Fashion Blog Tips

Easy Ways to Make Your Blog Better

noreply@blogger.com (Fashion Addict) — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 21:52:00 +0000

There are lots of simple ways to boost the look of your blog. From the color of your background to the font size and layout. Here's a list of a few things that you might want to consider doing to your blog:

1. Keep it simple and stick to a specific layout.

2. If you post pictures (and it's better if you do), center them. It makes the whole post look so much better. You can also have the text wrap around an image which makes it look professional as well.

3. Have your thoughts divided into small paragraphs. Readers tend to get overwhelmed when they can not see an end to the post. It's a lot easier to read a post when it's divided into small sections.

4. It's better to use a solid color background than a background with a picture on it. I find a lighter background like white much more welcoming than than darker colors such as black. Backgrounds with pictures on it distracts the eyes and sometimes makes it harder to read the text on the blog.

5. Have a nice banner in your header. That's one of the first thing a viewer sees when he/she visits your blog.

Google Analytics

noreply@blogger.com (Fashion Addict) — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 21:31:00 +0000

A very good (and free) service is Google Analytics which shows you a massive amount of statistics about the viewers of your blog. There's many things I've wondered: How long do people stay on my blog? What do they look at the most? Where do these viewers come from?

Google Analytics provides answers to all of these and even more. You can even compare your blog's statistics with other blogs within your category. Other statistics that Google Analytics shows you are:

- Number of Visits
- Number of Pageviews
- Bounce Rate
- Average Time on Site
- Amount of New Visits
- Traffic Sources (Top Referring Sites, Search Engines)
- Map Overlay
- Top Keywords
- Most Popular Content

That's a lot of neat information that can help you understand the good and bad things about your blog. Signing up is easy, all you have to do is register as a new user and fill out a few things about your website. However, it will take a day after you have signed up for Google to retrieve data about your blog.

Resizing Pictures

noreply@blogger.com (Fashion Addict) — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 18:55:00 +0000

Ever want to show a whole lot of pictures in one post, but you don't want to take a whole lot of space? Posting magazine scans and editorials full size would be a nightmare to look at for the reader and it's easier to read posts that have pictures that are easily viewable.

For example, Fashion Addict did a professional job at posting an editorial of Tyra Banks, but she didn't post the regular size of the images. What she did was resized them to 175x175 pixels and linked those images to the actual size ones. Doesn't that look so much better than actually putting huge images up?

Blogger can resize your pictures from large to medium or small, but what if you want to go even smaller? Many webmasters use photo programs that are on their computer like Photoshop or Gimp, but there's many online programs where you can shrink your images without losing the quality as well.

One of my favorite places to resize images would be ShrinkPictures.com. It's simple to use and you can be done in minutes depending on how many pictures you want to resize. ReducePhoto.com is also another website where you can resize big images to a much smaller size online.

I resized my images and have posted them to my blog, now what?
If your blog publisher does not provide good image resizing programs, you have to resize the photo yourself and then link it to the actual size photo. Without linking the small photo to the regular size photo all your viewers can see is a small picture.

So what's best to do is to upload the regular set of photos somewhere else like a test blog or Photo Bucket, and then get the url of the picture and use that as the link. Again, if you don't link the small photos to the actual photos, that means your viewer will only get to see a small picture. Manually linking images seems like a pain, but in the end it looks a whole lot better!

Drive Traffic To Your Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Fashion Addict) — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 20:02:00 +0000

Many people ask how you drive traffic to your blog and here are some simple tips:

1. Comment on other blogs. If you comment a lot, others will notice you and they will visit your blog.

2. Ask for link exchanges, it benefits both blogs.

3. Get listed at Technorati, BlogCatalog, BlogExplosion etc.

4. Go to forums and tell other people there about your blog. For instance, it you're doing fashion, Teen Vogue Forums is a good place to start.

5.Write a lot of email? Put a link to your blog in the signature. Although you might think that people don't look at the signatures, they actually do!

6. Consider your viewer. Write about things that your audience wants to read about. Don't be too random, they won't understand what's going on or what to expect. In the end, content is the key to driving traffic back to your blog.

7. Find others that write the same kind of posts you do and outdo them! (It's okay, everything's a competition, it just doesn't need to get dirty. (^-^))

8. Write timeless posts that can be read 1 day or even 2 years from now and still make sense.

Blog Rolls

noreply@blogger.com (Fashion Addict) — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 16:12:00 +0000

What is a blog roll?
Blog rolls are basically a list of links to your favorite websites or blogs. Many people use blog rolls for their link exchanges, but this doesn't mean that you have to do a link exchange with the blog to put them on your blog roll. Some people like to make creative names for their blog rolls such as: Daily Reads, My Favorite Sites, Places To Visit, and etc.

