7 Simple Ways a Blog Can Get You More Photography Clients by Ramsay Taplin (quoted from DPS)

Credit to the original author for the article below. This re-posting is for my future reference.

Are you a photographer who dreams of taking your photography business to the next level?

Well, one of the things that creative people (like artists, writers and, yes, photographers) forget is that you grow a business by marketing it – not necessarily by just being good at what you do. There are plenty of good photographers out there.

So what’s the problem?

Not all photography businesses have a huge budget to spend on marketing.

And that’s where a blog comes into it.

In this post I’m going to talk about how you can start a blog (or use an existing one) to get you more clients for your photography business. I don’t run a photography blog but I’ve got a bit of experience with helping small businesses grow using content marketing.

I’ll use a few examples from photographers I know as well as taking some sweet ideas from similar small businesses doing the same thing.

Not all blogs/websites are created equal

For the purposes of this article I thought it would be important to make a few distinctions.

And let’s start by highlighting the fact that a regular “brochure” website is not the same as a blog. Not by a long way.

What’s the difference between a blog and a website?
So what’s the difference? Well, a website is something that generally has static content – pages like About Us, Services, Gallery, Contact and so on. A blog is something that you update regularly with new content. The newest posts usually appear at the top. This comes with a huge set of advantages – some you might never have considered.

Can the two work together?
Absolutely. In fact, that is the ideal situation. The best way to set your photography website up is to make sure it has a blog integrated seamlessly with the rest of the website. Having a blog on a separate domain name is good but not nearly as good as building one under your main brand name. I’ll explain why later.

Where do I get started?
If you don’t have a blog (or a website) and want to learn more I’ve done a video and a full walkthrough on blog hosting that helps you understand how it all works together and how to get started the right way the first time around. You can alsocheck out this Wiki later on for some hosting alternatives.

So how can a blog bring you more photography clients?

Now that we’ve got some of the preliminary stuff out of the way let’s jump into the meat and potatoes of the post.

1. A blog helps to build trust
The first thing to note about a blog is that it helps you build a lot of trust with your potential customers and clients. This is an extremely important part of growing a business these days because a huge amount of your customers will research you before they engage your services. In fact, some people say that one in three people look at the website before engaging the business.

Part of this means having a well designed website that showcases your work and part of it means showing your personality. This is especially important for things like wedding photography where your client will want to have a good relationship with you as it is such an important day for them.

Tasmanian photographer Lisa K does this extremely well by having her blog as the homepage of her photography website. The articles she posts are about her daily life and family but always showcase some stunning photographs that would, no doubt, help to create an initial “buzz” and trust with a potential client.

2. A blog helps to increase your reach
The most important part of marketing a business is reach – you need to get in front of new people as often as possible.

This can be quite a difficult concept to understand because we are usually told that loyalty and repeat customers is the most important. Well, if you have five loyal clients who bring you the majority of your business but one drops off then you’re in trouble. A better scenario is to reach new people regularly and then convert them into loyal customers by providing a quality service. Reach is always more important than loyalty for growth.

So how does a blog help to increase your reach?

Well, it gives people something to share and a platform for you to promote all the cool intricacies of your business. People are very unlikely to share around just a portfolio site (unless it’s incredible!) but if you publish a quirky or unique blog post that’s different to your regular material you might find it makes the rounds on Pinterest or Twitter and brings you some new clients.

For example, let’s say you have some hilarious wedding photos of brides trashing their dresses. They’d look look good in a portfolio but imagine the difference it would make if you combined them into one blog post called 10 Hilarious Photos of Brides Ruining their Expensive Dresses. Much more entertaining and shareable.

3. A blog can get you more exposure locally
Google is now giving a lot of weight to local listings. What this means is that if someone types in “photographer” into a Google search they are going to get result from their local area. Here’s an example:

As you can see, in South Australia I get a Wikipedia result and then the next few are all local South Australian photographers.

Now, a blog can help you take this to the next level in a few ways. The main one is that every blog post you publish will increase your visibility for local terms. For example, if you do a blog post called 25 Beautiful Landscape Photos from Around Sydney you are more likely to rank for terms relating to those photographs to people in Sydney.

Or, you might do a blog post about every photo shoot that you do with local businesses. When people see those photos on those businesses websites or marketing materials and then look it up on Google you’re more likely to appear. So you can piggyback off the success of your client and your quality photos to get more business.

