Blogging Tips for Photographers 101 (Pt. 6): Finding Time to Blog

When it comes to blogging, most photographers really struggle to find the time. They are already swamped juggling 1001 other things and blogging gets pushed aside and sometimes skipped for weeks on end. When you believe blogging is going to eat up all your time, I totally understand why you are feeling so frustrated, uninspired, and intimidated. I really struggled with creating consistent blog posts when I was working full time for someone else. Even now when I'm self-employed again, I have been falling behind. At the best of times, when my blogging is regular and on a roll, these are the tips that help me keep momentum...

Perfection is the Enemy of Good

We don't have the time to sit down and write Pulitzer Prize winning material. Well good news folks, nobody is expecting that from you. There is no harm in checking your grammar but don't sabotage your blog's success by an obsession with perfection. I repeat this mantra, "It's good enough." I imagine reading my blog as an outsider - if it's good enough as someone else's blog, then it's going to work just fine. I'm the only one who wants it to look perfect. A good blog that's regular is more effective for your business than a perfect blog that hardly even exists. 

Change Your Blogging Mentality  

Instead of searching for a block of peaceful time in a quaint cafe to write your perfect blog essays, welcome the art of blogging into your entire life. I "blog" when I'm in line at the grocery store. I'll be thinking of a subject, develop the idea, think of the picture I'm going to include and when I get home it's practically written itself. 

Blog on the Go!

You don't have to be logging into your blogging website to create your blog posts. I have a document on my computer and iPhone that I use for drafting blog posts. I write ideas there, create lists, jot down funny moments etc… Sometimes I write entire blog posts. I do all of this offline so when I do log on, all I have to do is copy and paste. Sometimes writing in Notepad, Textedit or Word is a lot less intimidating then in that little white square on the blogging website because there's no chance you'll accidentally click publish. haha No seriously though, that little inch of separation from the internet can really help ideas flow.

Blog in Bulk

Of course you don’t have time to blog if you’re sitting down everyday trying to come up with new genius content, clever words and relevant photos. Stop trying to blog everyday in a panic and start running “blog marathons”. On a Saturday afternoon or a Monday lunch-break (a.k.a. whenever I feel like it) I stretch out my fingers and type out 3-4 blog posts in one sitting.

If you need help managing your time, I highly recommend reading this book: 

"168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think" by Laura Vanderkam

Part 1: Challenges of Blogging for Photographers
Part 2: SEO
Part 3: 10 Ways to Come Up with Interesting Blog Content
Part 4: The Pretty Journal Syndrome
Part 5: But I Don't Like to Write

Blogging Tips for Photographers 101 (Pt. 5): But I Don't Like to Write

So you don’t like to write and that makes blogging regularly for your photography business rather challenging. Well the glorious news is that blogging isn't actually about writing. It's about sharing. What do you want to share with the world?

If you’re bored or in pain writing your blog, I’m probably going to be bored and in pain reading it. It’s going to be dry, forced, vague, BORING. Here are two options for how you can manage a regular (and interesting) photography blog despite the fact you hate writing:

Option A) Stop writing all together and start using other methods of communication. Here are some ideas to get you started....

1. Lists (Numbers & Bullet Points)
2. Word collage — like people’s Twitter profiles — describe your photo shoots with jumbles of descriptive words.
3. Photo captions — don’t be afraid to say it like it is, just literally explain what we’re looking at and what you think about it. Photo by photo.
4. Collect quotes that are relevant / inspiring and share them in your blog posts with photos.
5. Video instead of words. Speak don’t write. Just because you don’t like writing doesn’t mean you don’t like talking. This will definitely help people connect with you on a more personal level. You can summarize what you say in your videos with a little paragraph (that way you can pack in some important keywords too!)
6. Challenge: Limit yourself to 5 sentences. Helps you feel less overwhelmed by the task of ‘having to write’. Set the bar low. 5 sentences is do-able and still enough to get some valuable content on your blog.
7. 7) Ask other people to write and use their words with your photos. Instead of describing the photo shoot yourself, ask your clients/models to write a paragraph about their experience. That could actually be a fantastic way to advertise word-of-mouth / share reviews that are masked as information.
8. Just include credits : Who, what, when, where, why, how
9. Use Guest Bloggers or share interviews, conversations, and replies to other blog posts.
10. Create useful Info-graphics for your readers.

