00:00 - Natalie Joanne (Host)

blogging can be a little bit of a challenge when you're doing something like photography that's really image based and you're trying to think of stuff to say.

00:08

So you have plenty of stuff to share in terms of your beautiful work and the things that you do, but Thinking of stuff to say is a whole different story. This is the photo business help podcast, a resource for photographers of all levels, from brand new to burnt out, who believe that business growth starts with personal growth. I'm your host, natalie Jennings. I created Jennings photo back in 2010 and have been happily full time since, but not without some mistakes along the way. Those lessons, plus what's really helped me thrive financially and personally, are what I want to share with you so you can grow with your photo business to. You'll also hear stories from other photographers and industry folks, as well as my favorite ways to be more mindful and happier on this journey. Hey, I'm back with another solo episode. I've been enjoying doing these again. I think if you're a long time listener, you might remember that this is how the show started out, with me just Rambling about stuff that I am doing in my business, stuff that's worked for me and hopefully will help you too. So today I'm going to talk about one of my most popular coaching topics, which is what should I blog about? I know a lot of times as photographers, we wonder like, how many times can I blog about a family and say something original? Or a wedding or whatever it is that you shoot and I get it? So today I want to share with you one of the best tricks that I have for creating not only really interesting blog posts, but Evergreen blog posts that can help boost your SEO, help grow your business and make things easier for you when you're going back and forth with clients. So if that interests you, stay tuned. But first a word from the folks that support this show. So one of the things that I talk a lot about with folks that I work with is the topic of blogging. First of all, because I believe that blogging is still very relevant. If folks are going to spend money with you especially a large amount of money if you're a high end family photographer or wedding photographer they want to see a little credential, and one of the best credentials we have in modern days are our websites. So typically, your blog is one of the pieces that fuels your SEO ranking and helps you float to the top of Google searches when people are searching For photographer in their area. However, blogging can be a little bit of a challenge when you're doing something like photography that's really image based, and you're trying to think of stuff to say. So you have plenty of stuff to share in terms of your beautiful work and the things that you do, but Thinking of stuff to say is a whole different story. So this is a fun little trick. If you haven't done it before, I highly encourage you to give it a try. It'll give you tons of content for many, many weeks and months to come. Not only that, it's going to help your SEO and help your communication with clients.

03:17

So first step is to really just look at everything that you put out there your social media, your website and, most importantly, your back-and-forth emails with your clients. So take maybe the last I don't know 12 clients that you've worked with and go back through and kind of just read through the conversations that you've had with them. Note anything that you've sent to them any like prep guides or informational packets or whatever it is that you send out to people and also take very special note of the questions that they've asked you. I know that we're always trying to improve our businesses, but as business owners, we can't cover all of our bases, so we do end up repeating ourselves a lot and there's a lot of the same questions that come up over and over and over again. So it might be something like how does a mini session work? And even though I have information on my website and I have templates in my emails about the basics of a mini session, if someone's brand new to my business, they might not know specifically how it works if they get to choose their photos, what they should wear blah, blah, blah.

04:18

So go through and maybe take note of like six or so topics that keep coming up again and again and again in these emails. Maybe you're just explaining to someone what you do like. Oh, I'm a newborn photographer, but I really like to do lifestyle newborn photos. What that means is that we're not in the studio. We don't use like a lot of props. I'm just showing up and hanging out with you at your house and you know blah, blah, blah, you get it. So pay attention to the stuff that you've been explaining to other people about what you do and take note of that, and those, my friends, are going to be your blog post topics. These topics are really awesome because not only can you reuse them forever, they're evergreen. They're things that you can just go back to again and again and again, but you can go back in and add to them and make them more robust and more readable and more interesting as you think of things to say or as your business evolves, and it keeps things fresh.

