Blogging. You know you should do it, but maybe you are not sure why it matters. Heck, you might not even be sure how to start one in the first place! As a digital marketer for wedding professionals, I get asked all the time the same question: “How do I start a blog on my website?!”

Here at Ava And The Bee, we blog each and every week for clients – in fact, we do dozens of blogs each week! So our expertise and knowledge are exactly what you need if you are looking to outsource this task, and save a ton of time. But maybe you are just getting started – no problem! Here is a step by step outline of how to get your blog started!

Step One: Pick A Blogging Platform

The first step to starting a blog is to find the right platform for you. This will depend on what your current website is on – so I’ll go over the top ones used by wedding photographers and planners. First up is WordPress. Whether you have a WordPress blog with a theme (like Divi or Flothemes) you will have access to a blog. They have the best platform for blogging, including a great SEO plug-in called Yoast!

Squarespace is another popular website platform – and they also have a blog integrated into the platform. Their blogging platform is a little bit less customizable compared to a WordPress based website, but you can still blog right there, without having to create a second website!

I highly recommend WordPress based site – like Showit. This is what we recommend to all of our clients! While websites like Squarespace can be a great start, if you are looking to blog regularly and grow your SEO rankings, I recommend you switch to Showit.

Looking to make the switch to Showit, but not sure how to set up your template? We can do that for you! Check out our Services, Here!

Step Two: Pick A Topic

Once you pick your platform, it’s time to write a blog post! There are a few things a good blog post will have. First, you need a topic! For wedding professionals, we recommend these four topic buckets. Real wedding, styled shoot or inspiration, educational post or vendor post.

• A real wedding or styled shoot is just that – a 300-500 word write up about the event, with 30-40 images showing the work.
• An educational post is one that educates your target audience while focusing on local keywords. This can be items like “Top 5 Wedding Venues in XYZ City.” Or “Top Ceremony Locations in XYZ City”.
• And lastly, the vendor post is all about featuring local vendors you love.

Step Three: Select The Images

The next thing your blog needs are images. Remember: weddings are all about visuals! When selecting images to share, keep it around 30 images. Often times, people post too many images, and it slows down your website. Also, people have short attention spans – keep it to the best of the best, that still tells a story. Couples often want to see details and emotion – so focus on those. My top tips for selecting your images:

1. Select the top 30 images from the event. If it is an educational post, keep it to 10 images or less.
2. Re-size the images. You do not want to upload high-resolution images to your website. This will slow it down, which hurts your SEO rankings. I recommend using BlogStomp! t will make sharing images SO much easier! It lets you resize for web, and create image layouts, with just a few clicks.
3. And finally, rename your images before uploading. Re-naming an image “wedding-123-your-photography-company” doesn’t help you in the long run. Make sure to re-name the images with SEO keywords in mind. For example, if it is at a venue, add the venue name in the image. If the image is of certain florists work, add their name.

Step Four: Do a Write-Up

The biggest mistake I see wedding professionals make? Not having any text in their blog post! Just posting a gallery of images will not help your SEO game – which is really what blogging is all about. Even a 300 word write up is better than nothing. Focus on the client and the vendors – what was their story? What was unique about their day? How did the vendors come together? This a great way to promote your fellow vendors in your area!

Step Five: Link, link, link!

The last step is to make sure to add internal links and backlinks. Internal links are links to other parts of your website. Always have at least one link to your gallery page, or contact page, in every single blog post. The goal of the blog post is to keep the reader on your website, and clicking around! Make this super easy for them by adding these links right in the text of the blog post. As you write more blogs, you can start backlinking to other blog posts you have, to keep readers going.

And don’t forget to credit all of the vendors, and link to their website! This is so important. It’s not just important to credit vendors, but to allow the reader to view their website. Make sure this opens up in a new browser – this way the reader is not moved from your website.

How To Start Your Blog as a Wedding Photographer or Planner

No matter what type of wedding vendor you are – from a wedding photographer to a wedding planner, to a florist, you need a blog! These 5 easy steps will have your blog up and running in just an hour – and you can even write your first post TODAY!

To make this even easier, I have a Free Guide – The Wedding Professional Guide To Blogging.

This workbook walks you through how to start your blog step by step, how to structure your blog posts, how to write a blog post AND 20 blog topics to get you started!