You’re a Fashionista with a capital “F.” You’re on a first name basis with the top designers. You predict fashion trends before they happen. So why not share your love of fashion design with the world through a blog? As you’ll see, there are just a few simple steps for starting your own fashion blog. Anyone can do it, but it’s going to be your passion that makes it special.
Step 1: Sign up with a blog host. Don’t worry, this sounds technical, but it’s actually quite easy. By signing up with a hosting service, all your blog content is housed on that host’s computer. It saves you from having to do all the technical work yourself. Many of the hosts like WordPress and Blogger are free, and they have easy templates that you can use to set up your blog in minutes. When you sign up, you’ll also get to name your blog.
Step 2: Decide on a niche. Fashion is a broad category, so consider focusing on a specific area of fashion that you are most excited about. Whether you’re an expert on shoes, the go-to gal on bargain hunting, or a fashion school student with advice for fellow students, choosing a niche makes you an expert in that field and increases your chances of being read.
Step 3: Be an information sponge. Read everything: newspapers, fashion magazines, entertainment rags, the latest chick lit bestseller. Surf the web for other fashion blogs, websites of both established and up and coming fashion designers, shopping sites, and reviews of collections. You’ll never know what may inspire a blog entry. As you sift through articles and websites, save anything that catches your eye in an inspiration file that you can refer to later.
Step 4: Write! Don’t let writer’s block keep you from posting your first blog entry. Think of writing a blog as writing a note to friends. Just write from the heart, and you’ll be fine.
Step 5: Be a social media maven. Besides keeping people up to date on your own Facebook and Twitter accounts, you should also follow as many people as you can. Be active on their pages, commenting constantly on their posts, and they will return the favor. That goes for other fashion blogs as well. Be part of other people’s blog communities, posting comments and suggestions, and readers of those blogs will find out about you.
Step 6: Get out there. There’s more to fashion blogging than sitting at your laptop. You want to be seen all over town attending every fashion event there is, from runway shows to trunk shows to sample sales. Print business cards that identify you as a blogger and hand them out. Pretty soon, people in the industry will be inviting you to their events in hopes that you will blog about them.
Step 7: Set up an easy revenue stream. Why not let your blog make you money in your sleep? With just a few clicks, you can include an advertising program like Google AdSense, which places small, unobtrusive ads on your blog. When readers click on those ads, you make money. Or you can also set up an affiliate program with an online retailer like Amazon, in which you get a percentage of the sales when someone enters the store through your blog.
After you follow these steps, remember that most important thing in launching a blog is to have fun. Because when you have fun writing your fashion blog, people will have fun reading it.
