Blahhhh. Blogggg. Ha! I was going to write out a post about how I prewrite and schedule ALL of my posts in advance because it’s such a time saver and it’s the ONLY way to get 4-5 posts up every week….but then I procrastinated, didn’t do it ahead of time, and now I’m struggling to write this today. I say that I’m struggling because I’m not the world’s best writer (can you tell??) so usually blogging ahead of time is really helpful for me because I get a chance to really think about what I want to say and how I’m going to say it. Unlike today when I actually woke up late (in my defense I was up late last night scratching my entire mosquito bite covered body) and am rushing to get something decent together for you peeps. Without TOO much more useless blabbing, here are a few of my tips for photography bloggers.

Decide how often you want to post. For some people, posting three times a week is A LOT. Not everyone has the time or energy (or even CARES) to post every weekday. That’s totally cool! Whatever you choose to do, though, make sure you are consistent. If you post Monday, Wednesday, Friday…do your best to always post Monday, Wednesday, Friday. Consistency is the key to building a readership that will return. Two of my favorite home blogs, Design Sponge and Young House Love post EVERY DAY! So I know there will always be something great to look at and I just check it without them even having to post a link! Some of my photographer friends don’t post every single weekday, but they post several blog posts a week. I still check their blogs very regularly because I KNOW there will more than likely be some new, great content to read/drool over.

Make a calendar. I have a google calendar for the month with all of my sessions, appointments, etc already keyed into it. At the beginning of each month I go through and use the tasks feature to schedule what and when I want to post. I automatically write in “Review in Instagrams” and “Stuff I Love” at the beginning and end of the month since I will be doing those. Then I look at what sessions and weddings I have coming up and schedule a blog post for each one of those within the next week or so after the event. If I have two weddings or sessions to share, I share on Tuesday and Thursday of the following week. If I have one wedding to share from the previous weekend and no engagement or portraits, I share on Wednesday. Once all of my events are keyed in, I go back and fill and holes with other things I want to post about…in a slower season you might see more things like the Confessions of a Former Bride series, or more DIY tutorials. These empty holes are also great spots to put things like the ideas I’ve been saving up to post for a while. This leads me to my next point….

Keep a list/journal/notepad/etc of post ideas. For me, my list is on my iPhone. It’s just a little sheet of the iPhone “notepad” that I  use to keep track of random ideas I have for my blog. I had started a notepad, but I almost never had it with me when I was out so that kind of defeated the purpose. I’m almost always tethered to my phone (I’m obsessed) so it’s just easier for me to do it that way. I jot down any kind of post idea that I think would be neat and the things I get inspired by are really random sometimes! It could even be a snippet of conversation I overheard standing in line somewhere! If you start keeping track of ideas you have, it will become easier and easier to find content for your blog and you will always have a list of backups to post about in the event that you get bloggers block.

Write your posts in advance. HAHA. Like I mentioned above, I try to blog in advance, but sometimes it doesn’t happen. I blame it on my cat and the marathon of Bridezillas that was on yesterday afternoon…it’s really hard for me to resist reality TV. Blogging in advance (when you actually do it) is GREAT because you don’t have to scramble at the last minute and then possibly hit bloggers blog and n0t even have anything to write about. It’s definitely more possible for me to wait to write something til the morning of these days because I don’t have to be at my full time job, but it’s still not something I want to practice all of the time if I want to maintain a consistent schedule.

Be YOURSELF!! This one is so, SO important. When I first started blogging (this was a personal blog that’s too embarrassing to share), I tried to sound very formal and serious and what I thought in my mind to be “professional”. My blog posts didn’t really sound like me at all. Obviously it’s important to maintain some sense of professionalism when you’re blogging, but the photography industry (and the blogosphere for that matter) are so inundated, and the main thing that sets you apart is your awesome personality. This is such a cliche, but if all blogs sounded the same, the world would be a boring place. At least, the blog world would. Your blog is the first place where potential clients will get to know you and get to know what type of person you are. Jasmine Star said somewhere that your goal should be to attract or repel people. I know I butchered that quote, but IT’S SO TRUE. And that’s what you want! If there are people who come to my blog and are offended by my casual tone and my somewhat weird/lame joke attempts, then they are not the clients for me. In the same vein (but opposite) there will be people who stop by my blog and LOVE my bad jokes and decide that I’m at the top of their list just because they like me. When someone tells me they loved reading my blog and can’t wait to have me shoot their wedding because they feel like they already know me, that’s the best feeling in the world and makes all the work that goes into blogging TOTALLY WORTH IT.

I can’t blog without a picture…I feel like it breaks the photographers code or something (yeah, there’s a code). Here’s a preview of April and John’s wedding from this past weekend!