Go beyond the “highlight reel”
Blog posts are a great way to show potential clients what a session/wedding day with you might look like from beginning to end. It gives you a chance to tell your (past) clients’ stories in an emotional, captivating way that then makes potential clients say “I want that!” It also gives them a peek into what kinda of photos they might receive beyond the ones that are the highlights on your website. You can emotionally connect with your audience…chances are if people stumble on your website and they’re really truly interested in booking you, they’ll move on to your blog for more info or to continue the viewing experience.
Educate and set expectations
You can also educate potential clients through your blog posts, helping shape their expectations for working with you. Here are some examples…
Things to Expect During Your Adventure Session
How to Prepare For Your Outdoor Session
Reasons Why I Prefer Non-Traditional Weddings
The Importance of Wedding Albums
A Closer Look At….(insert topic here)
You get the idea! And then you can bookmark those posts for when clients reach out to you and ask those questions, you can easily point them in the direction of the post that covers that topic. I do that for a LOT of my back and forth communication with clients. Some of these include How To Prepare Your Images, Three Things I Wish I Knew Before Hiring a Professional Designer, Using Alt-Text to Boost Your SEO, and one more I’m currently working on…Three Things That Have Dramatically Changed My Business.
Get personal
Lastly, it gives you a platform to speak on a personal level with your audience. I saw Jasmine Star speak at a photography conference a few years ago and she used to say “My website is my storefront, my blog is my voice (sometimes she also used to say “my blog is my handshake”). One of my recent clients, Kate, just made a blog post about her marriage which was absolutely beautiful, The Story of How I Met My Husband and When You Know, You Know. It was a great way for her to connect with those brides-to-be on an emotional level and help form that bond of trust between them…so smart!
Things to keep in mind:
Don’t overwhelm the viewer with too many images. If it’s an “informative” post or a personal post, keep the photos to a minimum, maybe 5 or 6. If it’s a recap of a wedding day or an engagement session, definitely go for more photos, no more than 25 or so (this is so important for the load speed of the page too!)
Lastly, blogs are great for SEO. It’s a way for you to mi important keywords (locations, cities, vendors, brand words, etc) into your website content without “keyword stuffing,” which fools no one and is frowned on by search engines (it can actually negatively effect your SEO).
Talk about win, win, win, right?! (And yes….as always, I’m quoting The Office.)
