Even if a house falls on ya. Image © Jain Lemos.
…is a good policy most of the time, especially if you’re under deposition or something. One of these responses will suffice to answer nearly every question asked: Yes, No, Possibly, I’m not sure, I have no idea, That question is going to take some explaining!
Still, I’m going to give you my explanation about why I blog. Because I keep reading photo-related blogs and wondering: Who is their audience? Why do their posts receive a lot of (or no) comments? Is the blog getting them work, selling their services or bringing them licensing deals? Or is blogging just an ego-gratifying WOT (waste of time)?
Here is my reason for blogging. I started blogging because I wanted to learn how so that I would be able to help clients with their own blogs. I also liked the editing interface with the ability to easily and quickly update my blog (in my case, my website). I used to hard code and still do on occasion. It’s not that much fun anymore to work with MySQL, CSS, and PHP! A blog is a communication tool and you can talk to yourself if you like or don’t have any readers. But it’s really a marketing tool and that is why I want to understand blogging. When I switched a few months ago to WordPress’s ProPhoto platform, I realized there is a lot more to a custom blog than the free Blogger account I started with.
I also look at blogs of my competitors: other photography and publishing consultants. Some only have brochure sites, some with a blog section. Most only post press releases about various photographer clients, industry happenings or information on photo contests. A few have a “voice” and provide tips with hints to hire a consultant for more secrets, as I try to do here. Admittedly, my blog is a mixed bag and has some structure. I like to change it up.
Here is what I’m getting at today: If you are a photographer and you are blogging, there are plenty of questions to ask yourself (such as those above). If you are spending too much time blogging and seeing too little return on your time investment, then you would do well to devise a real plan. There are specific methods to driving traffic to your blog and I’m always working on cracking that code.
I’m fortunate to have many great clients who have never even read my blog. LOL. Which is sort of an answer to the Q: Who is my audience? I think it’s (a) people I mention and link to here in my posts and who receive Google Alerts with their name, and (b) my loyal followers such as Hoiyin Ip, who attended one of my lectures. He wrote recently:
Hi Jain, I won’t say I am busy, particularly not in front of people like you who have obvious achievement. I spend my time taking mini steps here and there with the hope of achieving some success. Thanks for your encouragement and compliment to my blog! I actually like to blog more, at least as a writing practice. But who cares? My voice has no volume, unlike yours. You obviously put your heart on your blog. I love your latest message: one photo, one caption, one pitch, one blog post. Heartfelt!
Wow! Thanks, Hoiyin. I’d say such a nice note deserves explanation (and there is that ego gratification component). Please jump over to visit Hoyin’s blog for a moment. This is how it works!