So you want to be a better beauty blogger?

There are some bloggers who sit easily in one blogging category.  Maybe they’re a fashion blogger, a mummy blogger, a technology blogger or a craft blogger.  Me, I blog about fashion and beauty – and I’m a mum – so that gives me blogging privileges across three blogging categories … four, if you count my weekly blogging posts about blogging.

Each of these categories also gives me a ticket to hang out with other bloggers in those niches.  Last Sunday I got to put on my beauty blogging hat (or should that be face?).

Nails freshly manicured. Check.

Hair still lasting from Friday’s blow-dry. Check

Face free from breakouts.  Umm, check. (How annoying it is to have wrinkles AND pimples?  At the same time?)

I was invited to join in and speak at the Brisbane Beauty Blogger Event at New Farm hair salon, Orb Hair, organised by the gorgeous Sarah at Hip N Haute and Annica at Haute and Stylish.

I offered the 10 beauty bloggers in attendance my two cents on how to create a better beauty blog. I talked about the three things that drive me to create a better blog.  Even if you don’t blog about beauty – many of these tips can be applied to other blogging niches.

1. Point of difference.   There are thousands of beauty blogs out there.  How can you make yours stand out from the pack? Everyone can blog about a lipstick and a new hair product. How will your’s be different? How will you build your blog community and following so that readers talk about and get excited about you – online and offline?

How can you create that point of difference?

Decide on who your target audience is – and write everything to that specific audience.

Invest in an SLR camera and do a photography course.

Play around with your writing style.  Are you conversational, serious or extremely funny?

Read other blogs – a lot – follow and comment.

Join networks such as BlogLovin’, I Blog Fashion and Beauty, iFabbo and Independent Fashion Bloggers

2. Passion. Having a burning passion about a topic – in this case beauty – helps to organically feed an endless supply of blog post ideas.  Your readers want to feel how much you love what you write about. It’s impossible to fake this.

How can you hone your passion?

Feed your passion through research and play.

Really ask yourself, is this what I truly love?

Keep a diary of ideas.

3.  Product knowledge.  Can you really write and talk about a beauty product without first having a full understanding of the product? Your readers want to trust that you know your stuff. They want to know that you’ve tried the product. They want to hear all about the product in real terms, not just the scientific stuff.

How can you improve your product knowledge?

Build a relationship with PR companies

Hang out at a lot of beauty counters

Research online

I found this quote from Grey Livingston which I thought was apt for not only this group of bloggers but beauty bloggers around the world – Beauty – in projection and perceiving – is 99.9% attitude.

Are you ready to apply that attitude to your blog?

PHOTOS FROM THE EVENT

Happy Easter Saturday to you.  It’s been one big bloggie ride for me this week.  On Thursday evening I found out Styling You was a finalist in the Business Category of the Best Australian Blogs competition – and it’s been mentioned in The Australian, no less!  The winner will be announced on May 6./>

I’m also in the running for another competition but I need your help with that one.  If you could please take a couple of minutes to vote for me in the HP Australia Front Row Blogger competition, I promise to keep it real if I win!  Click on the image below and wish me luck.



 

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This blog post was selected as part of the Independent Fashion Bloggers Links a la Mode: Tech Weekly Roundup April 26.  Check out these other great posts for more blogging tips.

Time To Think Mobile

Edited by Vyque of Fasshonaburu

Anyone else feel like their lives have begun to revolve more and more about mobile technology? While I still can’t travel without my netbook, I can’t go even an hour without at least one of my smartphones within arm’s reach! So it didn’t surprise me when I read Miss Viki’s post on the prediction that “by 2013, mobile phones will overtake PCs as the most common Web access device worldwide.”

As a full-time new media professional, I had heard this before, but I hadn’t really considered how this would affect my blogging. Until I started using the iPad, I never once checked how my site rendered outside a computer or considered blogging from my phone! But as more and more users start accessing content while on the go, it’s important to remember to think mobile!!

LINKS À LA MODE: TECH – April 26th

• Divas & Dorks: iPhone/iPad: Your Worst Enemy?
• Fasshonaburu/a>: Using Windows 7
• IFB: Flickr Photo Pool Collective for IFB Members
• Miss Viki: By 2013, Mobile Phones Will Overtake PCs
• Search & Dresscue: Your Perfect Fit: Choosing a Blog Platform
• Style Confessions: A Few Things You Can Do to Avoid Being Hacked
• Styling You: So You Want to Be a Better Beauty Blogger?
• Sugar & Spice: How to Make Social Media Work for You