Since its inception, blogging has been a popular medium for sharing personal stories and thoughts. And as many wedding photographers have discovered, that makes blogging a great branding and marketing tool.

By nature, blogs are more informal and intimate than web sites. After a while photographers' website images "will start to look the same to couples because of Photoshop," says wedding photographer Eric Hegwer. "But blogging gives you another way to connect with them, especially if your personality shines through."

Done well, blogging can reduce the work of selling yourself.  "By the time a client wants to meet with me or talk on the phone, she's already sold," says Jasmine Star, an Orange County wedding photographer with a popular wedding blog. "She already knows she likes me and my work. She's seen my latest photos. She knows my dog's name, my husband's name, my favorite shoes, that my mom had cancer … "

Sharing such personal information through a blog can be invaluable to destination wedding photographers. Jessica Claire, another Orange County-based photographer, doesn't meet many of her clients until the wedding day. "But because they've been following my blog, they feel like they know me," she says. "My posts give us something to talk about, which makes it easier to have a relationship and get better photographs of the couple."

The technical advantages
 
As many photographers are discovering, a big technical advantage of blogs over websites is their flexibility.

"The blog is like a little speedboat compared to website, which is more like an ocean liner," says Alexandria, Virginia-based photographer Matt Mendelsohn, who now posts a "quickie gallery" for every wedding client to his blog within four days of the event. "Our website is harder to update," he says. "But it's so easy to throw something up on the blog."

Because he posts his latest work on his blog, Mendelsohn often directs people there instead of his website.

He's not the only photographer to move in this direction. Claire was updating her Web site so infrequently that she decided to consolidate her blog and Web site.

"I like telling clients to go to blog and see the last 100 things I shot," she says. "Here's me producing great stuff every week—that's a security that prospective clients are looking for."

Another advantage of blogging is that it can improve the odds that prospective clients will find you by improving your ranking in search engines such as Google and Yahoo. That is because search engines crawl for new content, so regularly updated blogs get more attention and higher page rankings than static websites do.

Hegwer says that updating his blog three or four times each week has propelled his business "immeasurably." "I don't advertise," he says. "I'm not on the wedding Web sites like The Knot. I work 100 percent through referrals and search engine placement."

The time commitment

While blogging has its benefits, it also requires commitment. Most photographers who consider blogging a central marketing strategy post at least two or three times a week. Those who blog less frequently risk falling off the radar of potential cliets. "If you go to those sites" that are infrequently updated, says Mendelsoh, "you think, 'Is this photographer still active?'"

That is why Star describes blogging as a discipline that "takes a lot of time." She spends 20 minutes to an hour blogging every day. Some photographers devote as much as ten hours a week.

That includes more than the actual writing, of course. In addition to the hour or two that he spends writing each post, Mendelsohn spends an hour or two processing the images he posts.



Where to blog—and what it costs

In addition to time, a good wedding blog is likely to cost money. While anyone can start a free blog using Blogger or Wordpress.com, those platforms have few custom design options, limited storage space, and few resizing options. So serious bloggers typically shell out money for better blog hosting and a custom designer.

Many prefer companies like TypePad and SquareSpace, which directly host blogs for anywhere from $5 to $90 a month, depending on how much bandwidth the photographer needs. Others pay for Web hosting companies like DreamHost, Moveable Type, or MediaTemple to provide the bandwidth while using free blogging platforms such as WordPress or Drupal to post and manage content.

Most hosts and platforms offer similar features. Those with WYSIWIG layouts are popular among photographers, who need to see how photos will look within the text. And platforms with a spell-check feature are good insurance. "[It's hard] to appeal to so-called 'high-end' brides if you can't spell," says Mendelsohn.

Hegwer recommends trying out different blogging platforms before committing. "If [the interface] is difficult, you won't blog as much, and that defeats the purpose," he says.

Taking advantage of free trials can save you the hassle of changing platforms later. Hegwer has lost a lot of his archived content as a result of changing blogging platforms. And losing content, he explains, can undercut your search engine rankings.

"Pick a blogging [platform] you can live with for a long time," he advises.

It is also important to find a blog design that highlights your visual sensibilities. Web designers charge anywhere from a few hundred dollars to as much as $4,000 for a custom template, but Star says it's worth every penny. The blog's design, after all, introduces prospective clients to a photographer's visual sensibilities, inspiration, and personality.          

Branding your blog
 
Just about every wedding photographer with a blog posts recent shoots and flattering praise for newlywed clients. But the most successful bloggers spice up their content in various ways to make their blogs distinctive.

Hegwer educates prospective clients about weddings and offers suggestions for finding wedding locations and other services. "I try to use catchy titles to get brides' attention, things like '7 things that can go wrong at a wedding,'" he says, noting the value of information to brides. "The more clients know, the better the pictures look."

Other bloggers take a more personal approach. In addition to posting photos from all of his weddings and sharing anecdotes about the couples, Mendelsohn reveals who he is when he isn't shooting weddings by writing about serendipity, family and friends, opera, music, and photography. "I'm obsessed with never becoming 'insert photographer here,'" he says.

But getting personal in a blog isn't easy. Some bloggers hold back to avoid saying something 'wrong' and losing potential. That strategy can backfire, though, because a successful wedding shoot depends largely on chemistry between the photographer and the couple. So it pays to be forthcoming from the start.

"Clients are so much more forgiving when you're honest," says Star, who began blogging about her quest to become a professional photographer in 2006. "When I started blogging, I really wanted to say I'd been shooting for two years."

"But I didn't, and because I was so real and put my whole journey out there for people to see, they wanted me to get better. They were cheering me on." Now an established photographer, Star continues to mix intensely personal blog entries with photographs of clients, and regularly receives dozens of comments in response to her posts.



Coming up with blog post ideas
 
Another challenge is deciding what to write about. Photographers can get a post or two out of last weekend's weddings, but those who write multiple posts a week may be hard-pressed to come up with additional ideas.

Hegwer carries a notebook to jot down things that strike him. He also generates story ideas by following 350 wedding and design-related blogs. When he finds a post that inspires him, he links to it, which typically results in the other blogger linking back to Hegwer and giving his search engine rankings a boost.

For bloggers who take a more personal approach, everyday life and conversations provide good fodder. Star has written about her mother's cancer, friendships, her husband, her obsession with canned goods, her travels, her fears, and her joys.

Claire blogs largely about weddings, but she also offers insight into her world with posts on topics like spending time with a friend's toddler and turning 29. "[The subject] has to be something I can talk about comfortably for a couple of minutes, and it has to have accompanying photos to go with it," she says.

"I think the client's impression comes not just from my tone but for the photos I show."

What not to say

Although opening up to clients on a blog has its perks, most photographers have a topic or two they avoid. For Mendelsohn, it's politics. "I live in D.C., so I have clients who are Republicans and Democrats, liberal and conservative," he says. "Even though I have strong feelings, I don't venture into that territory."

And Claire won't blog about "downer" subjects like her car getting broken into. "The goal is to attract clients who want me to shoot for a happy time in their lives, so I don't want to dwell on negative things."

She also avoids blogging about her romantic life — "a subject of much intrigue" among readers, she says.

The intrigue is a sign that Claire is doing something right. By giving potential clients a glimpse into her world, she keeps them coming back for the next blog post in hopes that they'll get to know her a little better. And the emotional connection she builds along the way is good news for her business.

Blog links:
Jessica Claire
Eric Hegwer
Jasmine Star
Matt Mendelsohn