How to Run a Successful Fashion Blog

Five Parts:Developing a themeSelf or shared bloggingRunning the blogPromoting your blogAnalyzing the reach of your blogCommunity Q&A

If you want some great tips on how to run a successful fashion blog, you have come to the right place, so keep reading! This will teach you about setting it up, spreading the word, posts, and 

Developing a theme

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   Define your fashion angle. Before anything else, you need to know what aspect or elements of the fashion world you want to blog about. It's a large industry and you don't want to make a pretense of trying to cover the whole thing. Pick a niche that is of interest to you, that you know a lot about and that inspires you to write about, keep learning about and share with others. While there are many possible ways to break down the fashion angle, here are some suggestions just to get you thinking about your own:

   • Fashion for mid to late teens
   • Fashion on the catwalks of Europe
   • Fashion for office work in big cities
   • Fashion for winter vacations
   • Fashion for babies and young children
   • Fashion on a budget
   • Fashion fixes for thrift shop finds, etc.
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   Choose a great name for your blog. Many good blog names already exist, so you'll need to be very imaginative but with a little effort, it will be possible to come up with something of your own that stands out. Spend some time writing out lists of possible names, test them on family and friends and mull over the names for a few days before reaching a decision. If you're blogging with others, do a brainstorm session together.

   • Keep the name as short as possible without being dull.
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   Decide on a main theme and layout for the blog. While the theme will obviously be focused on fashion, it's the design elements you'll need to customize. Make the design exciting and fun so the viewers will keep coming on the site from the start. Don't make it too busy, but equally, don't make it bland; find a balance that exudes elegance, confidence and simplicity. If you're not sure, hire a web designer to help you; this can be done easily through online sources.

   • Decide how large your images will be. Large images are preferred by those using portable digital media, as the screens are smaller. Small images tend to have less impact and important details can be easily lost.
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   Choose a color theme that your blog will be identified with. Do you have a main color or set of colors that you think work well for your fashion statement? Do test runs of different colors and combinations of colors to see what works best for your layout.

   • When choosing colors, bear in mind the fashion you'll be covering. Colors connote different meanings, such as gold and metallics for sophistication and evening fashion; pinks and pastels for girly or children's fashion; navy blues and dark colors for work fashion; and greens, blues and browns for eco-fashion.
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   Choose heading and font styles wisely. Headers help to break down the text and make for easier reading; they also allow you to draw the reader's eye quickly, allowing the reader to home in on what he or she is really interested in. The headers should match the theme and layout as perfectly as possible. As for font style, match it your readership, while accounting for ease of reading in the online context. Some fonts are better for a more quirky, younger and less sophisticated approach, while other fonts are better for the more serious-minded. Do your research before choosing.
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   Develop some brief but informative statements and name structures. It is important that readers can quickly work out what your blog is about, and have these form a permanent part of the blog's layout. These statements should be short, to the point and as catchy/interesting as possible. The principal ones to develop include:

   • The byline under the blog's name. Usually a one to two liner, this should summarize the blog's purpose.
   • Profile. This is the chance to write a glowing background to the purpose of the blog and cool information about those behind it.
   • First post. This is a great place to explain the future direction of the blog. It can be linked on the side bar for those who wish to read it many months or years down the track.
   • Categories or tags. Do not neglect the categories or tags you're going to have. They need careful selection and naming, to make it easy for readers to pull together all posts on a particular topic or theme that interests them.
   • Don't be too simplistic. For example: "A blog about fashion" is a tad too broad.

Part2

Self or shared blogging

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   Be sure to know and decide before you create the blog whether you want this to be your own blog or co-run it with multiple people. While sharing a blog can reduce the workload considerably and provide lots of interesting opinions, there are some key things to consider when making a decision to run a shared blog:

   • If you run it with one other person or with multiple people, this may turn out harder than you thought. This is because you have to constantly coordinate with at least one other person and be certain that he or she is keeping up his or her end of the bargain. You don't want to end up being the deadline nag.
   • Choose someone you can trust. If you get in a fight with this friend you will be letting the fans down and may have to delete the blog or let your friend take it over.
   • Choose someone who is as passionate about fashion as you are and who has a love of sharing ideas about it. He or she doesn't need to have the same ideas as you, although clashing all the time will cause readers to wonder why you decided to share a blog together!
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   If you decide to run the blog yourself, realize how much work this will involve.For example, you are solely responsible for meeting deadlines, ensuring that there is sufficient content each week and keeping on top of comments from your readers (you mustinteract with readers, or else they will feel that you're not interested in them, and they'll soon lose interest). You will need to keep coming up with fresh and interesting stories and angles. However, on the plus side, you have complete control and what you say, goes.

