By Jenny Park
A blog niche about beauty and fashion is something that’s fun and exhilarating although one downside of having this type of niche is that it’s never constant. It changes from time to time. But even if it always changes, it’s also pretty rewarding: You get the chance to interact and connect to different type of industry globally.
Blogging isn’t easy. That’s undeniable, and we don’t need to sugar coat that. And let us tell you this, the niche that you’re choosing is very challenging, populous and so congested that you’ll even find it hard to find room that would let you breathe. Competition is visible, and the rumors never end.
But what’s good about it is that almost 95 percent of those existing fashion blogs are dysfunctional. And we mean, really dysfunctional, not helpful at all.
Thus, it gives you the opportunity to create an excellent, unique and extraordinary one, but you need one great thing to keep it going: guts. You have to do it in a witty and original way. So, if you’re having second thoughts about it, you might as well consider stopping here.
The Basics of Starting a Blog
If knowing how tough and tiring it is to have fashion as your niche still doesn’t stop you, then let’s review the necessary steps to establish your couture blog and make it utterly fantastic. Here’s how to do that:
1. Get your host and a domain name.
Yes, you’re planning to establish your fashion blog, but would you like to publish it in Tumblr or Blogger? That’s a big NO-NO! You should never start it there.
Those websites are intended for you to promote whether it’s your clothing online or your services as a fashion designer (if you are one), but you should never establish your blog there. Getting a domain name and your host will affect the way you develop your brand.
If your goal is actually to establish a great brand, you can do that by getting what you need for you to develop a WordPress blog. Most of the biggest names in the fashion blog industry do it this way.
A free host blog is unfavorable
Once again, if you like to establish a blog and you’re planning to do business with it, in the end, a free blog site such as Tumblr will not do you any good. Why? Imagine this: Your blog is something where you introduce the projects that you’ll handle in the next months and years.
And with that, it means that your blog is a place where you’ll be getting big and great clients. It is an investment. It’s your capital in this business. So why do you need a free host site with another company’s name to start your own? You’re promoting your business, not theirs.
For example, can you try to imagine a scenario where another establishment’s name is the one in your restaurant’s or your shop’s signage? No, right? Get our point?
If you’re still not convinced, let us give you one huge and real tip that will let you think about it for a long time. “You’ll wake up one day wanting to transfer your blog from a host that’s available to everyone to a WordPress system or structure where the host is all yours.”
The quote is more than just a fact, and it is a reality. You must be intelligent enough to avoid future complications and headaches in a series of extreme steps to migrate it to a self-hosted site. Think long-term. Establish your blog thinking that you don’t have to worry about future difficulties.
2. Find out why you are different
Figuring out how you distinguish yourself is part of the gut feeling. Why do you think you’re fabulous? Why do you think you’re unique? What made you say that you’re different from those dysfunctional bloggers?
There are tons of bloggers and millions of fashion blogs worldwide. The main question is, how do you stand out from all of your competitors? Simple. Be different, or else you will lose your business in all the noise (and you won’t like it).
You might be thinking, “How about me? I didn’t know that this is important in starting a blog, but I already have one. What should I do?” That’s fine. That’s not a problem. It only means that you love it so much that you can’t contain your excitement and passion for starting it right away.
However, here are some of the things that you have to put into your mind for you to have an efficient, impressive and exceptional blog site:
Being unique is what keeps you alive
We know, it sounds over acting, but we tell you, this is one-hundred and one percent correct. If you think that your article and blog post is something that an ordinary blogger can do, then change your style. You are most likely to be unsuccessful and raise a white flag a couple of weeks from now if you don’t do this.
With that, if you fully understand why and how you are fab, and make sure you exert a lot of effort to let your audience know that you are not like any other blogger out there, only then you will start achieving little successes.
Don’t underestimate these little successes. These are necessities.
3. Publish high-quality content
Let’s say, for example, your blog is now right and running. Of course, the next thing you should do is to produce content, right? An important tip in creating great content is you should make sure that you don’t publish weak articles.
Make your brain work, exhaust it if you can. Ensure that you produce original, unique and high-quality content. Ensure that your readers will find your blog informational and will give answers to their questions. As we were saying, blogging is not easy. Some writers even spend two to three days just to create one blog article.
Publishing content of great-quality is the heart of blogging
Let’s say; you’ve made some innocent errors in the past like using a free host site (which is horrible) or creating an offensive word for your domain name (aww). You can still make it function if you publish worth-reading content.
How can you consider a content magnificent?
Don’t confuse yourself; a good content has nothing to do with its looks. It can be in any medium. A video, an image, an article or even an eBook. The form doesn’t matter. So, how do we consider an article best? It is when a content is life-changing. Yes, it is dramatic but here’s why:
- If you wrote a content about helping large-size women, somebody who read that blog post might feel great about themselves even just for that day. And what’s more important is this: it will always be in their minds forever.
- As what the quote says, “Your customers may forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel.”
- The best blog content is the one that enlightens and gives a solution to a problem. Encourage your brain to produce and give you the most useful and informative ideas that it can give.
- 4. Grow your network
Don’t sit in a corner and wait for a miracle to happen. Make friends. Build a relationship with your audience by replying to their comments in your blog post. Make friends with other bloggers who already achieved the goal that you are trying to attain.
By doing that, you will be able to find help when you’re in need. By growing your network, this means you have to build your mailing list and need to be online and active on websites such as Google+.
We understand that producing great content is the priority. But you should also never forget that growing your network and building relationships with people in the same circle is also an essential part of having a successful blog. The relationship that you established with your readers, audience, colleagues, and people in your industry is the thing that would bring you to stardom.
So how can you grow your network?
4. Stalk some fashion-related bloggers
These are the basics: signing up to Google+ and Twitter, searching and following the best bloggers, especially those whose niche is fashion, and finding out who they are and what their trademark is.
Make contact
Little by little, build connections with them. Commenting on their blog posts and helping them get comments will give them an impression that you’re lending them a helping hand. After that, try to befriend them.
Make them notice you by sharing their content
Start sharing their blog posts, articles on your blog. Make sure they know it by mentioning them. Try to build rapport by mastering the strategies in writing regular yet engaging emails.
Discuss with them
You may start with any medium possible, may it be comment sections, Tweets or forums. Some of those relationships last here.
Take advantage of Skype
Skype contacts last a lifetime. If you made friends using Skype, it would be better. Skype is an active medium that most bloggers don’t use that much.
These are just the things that we do in making our circle big, but of course, you can still do different things apart from this.
Takeaway
Establishing a blog tackling about fashion is not an easy task. You have tons of things that you need to consider. And promoting it is not a piece of cake as well. Blogging requires determination, courage, passion and hard work.
If you don’t have these characteristics, might as well think again if you want to make fashion as your niche. We would love to hear some tips and tricks from you regardless if the niche is about fashion or not. Kindly share it in our comment box!
Jenny Park is a passionate fashion designer and loves to travel the world for some new and fresh fashion styles that would enhance her skills in her chosen field. Aside from being a person who loves fashion, she also writes on behalf of French Connection, an online clothing line based in Australia.
