Blogging to increase web presence

[Tim Armes]

Hi all,

How many of you blog?

I've fancied setting up a blog for quite a while now, but I wasn't convinced that it would give an appropriately professional image tp my site.

However, after watching the video that Chase Jarvis released last week where Chase, David Hobby and David Nightingale explain how blogging worked for them I've decided to give it a go. I think it's definitly worth watching the video and listening to the 3 presenters, the arguments are persuasive. Here's a link to Chase's blog entry and the video:

http://blog.chasejarvis.com/blog/2008/11/chase-jarvis-current-making-web-work.html

And for the curious, here's a link to my new blog:

http://www.timothyarmes.com/blog/

How many of you have considered adding a blog to your site? How many of you have seen increased "branding" thanks to a good blog?

Tim

 

[Kathy Rappaport]

Blogging

I set up a blog this year. I wasn't sure anyone was reading it but I did get a surprise email from a stranger telling me that they liked my writings because it made them feel they knew me. That's good for a people photographer.

I Facebook and Linkedin too. I reserved my name on Twitter. If I spend my time on OPF, a couple other fora and the blogs and social sites, when will I have time to market, shoot or PP?

 

[Kathie Duprey]

Blogging ideas

I'm strongly considering adding a blog even though Wired magazine says they are now passe. I've blogged in the past (different subject matter) and initially the main issue for me was keeping a constant supply of posts ready. It can be time consuming and the muse doesn't always feel like dropping by. but I eventually found I would get on a roll and write four or five posts in one sitting and then just do a copy paste as appropriate. And if I ran out of ideas or time I must admit the world didn't come to a crashing halt. The main reason I finally stopped was because at the time billing snafus on the part of Typepad nearly drove me to drink. Hopefully that has improved.

I've also looked at Wordpress and Blogger. Whether you want to pay for services or use the key and a stick shift models that are free depends on where you want to put your time and money.

What to blog about is also a critical issue - you want to draw people in not bore them to tears or anyway that is my thinking. Here's where I found Chase Jarvis's video gave me inspiration. (The sound quality is a tad iffy at times, but the information is good.)

As a former photo editor I'm very familiar with the "But I had to scale the cliffs of despair while being bitten by fire ants the size of bumblebees and icicles like sharpened daggers falling all around me and then both my flash card and my backups turned out to be corrupt so I made a memory card out of chewing gum, playing cards and twine the way my Uncle Mc Guiver who had his own television series in the 1970s taught me....so even though the technical is atrocious and it's a picture of my infected ant bites instead of the rare eagles nest you assigned me you just have to run it " story. While as an editor, often on deadline, I wasn't buying for one second it occurred to me that some of the predicaments I find myself in trying to get "the shot" can be rather funny/ludicrous either at the time or after the fact. And as a former reporter I chat up most people I meet out of habit and come across all kinds of interesting folks with interesting stories. So long story short, I decided to try posting anecdotes mixed with "how I got the shot" thinking and of course the image. Anyway that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

For further inspiration I also looked at some of the blogs I found at these links:
http://photoblogawards.com/2008/
http://www.photoblogs.org/

Joie de vivre,
Kate

Sorry for the American cultural references - if you wish further enlightenment and I can't imagine why you would - shoot me a question and I'll give you a link. Will also add a link to my blog if, I mean when inspiration meets the nitty gritty.

 

[Ian L. Sitren]

Long time blogger

I started my own blog in December 2005 really to see what it was all about. I have maintained it fairly consistently and recently incorporated it directly into my website. I do get a lot of positive feedback from people about it. It makes more of a personal connection that people seem to like and it is very flexible in what can be posted etc. Very simple to use, you just write something, add a photo or video and done. My website is at http://SecondFocus.com and just click on Blog.

You might find this interesting too...

BodyBuilding.com which is the largest bodybuilding and fitness resource online and I think in one of the top 1500 trafficked websites on the internet started an online community for people interested in health and fitness. That was a few years ago and it now has close to 300,000 members. It is called BodySpace.

It is not used for marketing but it is an example of how online social communities can exist in a more defined niche.

BodyBuilding.com is one of my clients and I have maintained my own BodySpace since August 2006. And my Blog on there is one of the top 10 trafficked overall and currently one of the most popular showing almost 145,000 visits. It is at...

http://blog.bodybuilding.com/SecondFocus

 

[Charles L Webster]

Blogging

I'm blogging about my photography of stringed instruments. This is a relatively recent specialty and I want to share my techniques with others.

It has increased my web visibility and has increased the number of hits to my web site, almost doubling it since I began at the beginning of Feb.

 

[Ian L. Sitren]

I'm blogging about my photography of stringed instruments. This is a relatively recent specialty and I want to share my techniques with others.

It has increased my web visibility and has increased the number of hits to my web site, almost doubling it since I began at the beginning of Feb.

I think that is extraordinary and your photography is beautiful!

 

[Charles L Webster]

I think that is extraordinary and your photography is beautiful!

Thanks I'm glad you like my work.

I have spent a long time preparing for this work (shooting stringed instruments), and am just now seeing that preparation come to fruition.

 

[Asher Kelman]

I'm blogging about my photography of stringed instruments. This is a relatively recent specialty and I want to share my techniques with others.

It has increased my web visibility and has increased the number of hits to my web site, almost doubling it since I began at the beginning of Feb.

