Blog blog blog

Ok, first we needed business cards. Done, check. Then we needed a website. Done, check. Now it seems to stay in business we need a blog. Arrrrgh.


Seriously, I'm thinking this will be a wonderful outlet for both my images and my writing but I'm clueless. Where to begin? Seems like Wordpress is the hot item. Anybody want to weigh in with advice, success or horror stories, or anything else to help out a "blog virgin"?

Thanks,
John

I'm yet to be convinced by any argument that a blog is necessary for business success. But I define "necessary" for business in terms of return on investment of time and cash. If it attracts the kind of clients you want to sell to, by all means do it.

If it only attracts other photographers who want entertainment while keeping their wallets in their pockets, is it anything more than a source of entertainment for you and them?

Is there another activity you can undertake with the same or less effort that will result in more clients?

You see folks here on the site pimping their blogs all the time. Any possible excuse to direct people to their blogs. I'm yet to see any sense in that, but they're so persistent in the activity they must feel it's getting them somewhere.

Okay, I admit it. I'm a geezer not in tune with web culture.

Wordpress is good, east to use etc..... not that fond of the quality of the images posted( lots of compression etc)
www.jackgrahamsblog.com

JG

Don't forget your Facebook page!! And your Twitter account!!! And your MySpace page!!! And your Flick'r account......And your..... Ad infinitum...........

Seriously, isn't all this social networking getting out of control??? With all this, who has time to go shoot photographs?

Guess I'm with Hank! Seems to be all a bit ridiculous to me! (Why, back in my day we didn't have no fancy shmancy Internet....we used tin cans on a string.......and we liked it!!! )

If you're trying to sell to other photographers, then building a blog and pimping it here makes perfect sense.

But if you're in the business of selling photos, I'm here to tell you the photographers I know aren't in that particular tree. They're selling too, and not buying.

I'm with Hank as well.

I think if you are selling nature or art photographs to non-photographers a lot of the social networking stuff is pointless.

One of the ideas behind it is that with more links out there pointing to your portfolio site the higher in the search engines you will become and the more likely you might be to pop-up high in Google or Bing or whatever when people go to find an image or a photographer.

I can see this if you are selling wedding photography or event or especially senior portrait type stuff (just read Rangefinder for an idea of how that works). If you are doing art or nature I think it is less applicable.

Now, that said, I pop into a few Blogs (Guy Tal, Scott Bacon, Nat Coalson – if you don’t see yours don’t get offended, this is just a sample) every now and again to see what is happening and get trip ideas, etc, etc.

Blogging is probably even more relevant if you are selling things to photographers (workshops, editing packages, etc).

There are lots of reasons to blog, but probably just as many reasons why not to blog. I think it really depends on your target market, etc. Check out this series of articles by David duChemin about blogging – http://www.pixelatedimage.com/blog/2009/04/blographers1/

Super input folks and so fast. Keep it coming. I just wanted to say thanks so far. I appreciate all points of view and also all who take the time to offer input.
Be well,
JR

I think it depends on what you want the blog to do. I don't think they sell many photos, unless a post goes viral. What my blog has gotten me so far is writing opportunities. No photo sales, but I've sold a couple of articles.

Plus it can be a lot of fun to vent... In the 60's, people would stand on soapboxes - literally empty soap crates- and harangue passersby. There's a flavor of that. Once in a while, someone will even stop and listen.

I use Wordpress. Initially, it was a hassle because the better templates all wanted photos 670-690px at the widest. That meant saving at yet another size. But they've shown a little more adaptability lately.

Hey John,

Don't let some of the more curmudgeonly folks here turn you off the blog simply because they don't have one. Blogs can be an effective way to market your photos, and yourselves. If that equates to pimping, so be it.

Wordpress is probably the standard, and though there's others out there, being with WP makes it easier to get some support for technical issues, etc. I've always found their support forums to be very helpful.

Lastly, those who don't use the web much to market their work probably aren't the best resource for information on the benefits and costs of that form of marketing. Just like with Facebook, Twitter, and so on, there are many reasons to carry a blog.

It's ironic that folks on here will decry the cost of time to blog, yet post on NPN everyday. :)

Cheers

Carl

Gotta agree with Carl.

Wordpress is the way to go - lot of flexibility, add-ons and support. It does take some time to setup.

Outside of a website, which it sounds like you have, I can't think of a more effective use of your time and money for marketing then a blog. Over the years I think I have tried every photography marketing service, trade publication even phone book ads, and I haven't found anything as effective. The other options won't require as much time, but will require a lot more money.

I should add, a blog is only effective is it is active and regularly updated with either valuable writing or photography. If you are going to post like crazy for 9 months and then stop, then there is not point in even starting.

