Advice about Starting & Promoting a Fashion Blog - See Post #1 for Thread Rules

[FrenchCactus]

does anyone else have tips on twitter? i dont even know how to get people to follow you, retweet your posts, and pretty much make conversation.

all i do is tweet my posts but it doesnt really help since no one is following me and i dont know how to hash tag and whatever. the only chance of someone finding it is if they search something and my tweet happen to have the keywords.

Your Twitter account should complete your blog posts. For example, you can tweet about things that you find interesting but wouldn't necessarily write a post on.

Advertize your Twitter account on your own blog. For example, show a feed with your last 5 Tweets on your blog and make references to your Twitter account in your posts from time to time.

Once you get going with tweets, start following the bloggers that you like and your regular readers. If you find one of their tweets interesting, reply to it just like you would start a conversation. Likewise, if you like another blogger's post, say so on Twitter. That should help to build relationships.

When you want to refer to someone, always use @ before the name. That way the person will now that you mentioned him.

When you follow people regularly, participate in Follow Friday (#FF). On Fridays, write a tweet beginning with #FF followed by the names of Twitter accounts you like. For example: #FF @Ritournelleblog @styleonthecouch @MPChouchou

Twitter is all about networking. If you don't follow anyone and engage conversations, no one will follow you back.
It's also important to keep your tweets interesting and not too frequent. If people are flooded with irrelevant tweets from someone else, they will be tempted to unfollow that account.

 

[FrenchCactus]

There's an interesting article on using Twitter for blogging in this week's IFB newsletter.

The dust has settled, the speculation has ceased – Twitter is here to stay. So, now that you’ve got your blog going and your tweeting away, it’s important to stay on top of the relationships you’re building on Twitter. People can unfollow as quickly as they can follow and like any relationship worth having, it takes a little work. Here are some tips on keeping your followers happy and ways to potentially (fingers crossed!) gain more…

Interact
Twitter has lots of tools to interact with other Tweeters – from @replies to DMs, be sure to stay on top of who is getting in touch with you and always get back to everyone that reaches out to you. On the flip side, you should also @reply when it’s relevant and build on the conversation.

Follow Back
When people follow you, they want to keep up with your tweets. The best way to say thank you is to follow back. If you don’t want to clog up your timeline by following lots of tweeters, then an @reply thanking them for the follow is also good.

Contests
If you have your own brand or partner with a brand to get some promo product, running a contest on Twitter is a great way to get followers. You can have people enter the contest by following you and retweeting a post.

Questions
A great way to get a conversation going is to ask a question. Don’t ask anything that can’t be answered in less than 140 characters though!

Uploading Pics
People respond to visuals so keep your followers interested with some eye candy. Upload interesting pics to break up the monotony of text.

Hashtags
Start your own or use hashtags that are trending. Searching hashtags and tweeting about topics that are trending are good ways to jump in on conversations and interact with other tweeters.

Peak Times
Like all things, there are good times and bad times to reach your audience. As a general rule, the morning, lunch and end of workday are good times because people who have day jobs tend to check their email/Twitter/etc. at those times. For something more tailored to your particular audience, there are many tools to help you figure out what the ideal time to reach them is. One free web app is Tweriod.

Twitter Tools
There are many Twitter tools to help keep you organized from url shorteners (my favorite is su.pr), to automatically tweeting new blog posts (Twitterfeed, su.pr). Some tools help you manage more than one Twitter account and schedule tweets (Hootsuite), while some Facebook Apps automatically post your tweets on your wall. Then of course there are the mobile apps so that you can do all of the above from your mobile device! There are so many Twitter tools to help you make the most of Twitter that I could probably devote a whole post to this topic (mental note…). Whether you tweet blog posts, or syndicate your tweets to Facebook, these are all different ways of engaging your audience across different platforms.

Always Promote!
Don’t forget to include your Twitter handle where you put your contact info like email signatures and business cards.

http://heartifb.com/2011/03/15/sett..._Weekly_Newsletter12_01_2008&utm_medium=email

 

[kikiss]

I found on IFB main page, an interesting video on Business of Blogging....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O94aM-pL3a4

 

[F0F0]

I found on IFB main page, an interesting video on Business of Blogging....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O94aM-pL3a4

Thanks for posting the video!

I was amazed when --towards the end of the video-- one popular fashion blogger said that she was pleasantly surprised just finding out that she could have been charging HIGHER rates than her currently HIGHEST RATE of £10 CPM (Cost per Thousand) per ad unit!!! Perhaps she wasn't maximising her advertising potential all these years!?

The importance of fully maximising your fashion blog advertising potential can be illustrated from her very own case using her CPM revenue model as an example:

Fashion blog facts
As for today this is what you have in her site:

• +550,000 pages views per month (according to her own stats)
• 15 banner ads space units, each of one has its own...
• 15 "sponsors".

