What’s a Blog Content Strategy?

A blog content strategy is basically a blueprint for how your blog will develop over time. If you already have one, this guide will go over some different ways in which you can improve it. On the other hand, if you currently don’t have a blog content strategy for your blog, this article will illuminate some of the starting points and guidelines that you should keep in mind while developing your own blog content strategy.

Creation and Publications Schedules

One of the biggest things missing from the majority of content strategy development for creative endeavors, and specifically blogs, is creation and publication schedules. One of the easiest ways to develop and grow as a blog writer, and to do the same for your audience, is producing content on schedule. You want your audience to know when content is coming out, and forcing yourself to stick to a deadline schedule is the best way to both improve at working under pressure and as a writer. 

I recommend a two-pronged approach to schedule; separate creation and publication schedules. These are as simple as they sound: a creation schedule is when your final draft or publication-ready draft needs to be complete. The Creation schedule can also incorporate other details, such as: When will the first draft of this post be done? When will I have all the images embedded for this post done? This gives you a clear track for when you need to have free time in your schedule to get this work done.

Now, the publication schedule is more of a calendar. It tells you when you need to be publishing new content. Let’s say you start a blog with the goal to publish at least once a week. When is the best time to publish? This depends a lot on analytics, but choose a sensible starting time when you could expect readers to want to go to your blog, maybe a weekday morning. If your blog develops into multiple posts a week, consider changing your publication schedule to be a longer post at the same time each week, and then a shorter post or one in a different genre at a different point that splits the week in your publication schedule in half.

Why have separate schedules? Separate creation and publication schedules allow several things to occur. The first is going to be a slight backlog to publication, a rainy day fund of blog posts, if you will. This means that if you are going to take a vacation, you can have a creation schedule planned that covers that time. Secondly, these separate schedules can also protect work that you haven’t necessarily sent yet. For example, let’s say you are a portrait photographer, and your client knows that you will be writing a blog post about the images. You want to make sure that before you post this blog post, your client has received their images, and you have completed any second round or final edits that they may request. While your original creation schedule may have allotted time for this to happen, your client may have been non-responsive, and now your creation schedule is set back. This means that, because of that mini backlog of posts you have, you can continue to have content come out.

Different types of Content for your Photography Website

Your blog strategy needs to be diversified – not necessarily in the way that you think. While posting a variety of content may be the correct strategy for you, many blogs do amazing work because they focus solely on one type of content. By diversifying content, I don’t mean switching genres, I mean learning about evergreen and timely content, and using that understanding to your blog’s advantage.

So, what makes evergreen and timely content different? As simple as it sounds, evergreen content is content that can always be published to a similar effect, while timely content is content that will do much better if it is published at a specific time. A good example of this would be a post about how you captured photos of an event – such as a concert, or holiday event. A lot more clients and photographers are going to be interested in Christmas content near the holidays, and a lot more people at a concert are going to want to see photos from that concert in the days thereafter.

Now, let’s tie that back into your creation and publication schedules. Evergreen content isn’t tied to specific publication dates you have in mind, which means you can take a more relaxed approach to that content relative to timely content. Timely content needs to be out as soon as possible; think about how fast articles are posted both after and during sporting events. Those articles need to get out as fast as possible, often meaning that as a photographer for such events I am editing and publishing pictures while the teams are still on the field. 

Additionally, timely content tends to do better than evergreen content. The reason for this is simple: timely content naturally has a built-in hook when published at the right time. This is not today that evergreen content can never surpass timely content: most books are going to be evergreen. This is to say that timely content often can pull more readers onto your website in a shorter amount of time, leading them to discover more of your evergreen content that they may not have otherwise been able to find. 

What does your readership want?

Last, but certainly not least, is the importance of tailoring your content to your leadership. As you build a reader base, your content needs to reflect what they want to learn about. This is the reason that so many online blogs, vlogs, etc. that are photography-related create yearly “What’s in my bag?” type videos: the audience wants them. These videos are not that fun to create and aren’t creatively fulfilling, but they serve some part of the audience.