Part3

Running the blog

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   Start publishing some fashion posts. Your first post should explain what the blog aims to do and what sort of fashion stories and opinions you'll be adding. This post can continue to inform readers to the blog for many years, so make it a good one, with clear explanations of the intended direction. This post can also identify your intentions as to how regularly you'll add posts; this is something that should be worked out at the beginning. While it can be changed later, it should be an indication of serious intent at this point.
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   Begin adding posts regularly. Write interesting posts which are fun to read and look at. Add plenty of images and perhaps include animations, videos and other enlivening aspects. Some things to bear in mind when writing posts:

   • Keep to your promised blog coverage. You won't win over readers by spinning yarns that veer away from the fashion topic. For example, if you're covering posh fashions and you happen to cover them at the local horse races, avoid discussing the merits of betting on horses.
   • Try to find exciting angles not already covered elsewhere. Your opinions also matter; readers want to read something different from the other blogs and news items about the fashion you're covering.
   • Use post headers that draw in the reader and make them want to know much more.
   • Always check your facts. Don't make things up and don't say mean things about people or you may not only upset your readers, but end up defaming people. You don't want to do that! (There are really good books and online information about avoiding such slip-ups on blogs; check them out.)
   • Be guided by the indications your readers give you. If they express a love of something you've written, produce more of it.
   • Place your name on the blog posts you produce if you're doing a shared blog. This allows readers to identify with each author and it helps you to grow your "fan base".
   • If you run this site with multiple people, make it clear that you want equal, or close to equal, amounts of posts on this blog. If someone gets lazy, consider a system of warnings before they're ditched completely. You don't have the time to be chasing someone constantly.
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   Change your posts up. Don't add the same styles and fashions to your blog. You can even try setting new trends as well as adding lots of pictures, tips, and possibly videos. You may want some new fashion updates or even contact some of the fans personally to keep them there.
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   Use plenty of images but be sensible in your usage of them. Images are the lifeblood of a blog focused on fashion; readers will want to see what you're talking about. It's really important to do the right thing by images too, including:

   • If you're taking images of your own, use a good camera and know the basics of taking great shots. The time taken to learn how to take good images will be paid back tenfold when your blog takes off.
   • If using someone else's images, be sure you have the permission or the copyright freedom to do so. Do not pinch pictures from elsewhere or you risk breaching copyright and getting yourself into a stink. Legal action isn't fun. If you have permission, make this clear and place any information or notice with the image that the person giving permission requests.
   • Keep a list of places you can get images from without having to ask for permission. Provided you're not running the blog for profit, this list will end up being quite large. However, as soon as you start making a profit from your blog, you'll need to be even more careful about where you source the images from; read all terms and conditions with care.
   • Consider teeing up with a blog written in another language. Share images with each other; this can allow both of you to source information from different countries and increase the interest in both blogs, without having to worry too much about losing readers to one another!
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   Be regular with new posts. Readers have short attention spans and if you skip a scheduled posting, they'll already be thinking "has this blog closed down?". If you do need to miss posts, be courteous and explain ahead of time why this will happen. People will understand that you have a life and that your interstate brother's wedding comes before a post being on time!

Part4

Promoting your blog

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   Spread the word! Spreading the word is a very important part of running a blog or website successfully.

   • Get accounts on social media that will promote your blog. For example, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and Pinterest. Use a program that sends updates to these sites each time that you add a new post to the blog. Use fun, quirky and short lead-ins on these sites to entice people to click on the link and come and read your new posts.
   • Use forums to share blog content.
   • Post information about your website onto other sites or blogs. You can personally tell people about it and tell them to then spread the word, and you can even pass out flyers or business cards.
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   Guest blog. Where possible, try to guest blog on other fashion blogs. This increases your outreach to new readers and gets your blog some exposure that will remain ongoing for as long as that blog exists/leaves your post intact. In turn, invite others to blog on your blog too. The reciprocity of guest blogging opens up lots of possibilities and spreads the word

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   Look at your audience. You should be able to see your audience such as the people viewing at the second, the people viewed today, week, month, and all time. You should see the posts that they have viewed and how many views that post has gotten. You may also be able to see what viewers have typed on Google or other source sites to get to your blog. You may want to do some posts on those sources or keywords (traffic sources) to get more viewers coming on.
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   Have lots of updates. Make sure that you are welcoming your fans instead of driving them away. You may want to change the appearance, or layout of your blog occasionally to keep it exciting, interesting, and fresh.