Thu, February 24th, 2005 by Kjetil M. Bergem
I have been running a photoblogs for some months now, and have almost posted a photo each day, but some difficulties with computer/server/having photos to post, have made this impossible.
Anyway, now I haven't posted in almost 3 weeks and I have thought alot about what I should do next, why I do this, and if I need to post each day.
I don't think I have many visitors left, but I want to keep them as good as I can, therefor I am considering to change my way of posting photos.
I have used to have 1 photo per page, but I think I will switch to post many at the same time.
What would have been good for me, since I am a busy man, and don't always have time to take photos, I could start posting photos 1-2 times a week, but then post many photos.
My question to you all must be, do you think this will affect the way my visitors think about my site? Will the come more if they know I post a lot of photos at once, or will they just stop to come?
Things will be easier for me for I don't have that pressure each day, and I can post photos from the same place as a serie or something.
What do you think? What I do know is that I will have to re-write many templates...which I do not look forward to.
- Kjetil M. Bergem
Photoflood.net
February 24th, 2005 at 3:12 pm
You have basically described exactly the way I have been doing my photoblog for the past few months: One, maybe two posts per week, five photos per post. I really like doing it this way, but don't be fooled by thinking it will be easier. Sometimes I wish I was puting up a photo per day...I think it would take less time overall. In any case, good luck with it.
February 24th, 2005 at 3:39 pm
These days, a lot of the blogging tools out there allow you to schedule your posts. So, if you had 7 photos that you wanted to post for a week, you could do all of the posting at once, but schedule it so that you'd have a post per day for the entire week. That way, you're logging on to post just once a week, but you're reaping the benefits of daily entries. Just a thought...
February 24th, 2005 at 3:57 pm
I have been feeling the exact same way about my photoblog lately, for some similar and some additional reasons. I am also busy, but the problem is not finding time to post, but finding time to take quality photographs. The quality often suffers when I dig up an image from the archives, or take a picture of my son's Hot Wheels, just to feed the blog.
I would rather coalesce my spare hours into a significant photo shoot (e.g. a day at a large park, or in the city), rather than spend the time in small increments. I have a few home projects that are way behind, in part due to my photography.
I have even considered putting my photoblog on ice for a while.
Anyway, if you have an RSS/XML feed then your visitors can see you postings whenever they occur. If I go to a much less frequent posting schedule I plan to make a point to my visitors to monitor my RSS feed.
February 24th, 2005 at 4:20 pm
Two months ago, I switched from one photograph a day to posting a photograph every few days, when I have a good feeling about the quality of the photo. It has not yet impacted the number of visitors to my site significantly.
However, you must keep in mind that expectations would be lower when you post at fixed schedule like one every day. If you switch to post every now and then, you must be more careful about the quality of your work. You decrease quantity, but have to improve the quality... I think this way is better for learning, and if your site is still alive, it will still be considered a photoblog.
February 24th, 2005 at 4:33 pm
I've gone to a post every other day and it has worked well for me. It's had a dual effect...one, I don't have to post so often so I'm not constantly trying to find a photo to post, and two, it allows me to only post those that I feel are the best.
I think any form of non-daily posting will work, as long as you let your viewers know what that schedule is and then stick to it. You'll only lose viewers once they think the site is no longer active.
February 24th, 2005 at 4:46 pm
a photo a day, every day is so hard, photobloggers are hardcore. I tend not to post if I don't feel like it one day and make it up the next day with 2 in 1 day (like today)
February 24th, 2005 at 5:08 pm
One bit of technology may help you, but not completely: an RSS feed. And call it out to your regular visitors, so they know to add it to their bloglines subscriptions or whatever. Seriously, it's a nice thing to do and will save them a little effort.
February 24th, 2005 at 6:40 pm
concentrate on a system that works with your shooting style to show good photos. good photography makes for regular viewers, not regular posting.
i have always posted blocks of photos, intermittently. sometimes i post blocks every day, sometimes with two week gaps in between. my visitors have remained constant.
February 24th, 2005 at 8:02 pm
My list of favorites includes some that are updated daily, some every few days, and some closer to monthly (but those generally post a series). Quality photos will keep visitors coming back no matter how frequently you post. I haven't been photographing or photoblogging for very long, so I try to post fairly regularly in order to start building a base of visitors. However, being pretty inexperienced, my success rate isn't very high and posting regularly means I'm posting a lot of things I'm not real pleased with, so I've thought about moving to more infrequent posting as well.
