I've been blogging for over six years now. And it's the #1 most powerful thing I've done for my business.
When I first started blogging, I had two MAJOR hesitations:
1. I don't have time for this
2. I don't have anything to say.
But I committed myself to doing it anyway. Fairly early on, I got a sense for how powerful it could be and I decided to rearrange my priorities -- putting blogging at the top of my to-do list on a near-daily basis.
For the first 6 months that I blogged, I'm convince that my mom was my only reader. Today I connect on a human level with an average of 800 people per day.
I shot Brett & Kristen's wedding back in 2009:
When I first started blogging, I had two MAJOR hesitations:
1. I don't have time for this
2. I don't have anything to say.
But I committed myself to doing it anyway. Fairly early on, I got a sense for how powerful it could be and I decided to rearrange my priorities -- putting blogging at the top of my to-do list on a near-daily basis.
For the first 6 months that I blogged, I'm convince that my mom was my only reader. Today I connect on a human level with an average of 800 people per day.
I shot Brett & Kristen's wedding back in 2009:
I posted some of their photos on my Facebook page with a link to my blog. Danielle, one of Kristen's college friends who lives in Virginia, saw the photos and started following my blog. She got engaged that summer and hired me -- without even meeting me in person -- to fly out to shoot her wedding in Virginia in 2010:
I could share story after story with you of:
-- clients who have hired me from out of state to shoot their weddings because they connected with me on my blog in such a way where we didn't need to meet and I didn't have to say a word to sell myself.
-- vendors and consultants who I initially met in person but then our relationships grew, blossomed, and continue today because of my blog.
-- photographers who have connected with me and sought me out for workshops and coaching or just to sit down for lunch.
I'm seriously blown away by the power of blogging!
It's not an easy undertaking. Aside from answering emails, there's probably no single task that I spend more time doing on a weekly basis. But I'm convinced there is nothing else that I could do business-wise with that time that would give me a greater return on my investment. Is there anything else that I could do to meaningfully connect with 800 people a day? Show me what it is, and I'm all ears.
Blogging is powerful. But it's also time-consuming. I have worked hard to find ways to make this important task as effecient as possible. A few things that have helped are:
1. Planning out my blogging schedule in advance. I sit down to brainstorm topics on a weekly basis and use iCal to schedule my posts.
2. I try to blog ahead as much as possible. If I have an open weekend, I'll try to get as many blog posts as I can for that week done before Monday.
3. I break large topics/posts into smaller bite-sized portions so that they cover more time and are more easily digestible by my readers.
In addition to making my blogging efficient, I also want my blog posts to be visually compelling. Let's face it -- people of the internet age have short attention spans and are visually driven. Just look at the rise of Pinterest and Instagram in the world of social media as evidence. If your site doesn't visually attract readers and make them want to stay for awhile, they will quickly find something else that does. As a photographer, It's not enough to have beautiful images. They also need to be displayed in a beautiful way. I paid for a custom blog that is integrated with my website so that readers can be immersed in my brand when they visit and be able to find exactly what they are looking for. And I developed blog collage templates that make it possible to display groups of images together like these:
-- clients who have hired me from out of state to shoot their weddings because they connected with me on my blog in such a way where we didn't need to meet and I didn't have to say a word to sell myself.
-- vendors and consultants who I initially met in person but then our relationships grew, blossomed, and continue today because of my blog.
-- photographers who have connected with me and sought me out for workshops and coaching or just to sit down for lunch.
I'm seriously blown away by the power of blogging!
It's not an easy undertaking. Aside from answering emails, there's probably no single task that I spend more time doing on a weekly basis. But I'm convinced there is nothing else that I could do business-wise with that time that would give me a greater return on my investment. Is there anything else that I could do to meaningfully connect with 800 people a day? Show me what it is, and I'm all ears.
Blogging is powerful. But it's also time-consuming. I have worked hard to find ways to make this important task as effecient as possible. A few things that have helped are:
1. Planning out my blogging schedule in advance. I sit down to brainstorm topics on a weekly basis and use iCal to schedule my posts.
2. I try to blog ahead as much as possible. If I have an open weekend, I'll try to get as many blog posts as I can for that week done before Monday.
3. I break large topics/posts into smaller bite-sized portions so that they cover more time and are more easily digestible by my readers.
In addition to making my blogging efficient, I also want my blog posts to be visually compelling. Let's face it -- people of the internet age have short attention spans and are visually driven. Just look at the rise of Pinterest and Instagram in the world of social media as evidence. If your site doesn't visually attract readers and make them want to stay for awhile, they will quickly find something else that does. As a photographer, It's not enough to have beautiful images. They also need to be displayed in a beautiful way. I paid for a custom blog that is integrated with my website so that readers can be immersed in my brand when they visit and be able to find exactly what they are looking for. And I developed blog collage templates that make it possible to display groups of images together like these:
Pretty, huh?
I used to spend WAY too much time prepping blog posts. After I developed these templates, the image prep portion of my blogging task became SO much easier and quicker. Because they've helped me so much, I decided to make them available to others who want a beautiful and powerful blog but find blogging time-consuming and tedious.
I just updated my blog collage templates so they are easier and quicker to use than ever! Here's a demonstration video so you can see for yourself:
Awesome, huh!? I love how fast and easy my templates make it to throw together a blog post. If you're interested, you can find more information and purchase my blog collage templates by clicking here.
Regardless of what tools you use to make your blogging more efficient and visually beautiful, my biggest encouragement is to JUST DO IT. Connect with your readers on a human/personal level and blog consistently, and you will be amazed at what a powerful tool it becomes for your business.
I would love to hear your thoughts and comments below! And if you are interested in finding out about other resources I offer photographers, click here!
I used to spend WAY too much time prepping blog posts. After I developed these templates, the image prep portion of my blogging task became SO much easier and quicker. Because they've helped me so much, I decided to make them available to others who want a beautiful and powerful blog but find blogging time-consuming and tedious.
I just updated my blog collage templates so they are easier and quicker to use than ever! Here's a demonstration video so you can see for yourself:
Awesome, huh!? I love how fast and easy my templates make it to throw together a blog post. If you're interested, you can find more information and purchase my blog collage templates by clicking here.
Regardless of what tools you use to make your blogging more efficient and visually beautiful, my biggest encouragement is to JUST DO IT. Connect with your readers on a human/personal level and blog consistently, and you will be amazed at what a powerful tool it becomes for your business.
I would love to hear your thoughts and comments below! And if you are interested in finding out about other resources I offer photographers, click here!
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