Assumptions

1. There's no ad network (ads are served from owner's site)
2. There's no other type of revenue model (i.e. CPC, CPA, sponsorship, affiliate, subscription, etc.) other than the one from CPM display advertising on site.
3. She sells ALL her ad inventory to her 15 advertisers at £10 CPM (that's for every 1000 impressions advertiser pays £10)

CPM revenue-generating opportunity

((550,000/1000) * 10 ) * 15 = £82,500 per month

B)

Can you guess who am I talking about?

 

[emailme.]

oh my. thats wild!

 

[kikiss]

You're welcome F0F0 ! ^^

Are talking about Keiko lynn from the beginning of the video ?
10£ for a CPM it's too much, no ? especially for only 550.000 page-views monthly....

Which revenue model should we follow ? I think it's kind of hard to maximizing advertising revenues because as independant writes we are aware of prices...

The CEO of Halogen Network, Gregory Shore talk about Cloud score. What does means ?
Cloud -> Key words...

Well I go back to understand my CEO basics !

 

[F0F0]

You're welcome F0F0 ! ^^

Are talking about Keiko lynn from the beginning of the video ?
10£ for a CPM it's too much, no ? especially for only 550.000 page-views monthly....

Which revenue model should we follow ? I think it's kind of hard to maximizing advertising revenues because as independant writes we are aware of prices...

The CEO of Halogen Network, Gregory Shore talk about Cloud score. What does means ?
Cloud -> Key words...

Well I go back to understand my CEO basics !

Yes, I was talking about her!

I'd say that a £10 CPM can be too much or too dirty-cheap as it is relative to advertiser's markups and/or marketing objectives.

Which revenue model should we follow?
Very good question! First, I think it will depend on your position in the value chain (a fashion blogger writer could make money only through commission and/or advertising, while a fashion blogger designer could make money from both selling her collections and/or through commission and/or advertising).

Online revenue models can help fashion bloggers or site owners think of new ways of generating income and also can be used to understand options available when promoting blogs/sites. For example:

• Subscriptions (a trend forecaster selling her insights by subscription)
• Pay-per-view (a fashion business incubator providing e-documents like local market research)
• Ad display (a fashion journalist generating income through displaying visual or text ads on her Fashion Week news blog)
• Sponsorship (a fashion blogger monetising through sponsored sections)
• Affiliate (a fashion stylists getting commission with Polyvore lookbooks posted on her blog)
• e-mail marketing (a niche fashion lifestyle store getting paid through selling ad space in its e-newsletter)
• Metamediary (an industry fashion forum selling user's profile data to companies)

...and once you found your working revenue model(s) keep experimenting with new ones.

And by the way, nice you mentioned the Klout score as this is something fashion bloggers should consider too! Klout is a FREE tool that fashion bloggers can use to negotiate advertising rates. It measures individual's online influence (currently) across Twitter and Facebook. It gives bargaining power to both advertisers and publishers when negotiating advertising rates. The more influence a fashion blogger has over her/his audience, the more chances she/he has for maximising revenue.

 

[ched]

I've found Klout scores to be really inaccurate. Malcom Gladwell would have a field day critiquing their algorithms. It may be a good way to sell yourself for the moment, because people don't really understand it, but it's in no way providing a reliable measurement of anything scientifically useful. I have a feeling, unless they improve what it's doing and open up the hood to show how it's generating those "scores," Klout Score will go the way of Google Page Rank fairly soon. A piece of the puzzle, but not a reliable indicator on its own.

 

[F0F0]

I've found Klout scores to be really inaccurate. Malcom Gladwell would have a field day critiquing their algorithms. It may be a good way to sell yourself for the moment, because people don't really understand it, but it's in no way providing a reliable measurement of anything scientifically useful. I have a feeling, unless they improve what it's doing and open up the hood to show how it's generating those "scores," Klout Score will go the way of Google Page Rank fairly soon. A piece of the puzzle, but not a reliable indicator on its own.

I agree!

Both advertisers and publishers (i.e. fashion blogger) should AT LEAST CROSS CHECK results from different web tool analysers as each one has its own methodologies and/or secret algorithms (even Google refuses to talk in detail about its algorithms ). Special caution should be taken with emergent social media scrappers, analysers and data mining tools as they haven't reached mainstream use in the advertising, publishing or internet marketing worlds.

Ultimately, the purpose of web analytics is to optimise sites and internet marketing activities.



The following links show the actual traffic volumes results for Keiko Lynn fashion blog from some of the most used web tool analysers:

• Alexa
• Compete
• Google's DoubleClick Ad Planner

What conclusions can be obtained analysing those results compared to the 550,000 average pageviews the fashion blog states its receiving each month as of February 21, 2011?

* Doesn't shows pageviews results

 

[F0F0]

...Malcom Gladwell would have a field day critiquing their algorithms....

Nice you mentioned him! Fashion bloggers, designers or e-tailers can learn a lot from him to successfully promote (or design) their blogs!

