How to create a blogging strategy

On Monday I discussed 8 reasons why I feel like my blogs have been unsuccessful. Today I share my plan and strategy to increase consistency and engagement through my current blog and what I hope to accomplish! 

I need a blogging strategy | Northern NJ Wedding Photographer

A few weeks back I cleared my desk, got rid of all distractions and sat and really thought about what I'm trying to accomplish with my blog. I wrote out my blogging goals which would then help me to determine my strategy. 

In order to create a strategy you have to ask yourself two essential questions. What is it that I want to do or accomplish? AND How do I plan on doing that?  

These were the goals I wrote down: (the what) 

  • To create content that is useful and inspirational for wedding, senior and family clients of Cinnamon Wolfe Photography
  • To teach, support, inspire and educate other photographers who have recently started their photography business 
  • To post 3-4 times a week
  • To link all of my content on FB/IG/Twitter/Pinterest

These were the guidelines I wrote: (the how)

  • content MUST be helpful in nature
  • content must be precise, take less than 5 minutes to read and must use at least one photo or graphic per post
  • content must make regular links to other content on my site or other sites
  • content must be organized, pertinent and easy to find throughout the blog/site

Based on all of the above I determined the audience, purpose and scope of my blog:

  • Audience: wedding, senior and family clients of CWP as well as photographers who have recently started their own business
  • Purpose: to provide useful, inspirational or educational content for my audience
  • Scope: must be photography related

All of this has really helped me fine tune and focus what this blog is about. You will notice that I didn't include any goals regarding number of followers, subscribers or traffic to my site. That is not my purpose (at least not now.) I really feel like narrowing my focus and following my strategy in order to accomplish my purpose of providing useful, inspirational and educational content for my audience will lead to greater engagement. 

I no longer have to worry about whether my friends or facebook feed likes my posts or cares what I have to say. They are not (well not ALL of them) my intended audience. Keeping my scope all things photography related helps me narrow down topic and content ideas and keeps me on track. 

I have never felt as confident about my blog before and I am so excited to get started on this journey! 

What is your blogging strategy?