Something I discovered pretty early on in my business was the importance of blogging. But more than that, blogging regularly. At first I was doing it simply because everyone else was, but it wasn’t until a year or so down the road that I started to see all the benefits that blogging had for my business that I realized it was really a necessity.

I know that a lot of us business owners out there hate blogging. And more often than not, I do too. It a very time-consuming and tedious task, especially when you’re doing it multiple times a week. And trying to come up with something to write about when you are fresh out of ideas is like pulling teeth! But once you view blogging as a necessity for your business, just like bookkeeping or emailing, it’s not so bad! I know that I can contribute a lot of the growth of my business to the fact that I have been blogging regularly for the last 3+ years. In case you’re not convinced yet, here are a few reasons why you need to be blogging!

Keeps them coming back. When someone comes across your business, whether it’s because you shot a wedding of a friend of theirs or they just stumbled across your page on social media, what’s going to keep them engaged and coming back for more? By blogging regularly, you can turn those people into loyal followers that may one day turn into a client or refer you to a friend! I’ve had several clients that were one of those people that stumbled across my business years ago and followed along on my blog, then when it was their turn to get married, I was the first person they thought of to photograph their big day!

SEO. I certainly don’t claim to be an expert on SEO, but I can say that blogging plays a huge role in the SEO for your website for several reasons. First of all, it’s jam packed with content that pertains to your business. Keywords throughout the text of the post, images with keyword metadata, outbound links and links back to your own site. Also, by publishing content to your blog regularly, Google recognizes that your site is being regularly updated with new content which is beneficial to your ranking. And even if you are just starting out and no one is reading your blog right now, still keep at it because those posts are still contributing to your site’s SEO and people will stumble across them later down the road. One of my most visited posts is a Charlottesville bachelorette party that I photographed for my cousin back before I even started my business. And even though no one was reading it back then, now it gets hits daily because it’s one of the first things that comes up when you google ‘charlottesville bachelorette party’!

Allows your following to get to know you. Blogging is essentially a conversation that you can have with your entire following. By reading the text in your blog posts, people can get a sense of your personality. And by mixing in some personal content in your blog posts, people can really get to know the face behind your business and become invested in you! In an industry like this that is oversaturated with a lot businesses offering the same service, the only thing that separates you from the rest is YOU! And blogging is great way to allow people to really get to know you!

Creates discipline and structure. One of the challenges of being your own boss is the lack of accountability and deadlines. Since you make all the rules, what’s going to stop you from slacking or taking longer than you should to get work done? By having a regular blogging schedule, you create deadlines for yourself and your audience essentially holds you accountable! I always blog my Saturday weddings the following Wednesday and I’ve been doing it that way long enough that my audience expects that post on Wednesday. So by having a deadline for when a wedding needs to completed and blogged, it creates structure in my workflow and gives me the motivation to finish on time.

So if you’ve put blogging on the back burner or aren’t doing it regularly, I hope this can give you a little motivation to make blogging a priority! If you’re starting from scratch and don’t know where to begin, here’s a few tips to get you going!

Make a list on your phone of possible blog topics. That way when you’re out and about and genius blog topic pops in your head, you can add it to your list before you forget! Another helpful thing you can do is create a blogging calendar! This way you can schedule when you want to blog certain topics ahead of time and eliminate the panic that ensues the night before you need to come up with a blog post! Also, it helps to look at a month view of your blog posts to make sure you posts are evenly spread out and you’re covering a good mix of topics!

The off season (for those of us in the wedding industry) is the perfect time to start new business habits and practices, so get out there and start blogging, friends!

If you found this post helpful, you should also check out these posts!

Where To Invest When Starting Out

The Best $5 I Spent On My Clients

5 Tips For Nailing the Ring Shot

3 Tips for Shooting in Midday Sun

The Basics of Off Camera Flash

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