Blogging hit the mainstream about four years ago, but much of the advice I encounter around how to do it well still seems written for the “Wild West” era of 2004-2006.

Yes, you need to stick to your area of expertise. Sure, “Top 47 Ways” posts will still draw wandering eyeballs. And fine, allow yourself an occasional, newsy “pile on” post–sometimes the topic is too juicy (and the temptation too hard to resist).

But in a mature blogosphere–one where ready content far outweighs available time and willing eyeballs–you’re far better off doing more with less. Write thoughtful, insightful essays over tossed-off, half-baked ones. Opt for comprehensive how-to’s over slap-dash lists. Think legacy, “evergreen” pieces rather than newsy blasts. And do each of them with far less frequency.

Building a blog slow-cooker-style takes a lot of time–and for some of us, even more restraint. It will also take more time to build a loyal following for your blog. That’s okay. The last thing you want to have happen is to be “discovered” before you’re ready; just ask any one-hit YouTube wonder.

Create a rich trove of reliably good content and when one of your outstanding pieces gains Internet traction, you’ll be in a much better position to gain from it.

Colleen Wainwright blogs far less frequently than she did when she started seven years ago, but hopefully, with increased quality. However, she will not shut up about how important it is to provide useful content, as you will see should you attend one of her totally useful, hopefully not-boring ASMP chapter talks on how to market yourself more effectively.

The best blogs inspire, educate and inform. They make me think deeply about a subject or provide insights I hadn’t yet considered. The best blogs are a gift to their readers.

The best blogs aren’t overly promotional, self-congratulatory or read like a press release.

The world needs more “best” blogs and far fewer of the other stuff. Before you start writing your blog post, Tweet or Facebook update, consider your audience and ask yourself whether you would find this to be valuable information. You’ll be doing your readers, and yourself, a big favor.

Jay Kinghorn reads dozens of blogs to help form a clearer picture of the future of professional photography for his seminar Adaptation: Running a Successful Photo Business in Today’s Era of Smartphones, Tablets and Social Media. He also writes for his personal blog: jaykinghorn.com and his company’s blog: kinghornvisual.com/blog.

While writing a viral blog post may seem important, long-term success comes from maintaining the readers (and clients) you already have. To do this, you must build a meaningful relationship with your audience. Here are a few ways to initially connect and  then build on that connection.

Stay Focused
What is your blog all about? Perhaps you should write it down “for the record.” Many bloggers struggle to come up with new posts. As such, their blog drifts away from its intended topic (and subsequently loses both its focus and its readers). One recommended technique is mind-mapping, which involves visually organizing information. You can essentially start with a few core topics and keep breaking them down into related ideas to come up with new posts. You can find out more on mind-mapping at www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mind_map.

Remember Who Reads
Do you know who reads your blog? Be sure you have a target audience in mind when you develop posts. One thing I find useful is to look at my new Twitter followers or those who comment on the blog.  You can often see who else they follow.  The same holds true for social networks like Google+ and Facebook pages. This can help you develop an overview of what your audience is interested in.

Interact with Your Audience
You want to provide your audience a way to speak back to you. This can mean an email address or to allow commenting on your blog. When your audience members speak up, answer them. Thank them for participating. Respond to what they say.

You should also include surveys on your website or blog. I frequently use the survey tools from Twtpoll. Others employ the more detailed Survey Monkey. Whatever technology you use, people like having a chance to voice their opinion.

Another option is to be sure to visit places where people visit who’d be interested in your blog.  This means hanging out in forums or social networking groups.  Remember though, it’s not enough to just find the people who would be most interested in your content and posting a link.  You need to actually start or join conversations.

How about you?  Any great ideas to get the conversation going?

Richard Harrington is the founder of RHED Pixel,  a visual communications company in Washington, D.C.  You can read Rich’s blog at www.RichardHarringtonBlog.com as well as follow him on Twitter @rhedpixel.  If you’d like to check out his books, just swing by his Amazon page. Rich also blogs about time-lapse, HDR, and panoramic photography at www.3exposure.com.

As a photographer I’ve always wanted to share an insider’s view of who I am as a professional.  Unfortunately, for many years there wasn’t a good way to go about it.

Blogging had been around for a while before it hit me that I could use this tool to share more than what I did on my summer vacation. I discovered I could write in-depth about what makes me tick and my work as a photographer.  I wanted to write with my clients and prospects in mind and share information beyond the two-dimensional photographs in my portfolio (as important as they are).  I was enthusiastic about the project.  Sadly, when I was faced with my first empty page I didn’t know what to write.

Writer’s block. Don’t let it happen to you.

Here are 15 blog topics to get you started:

• Your workflow
• Behind-the-scenes video
• Your favorite photographs
• Photographers who have influenced your work
• Your ultimate photography assignment
• When you discovered photography
• Your first camera
• The equipment you use
• New photographic techniques you are testing
•  Your most dangerous assignment
•  The photograph you missed
• What do you photograph for fun
•  What is your specialty and why?
•  What is your favorite Photoshop technique?
•  What is it like to work with you?

