by Linda Richards

As bloggers, we know how important it is to gain our readers’ trust. If they don’t consider us both credible and interesting, they won’t keep coming back to our blog, right?

Establishing our personal brand and our blog’s brand is often an intertwined process because in many cases, a blogger’s blog is the writer’s way to express their own thoughts, feelings and opinions so the personal brand is a part of the blog’s brand. Even for many business blogs like mine, my personal reputation and brand is intertwined with my business.

Let’s look at the most basic definitions of branding from what better place the dictionary:

“Marketing process of creating identity for brand a means of distinguishing one firm’s products or services from another’s and of creating and maintaining an image that encourages confidence in the quality and performance of that firm’s products or services”

 Jamie is a professional writer who also has a personal blog. She wanted a headshot that clearly established her personal blog’s branding from her writing business.

How does photography influence my branding?

Whether your blog is personal or for business, the images you choose send a message and influence your branding. This includes the many photos that are needed on the About page, to the photography within each blog post.

A personal blog (or a blog for a sole proprietor business) will be more likely to have plenty of photos of the person who writes the blog. A blog for a business (or even a personal blog that talks about products, food, etc.) needs to have plenty of quality photos that represent their topic.

How do I use photography to establish my brand?

To answer this question, consider your answers to these questions:

• What is my brand?
• What are my strengths, expertise and limitations?
• How do others see my personal brand?
• Is this brand right for me?
• How can I demonstrate my brand in what I write and how I respond to others?

Jane’s “day job” is working at Wal-Mart Stores Inc. but she also co-created a local chapter of the non-profit Dress for Success. She needed a more light-hearted yet still professional headshot for this role.

For a written product like a blog, establishing how you want to be seen and how you convey that in words is the first step in creating your overall brand. The photography you choose is born from those decisions. Once you know the answers to the above questions, you can begin the process of choosing photography to establish your brand.

Cherise needed some serious shots for business and fun headshots for personal use. This fun picture shows a different side to her personality.

Headshots, portfolio and stock: Oh my!

It starts with a headshot and photography about your life (or blog subject matter). This includes photos in your environment that is reflected in your blog’s overall theme. (check out my guest post on the EvolvedMommy blog for tips on getting the most out of your headshot).

But what about all the photos and images you need for each blog post? Written content needs interesting images to illustrate the message.

Are you using photos from your cell phone or quality photos from stock photography sites? If you aren’t a photographer by trade (or lots of good practice), you may consider using photography sites such as Dreamstime iStockPhoto. There are many other sites where you can get inexpensive or even free stock photography to use.

Erin, who wants to be an event planner, needed a professional headshot that was bright and cheerful. It was a serious style that gave her youth credibility.

 

For photos that are for your About page or images that will be visible frequently, you might consider hiring a photographer to get just the images you want. This is especially important for business blogs when it comes to taking photos of food or products. It’s easy to think that because those items don’t move, that they are easy to photograph and that’s just not the case.

Megan is a young professional who needed a casual, modern image that was age appropriate while conveying a sense of confidence and emerging leadership.

A giveaway!

I’m excited to be able to guest post at Arkansas Women Bloggers and want to help all of you establish your brand through photography. That’s why I’m offering a giveaway special!

If you enter, you will be eligible to win my Professional Headshot package for free.

It comes with the following:

• 30-minute photography session
• Headshots and full body poses
• 10-20 images to choose from
• 1 image, web ready and high-resolution
• 2 backgrounds (in studio) or an outdoor location
• Up to 2 outfits

All photography sessions on location must be within 30 miles or so of Bentonville, Arkansas. If you live outside that area, I hope you still enter! There are plenty of places up in Northwest Arkansas to have a great photo shoot. While you’re here, you can enjoy shopping, Crystal Bridges or many other fun family activities.

To enter, you have to do two things: 1) like my Linda Richards Photography Facebook page, and 2) leave a comment on this post so that I recognize you from Arkansas Women Bloggers. The drawing will be on Friday, May 16, 2013.

So think about this: what does your photography say about your brand? It may be time to update your image.

Linda Richards is the lead photographer at Linda Richards Photography in Bella Vista, Arkansas. As someone who has worked within a corporate

environment for 17 years, Linda understands the professional and personal photography needs for today’s professional. Linda is a wife to Randy for 19 years and a mom to Dane and Dylan; she also understands the needs for capturing the family’s personality in photos. Linda has lived in NWA since 1998 and enjoys traveling, movies, and spending time with her friends and family in her free time.