Whether you are just a photography enthusiast or a professional photographer, starting your blog is a great way to publish your images, share your photography techniques and upcoming projects with a massive audience, inspire and educate others and create a community of photographers.
But starting a photography blog is not just about posting a couple of pictures, adding content, and sharing it across different channels. There is a lot that goes into creating a popular and profitable blog.
In this article, we will take you through the necessary steps you need to take to ensure that your blog is loved by your audience as well as found by search engines.
Step By Step Process to Start Photography Blog
1. Narrow down the niche of your photography blog
Though some people consider a photography blog a niche in itself, it is essential to get even more specific and find the type of photography blog you want to create – nature photography, product photography, wedding photography or something else. Or, you want to focus on sharing photography tips, writing about photography gear like reviews, or combining gear reviews with educational content like tutorials.
2. Purchase a domain name and web hosting package
Though you may already know the visual know-how of photography blogs, it is important to understand how to start a blog from scratch. The two most important things you need to have to start a photography blog are – a domain name and a web hosting package.
Pick a domain name
Many photographers have FirstnameLastname.com as their domain name. However, as there are millions of blogs, there are high chances that such domain names may be taken. So, you can consider taking up options like:
- Use initials – Find a unique pairing of your full name and initials
- Using a different domain suffix – For example, “.co” is very popular
- Be creative – If you are John Smith, it may be more memorable for you to use JohnSnaps or PicturesByJohn or a generic name like “PhotographyProfessor” or “Photography Island” as a brand name.
Purchase hosting package
Your primary decision should be to choose the web host type and the provider. You can choose from Dedicated, Shared and VPS hosting, depending on your business plan.
Initially, if you have a lower budget, you can go for a Shared Hosting plan and later, when you observe increased traffic to your website, you can move it to a Dedicated Hosting plan. Bluehost offers various hosting plans at reasonably affordable prices.
3. Install WordPress
You can consider different options for your blogging platform. WordPress is a widely preferred option because:
- It is free and open source
- It adapts easily, and you can make any type of website
- It supports numerous media types
- It provides scalability, and you can scale up and expand your website with plugins and themes
- You can have full control of your website
- It can be managed easily
4. Build your photography blog
There are two possible approaches here. Technically, you can go on and choose the theme without sorting the details first. If you’re a guerilla-style photographer (one who works independently on a limited budget and with limited props), this might appeal to you, always letting spontaneity lead to creativity.
But what if you are a wedding photographer? Then you understand the significance of scheduling, consistency, and advanced planning. That is why it is worth slowing down and considering your business goals. You wouldn’t want to switch blog themes frequently and waste your time. It is much easier and sensible to make such decisions now.
Find the right WordPress theme matching your niche
Though you may already know your niche, WordPress doesn’t. Therefore, you will have to find a WordPress theme for photography blogs that precisely aligns with your goals.
You can browse websites like TempleMonster, ThemeForest and even WordPress to discover what’s out there.
Find the right photography plugins
Technically, you can get by without them, but it is a good idea to use them as they add functionalities and capabilities to your website.
EnviraGallery is of the popular plugins in the photography business. It adds a drag-and-drop builder to help you create photo or video galleries. You can even select prebuilt templates to build impressive photo galleries. And, you don’t have to worry about mobile responsiveness.
Another option is Regenerate Thumbnails, which is WordPress’s own plugin. It automatically creates photos of varying sizes once you upload them. This will save your effort and time in editing your own thumbnails – often with unnecessary and complicated software.
5. Stay consistent and promote your blog
Once you have performed the steps mentioned above, you will have a website ready.
Now, the most important task is to keep updating your website by posting pictures/videos/content. If you don’t do this, you will never get to know which photos resonate with the people and your website might attract bare minimum traffic. As it is, building an audience is the most challenging aspect of starting a blog.
The tactics to bring people to your website would depend on the content type you are publishing and your end goals. Ultimately, the aim is to figure out who your audience is, and then find ways to put that content in front of those people. Herein, SEO (Search Engine Optimization) can be of great help. You can leverage Bluehost’s managed SEO services and increase your chances of ranking on top search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bling.
Take your passion to the next level. Start building your photography blog today!
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