Hey Ron

You said:

“a blog is only effective is it is active and regularly updated with either valuable writing or photography. If you are going to post like crazy for 9 months and then stop, then there is not point in even starting.”

Ha ... I have no idea what you're talking about. :)

Cheers

Carl

Don't forget that Carl has gotten cooler since he picked up a Mac.

I have both a website and a blog, I just started the blog a couple of months ago. I went with a template from Wordpress. One thing that wasn't mentioned is that blogging is so easy to do. Once set up I can add posts, edit posts, write about my photos, all without knowing code. I can't change my website at the click of my finger but I can with my blog. My blog is for adding new photos and exposing new work to family, friends and potential clients. I can't tell you its potential but I just feel I need to take advantage of the tools I have to market my work. If it works fine, if not I'll try something else.

I don't have my own web site, so I use Blogger and have found it suits my needs -- but my needs are not commercial. I actually do it just for fun -- and yes, it can be a lot of fun despite all the time it sucks out of our increasingly finite lives.

I also don't view blogging as mere web culture, but as something more like a self-published magazine. The lamest photography blogs, imo, are the ones where the only posts are about some upcoming workshop. I don't see why you need a blog to promote such things, assuming you have a web site.

Anybody want to weigh in with advice, success or horror stories, or anything else to help out a "blog virgin"?

Have something interesting to say!
Too many of these blogs seem to be pointless exercises in ego massage.
Just because you can, doesn't mean you must.

Signed,
Blogless in Colorado

John, I use Blogger, which lacks the bells and whistles of Wordpress, but it's dead simple to use and seems to work for me. Either one you choose, focus on content: quality and regularity.

A far more important exercise than starting a blog, if you're serious about making money from photography, is to be very strategic in your shooting and marketing. Learn what types of images are in demand in higher paying markets, and cater to those.... especially if you can find niches that are not saturated. Direct marketing to target clientelle will almost always results in sales if your images meet their needs. Develop good relationships with those clients and you'll make regular sales for years.

Good luck (actually, it's not about luck.... but working strategically!)

I think blogs work for three types of photographers:
1. Those who have a large followings. They are usually photographers who do plenty of gear reviews or have unique techniques. They also have strong opinions and unique personalities.

2. Those who are working on a long term project that the public and the projects sponsors can follow the along and watch the progress. This is something book publishers love because you are building a large customer base for when the book gets published. This is how I use blogs.

3. Your a stock photographer that is constantly updating new work, Blogs are a great, easy way for clients to see what' new images your are producing.

Carl

Strings and tin cans? They will never replace the pony express!

Another old geezer

I chose Blogger for my blog, mostly because its easy and I use SmugMug for my website so I don't have the hosted website for Wordpress. Just like with your website, make sure you fully utilize keywords with your posts. I've seen large spikes in visits due keywords and popular subjects ( "Mount Rainier Wildflowers" etc).

One thing that you'll want to consider is how often you are willing to post to it. I've chosen to post every 1-2 weeks. Through monitoring my site's statistics, I know that I have regular visitors and I feel a certain bit of pressure to keep to my posting interval. I sometimes feel guilty if I take a weekend off!

Steve: A point for clarity: You do not have to have a hosted website to use Wordpress. Wordpress has its own "free" site, just like Google Blogger. The downside of both Worpress.com and Blogger is that they limit what you can do to their templates. I have blogs on both. I prefer the functionality of Worpress for photoblogging, as it handles positioning, captioning, etc. of photographs much better. OTOH, if your blog is mainly text, I find the Blogger editor more versatile. I have several business-related Blogger Blogs. I had my Photo Blog there for a while, but moved it (back) to Wordpress.

Like a couple others here, I do the photoblog more for fun than for marketing. If I were relying on my photography for a living, I think I would find a web-host and use one of the Wordpress Templates.

Appreciate the additional info, Andy. I've been fortunate since the basic Blogger template works well with what I've set up for my own website. Regarding your comment about photo flexability, I was able to implement the followng technique:

http://www.virtuosomaster.com/tutorials/how-to-setup-lightbox-blogger-template/

It allows full control over your caption and will open up the photo centered on the screen. Once the code reference was applied to my Blogger page, it was just a matter of developing some HTML code "templates" for a portrait and landscape orientation photo. Now, all I do is copy/paste the template code into my blog post and then update the path for the thumbnail, desired full resolution photo, and then whatever title I want to apply to the photo.

Might sound a bit complicated but it goes pretty fast.

Cheers-

Steve

I have created a blog on blogger, yes of course I want to promote the content on my web site www.oneearthimage.com . I would also like to share and exchange ideas experiences in relation to the environment, photography and social issues as well.

http://onearth-electriccannoli.blogspot.com/