Option B) Try creating some writing 'systems' that make the whole process less-painful. My friend Cheryl Ford has struggled in the past with writing on her blog and recently she's discovered a way to overcome this obstacle! She's started publishing a weekly feature called her 'Weekly Round-Up". She basically recaps her week by categorizing it into: 'The Best', 'The Worst', 'The Absurd' & 'The Gratitude'. 

When Cheryl goes to write her blog post, she has a template in Wordpress and she just fills it in. She says it's helped her because it lets her write without having to think up an interesting topic or content. She just answers the questions and zooms through, writing blog posts like a pro! I do something similar with my 'Grateful on Sunday' posts. 

What are your blogging tips for photographers?

What tricks do you have for overcoming your dislike of writing in order to blog for business?

Any other ideas for Option A?

Part 1: Challenges of Blogging for Photographers
Part 2: SEO
Part 3: 10 Ways to Come Up with Interesting Blog Content
Part 4: The Pretty Journal Syndrome
Up next is Part 6: "Finding Time To Blog"

Blogging Tips for Photographers 101 (Pt. 4): The Pretty Journal Syndrome

I started journaling when I was 12 years old - inspired by Bridget Jones’ Diary (of course). I remember standing in the back of our family room, watching the movie playing on the big TV on the wall. I was determined to start a journal the next day. My first journal was a black kind of leather skinny book. Looking back, I'm surprised I didn't get a red one, like Bridget's. ha!

It’s been over 12 years since I first picked up journaling, which means I’ve officially spent ½ of my life recording my life. So here’s a dozen years of journaling wisdom….

1) If your journal is pretty, you’re more inclined to write in it consistently (and enjoy the process). Thus, if you like how your blog looks, you’ll enjoy writing on it more. One of the big struggles that photographers seem to have is creating or designing a blog that they like. I know so many photographers that are resigned to the reality that they may never love how their blog looks. They've come to accept that sometimes the grass is always greener on another blog. Their never going to be in love with their own branding or blog design. 

My strategy for dealing with this has been simplicity. I figured I would never get sick of simplicity or regret a simple design. Things only get complicated when I start making the designs more complicated and colorful. For the time being, progress is more important than perfection. Simplicity is my mantra and greatest design guide.

2) If your journal is pretty, you’ll probably struggle to start writing on page #1 because you’re afraid to ruin it’s prettiness. Here’s your solution: take a pen and scribble all over that first page. Consider page 1 as your ‘Scribble Page’. It’s supposed to be messy (you can do it)… the perfection spell is broken and your handwriting on page two will automatically be looking prettier than whatever you did to page one. (Note: This is clearly a problem that only us control freak perfectionist suffer with lol)

If your blog looks pretty, you’ll be afraid to publish ‘ugly’ posts that don’t fit in perfectly with your branding. You’ll feel pressured to publish ‘perfect’ posts. I’m totally in this perfectionist boat with you. There have been days when I've spent 5 hours formatting a blog post so it looked ‘just so.’ Serious waste of my time and I feel guilty about it. It’s like a sick obsession or something.

The best solution I found on my own was to repeat constantly, “It’s GOOD ENOUGH. It’s GOOD ENOUGH.” I remind myself that the top priority is clicking publish and getting people to visit the blog. Sure, readers want it to look pretty but they don’t care if it’s PERFECT.

The best solution I learned from someone else.... "Progress not perfection."
You have to move away from the artist's desire to perfect the product and move toward the business person's mentality of making progress (even if it isn't pretty).

Good luck my perfectionist friends :D


Part 1: Challenges of Blogging for Photographers
Part 2: SEO
Part 3: 10 Ways to Come Up with Interesting Blog Content
Up next is Part 5: "But I Don't Like to Write" [Check Back in 2 Weeks!]

Blogging Tips for Photographers 101 (Pt. 3): 10 Ways to Come Up with Interesting Blog Content

When it comes to blogging, the greatest struggle for photographers seems to be coming up with new (and interesting) content. You want to blog but you don’t know what to write about. NEWSFLASH! No one is expecting you to come up with genius blog ideas on your own. Your brain will run out of organic ideas fast so instead of bashing your forehead against your keyboard, it's time to start relying on outside sources. Stop trying to THINK of new ideas and start trying to FIND new ideas. Here are my favorite ways to find new blog content:

1. Ask other people for topics you can blog about. Ask family/friends to ask you questions about your business/art (both people in & out of your industry). What are they wondering? Even little things like "Why do you always do photo shoots in the morning?"

