If you haven’t read the first blog posts in this two part series, I highly recommend going back to read Why I Blog the Majority of my Client Sessions first! A why powers a how more than anything else!
But if you’ve already read the why, I’d love to share a little bit behind the process of how I keep up with blogging 50+ client sessions per year, as well as 20+ weddings!
If just reading that last sentence makes you sweat, I totally get it. Blogging used to feel super overwhelming to me until I made it a part of my workflow for each of my sessions/weddings. Now, it just feels like a part of the process that I can’t skip! Below are a few things that help me keep up with the process of blogging. I hope they help you, too!
1. Have a solid workflow that makes blogging a priority.
When I send my clients their final gallery of images, they almost always receive a link to a blog post as well – and that blog post link comes first in that email, before the gallery link! Why? I want my clients to see my favorite images from each part of their session first – leaving them with a positive impression from the start! I use a customizable template email when sending my clients their links, so it actually creates more work for me when I don’t blog, because I have to change my template email! When I know I really should be doing something in my business, I try to set up a process that makes it harder for me to opt-out (or, for example, not blog), so I have to do it!
2. Make it easy on yourself, for Pete’s sake!
You will be much less likely to blog if it feels like a giant chore! Believe it or not, I actually feel excited when I finish a session and jump into creating the blog post, because I know I’ll be able to showcase the very best images from my client’s session to them first! But I digress: one of the best tips I could possibly give is to make the process easier on yourself by looking for ways to make your blogging process simpler and more streamlined. I love using Squarespace as my blog host, because it’s super user friendly and easy to use. I can easily upload my photos, tag my content to make it SEO friendly, and post my content without too much effort! I also love using BlogStomp, which allows me to quickly size images for my blog and make collages out of multiple images with the click of a button.
3. Batch your blogging.
This is a big one I learned from a great educator and photographer named Jenna Kutcher! Batching your work basically means setting aside a large chunk of time to complete one task, or a repeating task (instead of going from one thing to the next, to another thing, and so on!). This past year (2018) was the first time I really buckled down on batching my blog content, and let me tell you, it made a world of difference!
This year, I worked on editing multiple sessions throughout the week, then created blog posts for all of my completed galleries at the very end of the week, usually on either Thursday or Friday. I felt like I was able to work on other content and tasks throughout the week without stressing about getting my blog posts done, because I knew that I would have time to really focus in on my blogging when the end of the week rolled around!
The best thing you could possibly do for yourself when it comes to blogging is to find a process that works for you. Your process might look different from another photographers, and your frequency of blogging might look different from someone else’s. But the key thing to remember: be consistent. Whatever you decide to do with your blogging, remember that consistency is key, and that you can always start small and build up! Don’t be discouraged by others around you who might be blogging more. We all had to start somewhere at some point. So just start!
I’m rooting for you!
