by Casi Yost | Featured Contributor
Blogging seems to have become a dirty word with business owners. That and SEO are scary things to most people. I firmly believe they are critical to growing your business and give you an edge considering your competitors don’t want to do them either.
I have a few reasons why you need to be blogging yesterday and what it actually does for your business:
- Grows your Know / Like / Trust value with customers and peers
- SEO: Casts a larger net to capture more keywords
- Become an authority to help others
- Repurpose content to use on other social media platforms
- Helps you answer customers frequently asked questions
Know/Like/Trust:
Your customers want to know who the person is behind the website and brand. They can’t unless you’re constantly engaging them, showing them your expertise and providing new content. The way that I like to do this is create blog posts for other photographers on the gear I use, how I manage my workflow and other tips I can give to help them with their business. For couples, I have discussed how to elope in Oregon, the details of planning the timeline for your wedding, etc. These blog posts allow them to see that I care and that I know what I’m doing.
SEO:
When your customers type something into a search bar, you want to be able to rank for all of those keywords, right? Well blog post titles are exactly what should pop up on those searches. So when you make your blog posts, they should be targeted to answer questions that they might pose. All the questions. Take time to research what they are searching for, and answer those questions in posts. It will cast a huge keyword net and capture more people that way.
Become an Authority:
When you blog, you allow people to see you are an expert in your field. Your peers as well as customers will come to you for answers and as a result, you increase your brand loyalty. We all want that right? Well you have to give your customers, peers and everyone else reasons why they should trust you. Being consistent and giving good content is the way to do that.
Repurpose Content:
Ever feel like you are fighting an uphill battle when it comes to creating good content for all the platforms? Well when you create a blog post, you can use that in your emails, direct people to your website by linking it on facebook, etc. Pinterest is huge and having your blog posts constantly looping in Pinterest is a great way to repurpose content, especially what I call “evergreen” content. Evergreen content is content that can be useful no matter how old it is. Things like “what photography gear I use for weddings” is an example because this probably won’t change from year to year, and it’s helpful for new photographers. Repurposing content and recycling won’t make your viewers and clients get annoyed, because most likely they may not see the post, they might have forgotten, or you have a large number of new customers that haven’t seen it.
Helps to FAQ’s from customers and peers:
I get about six or seven DM’s a day from other photographers asking about my gear, or what I have done to grow my business, and this is great! However, my answers never change. If they do, I update my blog post. I want to give the same consistent, and well thought answer to everyone. So what I can do is direct them to that blog post and they can re-read it as much as they want. Plus it has pretty pictures and links to other resources, but that’s beside the point. Why is this critical? It saves you time and allows you to maintain a great relationship by giving them a good answer.
How to get people to read your post? Use social media! As soon as I make a new blog post, I:
- Put a link to my post on my personal and business Facebook page
- Put a link on LinkedIn. It’s algorithm is super user friendly and similar to what Facebook and Instagram were like five years ago
- Talk about it in your Instagram stories while you’re at it
- Put the link in your bio on your Instagram page
- Send the new blog post out to your email list
- Share the post with people you think would be interested
So save yourself time, invest in blogging because it will do more for your business than you realize. If you don’t feel like you’re a great writer, have someone proofread. As long as what you are delivering is good content and not fluff, you will see how it helps you and your customers.
Let me know what you think! Share this and message me with questions on all my social media accounts!
XO,
Casi
Casi Yost, Wedding Photographer and Community over Competition advocate.
Casi is a wedding photographer and educator based out of Oregon. When she isn’t dancing it up with coupes at weddings, she hosts workshops for women wanting to start their own photography business. She is a passionate about community over competition and how it can heal broken businesses.
Find Casi on her websites casiyost.com and beyondworkshop.net or Instagram.
