To Blog or not to Blog

[starcentral]

I've always enjoyed sharing information and knowledge. In fact, most of us are on this forum for that inherent reason. That being said, I've been torn whether its a smart business decision to take a blog further than simply sharing ones recent projects/shoots. When does revealing trade secrets or approaches actually hurt your business since you are essentially giving others your "recipe". Will it draw in more business than it will ultimately hurt them since their menu items could potentially loose their uniqueness? Is blogging short term thinking or is it actually a smarter move to draw in business through other channels?

Thoughts....

Look at Shane Hurlbut for example. He gives away a ton of useful information about cinematography in his blog, and does anyone think it actually hurts him somehow? I don't. Doing the odd review on a product, or showing someone how to do a lighting setup they can already research on YouTube by themselves isn't going to exactly hurt anyone.

I think for Shane at least, it helps maintain his brand value/recognition. For others while its true that a client may never come back to your blog after the first time they look at it - it's that first impression that counts isn't it? If you're already worried about how you will manage to write frequently or thinking what a pain it is to write, then a blog is probably not for you.

I post at least once a month on my blog and I certainly don't do it to make money, I partially use it to write down information I have learned or discovered so that it can be shared with others but also so I can also refer back to it myself. (Some research is in-depth and can be easy to forget months later.)

In the end everyone will have an opinion but mine is blog away baby, blog away....

[Charli]

I have a screenwriting friend whose agent told her to put up a blog. Whether to get more exposure or whatever, that's what she needed to do and she did. In order for blogs to get noticed by Google you will need to do what we call "feed the beast" by adding SEO content of about 500+ words every day. Blogs must be original, written well, and slowly you will climb up the ladder as an authority site of that niche.

You have to have DAILY commitment for it to matter at 500+ words. Power blogging is 3 blogs per day. UNLESS you are committed to blogging, I would advise against it. Takes time and you need to do it right from the get-go.

[16mman]

You could always blog without giving away your methods. That is, you go on a really cool event shoot, and your post is just generally about the experience, with few behind the scenes photos and a couple cream of the crop of what you shot. Future clients see that you're a vibrant artist with a lot of street cred, and yet you give very little away in terms of your technical approach.