Is there a benefit to having a blog roll?
By linking other blogs, you can make a small (or big) online community, and other bloggers love it when you link theirs. Do you really need a blog roll? No, but it's convenient to have if you visited specific sites daily.

Music Players

noreply@blogger.com (Fashion Addict) — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 18:37:00 +0000

Although I'm not a huge fan of blogs with music players (they can shock you at first when you enter the site), but many bloggers like to have their favorite music playing in the background while your browsing. I think the best type of music to play on your blog (besides not playing at all) would be a soft classical or jazz type of melody. It can soothe the reader, but it's all up to you!

One of the best places to get music for your blog is: MyFlashFetish.com. This site not only provides music, but video playlists and other fun widgets to add to your blog. Here are some examples of what they look like:

Web Counters

noreply@blogger.com (Fashion Addict) — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 03:56:00 +0000

To many bloggers, the amount of viewers that come in and out each day is exciting to see and there are many free counters available to anyone. There are basically two types of counters: regular hit counters and map counters. However, if you're really into getting the most accurate and detailed counters try Google Analytics. But if you just want to stay simple these are the counters that I recommend.

Hit Counters:

Bravenet- has many styles to choose from, gives you amazing statistics like unique visitors, page views, firs-time visitors, and returning visitors. Not many other counters can beat this. Plus there's a great feature that can ignore your own visits, which help you know the most accurate amount of "real" visits you get.

Don't worry there are normal kinds of counters as well, if you're the sophisticated type. And if you aren't satisfied with these, don't worry because there are many styles to choose from.

A statistic report of your site's traffic would look like this:

Map Counters:

ClustrMaps - one of popular providers of map counters, ClustrMaps gives you the opportunity to see where most of your viewers are coming from just by one glance at the map. It's accurate and speedy, and maybe one of the best maps out there. However, when you start to get tons and tons of views you're map will look a little crazy, but that's a good thing! ;) This is what it looks like:

On your blog:

It'll give you a more understandable map if you click to see details:

And there's a choice to zoom in even more to pinpoint exactly where your traffic is coming from.

Link Exchanges

noreply@blogger.com (Fashion Addict) — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 19:03:00 +0000

Most bloggers are familiar with link exchanges, but for beginners I'll give a brief explanation. A link exchange is when two blogs agree to put the other blogger's link up on their own. Most of the time link exchanges or a "link swap" goes on the sidebar in a blog list or blog roll or if you have a big website under a page just for links and affiliates. Every now and then you should check your link exchanges and make sure the other site is still linking you.

Why should I do a link exchange?
Link exchanges are good because it helps you interact with other bloggers and make a small community. Another great reason why link exchanges are good is because it'll help boost your ranking in search engine results which will drive more traffic to your blog. Doing link exchanges will also help up your ranking in Technorati and etc.

Are there such things as bad link exchanges?
There are some link exchanges you might want to stay away from. Link exchanges weren't exactly made to optimize your page on search results, but to lead the visitor of your site/blog to another site that provides similar information which would benefit them. If you're thinking about getting lots of link exchanges just to boost search results, I'll tell you this, you're going down the wrong road.

For example, if you're doing a fashion blog it wouldn't be too smart to be linking a fishing website. See what I mean? That messes up search results and this kind of linking is known as spam linking. So when you're requesting link exchanges or receiving requests, try to stay with sites/blogs that have the same topic as you.

Another example of a "bad" link exchange would go like this: You do a link exchange with someone, everything goes well, but then when you check 3 months later, you find that the blog you exchanged links with is no longer there or not being updated. This won't benefit you or your viewers and if you know that they're not coming back, then it's okay to take their link off.

Remember to link the other site/blog!
Sometimes I have problems with link exchanges because after agreeing to do one with another blog, the owner of that blog forgets to put my link up. Be courteous of each other and live up to your agreements. And don't be worried or scared to ask the other blogger to add your link, just ask them politely.

Another problem that happens frequently is when someone requests for a link exchange, the other blogger never replies and just randomly puts the link up. That's okay in a way, but it's better to let the blogger that requested for a link exchange know that you want to do one. Otherwise, some people might feel like they got rejected if no reply comes.

