The blog posts that bring clients to a photographer's website answer questions clients type into Google while they are planning: what it is like to be photographed at a particular venue, where to take family photos in their town, what to wear, what happens at a newborn session. Each of those searches has someone behind it who is weeks away from booking a photographer, and the post that answers them puts you in front of that person first.
What does not bring clients is the post most photographers write by default: a gallery dump titled "Emma and Jack" with forty images and two sentences. Nobody searches for Emma and Jack. Below are nine post types that do work, with example titles, followed by how long to write and how often.
Which blog posts actually bring in photography clients?
Posts that match a planning search, in a place you work. The pattern is always a client question plus a location. "Wedding photography" is unwinnable; "Kew Gardens wedding photos" or "what to wear for beach family photos in Cornwall" is a search a small site can rank for within months, because few photographers write anything that specific. The SEO basics underneath this, page titles and local terms, are in getting found on Google.
What should a photographer blog about? Nine ideas
- Venue guides. "Photographing a Wedding at Aynhoe Park: Light, Locations and a Rain Plan." Where the ceremony light falls at 2pm, which room you use when it rains, how long the walk to the portrait spot takes. Couples search their venue name constantly, and venues sometimes link to a good guide.
- Location roundups. "Seven Best Places for Family Photos in Bristol." One photo per spot, the best season and time of day, parking, buggy access.
- What to wear guides, per session type and season. "What to Wear for Autumn Family Photos: Colours That Work Outdoors." Show real client outfits, with permission, rather than stock flat lays.
- What to expect posts. "What Happens at a Newborn Session, Hour by Hour." These take the fear out of booking, and they are the post you link to in every enquiry reply.
- Real sessions with a story. Instead of "Emma and Jack", title it with what someone would search: "An Autumn Engagement Shoot at Stourhead." Twelve to fifteen images and 300 words: why they chose the place, what you did about the weather, the moment you remember. This is the only post type that works as a portfolio and a search page at once.
- Planning guides. "A Realistic Wedding Day Timeline for a Winter Wedding in Scotland." "The Family Photo List We Use at Every Wedding." Practical, and linked from your welcome guide.
- Answers to repeated emails. Every question you have typed an answer to three times is a post: "Can We Bring the Dog to Our Family Session?" "Do You Travel for Elopements?" Keep the short version on your FAQ page and link to the full post from it.
- Cost explainers, written honestly for your area. "How Much Does a Newborn Photographer Cost in Leeds?" Ranges, what changes the price, what is included. You do not have to publish your full price list to write this.
- Vendor features. "Five Florists We Love Working With in Surrey." Useful to couples, and every vendor you feature has a reason to share and link to it.
What should photographers stop blogging about?
Posts written for other photographers: gear reviews, editing tutorials, "my Lightroom workflow". They can get traffic, but from photographers, who will never book you. If you also teach, run that on a separate section or site so the audience does not dilute the one that pays.
Also stop the untitled gallery dump. If a session is worth posting, it is worth a searchable title and 300 words. If it is not, put it in your portfolio instead.
How long should a photography blog post be?
Long enough to answer the question better than anything else on page one, which for most of these types is 600 to 1,200 words. A venue guide with 200 words and thirty photos loses to one with 800 words of useful detail and twelve photos.
Images are the usual reason photography blogs are slow. Export blog images at 2000 pixels on the long edge or less, and run a finished post through the portfolio speed check to see which images on the page are heaviest. Alt text and file names are covered in the SEO post linked above.
How often should a photographer blog?
Two good posts a month, every month, beats ten in January and nothing until summer. Search engines and readers both reward a steady record, and two a month is a pace a working photographer can keep through wedding season.
A sensible first quarter:
- Month one: the guide to the venue or location you shoot most, and the what to expect post for your main session type.
- Month two: a what to wear guide and a location roundup for your town.
- Month three: two real sessions with stories.
After that, your enquiry emails write the list for you. Every time a client asks something new, add it to a running document of post ideas.
How do you get people from a blog post to an enquiry?
Every post should end with one clear next step that matches it. A venue guide ends with "Getting married at Aynhoe Park? Check my availability" and a link to your contact form or booking page. A what to wear guide links to your session details and prices. Link two or three related posts in each, so a reader who arrives on one page reads three.
Then reuse the post. Each one is the destination for your Pinterest pins and the link you send in enquiry replies, which means the hour you spent writing it keeps working long after it stops being new.
Open your sent email folder now, find the three questions you have answered most often this year, and write the first one as a post this week, titled with the question and your town. Publish it on your own portfolio site rather than a separate blogging platform, so the enquiry form is one click away. If your portfolio runs on Xposure, the posts page in the site builder (Pro and Studio plans) is where these go.
