I often get asked in interviews ‘What’s the key to your success as a blogger?’ and I tend to give a different answer each time, because the true response would practically be an essay/biography on the journey and lessons I took to make it this far.
I also regularly get comments from some of you, asking how to get started with a blog - which is even trickier to answer without knowing any information about interests or demographics, abilities or talents. I always say - just get started and figure it out along the way. Sounds bit vague, but that’s genuinely how I did it.
Almost all the early adopter bloggers have been making it up as we go along right from the very beginning. I do believe however, there are two kinds of success. The kind thats almost dumb luck, or born out of natural talent - those are the bloggers who got on the right foot from the beginning, found what they loved doing also had a kind of mass appeal and lead them on the right path. The other kind are the adaptors - the ones that tailor or package their content to what works best for their reader (and themselves). It’s the trial and error method - or learning from your mistakes.
Here’s my top lessons I learnt about my blog and building a successful business through trial and error.
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Don’t post for the sake of posting, if you’re not inspired then people arriving at your site won’t be either. They’ll leave and might not come back ever again.
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Choose a brand identity and stick with it - for me this was challenging because my personal style is quite erratic, so I switched things up and gave more of my personality, made that more of what my brand was about.
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Don’t ignore the data - I used to blame poor results in the data (statistics) on external influences, holidays, bad weather, time of year - but the data is the most direct reflection of what’s engaging about your site and what’s not. Data is king.
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Accept when something isn’t working and move on - sometimes I would take a new direction with my posting and it wouldn’t work. For example, once I completely stopped posting outfits and ONLY put model test shoots on my blog. Things took a bomb - so I switched it back up. More outfits, far fewer tests.
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Reply to as many emails as you can. It’s almost impossible for me to keep on top of my inbox (a girl needs to live) but in the fashion industry, people tend to change and switch around roles regularly. That email invite you ignored could have been sent by someone with a future working at Givenchy/Calvin Klein/Burberry… I know I’ve ignored the wrong person (inadvertently) more than once. :S
I guess I could go on and on here, there are small lessons we can learn everyday, when things aren’t going our way. Every failure should be perceived as a step forward and a chance to learn and grow. The important thing is to get going and start taking chances!
“When you take risks you learn that there will be times when you succeed and there will be times when you fail, and both are equally important.” - Ellen DeGeneres
Meanwhile, these pics were snapped by Mandy during a little impromptu shoot for Myer. Dying over this embroidered jacket MSGM and this Sass and Bide sequin skirt! Perfect for NYFW. Counting down till then!
jacket, MSGM from Myer
shirt, Bul from Myer
skirt, Sass and Bide from Myer
Don’t miss my edit of Myer’s Spring Bloom trend, now live HERE
Photos by Mandy (Oracle Fox) - edited by Zanita