I am not advocating you to start a gear only blog, as that market has been saturated over and over. If you currently have a relatively small readership, those readers are there because they like your content, so what parts of that content do they like? Ask your readers for feedback and advice in the form of pitches. One of the hardest parts of content creation for a blog, as you progress as a writer and self-editor, is going to be coming up with content for those schedules you created. Keep a separate spreadsheet with different pitches readers have come up with, and see if those come up again, and again, and if that is something that you need to tackle.

Being in tune with the people reading your content as you continue to blog is the most surefire way to be making content that people will want to read. As basic and cliche as that sounds, sticking to what makes your content your content will continue to attract new readers with new ideas for you to develop over time.

Lastly, take every suggestion with a grain of salt. As I’m sure you’re aware of, the internet is an interesting place with a whole lot of people, and what might initially sound like a good and well-intentioned idea could be the opposite. Don’t fall into the trap of cyclical and boring content because it is what a few dedicated readers want; do so alongside new ideas that you have, as it is your original ideas that brought the readers there in the first place. 

Written content offers opportunities to rank for multiple keywords and attract organic traffic for your photography site. You can show off your industry knowledge with unique tips and insights for other professionals as well as prospective clients.

In this article, we’ll discuss why you should start a photography blog. We’ll then work through the steps to set one up with WordPress. Let’s get started!

Why You Should Start a Photography Blog

Many photographers make the mistake of thinking their website alone is enough to convince customers to hire them. While this is a solid starting point, adding a photography blog can significantly enhance your online presence.

For starters, your organic traffic is likely to increase when you have a blog. Each post is another page search engines can index. Your content also increases the number of keywords potential customers can use to find you, and you can highlight your portfolio through galleries within your articles.

Plus, the right content can showcase your photography expertise and reassure potential clients that they’re dealing with a qualified professional. The more knowledgeable you appear, the more likely they are to hire you.

How to Start a Photography Blog (In 4 Steps)

Starting a photography blog can be daunting. Fortunately, it only takes four steps to add one to your existing WordPress photography site and is simpler than you might think.

Step 1: Brainstorm Blog Post Ideas

A blog only helps your photography business when you publish quality posts your audience is interested in. As a photographer, coming up with shoot ideas might be easy, but written content could be much harder. Fortunately, there are many ways that you can find inspiration for your blog posts.

Most importantly, each post should provide value for your customers. Your content should tell them something new or answer a question they have. Personal anecdotes can make for interesting posts, but they still need to provide relevant information. You might want to avoid being too personal.

If you are struggling for ideas, you can look at your existing work. A collection you are proud of can provide content for a number of posts. You could talk about the inspiration for the collection or how you achieved certain technical aspects of the images.

You could also post tips and tricks for other photographers. These posts can highlight your expertise and help position you as an authority in the field. For instance, you might publish tutorials on photography techniques or equipment reviews.

Step 2: Optimize Your Posts for Search Engines

Optimizing your posts for search engines can help increase your organic traffic. Ideally, you should have an overall SEO strategy for your website that covers your blog as well as your portfolio and any other aspects of your site.

Keyword research is the foundation of a smart SEO strategy. This process helps you find popular search terms people are using that are also related to your content. It can be daunting at first, but tools such as Moz and SEMrush can help:

You start by simply entering a keyword (such as “wedding photography”). Moz or SEMrush will then provide a list of similar keywords as well as their search volume, how competitive they are, and the top results for that search. You can assess which terms you might be able to rank highly for and use them in your posts.

There are also plugins such as Yoast SEO that can help you optimize your posts. This tool provides on-page optimization suggestions and assesses the readability of your posts.

Step 3: Create a Posting Schedule and Publish Consistently

While having a blog is useful, posting sporadically reduces its benefits. Publishing consistently provides new information to your readers and search engines. Fresh content also tends to be viewed as more relevant and credible.

Creating a posting schedule can help you stay on track and remember to maintain your blog, too. Exactly how often you publish is up to you, but you should come up with a goal that you can feasibly reach. Once per week may be a reasonable starting point.

