Starting a photography blog is one of the most ambitious things you can do as a photographer. It’s also a very smart business move that will draw leads to you. Why? Because a photography blog is instant advertising for all of your shots and so much more. That’s why!

Think of it as showing off your chops as an artist. A blog is a visual medium, to be sure, but it’s also a place where you can position yourself as an expert in the field and therefore sell yourself as the most qualified to take on any number of photography gigs for interested clients. While a blog requires upkeep and constant curation, it’s definitely worth it in the long run.

Starting and Operating Your Blog

You don’t need to blog. Know that, however, it’s going to help your business by attracting many leads and clients. Blogging is one of the best and most effective methods companies use to market their products and services, and you can replicate this for your own photography services.

If you want a cost-effective way to start your blog, you can use WordPress, which is probably the most widely used blogging platform on Earth.

If you’re not that handy with operating a content management system (CMS) by yourself, you may want to try something else instead. Services like Squarespace, Wix and Weebly are more user-friendly for someone with no experience in building a site from scratch. There are also different price points that are inexpensive.

Once you’re decided on what to use to build and host your blog, you have to be disciplined enough to regularly maintain it. This means consistently posting fresh and new content at least a few times per week, both to attract new site visitors and readers to your blog and to tell Google’s algorithms that yours is an active site, which will help it in search engine rankings. In turn, this’ll only help you get discovered by potential clients all the more.

A Place to Show Off Your Shots

One of the things you’ll immediately notice as a photographer is that it’s hard to keep a constant slate of clients, particularly if you’re just breaking into the industry and don’t have that much experience or word-of-mouth referrals yet. In such a situation, a blog is a godsend because it lets people who are interested in hiring a photographer look through your latest shots.

Say, for example, that you just came back from shooting a gala event, and you’ve posted select shots on your blog. This will show off your ability to deal with low-light photography and inform visitors that you have experience in event photography. Perfect! Those looking to hire you will now realize that you have technical skill and experience in a specific area of photography.

Besides, constantly updating your blog with your latest projects also informs people that you’re always busy and honing your photography skills. A photographer who’s constantly working on his craft is one who tends to stay sharp and can therefore deliver the best possible service to clients.

A Hub for Clients to Find You

In the 21st century, any business or person selling products or services needs a website to attract business! You can’t get around this. Word of mouth and hitting up your friends and family for photography gigs will only take you so far, after all.

A photography blog can also be part of something bigger, namely your site, which should be a lead-generation machine to attract people looking for photography services in your local area. With a blog, it’s easy to funnel site visitors and readers to other sections of your site: your contact info, your portfolio, your schedule, etc…

The idea of your blog is as follows: you regularly publish high-quality, first-rate content about anything and everything photography. This can include how you became a photographer, what equipment you use, the gigs you’ve had in the past, any anecdotes you’ve picked, how you network to get gigs – and so much more.

The goal should be to make yourself an authority in your field! This way, it’s easier to get visitor and readers to contact you for a gig… because you provide such valuable info and show you are very good at what you do.

Your Contact Info All in One Place

The last huge benefit of having your own photography blog is that it’s great advertising for your services and brand. Think of your blog as the place where anybody can contact you in all the different places that you’re reachable. You’ll want to have both your phone number and email address prominently displayed on your blog and site. People feel that you’re more trustworthy if they can just reach out and talk to you on the phone.

You’ll also want your other contact info prominently displayed. Phone and email aren’t the only ways leads should be able to get in touch with you. You should have your social media information displayed on the blog, too, because sites like Twitter, Instagram and Facebook are also wonderful opportunities for photographers to find leads. And, anyway, photographers should have a presence on these three social networks by default since they let you display your photography in an accessible and convenient way.

The point is that you want to make it as painless as possible to encourage people who are curious about hiring you to make an inquiry by getting in touch with you!

The Amazing Power of Blogging

Stop thinking that blogging is only for companies trying to get leads or marketers trying to persuade people down a sales funnels. If you’re a photographer trying to get hired for bigger and better gigs… well, then you’re just as much trying to get people to buy your services, only you are the product you’re selling!

So consider very strongly starting up a blog for your photography business and services. It will make a difference to your bookings, sense of professionalism and overall career. There’s no better way to go if you want to be taken more seriously as a photographer.