Advice on Starting a Fashion Blog

Alexander Wang SS/2010 – Fashion Copious

Q- I’ve been reading your blog for a long time. I also read College Fashion. With your unknown, combined effort, I have been inspired to create a fashion blog. I was just wondering how you got started and if there’s any tips or tricks to the trade other than being fashion-savvy? Any kind of tips will help.

A- That’s awesome! So glad I could be an inspiration to you. Totally makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside 🙂 I guess I will start with my own little blogging story that started about 4 years ago:

Way back when after I graduated fashion design school, I realized that fashion design jobs are a.) tough to get and b.) don’t pay shit (I received a reality check inducing offer post graduation to find this out). So I started working in an office (hey I needed money to move out of my parents house). My job title was executive assistant but it really should have been “someone’s bitch”. I actually learned a ton on that job but it was also pretty mind-numbing and I missed fashion, a lot. So I started my blog, Ask Fashion Kitty.

The point of the blog was to answer fashion questions. However with a readership of like 5 readers per day, the questions weren’t exactly rolling in. I didn’t let that stop me though, I used the platform to talk about what I love … fashion!

That boring little story brings me to my top 3 tips on starting a fashion blog:

Tip #1- Choose a Topic, Choose it Wisely, and Have a Focus: So you want to have a fashion blog, huh? Well just having a fashion blog won’t get you readers. You need a topic or a focus. The main focus of my blog is to answer reader questions/ give fashion advice. That focus derives from my mad fashion stylist skillz, which helps tie in some of my other segments (for example Clothes off My Back). Basically, when you come to my blog you know what you are going to get and that’s important.

So choose a topic and try to choose something that isn’t already out there. Maybe you want to do a Look 4 Less blog, well there are tons of those. However there might not be a Look 4 Less blog that focuses only on the show 90210. Get what I’m saying? Having a focus (especially one people want) will get you readers.

Tip #2- Blog Often: Now you have your awesome blog set up and you’ve done your first post. Good for you. Now here comes the tough part … keeping it up. The more you blog the more loyal your readers will be. This is something that you need to work on all the time. **I need to take my own advice on this one**

Tip #3- Whore Yourself Out Around the Web: Get your voice heard all across the web, not just on your blog. I’m the #1 user on ThisNext, I have a huge Twitter following, I am on ShopStyle, I on Facebook, I blog on other sites, I am everywhere possible. This ups your credibility factor and gives you a wider audience.

That’s all I’ve got to share right now. Get your blog started and maybe I’ll spew out some more tips. Good luck to ya!