2. Be a sneaky duck and read through the comments on other people’s blogs. Find the questions people are asking and answer them yourself, sharing YOUR perspective/technique/opinion etc.. on your own blog IN YOUR OWN WORDS. *REMEMBER: You're answering a question...not stealing an answer.
3. Look for news & events in your industry & the wider world that inspire conversation. What are people talking about on the radio this morning? Use Google alerts and have it send you updates whenever someone publishes news with keywords like “photography” or “portraits” etc… Comment on these articles, contribute to the global industry conversation.
4. Look for questions in social media groups (like photographer's groups on Facebook) Answer the questions in a blog and post your blog link on the group page.
5. Keep a list of your own questions. What do YOU want to learn about. Instead of waiting for someone else to blog about it, do the leg work, research, experiment, ask experts, share your findings on your blog. Now who's the expert!

6. Ask your own readers what they like most about your blog, what they’d like to see more of, and what they wish you would write about. It helps if you have contact with your audience through a newsletter and social media. I got ALL my inspiration for this blog series from my audience. I asked and you answered — thank you!! :D

7. Keep an ongoing list of topics you could blog about one day. Every single possible idea you have. Write it down. Even the stupid ones. You’re going to come up with lots of worthless junk but you’re panning for gold here = lots of stinkin' sand and just a couple nuggets of sparkle!

8. Respond to someone else's blog. Right about the same topic but improve upon it, add more info, do more research and go more in-depth. Don't be afraid to stir up some controversy - that's what makes things interesting. Don't be afraid to say, "I disagree..."

9. [My personal favorite] Eavesdrop on people. When you’re in a cafe, walking down the street, waiting in line at the supermarket, you’ll be surprised at all the crazy ideas their chit chat inspire. So many of my blog posts started as a random sentence I overheard at Starbucks.

10. State the facts, the cold hard truth. Talk about what you’ve been doing, what's been on your mind (constantly), what you’re worrying about all day/night, what projects you’re working on this week, projects you dream about working on, what new workflow systems you’re developing, how you planned your last photo shoot, how you edit your photos, why you like your photos, how you found your last client etc… Stop trying to impress everyone with lofty content and come down to earth. Just state the facts of your life — the stuff that seems obvious and boring to you. People love it.

Do any of these tips help you?

What's your favorite tip for coming up with new blog content?

Check out other parts of this blog series:
Part 1: Challenges of Blogging for Photographers
Part 2: SEO
Part 4: The Pretty Journal Syndrome

Blogging Tips for Photographers 101 (Pt. 2): SEO

"Keywords and SEO stuff is so boring! I want my blog to be #1 on Google but I don't want to waste time researching."

Check out Part 1: Challenges of Blogging

Learning about SEO is one of the biggest challenges for photography business owners who are using blogging as a way to market their business. SEO has been a mystery to me for years and I'm absolutely no expert at it. I'm a total SEO rookie and I wish there were a shortcut but sadly, as far as I can tell, there is no magic SEO shortcut.

Here's the fact of the matter… 

-If you want people to find you online, you gotta appear in their Google searches.

-If you want to rank high in Google searches, you gotta optimize your blog for search engines.

-You need to either A) take the time to learn and do the SEO yourself or B) pay someone else to do it for you. 

-If you are going to learn about SEO yourself, it's way too much to learn in one afternoon. Slow and steady is the only way to win this race. SEO is a never ending process that will be evolving & improving FOREVER. So learn a new SEO trick each week, apply it, and get on with business. 

Here are some basic SEO tips to help get you started on your long slog towards achieving your destiny as #1 on Google….

Keywords 

Learn about keywords. It's a challenge to really figure out your perfect keywords. Use Google keywords to help you brainstorm. Think about what your ideal clients are searching for online. Once you have your keywords, you've got to put them into action. For each blog post, choose an appropriate keyword and put it everywhere, at every level: in the title, in the first sentence, hyperlink it, in the tags, in the picture descriptions etc... The same keyword repeated over and over so Google knows that this page really is all about that keyword. 

