Blogging Guru For Hire! WordPress & Online Strategy for Photographers

After much thought, consideration, and begging from some other photographers, I’ve decided to offer online strategy consulting and WordPress assistance to photographers. BigPinkCookie is officially open to the public for business! This is a huge step for me, but one that I am *really* excited about! I’ve already been doing it behind the scenes by request, but now it is available to everyone!

Starting today, I’ll be blogging about building a better blog, marketing, branding and a lot more over at BigPinkCookie again. This is something I’ve written extensively about there over the past 9 years, and something I still talk about frequently on forums, but I want to put it out there where everyone has access to it. (Don’t worry, I’ll still be an author on PhotoLoveCat too!) This is something available to anyone and everyone, and I hope you’ll read it and comment on it often. For me, blogging is all about the conversation!

I’ll also be offering WordPress installations, theme & plugin installations, theme customizations (but not designs from the ground up), consulting on how to make your blog better, improve your SEO, and use a variety of online strategy to help your business grow. I know Social Media is the buzz word these days, but what I plan to offer goes far beyond that. It is a lot more than just using Twitter and Facebook and setting up a blog.

I started making the list below to be a little sassy because I know there is going to be someone reading this thinking, “Blogging Guru? Just who does she think she is?” Then I realized checking up on my credentials is pretty important.

• In January 2008, I was one of the first to move the blog to the front of the site, replacing the Flash splash page that so many photographers have. This completely changed my business model and has rocked my world. I strongly advocate it to everyone.
• Last month I had over 17,000 visitors on this site. Over 9000 were unique visits.
• I’ve blogged since 2000 over at BigPinkCookie.
• I’ve worked for two large web development firms, helping people determine the best fit for their needs when it came to their online presence. I’m an experienced Internet Image Consultant.
• My sites have been featured in a number of publications, including Yahoo! Daily Pick Site, the New York Times, the Houston Chronicle, and many others. BigPinkCookie was featured a number of times by Chris Pirillo on his Call for Help TV show.
• I owned a blog hosting company for over 5 years so I’m familiar with how hosting works.
• I was one of the first 25 or so users of MovableType when it first came out.
• I named WordPress. Yes, really.
• I’ve used WordPress for 5 years now.
• My husband & I have done countless WordPress installations and customizations over the past 5 years.
• BigPinkCookie.com has been in the Top 100 blogs on Technorati.
• I used to be the #1 Google result for “Christine”. Just Christine. I’m still in the top 5.
• I know a lot about SEO.
• I also know how to code HTML by hand and can tweak CSS to make it nice and sparkly.
• If you mention my name in pro blogging circles, some people will actually know who I am.
• I have over 4000 followers on Twitter. I didn’t get them overnight, but instead by engaging with the community since fall 2006 when Twitter started.
• I have attended SXSW Interactive 5 times in the past 10 years.
• I spend more hours per week reading and writing about marketing, blogging, using social media, and SEO then I do about photography. Even on photography forums, I can be found talking mostly about the business side of things.
• I am constantly learning more and more about how blogging, social media, and the internet as a whole is changing how we do business. It never ends.

In other words I’m not just talking the talk. I’m walking the walk. And in case you wondered, I did in fact answer all of the questions in this article correctly.

Someone asked me today how I find the time to do it all, and the answer quite simply is that I have learned what to keep and do myself and what to let go. I am a firm believer in the philosophy behind Fast Track Photographer and the 4-Hour Workweek, along with many other books — why do things that you’re not excellent at when you could have someone who is better than you do those things while you went on to do more? Brittany is such a huge help for me, and now that things are smoothly moving along and she has taken over a number of tasks for me, I get to fulfill the dream of my second love and return to writing about geeky things. I get to help spread my love of WordPress far and wide, helping others at the same time, and I’ll have Mike’s support with this as well.

Oh my goodness. My two loves. Photography + the Internet. My heart is overflowing just thinking about the awesomeness! I’m so excited about it all! I can’t WAIT to share it with you!