WordPress makes it easy for you to write posts ahead of time by enabling you to schedule them for publication at a later date. Scheduling your posts according to your editorial calendar leaves you more time to focus on your photography and prevents you from scrambling to write a post the day it’s supposed to go live.

Step 4: Promote Your Posts on Social Media

Sharing your photographs on social media can drive traffic to your website. The platforms you are currently using for this strategy could also help you promote your blog content. For example, Pinterest is a highly visual platform that also enables you to share links:

You can pin a photograph and link it to a corresponding blog post. Alternatively, you could create custom graphics for your pins instead.

Instagram is also an excellent platform for photographers. While you can’t include links in individual posts, you can set up a link in your bio to direct followers to your blog.

Conclusion

Blogging can be daunting if you are not used to expressing yourself through words. As a photographer, you might be more comfortable with your camera, but a blog can enhance your online presence and drive traffic to your portfolio.

To start your blog off on the right foot, follow these easy steps:

1. Brainstorm blog post ideas.
2. Optimize your posts for search engines.
3. Create a posting schedule and publish consistently.
4. Promote your posts on social media.

Do you have any other tips and tricks for starting a photography blog? Let us know in the comments below!

Image credit: Pixabay.

We say yes AND no.

Why?

Because blogging for the sake of blogging, is dead.

But strategic blogging with a purpose is still alive and well, and killing it!

You can crush it in your business, and crush your competition with the simple task of strategic blogging.

Check out this video by Molly from BoudieShorts on her take about blogging. Then scroll down further for a final word.

Now that you’ve learned a little something about blogging, dive deeper into strategic blogging then sign up for the online course, More Leads More Clients. You’ll learn how to take your blogging and use it as a foundation of your lead generation system.

If you are a photographer, a blog is also a fantastic way to show off your work, and you can turn it into a portfolio of your latest and greatest shots.

But blogging is not always straightforward. It’s easy to make mistakes that can see you spend a lot of time on your blog with very little to show for it. In such situations, you need to learn from the best.

Here are some of the most important lessons you can learn from experienced WordPress bloggers.

Recommended reading: HOW TO IMPROVE WORDPRESS WEBSITE CREDIBILITY?

Make Sure Your Blog Is Fast

A slow site will always hurt your business. If you want to delight your visitors and show up in the search engines, you need a fast-loading website. As a photographer, you are particularly at risk of a slow-loading site because of all the images you upload. You want them to look large and beautiful, but that can slow down your blog posts significantly.

Make your images smaller when editing them. They can still look amazing, but they will help to make the page load faster.

Follow other best tips for ensuring your site runs smoothly, such as using a fast web host. You could also create a cached version of your site. If you’re unsure how to go about this, WordPress makes it easy because you can simply use a plugin like WP Rocket Cache, and this is an easy way to speed things up.

Only Post Amazing Images

The rule of blogging is to create amazing content. Don’t waste time with short, repetitive content that readers can find elsewhere. Your images should follow the same rule, so make sure your photos are special and unique to you.

You should only post your very best images on your blog, so always keep this in your mind when you start. Post them large so they look spectacular on the page. People will primarily want to see your best work, so show them what you can do.

Name Your Images

Whenever you upload an image, make sure you give it a name. Simply describe what it is using three or four keywords broken up using hyphens.

The reason is that search engines cannot read images. They need to know what the images show, and you can only do this using words. You won’t suddenly get a traffic boost because you name your images, but it is a good habit to get into.

Tell Interesting Stories

Photos will clearly be the main focus of your website, but you need written content as well, which is important for SEO. Google needs text to rank your blog posts for your main keywords, and it can only do this when there is enough content to provide context.

Text also helps you to tell stories. Of course, photos can tell stories on their own. But your visitors will often want to hear what you have got to say. They want to hear your motivations and inspirations behind the photos, and you could even tell them the story behind each photograph.

It could be a simple as a few lines about where the photo was taken, what was happening just before, and what happened after. Or you could go into great depth about your inspiration behind each photo and what you were trying to achieve.

