The Importance of Blogging & How It Helped to Grow Our Wedding Photography Business
I’m often asked by new photographers and small business owners, “How do your clients find you?”, and my #1 answer has always been, “Google!”. When they hear that, they often think Arturo and I invested in a company to take care of our SEO (search engine optimization) for us, but we’ve done just the opposite! Several years ago I started looking for educational resources on SEO and teaching myself a bit about it. After a few months of consistent blogging, clients who found us on Google were starting to appear and book with us!
Most creatives I know have little to no interest in blogging, whether it’s because they don’t know what to write, how time consuming it can be, they feel like they have nothing interesting to share, etc. I get it! I was in their shoes and dreaded the thought of starting a blog. However, I’d heard over and over again about the positive results other industry professionals had with it, so I finally gave in and started sharing small amounts of my work, such as recent engagement sessions or weddings, and eventually pieces of wedding planning advice for our couples.
As our business continued to grow, so did the amount of work I could choose from to share. I created a blogging workflow, and have now been blogging consistently 1-3 times per week for the past few years! I quickly learned that blogging really is a smart and valuable marketing tool for our business! Below I’m sharing how important blogging really is to our wedding photography business and how it’s helped us grow over the years!
SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
Being consistent (and prepping my blog posts accordingly for SEO) has helped us rank in Google searches, which in turn has brought more viewers to our website and blog. While Instagram has been great in bringing in new inquiries in recent years, it’s not going to be the #1 way for inquiring couples to find Shaina Lee Photography when searching for a Connecticut or New York wedding photographer. Now I know SEO is a topic all in itself, so I’m not going to dive into it in this post, but it’s not nearly as complex as one may think! There are plenty of great resources out there to teach yourself the basics of SEO and blogging. One of my favorite educators and business mentors, Cinnamon Wolfe, has a boatload of easy-to-understand information when it comes to blogging and SEO!
Permanence
Social media is great, but things like popular hashtags on Instagram or updated News Feeds on Facebook can cause your posts to get lost pretty quickly. Your blog is a great central location for current AND inquiring clients to look around to see your work while getting to know you a bit, especially if you take a personal approach to blogging. It’s a perfect way to preserve client educational posts, as well as your portfolio work with keywords and vendor credits!
Free Marketing
When you’re just starting a business, it’s normal for funds to be a little tight, so you’re generally extra cautious of how and what you invest in your business. Another aspect of blogging that I love is that it’s FREE! As our business has grown over the past few years, Arturo and I did decide to try paid advertising, but none of those investments brought in nearly the same amount of inquiries and bookings that blogging has.
Overall, don’t let blogging overwhelm you. Decide on a blog strategy, create a workflow, and start slow. I promise, you’ll always have something to share or something to write about. It takes time, but in the end, it’s truly worth the effort you’ll put in!
ABOUT THE PHOTOGRAPHER
Shaina Diaz is one half of a husband and wife team at Shaina Lee Photography serving couples in Connecticut, New York, Hawaii, and worldwide. She has been photographing weddings since she was 20 years old and a sophomore in college. Shaina loves each wedding season a little more than the previous one, and is excited to share her knowledge with other wedding photographers and creative industry professionals!