Blogger Outreach: The Voguish Vagabond
Speedy Spotlight with Deano, author of the men’s fashion and lifestyle blog, The Voguish Vagabond. He spoke to us about keeping his posts relevant to the ‘average guy,’ working with PR and the five steps PR should follow for better blogger outreach.
Why should people read your blog? What makes it different? With menswear gaining such popularity over the past few years I think my blog is really at the forefront of a revolution. However I find most menswear blogs are geared towards high-end fashion which is taboo for the average man, this is why I try to keep my content and writing style quite relatable and geared to my personal taste, because I am an average guy and I hope that people can relate and see that I am producing quality content on a subject that I’m passionate about.
How do you measure the success of your website? My biggest measure of success is when I can scroll through my own content and be happy with the output. Of course some validation is always nice so when you get new subscribers/followers it’s always an ego boost and it’s a sign you’re moving in the right direction and creating content people can enjoy/relate to, but I certainly don’t spend too long staring at my hit count.
What’s your favourite blog and why? My favourite blog has to be ‘The Sartorialist‘. I could spend hours just flicking through the images and I am constantly amazed by the photography, you really get a snapshot into individual style and culture from all over the world and of course the pics themselves are always so aesthetically beautiful. I also love the story of how the blog came to be, from a passion to a profession, it’s inspiring.
What advice would you give to someone who wants to start a blog? I would tell them to start with a blog about something they love and do because they enjoy it, not something that just seems to be a current fad. Starting a blog for a business or to get free stuff will never last. They also need to accept that it may take years to get any real measurable audience if ever at all so patience really is a virtue when it comes to bogging. They also need to do their research, once you define your blog category you need to decide on things such as your writing style, platform, layout, and all the tools you will use to reach your target demographic, then prepare to spend a lot of time refining the process. But again it shouldn’t be all work, if you’re not enjoying it then what’s the point??
How do you work with marketers and PRs? I have been lucky enough to be contacted through my blog by companies and PR agents and am always happy to work with them if their proposals are of mutual interest and their products/ideas are something I am happy to stand behind and put my name to.
Who do you work with in brand marketing? PRs? SEOs? Anyone else? I currently have no affiliations with any companies or agents as I like to keep my blog mostly organic. But that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t be willing to get more exposure using such avenues, I just haven’t taken this approach to date.
Can you list five best practices for blogger outreach?
1. Keep your posts consistent i.e. decide on the times you will post each week/month and try to stick to it.
2. Interact, it’s vital you are active in the community of the subject you’re writing about e.g. if you have a food blog you should be reading and interacting with other food bloggers and forums.
3. Social Media, this is one of the biggest parts of blogging. You should be prevalent across all popular social media to make your blog easily available and again you should be interacting across these platforms.
4. Technology, there are loads of tools out there to help you manage your posts and social media, so get in the know and it will make your life easier and make you far more efficient as a blogger in reaching your audience.
5. Keep producing high quality current content, it’s easy to get sick of putting work into posts when you feel no one is reading but if your content is good quality and your getting your name out there then eventually you should reap the rewards but remember just because you build it they won’t necessarily come.
What has been your blogging highlight? I have had the pleasure of working with a couple of great companies and have had some of my work published on other sites but my main accomplishment to date would have to be making the short-list of the ‘Irish Blog Awards’ this year. I didn’t win but it was great to get so far.
What will be big in your blogosphere in the coming months? I recently gave my blog a bit of a makeover and slightly changed the style so I hope to continue in this fashion and bring quality posts that are more tailored to my personal style than before. I also hope to do some posts of my own personal style in true sartorialist fashion.
Editorial information on The Voguish Vagabond and thousands of other media contacts and outlets, can be found in the CisionPoint Media Database.
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