4. A blog gives your website multiple new points of entry
This point strongly relates to the previous one but is worth mentioning on it’s own.

Every time you publish a blog post it (if set up correctly) publishes with it’s own unique web address called a permalink. For example, let’s say you do a post called5 Interesting Photos from New York that post’s permalink would be something like www.yourwebsite.com/5-interesting-photos-from-new-york/

The great thing about this is that Google will index each post like this in the search results separately depending on what people search for, and how authoritative your website is. This is quite a complicated field we’re getting into now so if you’re interested you can read this SEO for blogs article or this list of SEO tips from Darren.

The main point, however, is that for every blog post you publish you’re creating a new set of keywords through which people can enter your blog.

A great real-world example is my mate Tim from SA TECHFLOOR who told me the other night that since he started blogging and posting photos of his flooring jobs he’s getting more and more phone calls every day. As each one has a different set of keywords (carpet, concrete, bamboo, timber, etc.) he’s got a lot of entry points he didn’t previously.

5. A blog can help your website rank higher
Now, one of the cool things about the previous few points is that if you do them all within your own website you can cause that website to rank higher on Google for important terms like “photographer in [your city]“.

Google likes to show results that are both fresh and of the highest quality. So if you have a small five page website with not much changing, Google might not think it’s all that useful.

If, on the other hand, your website has an active blog with lots of new posts, people sharing it on social media and so on, Google is likely to think it’s more useful for their customers (people searching) and thus rank it higher.

A graph of the click through rate of the top search results thanks to Search Engine Watch.

As you can see in the image above, this can lead to an immediate increase in business because the first result in Google gets over 35% of the traffic for that page. Worse still, the first page gets over 95% of clicks so if you aren’t in the first few results you’re getting overlooked.

6. A blog can help you form new collaborations
A good online friend of mine, Jamie Swanson, runs two photography blogs. One of them is embedded in her main business website and acts as a promoter of her main services. Her second blog, however, is called The Modern Tog and it’s all about running a photography business.

I wanted to mention her second site because it is a great example of someone who has set up something slightly out of the box and created a lot of new connections because of it.

For example, Jamie contacted me through Blog Tyrant about a year ago and I put her in touch with the content editor at ProBlogger. This lead to her writing a hugelysuccessful post about Pinterest that, in many ways, has lifted her reputation online as someone who knows about photography and the marketing side of photography.

It wouldn’t have happened without the blog.

7. A blog can help reduce client friction
Client friction is what happens when they visit your site, like your stuff but for some reason don’t make contact. It could be because they don’t like your prices or it might be something a little bit more intangible like not really “feeling the vibe”.

James Field runs one of Adelaide’s best wedding photography businesses and has a great little video on his website that is a cool example of something you can do to get your clients to know you better.

Now, James’s video isn’t on a blog but it’s the perfect kind of cross-platform content that a blog is perfect for. For example, you could do a series of these types of videos showing how the wedding day pans out for your clients. These could then bring you traffic from YouTube as well as reducing client friction on your blog.

Tips for your photography blog

So now you’ve got some reasons as to why you might want to have a blog on your photography businesses website. But once you’ve got the blog what are some things you can do to make sure it succeeds?

• Be personal
  People will love your photos (if you’re good) but they might not like you. Try to figure out who your audience is an, if possible, make sure you are personal and friendly.
• Know your brand
  Know who you are targeting and what keyword they might be looking for on Google. This will help you craft the right content.
• Make sure it loads fast
  People are getting less and less patient when it comes to websites. In fact, a one second delay can affect conversions by up to 7%.
• Find a way to be different
  Don’t just publish the same stuff everyone else is. Take a leaf out ofBuzzFeed’s book and use content we’ve all seen to come up with something fun, shareable and relevant.
• Make your blog your “home base”
  In my guide to social media I talk about the fact that your blog should be your base for all your social media activities. This way, all the Tweets, Pins and Shares that you get go towards growing your blog’s traffic and rankings.

Imparity

It struck me deeply when 2 weeks ago I read a post from my schoolmate back then in Malacca. Previously, I tried to avoid even by the smallest comparison to begin with because I believe I would do it under the conscience of being an under achiever. It is easier to see the greener side of our next door compare to seeing the barren side of it. In simpler term, I do not want to get depressed unnecessarily.