Enter Paul Marsden takes on Gladwell's Tipping Point theory. In order to create an epidemic demand for new products and/or services -according to Marsden- consider the following:

• Relate with socially infectious early adopters
• Develop product and/or services considering key drivers of innovation diffusion (i.e. uniqueness, emotional and functional value, aesthetics, personality, etc.)
• Fit the context. Like infectious diseases products and behaviours spread far and wide only when they fit the context.

Anyone here had an internet viral success with their blog/site/brand/collection/video-tutorial and care to share his/her story?

 

[ched]

I know with modacycle.com, none of the analytics show the actual value. We don't target consumers at all. It's a trade publication written for designers, buyers, and stylists. I don't think there are even 50,000 people in our total target audience, but if you drill down past the way people usually analyze web sites, it's got this amazing audience of people who shape the visual world, beyond trend setters to the core group of actual trend starters. We've been building it for three years and I still have no idea how to quantify it for advertisers (especially since we have a hard and fast editorial responsibility policy that means we can never take advertising from designers).

 

[anakaye]

yo I've been blogging for 2.5 years now but I'd love some feedback regarding my blog, especially technical issues and all that - any ways I can improve on what I have already would be greatly appreciated!!

http://rippedknees.com

 

[FrenchCactus]

yo I've been blogging for 2.5 years now but I'd love some feedback regarding my blog, especially technical issues and all that - any ways I can improve on what I have already would be greatly appreciated!!

http://rippedknees.com

Hi! One thing you could improve IMO is the design of you blog. I think it does look a little plain as it is.

 

[emailme.]

im very slowly getting the hang of twitter. its hard to put yourself out there though. i now have 4 followers.

on another note, i forced my sister to create a blog because she has a youtube channel and does reviews on makeup. she started around the same time as me but she has not worked on html, design, and even a signature on the makeup forum she visits to make it easy for viewers to find it. i checked her page views and she has half of what i have! i couldn't believe it.


for me i have to work hard to earn every page views on my blog and she didn't try at all. im consumed by my blog and always thinking how can i make it better? its frustrating.

 

[FrenchCactus]

im very slowly getting the hang of twitter. its hard to put yourself out there though. i now have 4 followers.

on another note, i forced my sister to create a blog because she has a youtube channel and does reviews on makeup. she started around the same time as me but she has not worked on html, design, and even a signature on the makeup forum she visits to make it easy for viewers to find it. i checked her page views and she has half of what i have! i couldn't believe it.


for me i have to work hard to earn every page views on my blog and she didn't try at all. im consumed by my blog and always thinking how can i make it better? its frustrating.

Have you read this thread and its first part? I know it's long but there are tons of helfpul advice in there and you should find the answers to your questions on how to get more traffic.

Also it seems that you are following and engaging with only big accounts and fashion personnalities on Twitter. It's easier to get a following if you engage with people who are on your level in blogging.

 

[emailme.]

how do you even find these people ritournelle?

 

[FrenchCactus]

^ I started by following the people who commented regularly on my blog and those who I followed through Bloglovin.
(BTW Ritournelle isn't my name, it's just the name of my blog and an awesome song by Sébastien Tellier )

 

[emailme.]

i read a few from pages ago about appearing popular, creating an alternative world for readers, and writing unique contents. i feel like i do have a different perspective that isnt just fashion. i write things that are different such as:
- Obscure Things I have in Common with Obscure Things I have in Common with Megan Fox
-something more people would be interested about like the Oscars
-featuring other bloggers
- writing current news

i may not post as much but each post has a purpose. i believe that content is king and posting frequently with no substance degrades the quality of my blog. i want my readers to know I have a perspective that is reliable and truly have something to say about the topic at hand.

 

[emailme.]

^ I started by following the people who commented regularly on my blog and those who I followed through Bloglovin.
(BTW Ritournelle isn't my name, it's just the name of my blog and an awesome song by Sébastien Tellier )

not one person has yet to comment on my blog. i engage too asking questions at the end of the post such as "This is my favorite unknown blog do you have a favorite blog" But no one wants to share their opinion or no ones reading the post and just looking at pretty pictures. I feel like experimenting with more pretty pictures/ less text. The only thing stopping me is I dont believe in that. I am planning to post a mood board come april but that has moree rhyme and reason to it.

Im starting a fashion week diary since im volunteering. I posted about the orientation and twittered about the post. I asked who is volunteering for LG Fashion Week? I even mentioned the Organization. There's 250 volunteers and not one replied. Im thinking to myself I googled and searched twitter on the topic, doesnt anyone else do that? I dont know it baffles me....

 

[FrenchCactus]

^ If only 4 people are following you, it's no surprise no one reacted to your tweet.. Did you think of looking up the hashtag corresponding to the event and following the people who are interested in it?

As for the lack of comments on your blog, do you comment on other blogs?