Charles,

I just visited your blog via your website and I must say I'm impressed. It does allow a more in depth way of getting to know about you the photographer and your special devotion to your work. You have included a reason for us wanting to get closer to your pictures of musical instruments. Tim Armes, if he ever visits should photograph you working. He is particularly insightful in photographing artisans!

I plan to look at all the blogs here and I'm sure I'll gain a lot. Thanks for sharing this.

Asher

 

[Matt Suess]

I just recently started micro-blogging with Twitter. The format is great - you are limited to only 140 characters per "tweet". I added a twitter applet on my homepage that instantly updates my latest tweets. With my iPhone I can snap a photo, add some text and instantly send both to my twitter account.

In addition I have twitter set up to automatically send the tweet to my blog on blogger, my website (as mentioned earlier) and it even updates my Facebook status - all automatically, all at once.

You can see my twitter page by clicking on the link in my signature.

Matt

 

[Don Shreve]

I set up a blog using Google's Blogger. I'm pretty happy with the design & ease of use.

http://donshreve.blogspot.com/


HOWEVER, (I'm sure everyone has this problem), HOW do you promote your blog?
I put it my e-mail signature, I put it on my FaceBook profile, my LinkedIn profile. I also submitted it to Google's search.
The only visitors I get are friends & family.
How does one go about promoting a blog without spamming or alienating your clients?

 

[Ian L. Sitren]

"Why Your Blog Sucks"

Here is an article that was just published on SportsShooter that I found very interesting and also timely to this discussion... and PLEASE I am not directing this at anyone! Do not shoot the messenger

"Why Your Blog Sucks" by Allen Murabayshi. Allen is the CEO of PhotoShelter.

 

[Matt Suess]

HOW do you promote your blog?
I put it my e-mail signature, I put it on my FaceBook profile, my LinkedIn profile. I also submitted it to Google's search.
The only visitors I get are friends & family.
How does one go about promoting a blog without spamming or alienating your clients?

Hi Don,

Looks like you have had your blog for just 10 days now - getting traffic to it is going to take time. In addition to adding links on your facebook, linkedin, etc., you may also inform those on your mailing list (assuming you have one). Making sure your main website is search engine friendly with prominent links to your blog will also bring people. After all of that, it is then going to take both time and good/interesting/frequent writing on your part to develop an audience that follows you and spreads the word about your blog.

Matt

 

[Asher Kelman]

Put a link to your blog in your signature and then a link to OPF in your blog. What you need for the search engines is links to folk who have links.

Always add your © , contact info and website on each photograph. That way each time some thief sends your picture to someone else, they are you promoting you.

Also every pic here should have the same info!

Asher

 

[Don Shreve]

Matt, Ian, Asher-
All great suggestions. I installed Google Analytics, will link back to OPF from my blog.
I've gotten my main web site pretty well optimized, or at least it's getting there. But, as you've said, it does take time.
Don't know about the rest of you, but my business is hurting. Just trying to explore every avenue.
Thanks for the suggestions!

 

[Ian L. Sitren]

Don,

You do beautiful work, I just looked at your website!

My slowdown was really an increasing cost sensitivity on the part of my ad and magazine clients. However I have the advantage of being well established in a somewhat unique niche. The clients still need the ads and the content, I just found ways of being more valuable and cost effective for them. I am also in an industry that historically and currently does well in tough economic times.

I have always believed that it is better to specialize than be a generalist and you must find a way of being different. Unique and valuable to the client pays more.

 

[Mike Bailey]

Ian's original link to "Why Your Blog Sucks" has another link that is to the point and worth reading, and is also quite to the point of this thread I think:

http://www.sportsshooter.com/news/2082

It relates to why spend time on a doing a blog, and more to the point, why it could help.

This might help those who don't (eh, like me) blog, twitter, or otherwise do a lot of internet self-promotion think twice about why not.

Mike

 

[Don Shreve]

Removed....

 

[Ian L. Sitren]

Actually I more thought of it as blunt. PhotoShelter is a superb service, I have been using it almost since they started in business a few years ago now.

 

[Nina Parker]

Isn't blogging really about telling the story of specific images, and giving the photographer opportunity to add more text (SEO friendly) to capture the attention of specific people?

 

[Norman Jaillet]

Blogging can be intimidating

.... and its a ton of work to come up with fresh ideas. Give them just enough to stay attentive but never give out too much.

 

[Jerome Marot]

Isn't blogging really about telling the story of specific images, and giving the photographer opportunity to add more text (SEO friendly) to capture the attention of specific people?

Isn't blogging so much out of fashion that nobody serious runs a blog nowadays? The original post is about a decade old, when blogging was still popular, but in 2018? ?

 

[Robert Fishman]

Blogging is great for SEO. Google loves fresh informative content and blogging is the way to go.

I started blogging about 6 weeks ago and found my search ranking increased.

https://pixelpixproductphotography.com/blogs/news

 

[Asher Kelman]

Blogging is great for SEO. Google loves fresh informative content and blogging is the way to go.

I started blogging about 6 weeks ago and found my search ranking increased.

https://pixelpixproductphotography.com/blogs/news

Robert,

Welcome!

Certainly a professional website. I like the puffed out to body form leather “flight jacket”. So tell us, are you a product photographer or connected with blog software in some way?

 

[Robert Fishman]

Hi-

Thanks for your kind words.
I'm a product photographer. Have been so for the past 20 years and I just found this forum
and love it. I hope to participate frequently sharing photo info that I have learned and also
learning.