What would you add to the list?  Create your own blog topic list and keep it on your desktop. The next time you are faced with a blank page, you will have the inspiration you need.

Rosh Sillars is photographer at www.rosh.com and blogs about digital marketing for photographers at www.roshsillars.com

I started writing because I couldn’t sleep. I would wake up, tossing and turning over something negative or positive, keeping myself awake playing out the different scenarios in my head.  So, I would get out of bed and write about what was on my mind.

When I first thought that maybe some of my writings would be helpful to others, I decided to start a blog.  But I knew that I didn’t want to start a blog, unless I was committed to posting on it regularly.  I knew that was important in keeping an audience. You have to be committed to post regularly.

You also have to decide why you are writing the blog.  Many initiate blogs to create awareness of their brand.  If that were the case then one of your goals would be to drive traffic to your blog. You need to be strategic, use keywords in your writing and links and provide useful information.  You not only want to attract an audience – you want to keep them coming back.

I have two blogs now – my professional blog and a project blog that was started when my daughter and I traveled around the world making a documentary.  They are different from one in another by what they focus on, but yet very much the same as far as point of view. Blogs, or at least my blogs are more personal in nature.  My blogs give a reader or a potential client more insight into who I am.

If you are thinking of starting a blog, do it because you want to and you feel you have something to say.

• Be authentic
• Be regular
• Be strategic
• Be useful

 Gail Mooney has recently finished her first feature film Opening Our Eyes.  You can see a trailer and find out more about this project at www.openingoureyesmovie.com

If you’re running a WordPress blog or website, be sure to back it up properly. Sure, your host should be running their own back ups but that can’t protect you from corruption or human error plus if something happens, you’ll want to get your site up and running without relying on your host to retrieve your back up for you.

WordPress stores your all important content – posts and comments – in a database, which is stored separately from your plug-ins, templates, images and other files.  Make sure your plan accounts for backing up both types of data!

There are several approaches you can take:

• Your host should provide a way to push a copy of the database onto the FTP accessible portion of their server so you can use an FTP client to copy everything to your computer or a third party’s server.
• The WordPress.org codex provides a section on back ups, which includes instructions for using phpMyAdmin to back up and restore the database.
• You can download one of several plug-ins that will automate the process for you.  Some are free, some are fee-based.  Popular plug-ins include WP-DPmanager or DBC Backup for the database and WordPress Backup for the other files.  EzPz One Click back up and MyEasyBackup can back up both databases and other files through a single interface.
• You can use a service that will back up and store your WordPress site on their servers for a fee (e.g Vaultpress) or a plug-in like Automatic WordPress Back up, which will back up to cloud storage like Amazon S3

As with all back ups, be sure to follow the 3-2-1 system – 3 copies on 2 types of media with 1 kept off-site and base your back up frequency on how much data you’re willing to lose if something should happen.  And, regardless of the back up approach you decide to take, make sure you understand how to restore your data from your back ups as well.

Judy Herrmann has taught seminars on digital photography and sound business practices since 1995. Her seminars, one-on-one consultations and blog, 2goodthings.com, help people grow businesses.

I’m looking out at the harbor and the mountains in Santa Barbara, California. It’s still pitch black even though it’s 6 AM and I can see millions of stars in the clear dark sky.  My body is still on East Coast time, so I’m up early and there are a thousand memories going through my head. Santa Barbara is where I got my beginnings as a photographer more than 30 years ago.

When I left Santa Barbara after graduating from Brooks Institute, I never imagined that I would be writing or even would enjoy writing.  I was a photographer and I told my stories through visuals.  My language was spoken with images, not words. I’ve worked with many writers over the years, and I always looked at writing as a different discipline, with a structure and rules that weren’t familiar to me.

A few years ago, when blogging became popular, I thought that it may be something that I would enjoy.  I loved conversation and blogging was like that in a way and I knew that I would be comfortable writing in the first person. But I also knew that if I started writing a blog, that I wanted to commit to it and write on a regular basis.  It’s been almost two years since I started Journeys of a Hybrid where I write about photography and my transition to video.  It’s a mixed bag of posts about DSLR gear, audio and video tips and personal stories.  I write about whatever happens to be in my head that is begging to come out or about information or topics that I know people are interested in.

Blogging is also a great way of sharing with others and networking.  I guest blog on several sites and it’s a nice way of getting my name out there.

Here are some tips if you’re thinking of starting your own blog.

1.    Commit.  You should be prepared to write a post at least once a week.
2.    Have a point of view.  Don’t just regurgitate other information.
3.    Have something to say.
4.    Have a calendar.  Sometimes I just don’t feel like writing or I may come up with lots of ideas and write about them.  I try to pace them out and schedule them.
5.    Blogging gets you out there.  So use social media and links to help that along.

Gail Mooney – creating still and motion imagery for new media http://www.kellymooney.com

Writing for business, like so many things in life, is subject to an important rule: don’t embarrass yourself.

Business writing should be somewhat conversational, but not like chatting to strangers after a drink or two (see title above).

