Once you set up your website or blog it comes time to write that first photography blog post. This can be daunting especially if you are not a writer. This post goes through things that you can do to help you create your first blog post.
Where are there are lots of different ways you can write your first photography blog post if you know how to go about doing this and have a system in place it makes it much easier. Below I have gone through the methods used for writing a blog post using SEO search engine optimization and not using SEO.
There are lots of things you need to know before you even begin to write. However, it’s best to get stuck in with the writing so that you’ve got something down on screen rather than getting hung up on all the details. This article helps you with some of those details so that you don’t feel quite so daunted. The best thing to do is to just right and not panic over each and every small thing.
It can be difficult to write your first blog post for photography. This is because there are several factors that play. With paragraph first day there will be a lot of emotion on uncertainty some of it good some of it bad.
Does a lack of knowledge and experience that can be why you’re feeling uncertain. A paragraph you may not feel you’re a writer.
Or you just simply don’t know where to start. And you’re getting lots of conflicting information.
Should You Start with the About Me?
My own view is that you do not start your blog with the about me page. I prefer the about me page to be a page as opposed to a blog post. The structure of the pages is slightly different.
You should use pages for things that are not going to change like the about me page, contact us page, FAQs, etc.
So, I don’t count that as a first blog post. Ideally, you should already have one in place or at least a rough draft. If not don’t worry you can work on that later.
There is a lot to learn on the internet to be a successful blogger. However, if you attempt to learn everything before you start to blog you will never begin.
You’re going to have to just know the way you do it isn’t necessarily going to be right and will need to be improved over time as you learn.
Before You Begin Writing Your Post
I recommend that you sit down with a pen and piece of paper or a spreadsheet on a computer or an inspiration app.
Brainstorm everything that you think you could write about. Do not edit your thought process or delete anything at this point in time.
What your list could include.
- Any questions that you ever been asked as a photographer that you can remember.
- Any technical knowledge that you have.
- Your experiences as a photographer.
- The equipment that you use.
- Any useful tips.
- Interesting or unique shoots.
- Anything else you
can think of.
OK not the most original list, but each subject can easily be broken down and your own unique ideas and perspective added.
How to Decide What You’re Going to Write
Now that you have brainstormed your list you have a good starting point for lots of blog posts.
Next, you need to decide what your blog needs to concentrate on.
How To Write Your First Photography Blog Post USING Easy SEO
How Are You Going To Get Visitors To Your Blog?
When deciding what you want to write on your post there are two things to think about. What you’re going to write and where your traffic is coming from.
Knowing where your traffic is coming from is important. If your traffic is highly shareable or you have a good following already from other sources you don’t have to worry so much about doing search engine optimization on the post. However, if you want to rank in the search engines it has to be a factor in your subject because if people are not searching for it while it will rank really quickly you won’t get much traffic.
Most people would optimize as much as they could regardless. But some subjects might not be searched on.
I’m going to go deeply into search engine optimization in other posts as it’s a whole subject in itself. However, these days it’s much easier than it used to be a few years ago.
A quick way to decide what to write and whether it’ll optimize in the search engines is to think about any questions that you’ve asked yourself about photography in the past. Also, look at your list of questions that you have brainstormed.
The disadvantage here, of course, is that photography is very popular and you might find the question has been answered many times. A quick way to know this is to pop the question into your search engine and see what has already been said about it. Please do not assume that if it has not been answered that people are not asking it because that is not necessarily the case.
Go for the more specific questions.
Note of Caution:
I’ve gone into each section you need to know in order below. You do not need to start with the URL. In fact, it’s a good idea just to write your post once you have your keyword and worry about the specifics later.
How to Choose Your URL Link For Your Post
If you’re using WordPress the title that you use in full will come up as your URL link. The actual link used to get to your website.
If you want your post to come up in the search engines under a specific subject than that subject must be in your title and your link.
You do not, however, have to use the full title in your link if you do not want to.
If you’re getting anything else come up in your link then please check your settings.
