This post is dedicated to my fellow bloggers, in particular, the upstarts - those who have just started out and want to break out. I get alot of emails from girls who want their fashion blogs to become popular so I've decided to give away some of the secrets. It's all about how to gain thousands of followers and amazing brands following suit. It seems like it should be easy enough right? The best way to figure out the secret is to learn from the best.
1. Accessorize like Song of Style.
2. Post as frequently as Blonde Salad (you'll need staff for this).
3. Shoot images like Gary Pepper Girl.
4. Have long flippy hair and glowing eyes/smile like Kayture.
5. Post flawlessly curated instagram shots like Oracle Fox.
6. Rock the LA Vibe sunsets like Fashion Toast.
7. Own an epic shoe collection like Sea of Shoes.
8. Travel like Tuula.
9. Have legs like Stylescrapbook.
10. Build a site that looks like Park and Cube
…So that's obviously all completely impossible - but certainly hasn't stopped multitudes of girls from trying their darndest to emulate these superstars and work with a formula. The result is shallow and low impact because it's just a shadow of the real thing. The truth is, it's fairly simple to pinpoint what it takes to make a good blog - but getting popular in a viral way is a pretty different story.
I have an analogy.
So it we pretend for a moment that bloggers were popstars/musicians - then Aimee would be maybe Beyonce and Chiara would be Rihanna and Nicole would be Taylor Swift (or something like that, don't think too much into this)… so they are all singing songs that have a great mass appeal, pop songs that millions of people are into. That's just the music that suits them! And they are lucky to have worked towards having the means to produce such great sound. Can anyone just become as famous or popular as Chiara/Rihanna? Unfortunately not - but the thing is, not every musician wants to be Rihanna either. What about all those amazing indie artists? Some of my favourite musicians are not mainstream at all, they aren't making millions selling albums (sometimes they aren't earning anything!) but I wouldn't want them to change their sound… that would be appalling. So my blog is pretty popular, but it's not one of the biggest in the world. Thing is - I wouldn't wanna change that at all because I need to just play my own sound. I could probably become more popular - for example, my most popular outfit posts are the ones where I dress really feminine, but its not my style to always dress that way. I just need to play my own music! I accept that I'll never be Beyonce/Aimee.
That got confusing pretty fast. Maybe you can follow at some point... Basically, a good blog isn't pretending to be something it's not - it's wholly authentic. There are plenty of articles out there about how to direct followers to your blog - but captivating your audience is a totally different thing. No point bringing in a new reader if they are just going to visit and never come back. So what is it about your fashion blog that makes it different from all the rest? You! So you do you, and express all that's unique about your ideas. You'll find people that connect with your aesthetic and that's how you can achieve real satisfaction through blogging.
So in summary, asking "how can I become popular in personal/fashion blogging?" is always the wrong question. It should be "How can I make an authentic personal blog?" and the rest should just sort itself out. Maybe you won't be the 'Taylor Swift' of the blog world (and maybe you will!!) but in the end - at least you'll love playing your music.
Yay!