The Business of Blogging Part 2 - the Formal

In Part 1 of this series, I discussed the informal Fashion blogs primarily on Tumblr and so in Part 2 I'll be writing about the more formal, legitimised and well known blogs on platforms such as Wordpress or Blogger.  Please go and read Part 1 if you haven't already because I'm sure that I will be referring to it throughout this post. 

This post was one which I really struggled and procrastinated to write about only because the topic of the formal Fashion blogs as I call them, are a much broader and vast community than the informal blogs which are only just heavily concentrated on Tumblr.

Katerina of 2frumps.wordpress.com outside Fashion Week

Fashion blogs today are being recognised for their work and whilst this phenomenon has proven to be hugely successful, it is still relatively new. For this reason, there is yet to be a history written about the Fashion blog. Fashion bloggers are in a way the new Anna Wintours of the internet. As Blogging itself is considered a new form of journalism, based on a personal and interactive approach, it can grasp the attention of hundreds of thousands of people all over the world and for this reason, it is a powerful force especially within the Fashion industry. Long gone are the celebrity dictated trends of the season as the influx of Fashion bloggers rises everyday, although, it begs the question as to when a Fashion blogger will feature on the cover of Vogue.

The Fashion blogs of today cover wide variety of views on trends, personal style, reviews on products, street style and behind the scene peeks into the elusive world of fashion. Fashion bloggers are not so much bloggers as they are celebrities of the online fashion community. We as readers want to know what they're wearing, what they're doing, where they're going and so much more -  we are nosy yes, but that's what make blogs successful.

These celebrities are quickly becoming a part of the mainstream fashion press, and bloggers these days are regularly attending PR events for brands as well as sitting front row at fashion shows alongside the editors and buyers.

From a digital standpoint, the fashion magazine industry compared to the fashion bloggers are much more successful in the way which they deliver news, trends and updates to their readerships in a much more timely fashion and effective way than the traditional glossy magazines.

However, as much as blogs publicise an atomsphere of grandeur consistent with the fashion industry's elusive nature, the Business of Blogging is one which is duplicitous in it's nature.

After reading a number of Fashion blogs, I've noticed that there is a stigma surrounding the well-known Fashion bloggers (in particular personal style blogs) that they are required to exude an atmosphere of luxury as the Fashion industry does and they are all well endowed which is why they are able to afford all their high-end outfits. However, this is not the case for most bloggers. Most Fashion bloggers do not earn a salary simply by blogging and the ones who are lucky to be able to earn money from blogging are a minority. I can guarantee that the authors behind most of the personal style blogs which you read have day jobs either in or out of the Fashion industry. Although you may read posts on blogs about how they've attended events for certain brands, most of these are events organised by the PR departments of brands as marketing opportunities. Shini Park, author of Park & Cube, wrote in a post that "most of the travels I do are in the mercy of some generous sponsor, and in truth I'm making just enough to pay for my dedi-server every month+snacks."

As glamorous as a Fashion blog may appear to be I think it's important to keep in mind that the authors of the blogs that we read are still as normal as any of us. They still have responsibilities and bills to pay and being a Fashion blogger does not cover rent.

On the other hand, it has been reported the some Fashion bloggers do make a living off their blogs. An article published by the Guardian, How fashion bloggers are cashing in invtestigates into the business side of Blogging.

It is important to note that the bloggers who have indeed starting earning an income from their blogs, aren't really marketing their blog, instead they are marketing a brand which they have created for themselves and their blog. These bloggers are the ones who have really the time and effort to commit themselves to their blogs and that is by no means easy. There are of course other bloggers who have been recognised by already well known members of the fashion community and may have had a handbag named after them, (yes, I'm talking about Byranboy), and so we should ask ourselves, is their fame deserved or is it simply a byproduct of the notion of being famous by association. 

Overall, the most important aspect of fashion blog is their personal relationship with their audience. The online community within any case, is an extremely personal one. People don't feel uncomfortable on the internet because it's simply the internet. It's not something you can feel or touch, it's not even visible. William Oliver, the co-author of Style Feed believes that, "blogs are obviously massively personal but we're so used to commercial content online, no one is fazed by it." 

In this day and age, Bloggers are entrepreneurs more than anything else.