The post reminds me of my childhood memories. I was brought up in a low income family. We lived in a low cost housing scheme. As previously I wrote, at that time, that was the world that I know of. Everything seemed relatively at par. The houses, the cars, the kids at school, the clothes they wore, the games we played, the food we ate - everything was almost at same level. I didn't compare, in fact, I couldn't even compare if I wanted to.

I didn't hear stories of oversea vacations because economically speaking, generally we couldn't afford it. I couldn't recall riding in a private car because firstly my family couldn't afford to own a car, and so are my friends' family. Let alone to experience being in a luxury car. To me, it's a kind of thing existed only in TV.

Therefore, as a kid, I didn't complaint much. I was happy to play badminton using the heavy and cheap racket I bought for less than RM5 from the only stationary store I knew. My parents couldn't afford to buy me toys of the famous weekend cartoons advertised in the TV. I didn't complaint because I was not even taught to do so. Almost all of my friends came from similar background. We had similar set of toys or nothing at all.

To earn a living, there's nothing spectacular to mention of. I wouldn't say there was a void of an ambition but life was comfortable as it was. Perhaps the achievement was set to what is within grasp. It's reflected within my family. I noticed it among my close neighbours and throughout the neighbourhood too, generally.

Somehow, few of us got lucky, gifted by the Almighty (thank God) to be able to get good results thus placing us in new venture - a venture that would slowly matured us and elevated us from the world that we used to know of. Like others, I was placed in a new circle. A circle that destroyed the parity that I was comfortable with ever since.

From this point onwards, the word is imparity. It is the conclusion for all struggles, challenges and difficulties I faced in life as an adult. I am still searching to understand the huge imparity within my circles. Circle of friends, friends of friends, co-workers, the people I work with in the industry and so on. My circles has now become bigger. And bigger it is the word imparity has become.

I have a friend who has bought a million dollar house. I have few friends who own luxury cars. I have friends who wear only branded items. I have friends who eat at fine diner and enjoy being spotted at (in most cases, by uploading it on Facebook for others to spot it, technically it's like they shouted for someone to notice). Most of my friends have went for holidays at exotic locations all over the world.

Frankly, I can't afford all those but I am in no way trying to imply those friends of mine also do not deserve the affordability to enjoy the good life. Perhaps, I am really bad at managing my financial well being. Or, in fact I am just trying to come out with a mere rationale, just to ease my worries due to my lack of understanding of these imparities.

I tried not to be overly concerned with the imparities by focusing more on giving the best in bringing up my family. In a way, consciously, I am very thankful to God because I never felt incomplete or having the feeling of always not enough when delivering my role to raise my family. Therefore, with those luxuries that I can't afford put aside, I am happy and comfortable with my current well being.

However, the contentment shall be nurtured and conserved well even when it transcends beyond the family circle. The challenge is when I am out of the family circle, I am exposed to the urge of status levitation by the outside circle (levitation: the process by which an object is suspended by a physical force against gravity). Though most of the time I managed to keep my feet on the ground, at times, there will be a situation that incites the discontentment.

Generally, discontentment happens through the new social media disease when subconsciously it becomes the platform for showing off. But in one case, it really hit me when I was not invited by some close friends to attend a motor show on one weekend. The realization came because I never showed interest when the duo was discussing the beautiful touring they are dreaming to buy during our evening tea sessions. Realizing how my feet stands on the ground, I know it is going to be a long dream to own a touring car hence it's better for me not to overly excited over it. The key word is 'unless' - unless you know you can afford it.

Never such it occured to me that I was sidelined due to imparity. I gave my thought about this to my lovely wife who later shed a tear. I am not deeply affected by this and it gave me a clear indication where I should position myself within a certain circle. I still do have a strong believe that by providing the best to my family remains my main focus, then everything shall be fine.

That is when 2 weeks ago, my schoolmate posted a rather touching experience of him celebrating the birthday of his son. He is in the beginning of starting a business and perhaps is still not running very well. The son asked where is the birthday cake when he answered that he can only afford to present him with just a piece of 'roti canai'.

This scenario touched me deeply. I can reflect myself in both places - the father and the son. As a father, I strongly believe that my friend wanted to give the best for his children and unfortunately at that time, that was the best he could do. Whatever it is, the pure love of a father to his children that matters the most and I am glad that his son understands his situation.

With his fatherly love as precedence, I should now concern on another form of imparity. I would try my best to eliminate the imparity of love, if any, towards my family especially during hard times like his.