I have so many link exchanges and it's taking so much room on my sidebar, what should I do?
When you become a longtime blogger, you tend to have more link exchanges than others and it does take lots of space on the side. I personally like to organize all link exchanges into one small drop down menu. It really makes the sidebar look spacious and neat. For those that don't like drop down menus, you can dedicate one post or page to link exchanges and make a link to it from the sidebar.

Users Online Counters

noreply@blogger.com (Fashion Addict) — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 16:14:00 +0000

One thing that is great to have on your blog, especially if you like watching user behavior, is the user online counters. They are easy to add to your blog and it's you can choose to place it anywhere on your blog such as the sidebar or the end of the page.

WhoisOnline.net - Provides one of the simplest counters out there. This counter tells exactly what page the viewer is at and how many there are in total. It looks like this:

Users Online [Stats]

Who's.Amung.Us - is quite popular with many blogs and is a more functional version of the WhoisOnline counter. It not only tells you where each viewer is located on your blog, but it also provides a world map that shows where visitors are coming from, plus supplies graphs to help you track your traffic. However, the world map often resets and erases the history, so the map isn't always accurate. If you want an accurate map try ClustrMaps.

Polls In Posts

noreply@blogger.com (Fashion Addict) — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 13:12:00 +0000

Blogger provides a handy poll page element to everyone, but sometimes do you feel like having a poll in your posts? Instead of the sidebar? Well, there are actual many choices outside of blogger, all you have to do is copy the html code they give you into your post and then it'll be seen in your post!

Here are some great places to get polls:

Twiigs.com - Signing up is extremely easy and fast. Twiigs provides simple polls and you can change the color easily as well.

Pollpub - Just like the others, it's easy to use, but has different settings such as adding pictures and music to the poll.

Blogflux - Yet again, easy to work with, fast, but you do need to know some color codes if you want to change the color of the poll.

Vixu - Joining as a member is just as easy as Twiigs, however the process of making the actual poll takes longer, because you can change more settings.

Pay Per Post - Sponsored Reviews

noreply@blogger.com (Fashion Addict) — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 03:32:00 +0000

Instead of waiting for Google Adsense or other Sponsored Links to really make revenue, some bloggers like to sign up with programs like PayPerPost, ReviewMe, and Sponsored Reviews.

Programs like these help bloggers make money while advertisers get there products reviewed by popular blogs which will help market their products. Most of these programs require blogs to have a certain Technorati ranking, Alexa ranking, PageRank, and amount of feed subscribers. After a blog is accepted by the program, the owner of the blog can start accepting review requests.

How much can I make off of one review?
With each program it really defers, the range goes from $10~1000, it really depends on which program you're reviewing with and how popular you're blog is. Advertisers are willing to pay more to a popular blog over a blog that is still in the making and not out there yet.

How do I get accepted to these programs?
Every place has their own qualifications, so I have posted realistic rankings that you should have in order to get accepted. I have looked at many other blogs that have been accepted and I think these numbers are quite accurate, but in cases you may not need as much or vice versa.

PayPerPost
-Has to be a blog, cannot be a website, message board, etc.
-Blog must be written in English.
-Blog must be 90 days old and have atleast 20 posts. In previous posts, there shouldn't be a 30 day gap between any of them.
-No inappropriate content such as racism, pornography, violence, adult content, etc.
-Blog should contain original content, posts shouldn't be copied off of others
-Has to have a chronological archive to show the history of previous posts.

ReviewMe
Technorati Ranking: 25,000 or lower
Alexa Ranking: 250,000 and lower
PageRank: 4-5
Feed Subscribers: 100 and up

If ReviewMe rejects you once they will tell you that they'll notify you once you're blog is ready to be accepted. However, that's not always the case, so if you have tried hard to boost those rankings and pretty sure that you have reached the qualifications, then you might want to contact them about your blog.

Using Images

noreply@blogger.com (Fashion Addict) — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 22:20:00 +0000

Part of your blog that gives it color are all the images you use in your posts. Sometimes a picture alone can do the whole post justice.

When choosing photos to use, I recommend you searching the web carefully until you really have what you want. There's no meaning to having a bad photo when you can have a good one, so take your time, it makes the post so much better.

Copyrights On Images
All images have copyrights to the owner or photographer of the image. So without permission, it's practically against the law to use them in books, catalogs, websites, and etc. However, once the image is in the public domain, anyone is allowed to use them for their own purposes. Now is the internet considered part of the public domain? Not exactly. So does that mean everyone blogging is practically breaking the law? Not exactly either.

