Why Blog?

1st March, 2018

Who, what, why, when, where

I trained as a photojournalist at the London College of Communication and completed an MA at the University for the Creative Arts, Rochester. I live in Whitstable, Kent, enjoy travelling and exploring new places and have exhibited in solo and group shows in England, the Philippines and New Zealand.

I want to keep updating my photography website www.gerryatkinson.com and share blog posts…So I’m reading the Photoshelter Photography Blog Handbook and making notes of what they say…

You may target an audience with your content and marketing strategy, but you will want to build a community once they get to your blog. An audience applauds to show positive reinforcement; a community comments, reblogs, likes, and tweets. If you’re lucky, the community you build around your blog and social media platforms will become your biggest advocates. A strong community translates to free, targeted advertising and promotion.

Building a community is much easier than you may think. Much like in real life, most people socialise in the online sphere for the purpose of finding engaging conversation. If someone complimented your image in person, you would say thank you. If a colleague sent you a helpful tip on a new camera technique, you would thank them and perhaps return the favour with a suggestion of your own or an image you shot using their suggestion. Conversing in the virtual world is quite similar, except sometimes you start sentences with an @, and often you may have never actually met your conversation partner in person.

Even if someone comments on a post with a critique, offering your personal, thoughtful response tells not only that user, but your entire community that you’re listening. By acknowledging readers’ part in the conversation, they are much likely to return to see what else you have to say.

I will continue reading the handbook but blogging starts now….