Screw the material world.

The Orange

This year has been quite a hiatus for me from writing in here. Though occasionally I would have thought about something that is worthy to write but I would always forgot about it by the time it is proper for me to sit down and have it typed down.

This year, many things are looking to fall in its place. Firstly, career wise, I finally got to move on from doing jobs for that bad developer to doing other projects for few other different clients. Many thanks to my concerned colleagues who finally conveyed it to my boss that I was about to call it a day. He pulled me off from that project and I've had not heard from them ever since.

My biggest concern was that if there's any damage has been done. I realized I was always being sarcastic in most of my conversations in the office. I don't like about it but it was happening anyway. To countermeasure, I had to keep a check on it whenever I talked to my officemates and managed to keep it at a level.

I began to treat my work very lightly, all of these because I'm assuming it will never take off and would be a waste of my thoughts and efforts. I questioned a lot on the instructions given and would not take it seriously. It appeared that I have become rebellious. Professionally, this is very unprofessional and in the long run it will leave a scar of bad reputation to me.

Based on my experience having resigned from previous companies, it is proven that money is not the main factor for satisfaction. Discontent is a major problem. It may be in several forms and in my case was to deal with the crappy client. However, to have solved the main factor and then later being rewarded with a handsome pay hike, it looks like I'm going to extend my employment here.

On a sad note, some of my colleagues have left the office to pursue better dreams. To me, it was a battle lost for losing good people that may have driven the company to a new level.

With me got pulled out from the job, I was assigned to work on few other jobs. It was refreshing. Though some of it didn't get the kick off, somehow it felt good to work on something that meant a value. With this being said, I'm referring to my previous work with that bad developer as of little to no value.

I am currently assigned to a project located down south in Johor Bahru. The working environment is totally different. At least, some decisions are made and fought for. Consultants are treated with respect. I can see there is sensibility among these people even though they are also after the big money.

This job requires me to travel down south at least once every fortnight or at times, every week. I used to drive as it allows me some flexibilities but it is tiresome to make a return trip of 750 kilometres within 24 hours.

However, the company prefers me to fly there. So, I have now become a frequent flyer. The busiest flight schedule I had in a day was during early this month (October 2013) where I had to deliver an important document to the client's office and afterwards to attend the World Architecture Festival in Singapore (oh, a big YES, I now can fly out of Malaysia. Oh my!...Oh my!). My ticket to Singapore was bought one week in advance when few days later, I received an instruction to deliver the document urgently.

Technically, for travel claim process, the client's finance department is awkwardly rigid and requires any working trip shall have a return journey. It happened to another colleague working on the same development but in a different phase who took a lift back to KL with his brother in-law. So he didn't file a return travel claim and later there was a dispute within our finance department and theirs.

With this as precedent, instead of continuing my journey to Singapore since I already in a neighbouring state, I decided to return to Kuala Lumpur by afternoon, to avoid dispute between the finance departments, and just in time for me to be able to catch the flight to Singapore in the evening. Basically, I went down south twice that day by boarding on 3 flights.

Though for the past few months I have traveled a lot by wings, this year also marked another new exciting mode of transportation for me. It was a dream since my teenage years. Back then, when I was still in the boarding school, a friend utilized the empty space of my locker door by putting up a superbike poster. While in the beginning I didn't pay any attention to it but after having to look at it everyday when I opened my locker door I fell in love with beautiful bikes.

Early this year, I bought my first bike. It was a love at first sight. It is not a superbike because it is just a 200cc machine. However, it performs like a sport motorbike due to its high torque. As per many reviews, the bike is an urban machine. It suits perfectly for my justification to use it for me to commute daily to work. Once in a while, on weekends I would go for a 2-hour ride through the curvy road near my house. Being able to be on two wheels evokes a sense of liberty in me.

Looking at it all, it seems this year I am very much influenced or affected by the color orange. The company I'm working has been more accommodating in my career. It looks like I'm going to stay here and would be seeing more of their orange corporate color for another couple of years.

The new job I'm handling requires me to fly south frequently and the airport closest to my house is the base for an airline that uses orange as its corporate color too.

Finally, the two-wheel sexy machine I just bought is produced by an Austrian manufacturer, using the color orange primarily for most of the bikes they manufactured.


Perhaps, I would like to call the year 2013 is the year of the orange to me.