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The slower winter season is a great time to catch up on writing and adding evergreen & educational content to your website and client guides. I plan to take a whole day at the end of January to sit down with no distractions and just WRITE all day long for content to use the whole year. But you don’t have to do it that way! Choose a topic or two and write for an hour, and if you do that every week for 6 weeks, you’ll have nearly a years’ worth of content (spaced out 2 posts per month).
Now this will be different for each photographer or business owner, but I like to break my content into two parts — for clients and for photographers. I have lots of wedding content for couples, but I am also using this winter to write more for my branding and commercial clients. And the added benefit of having this content to share with and link for your clients as needed is that it will also immensely boost your SEO!
Not sure where to start? Here’s my list of 5 things to get the ball rolling. Use this list also to brainstorm and see what other topics or ideas you can come up with. Start a running list, and then when you have a free hour, sit down and write about that topic. Remember, you are the expert in your field!!
1) Favorite photo locations. Lists are GREAT for blog posts & social media! AND you don’t have to give away your secrets! Write a list of the 5 most popular places in your town. Chances are your clients don’t know where to start so it gives you a jumping-off point. I believe in #communityovercompetition so I’ve never shied away from sharing locations, but it’s totally understandable if you do. Just save those locations to share with your clients privately as the need arises. This type of post will be a HUGE for SEO!
2) How-to guides that are niche-specific. For me, I wrote a few posts on how to get married at my local courthouse. I book a TON of courthouse weddings in my county for having all the information on my blog that my couples can’t readily get from the government. Our county clerk’s website has very limited information, so I fill in the gaps for those trying to understand the process better.
If the “courthouse” idea isn’t in your niche, that’s totally cool! Choose another “how to” topic that will resonate and be useful to your target clients. How to get your marriage license… how to plan your budget… how to choose a honeymoon… how to decide your wedding menu… the possibilities are endless!
3) Your favorite business platforms. What products do you use every day or on a regular basis? And why do you use them? For me, that’s Lightroom, AfterShoot, Honeybook, Flodesk, Shootproof, Squarespace… and the list goes on. This is a GREAT way to incorporate your affiliate links into your marketing and have them available for clicks on your website. You never know when a random click might make you some money!
4) What your editing process looks like. Let cilents see the value in your work by visualizing what it actually takes to edit one photo, session, or wedding. Maybe include a short video/screen recording or simply talk about your basic settings and then show before & afters. And again — don’t forget those affiliate links! These types of posts are nice because they can fall into both categories — for clients and for photographers.
5) Guides for weddings. In 2021 I started a series of blog posts aimed at helping wedding guests coming into our area from out of town. I have a post for hotels, activities, food, and nightlife. And then previously I also have old posts from a few years back that focus on tips for ushers, tips for groomsmen, tips for bridesmaids, etc. Or if you don’t do weddings, you could write posts about what to wear. And if you already have clients guides, even easier! Simply convert the info to posts and add some photos — voila!
Bonus tip: Take your current FAQs list from any genres you photograph and turn them into a series of posts! Then whenever someone asks you a specific question, rather than re-typing a reponse each time, you can link them to your pre-written content to save time.
Lastly, whenever I have an educational post, I add a button to my client and education pages so they can access that content quickly and easily without having to search my blog. So… now what are you going to write this winter to boost your SEO?
This original post is by Holly Birch Photography, a return speaker to the Reset Conference this year. She will be offering a 6-on-1 OCF mentorship class on the final day of Reset.
Holly Smith jumped headfirst into the wedding photography world nine years ago and has used off-camera flash from the very beginning. After dabbling in a bit of everything, she now specializes in weddings, boudoir, seniors, commercial work, and headshots with her business Holly Birch Photography. She lives in Mahomet, IL with her husband Aaron, children Maximus and Hadley, and their dog Roscoe.