05:15

So the goal, the end goal for these posts is to have a post that's really really lovely, that not only looks nice but is a stellar example of what you do and can be a huge piece of information for your clients. So remember, people can access this because it's on your blog. So if they have never worked with you before, they can learn a ton about what to expect right off the bat if they're willing to go and read and look through your blog and check it out. But if they're just getting in touch via email, you can add these links to your templates that you already have. So if someone's getting in touch with me about a mini session, I can really easily just say and you might want to check out these blog posts on what does a mini session look like, or what to expect and how to prepare for your mini session, or whatever the topics are that you choose. Some topics can just be really really basic, like why you do the photography you do and show examples of your favorite work, or what it means to do documentary photography versus posed, more portrait based photography.

06:20

You know your goal here is to educate your clients and to not assume that they get it, because, surprisingly, people don't, and I have to say it. I say it right on the front page of my website. If you are interested in a photo where everyone looks great and the colors are perfect and the hair is perfect, then I'm probably not your gal. And then I explain why in one of my blog posts. So Educating your client is always top of the list. But having posts that you can reuse and reuse like this is gonna help you so much, not just in your response to clients so you have more stuff to send them, but with your SEO. I mean, that's gonna keep people in your ecosystem of going back to your website and looking through stuff, and that's really good for you as well, because you'll have a stronger ranking as time goes on. So that's kind of the basic piece of why you would do this and the how is just.

07:13

I think picking a day like Monday is the easiest. So say, commit to a certain stretch of time, like a month or a quarter, and say I'm gonna blog every other Monday or every Monday or whatever it is, and publish your blog on your very interesting topic, which has to do with the question that you answer all the time, something that educates your client, something that explains what you do to your clients, and then, throughout that week, on social media and wherever else you show up, if you're doing like lives or whatever, talk about that blog post. Remember, people aren't going to be feeling like you're repeating yourself. You'll feel like you're repeating yourself because you're gonna be talking about the same thing you just blogged about all week long, or maybe for the next two weeks, and that's gonna seem redundant to you, but for most people they're hit with so much information that it takes them a few times hearing your message before they go. Oh, I remember that she's offering this or she talked about this or whatever it is. So don't worry about being redundant.

08:13

The people that follow you follow you because they like you and I bet if you looked back at your own social media patterns or your own buying patterns, you've probably seen the same thing pop up a few times before you actually act on it. So that's the idea here when you're done chatting about this blog post, before you get to your next blog post, make sure that you send out a newsletter and just mention the blog post in it. Or if you just do like a once a month newsletter and you've done a few blog posts that month, mention all of them and give a little summary and say if you wanna read the rest of this, head on over to my website. You can't talk about it too much, especially if it's a really solid, useful post. So that's what you're going for.

08:55

So, just to recap, go back through the stuff that you say about your business to other people, whether it's conversations you've had, whether it's the copy on your website and about page, whether it's your guides that you give to potential clients but I think you find them the bulk of the good stuff in your emails or if you're doing DMs and texts back and forth. Any kind of correspondence you've had with your clients is really where you're gonna find the patterns of stuff that you answer over and over and over again and the questions that are the most popular. That's where your topics live and, just as a reminder, once you create these posts, you could always add to them, change them, make them better, so you can change the photos up. You can add information or change information as it comes and goes, but these are gonna be kind of like backbone posts that you refer to all the time. So I hope that helps you get out of a little bit of a funk when it comes to oh, what should I talk about?

09:50

I mean, you can talk about these things in a blog post and share your latest family session as just beautiful filler throughout the post. So there's a lot of ways to share photos without having to talk directly about every single post you do. That's a whole other topic. Of course, it's important to talk about what your photos are all about and talk about the location beautiful sunset, rustic wedding in Wisconsin, like that stuff is all relevant because people are searching for that stuff. But when it comes to these evergreen posts, you can kind of use whatever photos you want. So I suggest using your very best of the best, because you're gonna be using these posts a lot in your correspondence and sharing them other places. I hope that helps you. I hope you have a beautiful rest of your week and remember, in everything you want to achieve, consistency is key.