To explain all of this, there is a section in the Copyright Laws that is called Fair Use. Fair Use generally lets you use copyrighted work without permission and is determined as fair use with these guidelines:

-The purposes and character of the use, including whether the use is primarily commercial in nature;

-The nature of the copyrighted work being borrowed from;

-The amount and importance of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole;

-The effect on the potential market or value of the copyrighted work.

Does Fair Use Really Work?
There isn't a clear way of determining if you are safe under Fair Use, but there are several cases that you can look at here. Most fashion/entertainment bloggers usually use photos for news reporting, critiscsm, etc, and as long as you don't use it for commercial uses, you're on the safer side. But does that guarantee that you'll be safe no matter what? I know no one wants to hear this, but no.

What Kind of Photos Can I Use?
There's many sites that provide free photos such as Free Photos Bank. Another great place to find copyright-free photos is Flickr's Creative Commons section.

There's also a nice site called PicApp that supplies you with photos of almost anything. PicApp is great because they provide you with great photos of celebrities for instance that usually would have a copyright on them, but what PicApp does is put a small ad around the picture so that you don't have to pay any money for the photo nor will you get in trouble for using it. However, some say photos from PicApp load slowly, so if you're going to try it just be prepared for loading to be slower than usual.

If you don't mind spending some money on photos, especially of celebrities, there are cheap places like PR Photos or Getty Images.

Make Money Blogging

noreply@blogger.com (Fashion Addict) — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 17:19:00 +0000

As many of you might know, there are some people in the blogosphere that can make hundreds, some even thousands of dollars just by placing ads on their blog. Well, it may sound appealing, but let me warn you, it's not an easy task.

One of the reasons I started blogging was because my older brother informed me that you can make money off of blogging. When you say that to a 17 year old girl, oh boy, she gets really excited. I was in for a huge surprise!

If you already have a blog that gets lots of traffic daily (1000+ views), then you might want to consider putting ads on your blog. However, if you have just started out, it's better that you work on the content and traffic first, before you consider placing ads on your blog.

McDonald's Pays Better Than Google Adsense
It's true. At least in the beginning. McDonald's might pay minimum wage, but it's guaranteed that you will get that minimum wage salary at the end of the month. With Google Adsense, there is no real guarantee that you will get a good amount of money at all. Especially if you just started your blog. In order to aquire money through Adsense, your blog must be: popular with lots of viewers coming in every day. Without traffic it's hard to make even a cent.

If You're Blogging For Money, Treat Your Blog Like A Job
I know a lot of people hate to hear this, but blogging for money is hard. Especially for those that don't know much about building a good website/blog and targeting traffic.

Spending quality time building your blog and making it better each day is crucial. Don't just think that you'll make thousands by blogging every now and then. It just doesn't work that way. In order to make money, your website/blog needs to have lots of content, but GOOD content. Something that will be useful to someone or something that they enjoy reading.

At work or school, in order to get that good position or an A, you obviously would work really hard to make that presentation or report that you're working on good. It's the same thing with blogging. The better the blog, the better reviews you'll get, which will be good for your blog in the long run.

So my advice to you is to treat your blog like a job. No one just gets money for nothing, they get money for working. The better your work is the more money. I think that's an easy way to put it.

Drop Down Menus

noreply@blogger.com (Fashion Addict) — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 22:35:00 +0000

Drop down menus are great to use when you don't want to use lots of space on your sidebar or if you have an incredible amount of links on your blogroll and you want to make it look more compact.

1. Copy the code below:

<select onchange="javascript:window.open
(this.options[this.selectedIndex].value);">
<option selected="selected" value="0"/>Blogroll
<option value="http://the-url-of-link-1.com"/>Link 1
<option value="http://the-url-of-link-2.com"/>Link 2
<option value="http://the-url-of-link-3.com"/>Link 3
</select>

2. Go to the 'Page Elements' section of the 'Layout' page on your blog. Then choose to 'Add a Page Element'.

3. Choose the 'HTML/JavaScript' page element.

4. Type in a title if you would like one. Then paste the code that you copied into the content box. Change and add all the links that you wish to have on your drop down menu. When your finished, click save.

5. Your drop down menu or blogroll should appear in your 'Page Elements' section. Drag it to wherever you would like it to appear on your blog.

