Hey First name / friend! I've been really enjoying putting together this content on growing your business without social media. In case you are jumping in mid-series, you can catch up by checking out SEO part one , SEO part two, and everything you need to know about your Google Maps listing.

 

I know that blogging can feel time consuming, and I don't keep up with it on a regular schedule. I will go through seasons where I can put together and schedule many blog posts, and then weeks (or longer) at a time where I can't touch my blog. 

 

Wherever you might fall in this, don't stress, simply make an effort to blog as you're able, and to do it in a way that helps you get found. 

 

If you're using Showit for your website, your blog should already have Yoast installed. Yoast is a free plugin that will walk you through each step of putting together an SEO-friendly blog post, and will show you in real time what needs to be changed. I highly recommend checking it out!

 

Whether or not you have Yoast available to walk you through blogging, you can get started quickly and easily with these tips below. I promise it's not difficult at all! :)

I know, it's tempting to title your blog posts with pretty-sounding names like Golden Hour in the Garden or Amongst the Wildflowers and so on. But these types of titles aren't going to get you anywhere. 

 

Instead, choose titles for your blog posts that use your keywords, and reflect what people might be searching for on Google. For example, I want to cover broader terms like ‘Boise Newborn Session,’ but I also might want a blog post to be found for something more specific like ‘Summertime Family Session on the Boise River.’ 

 

It's not as cute, but it's way more effective.

Every blog posts needs both internal and external links. It's super easy to check this step off, don't worry!

 

For external links, consider linking to your film lab, or the brand of mom's outfit, or the venue you shot at. You can also link the presets/profiles you edit with, or even the camera and lenses you use or other gear like your camera bag. 

 

For internal links, you can write a short blurb at the end of your post that invites your readers to check out your portfolio, browse your about page, and contact you. You can even copy and paste this into all of your posts (update it on occasion so you don't have 50 with the same exact text!), and it'll help you get a higher word count for your post - which is also a good thing!

For a while, I was so busy that I decided I would just blog images and not worry about text content (content outside of what I could copy and paste into every post, like linking to my film lab and the blurb with my internal links). It was better than nothing since potential clients could still browse images, but it definitely wasn't ideal for my SEO.

 

Experts disagree on the ideal word count for blog posts, and I've seen answers that recommend 500-700 words, 1500 words, or 2500-3000 words. Clearly, there's no perfect word count.

 

The biggest takeaway should be that adding text does matter, but don't stress about writing a novel every time you want to blog. I like to leave names out of my posts for my clients' privacy, but it's usually quick and easy to sit down and write a little bit about the session itself or what I love about the location, outfits, etc.

 

You can also try using ChatGPT to help create blog content, though I can't say that I have personally spent much time experimenting with this. I'd love to invest more time into learning how to do this well though! I actually wanted to create some sample prompts to share here, but funny enough, ChatGPT is down at the time of writing this. So I'll save that for another day. ;)

You can integrate your keywords into your text itself, and use them in a natural way. For example, I could say something like, “This summertime family session at the Boise River was a highlight of my July.” I could also simply add the standalone phrase Summertime family session at the Boise River to a few spots in my post, like a heading or a footnote. Keep it easy – no need to overthink this one, just make sure those keywords get used!

It's not good practice to focus on the same keywords for multiple blog posts. For example, creating ten different blog posts focused on the phrase ‘Boise family photographer’ is not going to help me more than creating one good post for that phrase. In fact, it may even make it harder for my posts to get found for that phrase, because they'll be competing with each other! 

 

Instead, use a different set of keywords for each post. Finding a unique set for each post does mean that you'll end up needing a long list of keywords, but it's easier than it sounds because even small variations count as an entirely new phrase. I can use Boise family photographer, Boise family photography, Boise family session, Boise photo session, Boise family photos, and so on, all as unique keywords.

 

And if you're using the Yoast plugin, you don't need to track these on your own! Yoast will alert you if you're repeating a keyphrase.

It can take weeks to see a difference in your search result ranking, and that's simply part of the process. These steps will pay off, and tackling them one small piece at a time ensures that this process won't be overwhelming.

 

Keep at it, First name / friend! Let me know if you've been enjoying this series! 

PHOTOGRAPHY SITE | EDUCATION SITE