How to Write a Photography Blog: Evergreen Blogs vs. Photo Blogs

Having a photography blog is one of the hottest pieces of marketing advice we dish out to photographers. Like, pipin’ hot. You know, like when you want to take a bite of the pizza slice but you know you shouldn’t because it’s fresh out of the oven, but it smells so good it might be worth the absolute certainty you’ll scorch a few tastebuds. 🍕

That got a bit weird. To be clear, your photography blog won’t burn the roof of your mouth.

However, blogs are a kickass way to market your photography business because you can use them to:

build a portfolio and showcase your photography work.
show a potential client what a session with you would look like.
showcase your expertise and personality.
offer clients a way to share their images with friends and family (word-of-mouth marketing).
show appreciation for your clients.
have more content to share elsewhere (social media, Pinterest, newsletters, Google Business Profile, etc.).
nurture vendor relationships.
increase your chances of being found on search engines.
increase your website traffic (SEO).
attract your ideal clients.
generate leads.
generate more bookings (or better bookings) and, therefore, your revenue. Ca-ching!

With all that goodness to gain, you can see why it’s one of our top marketing ideas for photographers in all genres.

A photographer working on a photography blog to promote their business with the help of the Meet Pepper team.

Having a Successful Photography Blog

When it comes to having a successful photography blog, the trick is to make sure that you’re doing it properly.

And the first step to creating blogs to promote your photography business that actually work is to know about the two different types of blogs you should be writing: Evergreen blogs and photo blogs.

To help you do that, we’re going to discuss evergreen blogs vs. photo blogs, the differences between them, and when to use which.

But first, as a little extra bonus, let’s go over some more general FAQs about writing blogs for your photography businesses—because what’s a slice of ‘za without some ranch to dip it in, right?

Photography Blog FAQs and Best Practices

Before you can add your fave toppings (like pineapple—yup, we said it), you’ve gotta make the dough. So let’s start with the basics, shall we?

We apologize for all the cheesy metaphors but we’re in too deep(dish) to stop now.

What is a photography blog?

A photography blog is a place on your photography business website where you can share articles about your photo sessions, your business, and other topics that would interest your potential clients.

Your blog can be used to showcase your work and build an online portfolio, nurture relationships with clients and vendors, and even attract traffic and leads to your website. But we’ll get deeper into all that later.

How do I set up a photography blog?

If you’re wondering how to start a photography blog, the first step is to have a website. If you don’t already have a website for your business, you could try making one on your own, or you might want to look into hiring a website developer who has experience working with photographers.

You need to make sure your website has a blog page, and then the process of how to physically create a photography blog post is usually pretty straightforward from there, depending on your website builder.

Then it’s time to start writing!

What to write about in a photography blog?

Okay, so you know it’s important and how to do it, but what should a photographer blog about? What makes a good photography blog?

The trick is to find a sweet spot between things that interest your potential clients and the value that you have to offer. You might blog about:

one (or more) of your photography sessions.
vendors, venues, or other businesses relevant to your business and your area.
tips that your potential clients would find helpful (posing tips, what to wear, photoshoot ideas and locations, how to prepare for a photoshoot, what to expect, etc.).
tips for other photographers (if photographers are part of your target audience/you offer education to photographers).
ideas and inspiration for photoshoots in your genre/location.

These are just a few ideas—the options are really endless! It’s best to choose topics that resonate with both you and your ideal client. Try to find unique angles on tired topics, share a new point of view, or showcase your uniqueness.

You can also find lists of blogging ideas for photographers here.

What should a photography blog contain?

Well, photos, of course—but that’s not all! For a great photography blog, we recommend including:

your own photography.
your personality!
a catchy title that also describes what the blog is about.
some written content to offer context.
links to other pages on your website that are relevant.
links to other reputable websites that are relevant.
a call to action—what do you want the reader to do next?
some technical stuff—an appropriate SEO title, meta description, and SLUG.
for evergreen blogs, keywords and other SEO best practices.

A photographer taking images at a session that they will use to create a photo blog to market their photography business.

Evergreen Blogs vs. Photo Blogs

You might be sitting there thinking what the flying f*$& is an evergreen blog? Wait, there are different types of blogs I should be writing? Was I supposed to know about this?

Don’t worry, you’re not alone! This stuff isn’t common knowledge to the average human, photographer, or even business owner. It’s content marketing know-how—which means that by learning about it, you’ll have a leg up on the competition.

There are two different types of blogs you should create for your photography business’ website: Evergreen blogs and photo blogs.

Evergreen blogs for photographers

What is an evergreen blog post?

Evergreen content is optimized for search engines and meant to remain relevant for years to come. It should live a long time and remain “fresh”, like a big ol’ evergreen tree.

Why you should create an evergreen blog

All blogs can live on the internet forever—but not all of them will remain relevant and easy to find on search engines (like Google).

The goal of evergreen blog content is that it will keep bringing traffic (and hopefully potential clients) to your website in the long-term, with zero additional effort from you.

It’s also good for the overall SEO health of your website. So basically, if you want people to be able to find you on Google, add evergreen blogs to your to-do list.