February 24th, 2005 at 8:38 pm
Just remember not to compare number of unique hits to number of unique visitors. If the number of regular visitors stays the same and they realize that they only need to check the blog every few days, then your hits will go down, but you won't necessarily be losing viewers. Does that make any sense?
Some people are nuts when it come to checking in and others only stop by on occasion anyway. I might stop by a place like Chromasia once every couple weeks and just keep hitting previous until I get to the last picture I saw and he posts every day. Some people check his site every day, but I like to think that I'm just as important of a visitor as they are.
February 25th, 2005 at 1:12 am
I completely agree with the notion that daily blog feeding can result in some garbage posted - been there. At the same time, since I am generally a lazy bastard, the relative constraint of dailies acts as an outright force for improvement.
That is to say, I am constantly thinking about photography, constantly looking. It helps keep me photo-sharp, important because I am pretty dull there to begin with. If the day is coming to an end and the light is waning - and I haven't gotten a shot that I'm comfortable posting - I carve out some time to look for subjects. For now, for me, the requirements of daily posting are a positive.
February 25th, 2005 at 1:55 am
I use to worry about this stuff too but over time I just post whenever I get the time or chance to post something I like. Its hard isnt it? Fitting everything in. There truely arnt alot of hours in the day. I have a similar dilemma in a way.. I post alot of children now because thats simply all I shoot..but if I had the time, sure Id go out and grab a landscape or whatever. I put my veiwers to sleep Im sure haha. But..what the hey..thats just how it is - I just dont have the time so I dont worry about it...;)
February 25th, 2005 at 3:59 am
Thanks for all the good advices all! Glad to get your help.
Think I will post whenever I feel for posting, but I might start to post several photos in one post. Since I don't have that much time in the weekdays to shoot anything, I get a lot of photos in the weekend, so we'll see where that takes me.
I am a bit afraid though that I might "slack off"(have no idea if I can say that). You know, just stop taking photos because I don't have that pressure.
But on the other hand I might get more comfortable with taking photos, which propably is what I was hoping to do with my photoblog..
February 25th, 2005 at 9:37 am
I make pictures when they happen, I'm lucky enough to be there, see them happen, and manage to record them so they speak for themselves.
I don't worry or even think about what's out of my control, such as how many, in whatever days.
People go see stuff because they're drawn to it, or repelled. In short: they care. But I don't think people care about quantity. I think they care about quality. If you make quality, people will come and see it, over an over, even if you never make anything new again.
February 25th, 2005 at 9:39 am
I was grinding myself posting every day until I came across Quarlo's little corner of genius. His postings are infrequent but always exceed my expectations. Forcing myself to post something new every day started to affect my quality. Removing that rigid structure has allowed me to only post photos that I love. Sad to say this wasn't the case before.
February 25th, 2005 at 9:42 am
P.S. For example, that's why we return -- over and over and over again -- to the work of The Greats who are no longer among the living.
February 25th, 2005 at 9:45 am
I don't think there are any hard and fast rules as to when and how often to post ... I guess it depends what you photoblog is all about - technically great photos, interesting snapshots on life, or a document of your existence ....
My favourites contain a mix of these - although for me a daily site is always the most insteresting ... although it's surprising how few blogs out there do post a picture each day that is TAKEN each day ....
Taking a picture everyday and posting it is hard - but once you get past the first three years it starts getting easier !!!! lol !!!!
R :o)
February 25th, 2005 at 11:24 am
Post for yourself, not for others. don't post the shots you think will get the most attention, post the ones you like the best. That's your vision.
February 25th, 2005 at 12:02 pm
Posting intermittently has given me the opportunity to explore film and keep my picture-per-day project intact.
February 25th, 2005 at 12:04 pm
Good topic raised. I was wondering myself the same thing, given that on the old version of my photoblog the exif data was readily available, being pulled directly from the image, when the page would load it.
I have chosen to omit displaying the exif data on the new version of the photoblog that i just posted, since indeed, i believe the EXIF data is no longer relevant if the image has been rather heavily post-processed. The only reason i see for it to be needed is in case you wanted to know how that depth of focus was achieved, or in the case of some shots that feature special lighting...
On another subject, how does one go about posting to this blog? Is it open to everybody or to select members only? I haven't been able to find this information anywhere.
February 25th, 2005 at 12:06 pm
Oh dear, apparently i replied to the wrong post.. i beg your pardon.
February 25th, 2005 at 2:00 pm
Dave from east3rd is right. I'd look into using blogging software that allows you to post weeks (if not months) in advance. Right now, I've got posts tentatively scheduled on my site up to Easter Sunday (not counting the eight rolls of film from some recent photo shoots that I have to sort through and scan).
