Starting a fashion blog? Great! Whether you’re looking to make money or just express yourself, a fashion blog can be an excellent way to do that. If you’re passionate and have a flair for style that stands out from the crowd, then you have the potential to hit the ground running. However, before all that, you need to grasp the basics.

You need to understand that there is more to fashion blogging than just a sense of style and a willingness to show it off. There are a number of backend functions to starting and running a blog that you might not have considered. Don’t worry, though. We’re going to break these down, so you have a solid foundation when you start.

The Equipment

Let’s start with the equipment. You want to have a great camera, so you can get the best images. Products like batteries from Soonwell, lighting, and even a good computer for post-processing the photos are going to be important, too. If you intend to do live videos, you also need something with better capabilities than a webcam.

As a fashion blogger, you want crisp, clear images. You want your uploads to be well-lit, the beauty of the fabrics and clothing easy to see. Having a good computer that can edit things to process them is useful, but better is having great images in the first place. Whether you or a support crew are taking the shots, the right gear is crucial.

Own Your Platform

Owning your platform is crucial. Instagram is a great place to start, but it isn’t yours. An account there is a good way to start out and build an audience, but if you want to maximize your reach, you want to have a website that is all to yourself. Something that has your name on it is better as you get bigger, and it is important to start on that early on.

One advantage of having your platform over Instagram is having a greater ability to customize it. Even if you don’t know how to code, you can hire someone to do it for you and work with them to give your platform the visual punch you want it to have.

Useful Content

Be sure to add useful content on the blog. If you’re being vapid and just posting pictures if yourself in stylish outfits, you won’t build a large audience. In fact, you probably won’t have much of an audience at all. Give people something useful, a reason to visit and keep visiting. Gone are the days when a blog was about you and no one else. A fashion blog is something that needs to reach outward, not merely be a soapbox.

What Makes You Unique?

What’s your style? What makes you stand out from the hundreds of other fashion bloggers out there? Is it a particular look you know how to rock? Is it that you are the go-to source for hairstyle recommendations? Is it a talent for framing the best features or finding perfect ensembles out of imperfect parts? Figure out what makes you unique and use that as the central theme of your fashion blog.

Let’s face it, there are hundreds or thousands of people out there who all have their own sense of style. They have their own fashion sense. And more than a few of those will be online, having their own blogs. You want to know how you stand out from the crowd, rather than just blending in and becoming background noise.

Knowing what makes you stand out also helps you build a distinct brand. Even if you have no plans of making money off your fashion blog, having a brand image that is distinctly yours is a great way to engage an audience.

Engage Your Audience

Speaking engagement, keeping the audience interested in you and your efforts is important. A part of this is accomplished using regular updates, such as weekly. Another part of this is to…well, engage the audience. Talk to them, reply to their posts, have conversations. Go on other fashion blogs and leave sincere comments and thoughts.

You’re not alone in the world, after all. There are others out there, and one of the best ways to build an audience is to connect with them. Don’t be this aloof, distant figure, but instead be approachable and friendly.

Optimize Your Site

Hire someone to optimize the site. This will be done from a number of angles.

One angle is how quickly the blog loads. The faster it loads, the easier it is to keep an audience engaged. A fashion blog that takes forever to load isn’t going to be keeping anyone happy. A related one is how smoothly the site flows and loads on a mobile platform. With more of your potential audience likely viewing your blog on their phone, you bet you want to make it easier for them to get around.

If you plan to make money from the fashion blog, you also want someone to optimize it for search engines and relevant ads. There are multiple models to monetizing your blog, so figure out which one would combine profitability with not disrupting the user experience.

Use Social Media

Now, we’ve already mentioned how important it is to have your own platform, but it still pays to keep your social media going even if you have your own website. Social media in general, with Facebook and Twitter in particular, are the method a lot of people use to view the internet these days. As such, you can’t go wrong in engaging your audience through those platforms. Use social media to draw people to your blog.

Conclusion

A fashion blog can be a worthwhile endeavor if you get the backend basics right. From great photos to regular schedules to personal touches, there is a lot to keep in mind. In the end, when you realize you have something that can reach out to others and has your “voice,” it all feels worth it.

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