In order to achieve this, your evergreen photography blog should:

have a decent word count (~800+ words).
be written about a topic based around a specific keyword/keyphrase.
be written about a topic that appeals to your target audience and is relevant to what you have to offer.
follow other search engine optimization (SEO) best practices, which you can find on our free SEO cheat sheet.

Why is blogging important for SEO?

In order to understand the benefits of evergreen content, it’s important to have a basic understanding of SEO (search engine optimization).

Creating content for SEO means that it’s more likely to show up on search engines when people look up terms relevant to that blog.

For example, if you want to show up in the results when someone Googles “wedding photographers in Vancouver”, you need to optimize your website for that. Blogging for SEO can help optimize your website for lots of different keywords relevant to your business.

How to come up with evergreen blog post ideas as a photographer

To come up with great evergreen blog posts ideas, consider a few things:

What is my ideal client searching for online? What are their burning questions?
Where does that intersect with something of value that I can offer them?
How competitive are those keywords? Can I create something better than what’s already out there? How can I stand out?

For example, maybe you’ll write a blog about “the most luxurious wedding venues in [your area]” which gives you a chance to share the photos you’ve taken in those venues, share your expertise, and attract engaged couples with high budgets in your area to your website. See what we’re saying?

Coming up with new, evergreen blog topics all the time can be tough, but to make your life easier, you can also purchase downloadable lists of photography blog prompts:

Wedding photography blog prompts
Family photography blog prompts
Commercial photography blog prompts
Boudoir photography blog prompts

How to write an evergreen blog

Learning all the nitty gritty details of how to boost blog traffic through evergreen content is a big topic, and we can’t cover it all here. But we can give you an introduction and some great examples to types of blogs so you have a solid jumping-off point.

Examples of evergreen blogs for photographers

Here are some examples of great evergreen photography blogs:

Photo Blogs

The other type of blog you can create is what we like to call a photo blog.

Photo blogs are just what you’d suspect—their primary purpose is to showcase your photography on your website.

Photo blogs still have plenty of benefits like showcasing your work and the experience you offer, pumping up your clients and increasing word-of-mouth marketing, nurturing vendor relationships, and offering you content to share in other places.

However, they often don’t offer all the SEO benefits. They are more-so a portfolio piece that you can share with past and potential clients, on your social media, etc.

The other benefit of photo blogs is that because you don’t need to include as much content or follow all the SEO best practices, they are usually quicker and easier to throw together and get up on your website.

How to make a photo blog

Photo blogs should typically:

include up to 50 images.
include a bit of written content to explain the session, shout out vendors, etc.
be hidden from search engines.
be shared wherever possible to increase visibility.

Can I blog with just photos? What should my photo blog topic be?

Technically, you can blog with just photos, but we recommend adding a bit of context if you can. We also recommend listing and linking out to any vendors, venues, or other businesses that might have been involved. Bonus points if you send them the blog link after and encourage them to share it.

Often, photo blogs will be focused on a specific session—but that doesn’t have to be the case. For example, perhaps you want to create a photo blog wrap up with your favourite images from this year.

Examples of photo blogs

Here are some examples of great photo blogs:

Photo Blogs with SEO

It is also possible to create photo blogs that are optimized for search engines. These fall somewhere in-between evergreen blogs and non-optimized photo blogs. They would include everything in a regular photo blog but would also include keywords, a decent word count, following other SEO best practices such as adding geotags and alt text to images, and being set as findable by search engines. Double whammy!

Should I Create an Evergreen Blog or Photo Blog?

We recommend sharing a mix of both evergreen blogs and photo blogs on your website.

If it’s about a topic you think your ideal client is searching for online and you have time to pack it full of value and follow SEO best practices, write an evergreen blog.

If you just want to get some of your photography work out there or share one of your sessions and you don’t care as much about it being found on search engines, make a photo blog.

Ideally, create at least one of each every month. An evergreen blog to build your SEO, and a photo blog to get more content out there and share your work.

The important thing is to try to be consistent.

And that’s the challenging thing about blogging—finding the time and energy to do it (and to learn how to do it properly).

Stacey Owen, founder of the marketing agency for photographer Meet Pepper, holding a camera and smiling because she's excited about the new Pepper Blog Generator.

Blogging Help for Photographers

But don’t worry, friends. If you’re feeling overwhelmed at the idea of creating your own, there is blogging help for photographers out there. You can outsource your photography blogs to make sure it’s done right and regularly.

Remember, as a business owner, there is NO SHAME in outsourcing the shit that just doesn’t excite you or that you don’t have capacity for.

Sometimes making your own pizza is fun. But sometimes you’re just hungry af and want to leave it to the pros. But we’re talking about outsourcing some gooood quality pizza-making here, not just Dominos (no hate to Dominos—we’re just saying you need to make sure whoever is creating your blogs for you is doing a damn good job).

How can I outsource my blogging?

If you’re looking leave your blogging in the hands of trusted experts, we gotchu. When you hire us, we work closely alongside you to create optimized blogs that actually help your business—leaving your hands free for snapping pictures (or eating pizza).

We hope you found this helpful! Follow Pepper on Instagram and TikTok for more helpful marketing and blogging tips for photographers and hit us up in our DMs if you have any questions. 🤘

Kayleigh Zinger
Rockstar Content Creator
Pepper – Your Badass Business BFF Inc.