How much you write depends on your personal writing style and what you feel is important. If you are unsure what to write, look at other photographer websites to get ideas. If people ask you questions in the comments or on social media, these are the sorts of things you can answer directly in your blog posts.

Blog Consistently

Almost every well-known WordPress blogger highlights the need to blog consistently, and especially at first. Big-name marketers like Neil Patel are very clear about this.

When you are first starting out, aim to blog at least once a week, but more is better. Aim to provide visitors with something new all the time—it’s great for your visitors, and this can also help improve your SEO.

Always Build an Email List

The best WordPress bloggers invariably have email lists, and this is considered essential. Follow their lead by setting up your email list using a pay-as-you-go service like Moosend. Create a sign-up form and offer something in return for signing up (e.g. your guide to taking better landscape photos). Add the form to different places on your site and to your blog posts.

Once people sign-up, keep in touch by sending regular tips and exclusive photos. Don’t forget to direct them back to your blog posts.

Email marketing is still one of the most effective types of marketing for any business, and when you do it right, it can become an important source of traffic and sales.

Be Social

Look at your blog as the hub of your marketing efforts, but understand that people don’t just read blogs and then go away. The best blogs let them contribute.

Add a section for comments, and reply to the people who engage with your content.

Almost every serious WordPress blogger takes their social activity very seriously, so add social share buttons to make it really easy to share your content. If people like an amazing image they find on your site, they will want to share it. You should actively encourage this because it will help to drive more people back to your blog.

Get More Eyes on Your Blog

Running a blog is a time-consuming process and one that takes a lot of dedication if you want to get it right. But the results are well worth it when you start generating traffic, building your email list, growing your brand, and getting more commissions and sales.

You can learn something from anyone. That means photographers can learn from people of all disciplines, including bloggers. Follow the lessons of experienced WordPress bloggers and apply them to your own blog to make sure you’re getting the most out of it.

–

Kayleigh Alexandra is a part-time writer at Writer Zone and content writer for Micro Startups — a site dedicated to spreading the word about startups and small businesses of all shapes and sizes. Visit the blog for the latest marketing insights from top experts and inspiring entrepreneurial stories.

The advice in the video comes from well over 5 years of blogging for more than 6 websites every week.

To recap:

1. Keep notes wherever you go
2. Always look for new inspiration
3. Keep every idea and never remove them
4. Consume content that’s similar to the content you want to create
5. Let Google help you along the way

Up until now the Photocrati Theme had one blog layout.  We will call that Legacy, since that is what we are now calling it in the theme.

After a lot of research into what layouts photographers love the most, we decided to change and improve what our theme offers. So As of Photocrati Theme version 4.9, there are 7 blog templates, including Legacy.

Yes, you can now choose from the multiple blog template styles available within the theme. These include Masonry which automatically adjusts the background color based on your theme’s page color settings, Masonry Minimal, Image Wall which is great for when the Featured Images have no text , Grid, Featured Image Left, Featured Image Right and the standard Legacy blog template.

You also have the ability to choose what you want to happen if and when a Featured Image is not set for a blog post. The theme can either use a default image which you specify, or a gray gradient which is generic.

Depending on the template you pick, you can also choose to show the post excerpt or full content.

Like always in the Photocrati Theme, all blog template styles are full responsive for mobile devices.

Blog Templates for Photographers

Now that you have a summary of the new templates, here is a chance to check them out on working demos.

Simply click on the thumbnails to visit each demo.

Masonry

Masonry Minimal

Image Wall

Grid

Featured Image Left

Featured Image Top

We decided not to show the legacy template as Photocrati customers are already used to that by now, and it’s the general blog template that the majority of WordPress themes use, which are not very image centric.

Changing Blog Templates

Changing blog templates is as easy as any other setting changes in the Photocrati Theme.

Open the Customize Theme tab in your WordPress admin area.

From there, go to the Body tab and the first section you will see is the blog template options.

We recommend experimenting to see which you prefer the most and which settings for each template you like the most.

Like always, if you have any questions, need assistance or have feature requests, please contact our support team.

We hope you love the new blog templates as much as we do!