Creating a sports photography blog is a great way not only to share your experiences as a sports photographer, but also show potential clients your abilities. Too often photographers just have portfolio and think that is all they need. By creating a sports photography blog it does couple of things. It helps with your SEO efforts so Google can find your website and rank it higher because Google loves a website that is always being updated. An two, it gives a glimpse to who the person is behind the camera. Below are my 5 tips for creating a sports photography blog.
Create Content for Potential Clients not Google
With the acceleration of everything AI, it’s easy to think you need to create content for robots and not humans, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Google can tell what content is authentic and which is created by AI sources.
When creating content, think about what potential clients might like to read about or other photographers as well. Write about challenging issues you faced at a game and how you overcame them. Talk about your experiences in a way only you can.
I know that the goal is to be found on search engines like Google and while people think that success in Google rankings is instant, it truly is not. Ranking takes time and moving up even takes longer. That doesn’t mean you need to make your content just for the robot eyes of Google. No one talks like a robot, unless you’re J.P. from the movie Grandma’s Boy.
Be Authentic
It’s easy to pretend to be someone online when you’re the complete opposite in real life. Just look at social media and all these “successful people” who pretend they are just to feel important or have a sense of worth tied to the opinions of others.
Just be yourself.
Don’t try to impress people, just write how you would talk normally to others. People will be impressed with what you’ve done not how you talk about yourself.
Post Often
I know it can be hard to post 3-4 times a month. Assignments, family obligations and everything else seems to come up at the most inopportune times. Being consistent is a great way to get yourself into a writing rhythm.
Set aside some time to write a post or two a week. You don’t have to publish everything at once, but when you need to publish you have a reserve of posts to pick from. Also when time is scarce and you can’t post you have posts already sitting there ready to be published.
Another benefit to posting often is the SEO impact. Yes, I’m talking about Google and rankings. Google loves sites that constantly have fresh content and/or are updated regularly.
Sharing is Caring
Just because you published your post doesn’t mean the work is done. The easy part is publishing, the hard part is getting pairs of eyes on your post. This is where social media comes in.
Share your content on all your social media platforms. Where are people the most these days? On social media. Post on your Instagram or Twitter. Post stories, reels, tweets, dances, pins and everything else.
And post often. The social media algorithms today are so biased that more often than not your content may not been seen by the people that follow you let alone strangers.
Another benefit of publishing blog posts is that you can use those topics for podcast episodes as well. Content is content and the move you have and share, the better.
Have Fun
Coming up with content for blog posts can be stressful. Sometimes that imposter syndrome kicks in and you think, “Am I really the right person to talk about this or that?” And the answer is yes.
The fun part about all this is that this your blog, your thoughts, your experiences. Now if you start a blog to critique and criticize your fellow photographers then it won’t be fun for much longer. Share your honest thoughts, opinions and experiences. Who knows maybe sharing your experience could help someone out who, perhaps, might have been too afraid to ask for help.
You never know who you might reach or affect with your blog.