Good writing means putting your thoughts into a clean and clear communication – the same as making a good photograph.  There are tools available to writers, though, that have not yet appeared in Photoshop.

Use spell-check.  Your clients do.  It will help you avoid embarrassing mistakes such as writing “youself” for “yourself”.  Spell-check is so easy there is no real excuse for not using it.  I mean, they even have it in email programs.  Ever write emails?

Keep it simple.  Less is more.  Anyone can overwrite – including bloggers.  Here’s an easy way to protect yourself from yourself: never use your first draft.  Any professional writer will tell you that writing is re-writing.  Repeat after me: Writing is rewriting.  (That looks so much better,  and not only because I got rid of the dash – the phrase went from four words to three.)

Use good grammar.  While letters and emails to friends can be informal and sound like you’re having a conversation, in business communications you don’t want to take the chance you might sound like you’ve been drinking (see above).  Or are just sloppy.

Learn the difference between commas and periods.  This can be tricky, because sometimes using a comma can protect a thought from sounding all chopped up, and too many periods can produce too many short sentences.  However.  Periods produce emphasis and clarity.  When in doubt, use a period.

Learn from example.  Look at contracts and business letters in books; they’ve been copy-edited to protect the writers from themselves.  Not hard to find, even online, particularly if you’re a member of a professional trade organization, like, I don’t know…ASMP.

Far and away, of course, the main reason to learn to write is that it’s a business decision.

For instance, a client – or potential client – might not understand your bio on your website.  Your contract.  Your cover letter for your contract.  They might not get a clear idea of your level of professional behavior.  They might not understand how you think.  They might not hire you in the first place.

If you’re writing to your friends or significant other, well, really, you can apologize later for sounding like an unsophisticated, uneducated dork.  Who knows, you may even be proud of being a dork – that’s between you and your friends and significant other.

Your clients, however, might have a problem with that.

Barry Schwartz is a photographer, writer, and designer in Los Angeles.  He always uses spell-check except for  when he’s in too much of a hurrey.  www.barryschwartzphotography.com

Great headlines draw people in to read your blog posts.  Are your headlines interesting?

Statement headlines such as “My new business portrait” are not attention grabbers.  More enticing headlines include: “How to create great portraits”, “What do you think of this portrait?”, or “Six ways to photograph business people”.

If you really want to find a great resource for headline ideas, visit your local grocery store.  The check-out lane racks are full of great ideas.  Learn from the professionals, who have mastered the art of enticement. Who can resist their magazines?

Numbers work in headlines. One of my biggest hits was “189 business ideas for photographers”. Create top 10 lists, but don’t overdo it.  Ask questions and share how-to tips.  You might think people are tired of these common practices, but the fact is they still drive traffic.

Not every headline is a winner.

Test headlines in the social media to see which ones people click on more.  It’s easy to do.  Use a link shortener that employs analytics such as bit.ly or su.pr to paste URLs from images from Flickr or Twitter. Give each one a different headline. Use the winner for your blog post.

You work hard on your blog posts.  Don’t let poor headlines keep people from reading.

Rosh Sillars is a veteran photographer based in Detroit.  http://www.rosh.com and co-author of the book Linked Photographer.

This past fall, I started a blog.  I was full of good intentions and ideas for all kinds of posts on strategic planning, reinvention, managing change, job satisfaction, risk taking, business practices, collaborations – you know, the stuff I’ve been giving seminars on for umpteen years.

It all went swimmingly for the first few weeks and then it hit me.  The pressure of having to come up with something pithy and succinct yet brilliant to say day in and day out became too much.  I froze.  Nothing I wrote or thought was good enough, smart enough, valuable enough, perfect enough to put out there and expect total strangers to give up minutes of their lives that they’d never get back.

It was a mind-f**k, I freely admit that.  But it led me to an important discovery.   Sharing a cab to airport after SB3 LA (where I realized that I do have some smart stuff to share after all) I mentioned this experience to Susan Carr and Richard Kelly.   Richard directed me to an article in the January 2011 issue of Wired Magazine entitled “The Short and the Long of It” in which Clive Thompson, a regular contributor and respected blogger in his own right, argues that in today’s Social Media mashup, it’s ok to write longer blog posts less often.

With Twitter and Facebook taking over the “instant updater” role for anything newsworthy, gossipy or time-sensitive, blogs now have the freedom to pursue the “long-take”: posts that provide in depth, thoughtful or thought-provoking analysis; posts that take a few extra minutes to read and may take days, weeks or even months to coalesce into a cohesive piece of writing.

Anil Dash, a technology/culture/policy mover and shaker who’s written over 500,000 words on his personal blog, dashes.com, agrees “I save the little stuff for Twitter and blog only when I have something big to say.”

So I’m letting go of the guilt trip over daily posts and making the commitment to blog when I have something valuable to add to the conversation.   It may take me longer to hit 500,000 words on my blog but at least I’ll know that every one of them was worth reading.

Judy Herrmann’s sharing smart stuff on her blog, 2goodthings.com and in the Breaking into the Biz, Essential Business Basics and Strategic Reinvention seminars at ASMP’s SB3 conference.