Seven reasons why you struggle with photography blog ideas
Do you understand the value of creating regular blog content, but still struggle to come up with photography blog ideas?
If so, you’re not alone. I imagine that everyone who creates marketing content for their business has probably had at least one of those “what the *** shall I write about” moments?!
So, why does coming up with content ideas for your blog sometimes feel so hard?!
Why is it so hard to come up with photography blog ideas?
Well, even when you appreciate the many ways that blogging can benefit your photography business, it can still feel tough for a number of reasons.
Yeah, sure, blogging helps you to:
- enhance your SEO
- boost the visibility of your website in Google search results,
- build know like and trust with your audience,
- attract potential clients
- (plus so much more besides, by the way!)…
…but, you’re still going to find it incredibly difficult to get started if you lack clarity and purpose, and a few other things besides.
Related: How to start a photography blog
Seven reasons why you struggle to come up with photography blog ideas
Some of these reasons are related to a lack of strategy:
1: You don’t have a defined audience in mind
As you sit down to put pen to paper (or type words onto your screen), if you don’t have a clear picture in your head about who you are writing for, then you’ll be far more likely to find blogging a struggle.
Your intended reader will, most likely, be your target customer – the type of people who hire your photography services or purchase your photo products.
This is partly why marketers bang on so much about knowing your client ‘avatar’ or dream photography client!
While it may seem like a boring task to complete, if you actually take some time to map out who your intended client/blog reader is, it can be so helpful.
You can then more easily understand:
- their lifestyle (what type of person they are, how they live their life, their family dynamic and social and economic situation etc.),
- their challenges or “pain points” (what they are struggling with or things they are keen to change, fix or find solutions for)
- and, their desires in relation to the photography service you provide (how they want a photographer to help).
By spending time getting a clear sense of who your intended blog audience is, you can create blog articles – and any type of content, for that matter – that will potentially resonate with them on a much deeper level, and make them take notice.
Forming a connection with your reader, and building trust through your content is the objective of content marketing.
If, when reading your blog, someone feels that you’re reading their mind and fully understand their challenges, they’ll feel heard and understood by you.
Vague blog articles that aren’t clear on who they are for, or that are trying to help a multitude of different types of people, won’t work as well as an article that’s specific and that talks to one type of person.
2: You haven’t considered how your blog article will help your reader
Another essential when it comes to content creation is that you’ll need to have a specific topic in mind so that you don’t end up creating a blog that’s really vague or that goes off on a tangent!
The blog topic you choose needs to be something that your ideal customer would find interesting to read and that they would benefit from in some way.
So, will you share:
- inspiring tips?
- advice?
- an entertaining story that they will enjoy or can perhaps relate to?
- or, something else?
Your blog needs to offer value to your reader, so do map out what that’s going to be before you get started. Don’t start writing until you’re clear on this.
For example,
- What will be the takeaway for them?
- How will their lives be a little better for having spent the time reading your blog article?
- How they will benefit from the information you’re sharing?
While no one photography blog article is going to change the world, don’t underestimate the potential your content has to help other people. Even if your blog has played a tiny part in enhancing someone’s day, it has helped them!
To give you an example, this very blog that you’re reading has value. It contains some of my top tips and advice on how I recommend that you approach blogging and how to come up with content ideas.
If you finish reading this feeling even a little bit more inspired than when you started, therein is the value. Hopefully, you’ll feel that it’s been worth your time.
3: You don’t know why you’re creating the blog (other than because someone said you should!)
You also need to know how you, as the content creator, will potentially benefit from the creation of your blog article.
What do you want your reader to do after reading your blog article, and how is it going to help you to achieve your marketing and wider business goals?
Related: Why and how to set strategic goals for your photography business
Knowing this will help you to determine what you’re going to include in the blog, and what the ‘call to action’ should be – i.e. what is the next step that you will be encouraging your reader to take.
In your case, it may be that you want them to sign up to join a waiting list for an upcoming mini portrait session. Or, you may want them to join your mailing list, or simply to get in touch to make an enquiry.
Content for content’s sake, with no clear objective nor call to action, may well entertain (if it’s a photo story or an article sharing a ‘behind the scenes’, for example), but it won’t help you to grow your photography business if there’s no strategy behind creating it.
While I do urge you to blog regularly, only do so if there’s a clear purpose and you’re going to include a strategic call-to-action, relevant to the blog. This is essential in order for your content to help you attract photography clients and grow your business.