6. If everything went correctly, your blog should have a drop down menu that would look something like this:

If it does show up on the sidebar of your blog, considered it successful!

3 Column Templates

noreply@blogger.com (Fashion Addict) — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 22:09:00 +0000

Do you ever wish you had more sidebar space on your blog? You're probably still using the traditional 2 column template and I suggest you to try out a 3 column template. It provides more sidebar space, which is really nice for those that have long lists of links or would like to place ads on the sides.

Here are some links to websites that provide free 3 column templates:

Webtalks provides the same designs that Blogger provides except they are 3 columns

FinalSense.com - offer 3 column templates with a different design than what the usual blogger template looks like. They're pretty neat and you should take a look at them if you're interested in having everything in one package.

Content

noreply@blogger.com (Fashion Blog Tips) — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 23:42:00 +0000

Many people have asked me why my blog has gotten so popular. Although I find it not as popular as many might think, I am very flattered when people ask me this question. There are many ways at getting your blog popular, but the number one point is content. Content is key.

There are many topics that you can write about, but I advise you to stick to one theme. If you like to show off your outfits, then you should try doing that all the time. If your passion is to write about celebrity styles and outfits then stick to that. Your viewer has a specific reason why they always come to your blog and it's to read about the type of topics you write about. If your posts are random, they won't know what to expect and that can work against you.

For instance, The Clothes Horse and Karla's Closet always post photos of their outfits that they wear everyday. So whenever I visit their blogs, I know what to expect and I actually look forward to seeing new outfits or poses.

The same goes with Red Carpet Fashion Awards. She writes posts mainly on what designer the celebrities are wearing, who wore what at the red carpet, and she also has polls on who wore it better. See what I'm getting at? I sort of know what she is going to write about, therefore I check her blog just to see what's new.

So what I'm saying is, be consistent! Consistent may be boring sometimes, but it'll work out more in the long run.

Write About What You Love
I find it the easiest to write about things that I love or something that inspires me. If someone told me to write about beetles and other bugs in the forest, I'd have a VERY hard time writing about it, because it's not of my interest. It's good to keep in mind what other's might be interested in reading, but it's best to first consider what you want and like to write about. The better the writing, the more readers you will get.

Negativity In Posts
Ever wanted to bash a celebrity, designer, or someone on your blog? I think we all have and I have to admit that I don't write nice things about everyone I write about. It's okay to write negative things about someone or something (you have all the right to, it's your blog), but try not to be too harsh. Too much negativity will push sensitive viewers against your blog and that's not a good thing. And try not to be on the negative or pessimistic side on all of your posts. It's not healthy and readers will notice one day. They'll think "This person is like against the world or something..." You don't want people to think that!

Blends

noreply@blogger.com (Fashion Blog Tips) — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 22:56:00 +0000

I created several blends of fashion icons and other celebrities that you may use as your banner for your blog. Banners do make a big impact on blogs, if you a have a good banner it'll make a great first impression to new viewers of your blog. Plus it'll help others remember your blog.

You can add your blog title onto these blends, resize them, or whatever you would like, but I ask of one thing: Please do not cut off the text that says fashionblogtips.blogspot.com. I would appreciate a little credit and this is how I ask of it!

General Tips for Bloggers

noreply@blogger.com (Fashion Blog Tips) — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 13:48:00 +0000

1. Post consistently: Those of you who normally post once a day, stick to it. Don't have that much time to post everyday? That's fine too, just keep a pattern! If you post once every two days, try to actually post every two days; then viewers will know that you are still blogging and they will come back for more. I recommend posting once a day though.

2. Ask many other bloggers for link exchanges. Not only does this help attract viewers to your blog, it will boost your ranking in search results from Google, Yahoo, etc.

3. Comment on other's blogs, that'll drive more traffic towards yours. Everybody loves comments, right? But make sure you are courteous of other's work, so being rude is not the way to go. Sometimes we disagree on subjects, and if you don't have anything nice to say, you might as well not say anything. It's better to keep good relations with everyone that you can.

4. List your blog at places like BlogCatalog, Technorati, Blog Explosion etc. It's a great way for people looking at these lists to find you.

5. You might want to add a signature to your emails with a link to your blog in it. For those that email lots of people or are in forums daily, adding a link to your blog in your signature helps bring more attention.

6. Be patient!!! Some days I don't get many views, and yes it's depressing at times, but just hang in there and keep up with all the work. People will notice a long hard working blogger, I promise!