I'm using ExpressionEngine which allows me to do just that. It's really been a great help because I don't have to think about the next post. The software does it automatically. I get to spend more time arranging the order in which my photos are posted, editing through them so I'm only posting my best work, and -- most importantly -- planning future photographic expeditions.
I'm also aware that the most recent version of Movable Type will do that, too. It would be worth looking into.
Happy shooting!
February 25th, 2005 at 3:49 pm
I'm lucky enough to have a backlog of images, but I still don't always post every day. My problem is keeping up with all the information requests I get. I try to stay one step ahead, but my last post sparked a nerve and now my weekend will be shot trying to answer the questions.
February 26th, 2005 at 8:58 pm
I post in batches, and my site releases the pictures once per day. When the batch runs out, the most recent picture is what everyone gets until I post another batch.
Recently, I've left more space between batches, because I'm doing other things. But I'm still taking photos, and have many still to be scanned.
When I had a digicam, I was posting every day, mostly images taken that day. In the future, I'll probably do that again. At the moment though, I'm posting at a lower rate because I'm simply using the time for something else.
News flash! The sky doesn't fall if you fail to post something every day.
February 27th, 2005 at 10:24 pm
I don't see any reason with not posting a photo every day, I post when I've got something worth posting. But posting many photos on one day, on one page, will certainly make life difficult for anyone visiting your site on a slow connection - and yes we still exist.
February 27th, 2005 at 10:25 pm
sorry that should have said "problem with not posting..."
February 27th, 2005 at 10:58 pm
"posting many photos on one day, on one page, will certainly make life difficult for anyone visiting your site on a slow connection"
Puhleeze. It's only a matter of site design. Do it all the time, since some days I have nothing I think is worth sharing and on others I have more than one.
February 28th, 2005 at 10:15 am
Michal, I think your design has an outstanding idea: your thumbnails are small, at 4-5 K. But many people who post a suite put up shots that are 80k or more. And if they put up 8 or so of them it *is* a drag on the download. I wish more did as you have!
February 28th, 2005 at 10:27 am
Thanks Frank, and agree: posting more than one large image file per page is not the best of design ideas, given there are countless alternatives which are more user friendly for folks on slow connections.
February 28th, 2005 at 3:04 pm
i decided long ago that i didn't care about dial-up users. in fact, i have nothing but contempt for all of my would-be viewers which extends from a general repugnance towards humanity.
February 28th, 2005 at 6:25 pm
I've run across a similar issue. I just went through having a new kid, and a whole lot of other business over the holidays, and hadn't updated for about 2 months. Now trying to get back into the swing of things, I'm not sure how much of an audience I have - and truely, that is what drove me to put the effort in.
Would be nice if there was some way to 'relist' on photoblogs to bring back sites from the dead.
February 28th, 2005 at 7:18 pm
How many updates?
There's an interesting discussion over at Photoblogs.org over, how often one should update their photoblog. I often find it hard to keep up with daily updates for a number of reasons. I don't have a huge backlog to grap pictures from, so what I post is...
February 28th, 2005 at 7:22 pm
Ian, I can't help but presume you're joking. If you're not, well, your work speaks contrary to your professed repugnance. And, I don't know anyone who makes photos just for themselves. Every single photographer I've ever met in my quarter century of being one of them is working because they crave an audience for their work. If you truly hate your audience and do not care about them at all, I don't understand what you're doing here, and why you make your work public in the first place. Conclusion? You've got to be pulling our leg. It worked. M:-D
March 1st, 2005 at 5:28 am
I think having a photoblog should be more about making the photographer happy than the visitors. If you hits go down 20% big deal. Unless you rely on a revenue from those visitors then who cares. Your less stressed and spend more time taking photos and less posting them.
So post to please yourself not others i think? I visit most photoblogs once a week. That way I get a burst effect. Visiting everyday for 1 photo is a waste of my time. It's like eating one Pringle a day
March 1st, 2005 at 1:37 pm
Since I started this post I might say some more words..
I post mostly for myself. I strive to get better, which is not easy, and having a photoblog makes it easier for me to do something with my work, and I helps me continue this hobby. It might have just died out if I didn't have a photoblog.
But I do it also for my visitors. I want to show them my view of the world and how my life is and how I look at things. And of course I want them to help me develope as a photographer, but sharing their thoughts and comments. And if I had no visitors, I wouldn't be doing this.
March 2nd, 2005 at 6:47 am
It's the Camera's Fault
While I have talked a bit about photography on this page, I have never posted much about the less practical aspects.