Filler content or fluff is just going to be a waste of your time!
Some further reasons why you may struggle to come up with photography blog content ideas
Let’s cover now some of the more practical reasons why you may find blogging a challenge:
4: You’re overwhelmed
When you’re overworked, underworked or just generally not feeling great, you’re unlikely to be able to create your best content.
Feeling overwhelmed is something that all business owners experience from time to time, and it’s not going to be conducive to you creating epic blog posts, videos or any other type of content.
You won’t feel on top of your game. You won’t feel creative.
When you’re next feeling overwhelmed, but know that you have a blog article to write, take a step back and realise that the blog can wait! Your time is going to be spent far more productively on another occasion, so come back to working on your photography blog another time.
Overwhelm stifles creativity and our ability to approach tasks in a positive way. The best solution is therefore to rest and to get yourself back to your best before trying to get that content created.
5: You’re not making enough time for marketing content creation
Another big creativity killer is a lack of time or a sense of time pressure. So, if you aren’t regularly setting aside time to create marketing content for your photography business, then you’re not setting yourself up for blogging success.
If, at the end of a busy week, you realise that you should have created a blog (or a marketing email or a certain amount of social media posts etc.) and you haven’t done it yet, then quickly putting something together in a panic is unlikely to lead to the results you’re after.
Remarkable content takes time to create, and you really shouldn’t bother trying to create anything less! Your content speaks volumes about your brand and if you can’t give it the time or attention it deserves to make it the best that it can possibly be, then it may be best to not bother at all.
Ideally, you would plan your daily or weekly work schedule in alignment with the content marketing schedule that you aim to follow.
If you know that a blog post takes you 3 or more hours to create (and yes, this is pretty typical), and that you plan to publish one once per fortnight, then you need to allocate that amount of non-negotiable time into your schedule in order to get blogging done.
Marketing is the most important thing you should be doing as a business owner. For you to achieve your photography business goals – for example, to attract 4 more clients this month via content marketing – you need to make sure you’re taking the time to create quality content.
That blog that’s in your head or jotted in note form on scraps of paper that hasn’t yet been written? That’s certainly not helping you grow your business! But if you scheduled the time you need to create it, and got it done, perhaps it would!
6: Limiting beliefs are holding you back
Another very common barrier to creating great content is that you are held back by your own thoughts and limiting beliefs.
- You might think everything about your area of expertise has been done before, and that you don’t have anything new or unique to say.
- Perhaps your local competitor has written a brilliant photography blog on a particular topic and so now you feel like there’s little point in you bothering to create something that won’t be as good.
- Maybe you’re telling yourself that you’re not enough of an expert to speak authoritatively on a certain photography topic (even despite the years of experience that you have).
All these reasons, and more, can stop you from getting started with blogging and content creation.
The truth is though that there are no new ideas! If you let the fact that someone else has already done something stop you, then how come you’re a professional photographer at all?
There are thousands of photographers around the world offering similar services to you. Why have you bothered to start a photography business if you’re going to let yourself be convinced that the world doesn’t need your photography or your content?
I believe that there is space for everyone and there is a need for your unique spin on every topic you plan to write! Try not to let limiting beliefs and those negative voices in your head convince you otherwise.
7: You don’t know how to start
A final reason that coming up with photography blog ideas can sometimes feel hard is that you’re starting off with a blank page and you don’t have any notes or ideas captured anywhere that would give you the foundations of your article.
I believe that most people can benefit from content prompts. These are ideas, stories, themes or topics that can help you to get the beginnings of a blog article written.
In this article, I share social media content prompts for photographers, including things like “share something you’re working on”, “ask a question”, “tell a story about a time you…” etc. You could use most of these same ideas on your photography blog.
I also talk a lot about national awareness days as being useful content prompts, and I’ll mention them again here because they can be so incredibly useful when trying to come up with marketing content and blog ideas.
There are so many awareness campaigns these days too, so there is something happening pretty much every day of the year that you could potentially use to spark an idea for your content.
Related: A step-by-step guide to using awareness days in your photo marketing content
So, if you find yourself staring at a flashing cursor, unsure of how to get your blog started, use content prompts to get your brainstorming started. Then, start filling that blank screen with words that’ll educate, inspire or help your audience based on the ideas that you come up with!
Join my free Facebook group for more content prompts, tips and ideas exclusively for photographers. Click here or on the image below.
