Blogger Spotlight: Sarah + Laura

Sarah + Laura documents the life of a married UK and American couple. The couple use their blog as a space to record their outings to places both near and far, like the Grand Canyon and the infamous cereal killer café in Brick Lane, as well as sharing truths about their relationship. Sharing their love of travel, food, and adventure, Sarah + Laura employs all the ingredients of a lifestyle blog and allows readers to follow them on their journeys. In this blogger spotlight, the couple, who feature in our top ten LGBT+ ranking, chat to us about their experience blogging about LGBT issues, their proudest achievement to date, and campaigns they are interested in working on.

How would you describe your blog?
The story of our lives so far, from meeting at work, figuring out our relationship, moving to Australia, travelling the world, moving to London, finding ways to fit into the LGBT community, travelling the world, getting married, setting up our home in Birmingham and a bit more travelling around the UK.

Why should people read your blog and what makes it different?
We are highlighting that being a girl-girl couple in today’s world is no bad thing, if anything it’s awesome! You should read it if you want travel inspiration – especially LBGT friendly places, to find out what’s involved in a Lesbian wedding and plenty of everyday stories from our lives. I think we offer a unique perspective into just how normal a gay relationship can be.

What has been your blogging highlight?
The opportunities it has given us – like being in the YouTube #ProudtoLove campaign and to share our story in a world that lacked role models for us. [Check out the video below!]

How have people reacted to issues highlighted in your blog?
Our Catfish experience where we had a strange follower start to send abusive messages, and our USA vs UK wedding differences started a lot of discussions. When Idaho revoked Marriage Equality making our wedding ceremony illegal we shared our disappointment and that post also got a huge reaction. Overall the posts we shared about coming out, the struggles with my family and how, many years later it did get better, have all helped create a community. Reactions are usually ones of support, of shared experiences and of suggestions.

What types of campaigns do you prefer to work on?
Ones we can support (LGBT, healthy eating, travel), or that give us the opportunity to enjoy a new experience.

Is there any advice that you have for PRs that would like to work with you?
Get in touch! We are open to discussing anything that we can share with our readers.

What techniques do you use to make sure that you don’t sacrifice on quality when working on sponsored content?
We are always honest. We are happy to share our feelings and will always be constructive but if we don’t like something we will share that opinion. Just because it’s not right for us doesn’t mean it’s not right for someone else.

Are there any trends that you can see changing the face of blogging?
What people share, over the time we have blogged we have seen the importance of visuals and good photography increase and so posts need pictures. We can only see imagery become more important. Also, the length of content – short and sharp – is becoming more popular over lengthy and detailed.

What are your favourite methods of distributing content?
We share on Facebook and Twitter predominately as this gets the widest audience.

How frequently do you post on your blog?
Weekly, at least twice unless we are away.

Do you have any tips for bloggers or businesses who want to improve their content strategy?
Create your own content, live your own life and don’t be afraid to share your own opinion. It’s a great way of making your own community and in our case it’s been a great way to make real-life friends.

What is your favourite blog (outside of your own!)?
A Bicycle Built For Two – it’s all about lesbian weddings, and who doesn’t love love?

Source: YouTube Spotlight, 26 June 2015, #ProudToLove – Celebrating Marriage Equality and LGBT Pride Month