A newbie blogger here wants to know your thoughts on my first blog

sonny_c

After some advice from other photogs, I created a blog. They said it was another terrific way of generating more traffic towards my business website, interact with clients, and get feedback. My blog is a simple WordPress theme I downloaded. I really like the color scheme and sidebar style. Nothing to fancy shmancy, but hopefully it does the job.

Since I'm totally new to the blogging thing I'd appreciate any advice you fellow bloggers can provide.

* recommended image sizes?
* post images with or without decorative borders?
* how many images per post?
* recommended plugins
* or anything else to make my blog a better experience for visitors.

Take a look and let me know what you think.
http://gametimephotos.com/blog/


Thank you,
-Sonny

denisegoldberg

Sonny -
That's a great start, but the only way your blog will drive traffic to your photography web site is if it provides an easy jump between the two.

You do have a couple of links embedded in the text, but that's it. I would recommend adding a prominent link to your photography site, plus changing the references to your photos from just an <img src statement to an <img src embedded within an <a href= statement. That will display the photo plus allow a click-through to your galleries. If you'd like to see an example of how that looks to a viewer, take a look at my blog (linked in my signature). Clicking on a photo in my blog takes you to the photo gallery where the (clicked) photo resides.

I didn't see a link to your blog from your photo galleries either. Links from each to the other would be good.

I'm not familiar with WordPress since my blog is at blogger, but I'm going to assume that WordPress has similar functionality. I would recommend removing the section on the right titled "meta". That's probably useful for you, but it is not something that your target audience needs to see.

I hope this is helpful - but feel free to ignore if it doesn't match up with your needs.

--- Denise

sonny_c

denisegoldberg wrote:

Sonny -
That's a great start, but the only way your blog will drive traffic to your photography web site is if it provides an easy jump between the two.

You do have a couple of links embedded in the text, but that's it. I would recommend adding a prominent link to your photography site, plus changing the references to your photos from just an <img src statement to an <img src embedded within an <a href= statement. That will display the photo plus allow a click-through to your galleries. If you'd like to see an example of how that looks to a viewer, take a look at my blog (linked in my signature). Clicking on a photo in my blog takes you to the photo gallery where the (clicked) photo resides.

I didn't see a link to your blog from your photo galleries either. Links from each to the other would be good.

I'm not familiar with WordPress since my blog is at blogger, but I'm going to assume that WordPress has similar functionality. I would recommend removing the section on the right titled "meta". That's probably useful for you, but it is not something that your target audience needs to see.

I hope this is helpful - but feel free to ignore if it doesn't match up with your needs.

--- Denise

Thank you Denise! That is some great info. These are the kinds of tips I wouldn't of thought about.