This is a guest post by James Richmond aka The InfoPreneur. His site covers all aspects of information exchange including blogging, videoblogging, and other social media. Today he offers his thoughts for photography bloggers.
I want to talk about KISSing. No, not you me and a tree, but Keeping It Simple Stupid. Now I love photography and understand the basic of taking a good picture. My tool of choice? A Nikon D300, but does this mean I understand what most of you are talking about? No not really. I have an IQ of 94, everything I know is done slow time so I get it right. The next time you are talking to someone about your latest shot, how to take that amazing morning dew scene by adjusting the ISO setting or how to use social media to spread your content, then please, K.I.S.S
Simple
You could teach a monkey to fly a plane if you find the right key. You are the person someone has come to, you are the figure who has put something out there for people to look at, so help them. I appreciate you will have readers and customers of all experience levels, this doesn’t mean you have to make some people suck eggs in order to teach others. For example, if you want to tell people about the lens you are using for some wildlife shoot, then by all means go into detail, but include links to other posts which explain the more technical aspects in simple terms.
Remember when you first picked up an SLR? It’s a lot of information to take in, so think back to when you started out and write for that person.
Abbreviations
Photography is like the military, everything is broken down and before you know it, you are talking an alien code. The point I’m trying to make is make your written work easy to understand. Think of the person who knows nothing about cameras, but wants to learn. They have come to you, whether by mistake or intention there are in front of you and prepared to listen, make sure you address your audience correctly.
Is it easy?
You want to display your product and content properly. You want to show case your pictures in the very best light possible, so please make sure your showcase is easy to look at. We’ve all seen the sites that are covered in ads, flashing banners and awful navigation. You want to look at their latest work but it’s impossible to find your way around. If any of this sounds like your site then please tidy it up. By all means have a custom design and branding, but remember your content and art is what you want people to come and see, not your bits of fluff.
Another thing to remember is break your written work up. try little bite size chucks like this post, the last thing I want to read as a visitor to your site is a 1,000 word essay that is one huge block.
Some people like clean classic sites, some like professional custom designed websites. As long as your visitors are clicking where you want them to, it’s all good.
Videos
Getting the very best out of your social photography means being social. Some people don’t want to read how to change certain settings or do mass uploads to back up their latest creations, so give them videos. These days all you need is a webcam and you are away. It doesn’t have to be the most creative, professional video in the world as long as the message is right. I’ve recently started doing a lot of research into Search Engine Optimization, but I can’t read the subject because it’s boring and dry (but needs to be done) so I have learned everything I know via YouTube videos.
So next time you show your latest creation, make sure you K.I.S.S
Read more of James’ thoughts on The InfoPreneur, or follow him on Twitter.
Photo by dawvon, used under Creative Commons licensing
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