It should read like this:
freelancephotographycenter.com/start-a-photography-blog/
I often prefer short URLs, so I don’t always include the whole title in my URL link.
How To Choose Your Post Title
- You should have your subject in your title.
- Your title needs to be under 60 characters. This is because if it’s over 60 characters the search engines chop the end off in the search results.
- If you can put emotion into this it can help.
- Fewer words are better.
It’s a good idea to write a preliminary titled so that you know what you’re writing about. You could always come back and work on the full title later once you’ve completed your post to make sure it’s exactly what you want.
How To Write Your Post
Think About the Type of Post
Think about what type of post is that you are writing. Are you writing a “how to do something” post or is it about a shoot? Etc.
- How to Post
- Tips type post or best of list post
- Personal post
- Detailed in-depth subject post
- Image gallery post
How you approach each type of post will be slightly different. For example, how to posts may require more photos than an ordinary post. The photos required on this type of post will often be step by step examples to support your writing.
Example of a “How to Post”
If you are writing a how-to post depending on what it is about, you will probably need to plan it in advance, do the shoot taking relevant photos then come back and write the post.
It really does depend on the subject. Here is a perfect example with a beautifully written how to post by Mark C Hughes on photographing bubbles.
In this post, he has given a good introduction with a sample photo.
He’s given some background science information, the equipment used, and the how to do it section. This is supported by a stunning after and process shots.
Please note this is for example only do not copy this article.
About Your Format & Layout
While layout and format are very important, it’s more important initially to get your writing down on paper. Then you can format it. As you get more experience you will naturally format as you go. For all the details on how to format your post go to this article on formatting your posts.
Write For Your Audience
Regardless of whether you’re using SEO and keywords or whether you are writing for an audience that you already have you should always I repeat always right for your audience to the best of your ability.
Many people get hung up on the keywords which is understandable because you want your articles to rank and to do well.
However, search engines are quite sophisticated compared to what they were even a few years ago so you really need to concentrate on is the article itself and how it helps your visitor.
How to Write Your Post If You’re Not Worried About SEO
It’s much easier to write a post if you’re not worried about search engine optimization SEO. This is because you don’t have to worry about most of the requirements that you would if you want your post to rank in one of the search engines like Google for example. Most people will do some form of SEO.
You still need to brainstorm to find out what posts you want to write and to give yourself ideas but a lot of the processes are not required.
Your Title and URL
Don’t make any changes on this because you still need to make it very clear what the subject is about. People do not read all the words in the title so you need to make sure that the elements are there.
Post Length
Part of the reason we put so much effort into the length of posts is as so that they’ll be picked up by the search engines. Search engines consider short posts to be less relevant and not as good quality or contents as no longer posts. If you’re not worried about SEO then you can do image heavy content with only a few words.
Quality of Content
However, it’s still vital that your content is considered quality. Always consider your visitor as best as you can regardless of whether you want to be ranked or not.
Keywords for Non-SEO Posts
You do not need to worry about keywords. If keywords are not a concern it makes the whole process of writing your post much easier.
With this method, you are freer to write and create your post how you might want it even with image-heavy content.
There is nothing however stopping you from putting keywords into your images. Just don’t stuff them in. It is a good idea as there is a good chance they will be shared.
How to Avoid Overwhelm
There are a lot of elements discussed here. Each one of these can be further broken down in detail. When starting out people often go into overwhelm, as there is a lot to learn.
If you find this happens to you then to the following:
- go back to your brainstorm list.
- Pick a subject that you love or it recent.
- Go to your computer and write. JUST WRITE.
- For the moment forget about SEO, layout, structure, traffic, etc.
- If you are really stuck then write any old thing to get you started. You can delete it later.
Step By Step Overview List
- Brainstorm your ideas.
- Pick an idea form the list that you want to write about.
- Decide on the SEO.
- Choose your working title.
- Check Your URL.
- Chose your titles.
- Write your post.
- Add Images.
- Format your post.
- Edit your post.
- Publish it.
