In my last post I offered resources for thinking about maintaining a blog in a fresh, innovative way to help you get the most out of this unprecedentedly powerful media for marketing your services. Now, let’s turn to some practical strategies that I gleaned from interviews with more than a dozen photographer power bloggers.

Personal, Creative Freedom with Clear Business Goals in Mind
What distinguishes the photographers I interviewed from the average, aint-this-fun! bloggers is that they are all very aware of the business value of their blogging efforts. In short, they know they are blogging for potential clients as well family, friends and fans. Yet every one of them insisted that this focused marketing did not require a major effort. They all said if you are not having fun, there’s something wrong with your blogging.

This is the secret of power blogging for photographers: Finding a way to enjoy yourself in a relaxed, unfettered way — a break from regular chores and obligations! — but with an eye on

promoting your photography services or highlighting your image making prowess. This subtle balancing act won’t be difficult for creative professionals who love their work and whose work and personal lives overlap. Still, a few solid strategies will help you ensure your blogging is both enjoyable and an effective marketing tool.

Power Blogging Strategies:

• Accept that precise design is out of your control. Blogger.com and WordPress are two of the most popular blogging services, and both allow you to host your blog on either their server or your own server. You can even go so far as to have a programmer build you a custom blog from the ground up. What you cannot do—even with the most sophisticated blogs—is control exactly how your content will look on all browsers. Blogs are far, far easier to build and maintain then traditional Websites, but the tradeoff is a less sophisticated control of the look, with layout often coming out somewhat haphazard. Don’t let this bother you. Don’t obsess! It’s the nature of blogging, and readers accept this.

• Start a blog NOW using Blogger.com. . .and then delete it. All the articles, books and research in the world cannot teach you as much about the potential of blogging as actually jumping in and experiencing blogging firsthand. Luckily, starting a blog is easier than signing up for email (literally). Go to www.blogger.com and in less than 15 minutes you’ll be up and running. Play around, have some fun, get the feel for the potential and then delete this test blog—unless you are happy with it and are sure that Blogger.com is the blogging service for you.

• Review a wide range of blogs. One of the joys of blogging is the pleasure of finding one’s blogging voice over time. However, professionals need to carefully consider the goals of their blogs to ensure they will best serve their overall marketing efforts. Take a couple weeks to investigate the Blogosphere. What draws you in? What turns you off? Digesting a few dozen blogs will give you much better sense of what you want to emulate.

• Write a short planning document. Pre-planning (or re-planning) might seem contrary to the nature of blogging. However, before you begin to allow your blog to grow organically, a little focused thinking is in order. Outline your objectives, audience, editorial focus, intended content and publishing schedule.

• Focus on the text. Ironically, professional photographers are probably the last people who should publish blogs that only feature photography, which are called photoblogs. Photographers already have main Websites with stellar imagery, and quality writing is essential to power blogging. Nonetheless, you should be very realistic about your writing skills. If you are a weak writer, limit your text to a few sentences that describe your images or photographic process.

• Consider image selection carefully. While blogs offer you a chance to relax and publish non-portfolio caliber images, keep in mind that a blog will affect your reputation as an image maker. You should not stifle your creativity, but you should ask, “Is this an image that I want clients, potential clients and fans to see?”

• Keep your target audience in mind. As you blog, ask yourself, “For whom am I posting this picture and/or writing this text?” Keep your most critical clients in mind to ensure that the imagery and text you post—even on personal topics—represent you in the best professional light.

• Get personal, but not too personal. Blog with sincerity and feel free to share personal musings, but don’t turn off your clients. Think “business casual” and not “nudist colony.”

• Add new content regularly. There is nothing worse in the Blogosphere than encountering a dead blog. So before you begin to blog in earnest, make sure you are committed to adding content on a regular basis. And then pace yourself. Don’t start out too fast and then fall off. Take it easy and be consistent.

• Promote your blog. Your blog hosting service will likely include various automated blog-promoting options that you should investigate. However, once of the most effective form of blog promotion is to email a personalized announcement to clients when you post particularly interesting and relevant new content. Also be sure to add a link to your blog from your main website, as well as to your email signature and your business card.

• Seek feedback. There are a number of tracking applications (often free) that allow you to monitor traffic to your blog. However, to best guide your adventures in the Blogosphere, seek honest feedback from friends, clients and other readers.

Tags: Blogger.com, Blogging Strategies, Self Promotion, WordPress