For photographers, pre-written blog posts are very tempting because they save them time and effort and that could otherwise be put to their photography business. However, there are advantages and disadvantages to using this method of creating blog posts that you should be aware of before you decide to use them.
My own view is that you should never use pre-written blog post for photographers, however, I can understand only too well the reasons why you might want to. Below I have written my reasons why you should not and giving you some reasons whereby you might decide for yourself that it’s right for you.
Being online these days is part of being a photographer. It’s practically unavoidable as people expect you to have an online presence. Used properly this can be a huge asset to your photography business regardless of your genre. However, knowing how to make this an asset is the skill set in itself. This is why I have gone through the for and against using pre-written posts. It’s all too easy to fall in the trap of what is convenient for you and forget about the possible consequences of that.
Why Pre-Written Blog Posts For Photographers Is Not A Good Idea
What Are Pre-Written Blog Posts & Why Use Them
Pre-written blog posts or posts to other people have written that they packaged together and sell to photographers to use. This can cover any subject on photography.
Why you might want to use pre-written blog posts.
When I first started photography I was gutted to find out that it worked out that about only 25% of your time while running a photography business is actually taking photographs. The rest is seeking out clients, networking, accounting, looking after your website etc.
So can understand only too well the desire to cut these other things down to a minimum when it takes away from the things that you love and want to do. It makes financial sense to spend the time on the thing that’s going to make you the money which is the actual photographs. This is just good business sense. A business guru tells you to do the rule 20% of what you do will bring in 80% of your revenue.
So how does this apply to pre-written blog posts?
- Blogging takes up a lot of time and effort and it is a learned skill set like any other.
- If you’re a photographer writing may not be your thing.
- You want to be out there with a camera.
- You might find it difficult To come up with ideas for blog posts.
This is why you might be tempted to go for pre-written blog posts. It’s understandable that you want to do what you love to do rather than what you feel you have to do.
Plagiarism May Be An Issue
Plagiarism is when a person takes somebody else’s work steals it and passes it off as their own.
Plagiarism is rife on the internet. If you decide that you want to use this service then it is a good idea to check that the original article has not been plagiarized and that it’s an official PLR license. It’s very difficult to do this and time-consuming.
While buying pre-written blog posts is not necessarily plagiarism As many will be legitimate, it will be considered as duplicate content by the search engines.
Duplicate Content IS Not Unique And Therefore Not Desirable
There’s a lot of dispute on the internet as the weather Google penalizes duplicate content. Obviously, a percentage of what’s on the internet is going to be similar or the same.
While they may not penalize you for duplicate content Googles aim is to give the user the best experience possible. In order to do this, they want to make sure that they bring up a website that answers the question or query that the user has put into the search engine.
They do not want several pages with exactly the same content to come up in
Therefore, when you use pre-written or template blog posts even answering in blank areas your content is not unique and therefore the user experience is lessened.
What The Search Engines Require of Your Blog
When you search for anything online and the search engines like Google bring up the websites for you to look at they have taken over 200 factors into consideration before showing you that website.
One of the main consideration for search engines is that your content is unique. Even writing an article from scratch a certain amount of crossover of information is going to happen it’s inevitable because there are so many people writing about similar subjects online.
When you buy a pre-written blog post and fill in the blanks the majority of your work is not unique. This is a huge no-no for search engines and will strongly impact your chances of coming up high in search results.
The next consideration for search engines is that your content be helpful. They would not consider information that is the same across the internet to be so.
So You STILL Don’t Want To Write Your Own Blog Posts. What Do You Do?
There are a few things that you can do as a photographer when it comes to writing your blog posts if you don’t actually want to write them yourself.
An Alternative Method Of Getting Unique Pre-Written blog Posts
As the main issue was pre-written blog post is the fact that they are duplicate content which you can check on Copyscape or similar plagiarism checkers, one solution would be to have pre-written blog posts that are unique.
Online there are many websites hire writers to write your content for you such as iWriter and HireWriters.
Advantages
The advantages of using these sites are that you don’t have to write your own content or you have to do is to give them the subject, the tone and the keywords that you want and I will write them for you.
These articles are unique and informed. Again you can check them on Copyscape to make sure that they are. In fact, the firms themselves to use this service to check for themselves.
Disadvantages
The disadvantage of this service is that it is more expensive. Pre-written posts can supply a big package for around $20- $25 US. (£15- £20). Whereas an article writing service will cost around $30 (£23) depending on the length of the article for one article.
When Can You Use Pre-Written Blog Posts For Photographers?
As I said at the beginning its my view that you should never use pre-written template blog posts for the reasons stated in this post.
However, having said this, if you still want to use them, there are times when you can get away with using this method.
If you are not worried about coming up on the top of the search engine results as your traffic is coming from elsewhere or if you are marketing your name as a photographer so most people would be searching for you by name then having duplicate content is not going to affect you in the same way as it would if you wanted to come up in the search engines under the subjects that you are writing about.
In these instances, you could get away with using pre-written blog posts.
Advantages
This service is much cheaper and having blogs posts written for you. It is quicker than writing your own blog posts.
Disadvantages
You will be at a disadvantage using the search engines as your information is not unique. It will diminish your customer experience online.
Don’t Write Huge Blog Posts
As a photographer if you are using one of the other methods to bring clients to your website then search engine optimization SEO, then there is no reason for you to be writing huge blog posts. In fact, as a photographer, your actual photographs are a vital part of your blog. Simply saying where they are taken and the emotions and a bit about how you took them will be enough. In fact, it would bring a more unique perspective and show you up as your best as a photographer without taking up a huge amount of time because you already have these facts to hand.
Most people can use a keyboard and if you feel you cannot then you can use Google Chrome or something similar to type in by using your voice. This will save you time and give your customers the unique experience and understanding have you as a photographer and your skills that is desired.
Advantages
Using this technique as you show who you are as a photographer and your skill set. You give your customers a unique experience on your blog which the search engines like and in the process you help with your own branding.
Disadvantages
Disadvantages of similar to that of using pre-written blog posts as you may not come up under the search engines and will need to use a different form method of getting people to your website/ blog.
Why Not Mix and Match?
There is nothing stopping you from using a mixture of all the methods mentioned as they are all valid methods it’s just some are better than others in different situations. I cannot stress enough that if you want to come up in search engines under the subject than using pre-written blog posts is not the way to go. If however, that is not an issue for you then you could get away with using them if that’s what you feel you want to do. However, the work involved in