A few months ago I jotted down my top advice for blogging. Since then, I’ve come to realize there was more than needed to be on that list, so I’ve created another one! Blogging How-To, Part Deux.

1. If you’re including a link in your post, make sure to check the “open in new window” box so that if someone clicks on your link, it doesn’t take them away from the post they’re currently reading. People on the internet are easily distracted- you want to keep them on YOUR page. Giving them a link to different site is a great idea, but make sure your window is still open after they click a link on your page.

2. I’ve actually seen a few other wedding pros mention this- when you leave comments on someone elses blog, there’s a space provided for you to enter your website’s URL. There is therefore no need to leave an additional link to your blog within the body of your comment (i.e. “great post! very insightful! http://www.abbyisawesome.com”). It tends to come across that you’re only posting a comment to get visibility for your website, and it can annoy the blog owner.

3. Do get a spam filter! I was getting 10-20 spam comments per day on my blog. Since I opt to have all comments sent to me in emails, I was getting REALLY frustrated at receiving 10-20 emails from people commenting on my blog with links to holistic medicinal remedies, vaccuum retailers, and incredibly inappropriate sites. I now pay $5/month and Akismet has filtered out every single spam comment that’s come my way since then!

4. If you’re a professional business, do yourself a favor and get a “mybusinessname.com” address for your website and/or blog. Having a “.blogspot” or “.wordpress” site isn’t doing you any favors- it’s bad for SEO (aka you’ll have a harder time climbing up Google’s rankings). And, to be frank, wouldn’t you prefer to be promoting yourself at “yourbusinesname.com” instead of giving BlogSpot and WordPress all the props?

5. I choose to blog Monday-Friday, and I never post on the weekends. There are two reasons for this: a) I like having my weekends off, or as off as they can be when you’re a wedding photographer,  and 2) I’m much less likely to read blogs on a weekend, so I can only assume other people feel the same way. If I’m not shooting a wedding on a Saturday or Sunday, chances are I’m not at my desk. If I’m not at my desk, I’m most likely not going to read a blog post. I figure most people read blogs while they’re at work/during the school day, so if I want to have the maximum chance of reaching my audience, I save my posts for M-F.

6. Study your Facebook timeline- what time of day is the busiest? When do you see content updated the most frequently? Pay attention to your newsfeed, then choose to post during the times of day that you find to have the most traffic.

7. When posting images to your blog, be conscious about how long each image is. If you have to scroll up or down by two-three page lengths to view the length of an image, consider adjusting the photo’s dimensions. Not being able to see the image in one window length interrupts the viewing experience- I know I can’t appreciate the image in its entirety if it’s broken up and requires me to move the scroll bar up and down  several times to see the entire photo. I get super frustrated when I encounter this on photographers’ blog- I want to be able to see the ENTIRE image, not 1/3 of it at a time.

8. Limit your social media advertising of an individual post to 2-4 Tweets and 1-3 Facebook shares. You can definitely push that Tweet rule, but I’ve found that posting a link on Facebook too many times just results in it becoming white noise. If I have something I’m super excited about (like a huge feature on a national wedding blog or something), then I may push the Facebook rule as well, but for normal, every day blog posts, I limit myself to the above numbers. It helps people learn to trust that when they see me posting “new blog post!” that they’re not going to accidentally visit the same link they’ve already clicked on six times. The worst thing I can do for myself is to teach people to ignore my status updates because it’s always the same thing, over and over.

9. If you’re a frequent blogger, try to get into a pattern of posting at the same time each day. I used to be really good at this, but ever since I left my corporate job my consistency has slipped a bit. I need to get back to pre-blogging the day before so that I can have my blog posted at the goal time I’ve set for myself.

10. I know I said this in my last episode of Blogging tips, but COMMENT! I’ve had a few people ask how I manage to garner as many comments on my blog as I have, and I think a lot of it comes back to commenting on other photographer’s blog. I may stumble upon Jane Doe Photography’s site, see something I love, and leave a comment, causing Jane Doe’s interest to pique so that she comes to my blog and does the same. That’s not to say my main motivation in commenting on others’ blogs is that they’ll return the favor (I just really like spreading encouragement!) but it’s definitely an added bonus.

Happy Wednesday! What are some of your blogging best practices?

(P.S.- for those who read yesterday’s post, we found my ring!! Someone from apartment maintenance came and worked his magic, and few minutes later we had it back!)
(P.P.S.- just realized this is my 300th blog post. WOOO!)