Social Media BackLinks

You want to have your blog's URL splattered around other websites. You've probably heard that your back links on social media sites like Facebook & Twitter don't count. However, your links WILL be acknowledged on these social media sites: LinkedIn, Google Places, Google Profiles, Digg, Reddit

Getting Published on Other Blogs

When you write guest posts or submit your photos to other blogs, consider how those blogs rank. You may be excited to get published on another blog, but getting published on a blog with a low Google ranking probably won't do anything for your traffic or SEO. Focus on sharing your content with high ranking blogs. Use the Google PageRank Checker: http://www.prchecker.info/check_page_rank.php

These website are your new best friends:

http://searchengineland.com/

http://moz.com/blog

I totally know how it feels when you're drowning in a world of SEO research. It all seems like too much to learn. It feels like a waste of time. You don't want to sit there behind your computer all day. I get it. But I'm starting to think that if you really rely on online marketing and you're wanting people to find your business through Google, you're just going to have to put in the hours (or shell out the moola & hire somebody else to do it). 

The hardcore little voice in my head is saying.... "I'm sorry you find SEO research boring but it's probably going to have a bigger payoff for your business than however many hours a day you're spending redesigning your website or logo (for the 200th time)." 

So good luck my friends. I'm sorry for delivering the depressing news but at least now the delusion is broken and you can start to make real progress. Grit your teeth and DO. This SEO learning curve is the "not fun part" of running your photography business. But ya know, things are only NOT fun when you don't understand them or you feel overwhelmed. The good news is that the more you learn about SEO, the more intriguing it becomes. Just researching for this blog series has got me all SEO excited. ha! 

I'd LOVE to hear your SEO tips. 

Please share them in the comments below so other readers can learn from your wise words! ;)

Check out Part 3: 10 Ways to Come Up with Interesting Blog Content

Check out Blogging Tips for Photographers 101 (Part 1): Challenges of Blogging
Check out Blogging Tips for Photographers 101 (Part 3): 10 Ways to Come Up with Interesting Blog Content

Blogging Tips for Photographers 101: Challenges of Blogging (Part 1)

At the end of 2013, I told you I was going to be writing a "Blogging Tips for Photographers 101" series. I surveyed all of wonderful social media followers and asked you questions like, "What is the most difficult thing about blogging?" I analyzed your responses and created a series of blog posts designed to answer all your questions directly! This blog series is for you, my dear friends in the blogosphere, to help you improve your blogging strategies. I promised to deliver the series in January 2014 and it looks like that age old saying "better late than never" is going to jump out of my back pocket today. Lately, I'm in need of my own blogging advice haha. I've been terrible at blogging recently. I'm finding it so difficult to keep up simply because I'm working 40 hours at someone else's photography studio and when I get home I don't have internet and often the last thing I was to do is spend more time on the computer. I'm starting to appreciate why lots of people feel like they don't have time to blog. So, enough chit chat, are you ready to dive into 'Blogging Tips for Photographers 101"? Woopwoop!! 

During my market research, I asked people:

"What are the biggest challenge of blogging?" 

"What would make blogging easier for you?" 

"What do like/dislike about blogging?"

I saw the same questions/answers popping up again and again. 

So, I divided them into three categories:

MARKETING questions

How do I get people to follow my blog?

Keywords & SEO Stuff — It's so Boring, How do I Learn All About It?

How do I turn readers into clients?

CONTENT questions

How do I write interesting content?

How do I come up with new blog ideas & content?

How to find the balance between professional & personal?

How to choose which photos to include?

ADMIN questions

How do I find the time to blog?

How often should I blog?

How do I create a blogging schedule?

How do I design a blog I love?

My answers to these questions and more blogging tips are headed your way.
New episodes of "Blogging Tips for Photographers 101" will publish every other Tuesday (starting now).
Next time, we'll be tackling the big boy... SEO!! See you in two weeks!

Check out Part 2: SEO

Check out Part 3: 10 Ways to Come Up with Interesting Blog Content

Check out Blogging Tips for Photographers 101 (Part 2): SEO

Check out Blogging Tips for Photographers 101 (Part 3): 10 Ways to Come Up with Interesting Blog Content