client proofing. If you choose a third party site, like Zenfolio, ShootProof or Pictage, ultimately you are not in control of how things look overall. Your blog is the one place where you can manage how your images are displayed without worrying about anyone making changes without your permission.
For all of these reasons, and more, regular and consistent blogging can be a powerful tool in your online marketing and business presence online. Especially for photographers, where your images and how you created them are everything, blogging can allow you to express that in exactly the way you want.
Need help getting on schedule or building a blogging plan? Contact us to learn more about our blogging services for creative professionals.