Blogger Spotlight: Fiona Maclean, London Unattached

Fiona Maclean is an award-winning freelance marketing consultant, writer and the author of London Unattached. Having been born in London, Fiona uses her extensive knowledge of the city to cover its rich heritage and culture, and events taking place in the capital. In this spotlight, Fiona, who features on our top ten London lifestyle ranking, chats to us what makes her blog different, why she has a special interest in London lifestyle, and reveals her future plans.

Could you start by telling us a bit about yourself and how you got into blogging? I only really started blogging to work out how social media fits together. I’m a marketing professional and I’d had a bit of a career gap, during which time blogging and influencer marketing had become very important. I was educating myself! Then I got hooked and discovered that not only did I like writing about my passions I also enjoyed the social aspect of being part of the UK blogging community.

Can you tell us about your blog, and what makes it different? Firstly, London-Unattached is a contributor blog – at any time I have five or six contributors, each with different specialisations. Secondly, we are focussed on ‘Generation X’ – most of my readers and contributors are over 40.  So, we are little older than a lot of bloggers. Our niche is upmarket ‘Generation X’ metropolitan singles and couples.

What do you most like about being a blogger? I love writing and the opportunity to write about my passions. And I love some of the opportunities blogging brings to the table. I don’t see the blog as a job – it is a vehicle which allows me to write about my interests.

What is the biggest challenge about blogging? For me personally, it’s staying focused. Lifestyle is a big category and it’s very easy to just decide that we can cover anything. We try to cover London and beyond – it’s about what would appeal to our target audience, which of course does include travel. I’m away travelling for about 25% of the time and I do find it hard to refocus after a trip.

When did you start to take an interest in London Lifestyle? I was born in London and moved back when I was 21. I’ve lived in London pretty much ever since, with a few gaps where I worked overseas (nine months in Brussels launching Orange!) or took time out to study for an MBA at Warwick. It’s London lifestyle that draws me back and I’ve always been fascinated by trying to define what makes that that so unique.

What makes London special? The breadth of opportunities – the freedom to do pretty much anything at any time of the day or night. The dynamic.  London is quite different now to what it was when I moved here in my 20s. I think it’s changed for the better. And, the cosmopolitan nature of the City.

Where do you find the inspiration for your blog posts? Generally, from my very hectic lifestyle. I’ve always gone out a lot rather than sat at home. It’s hard not to find inspiration if you live in London. And even harder if you travel a lot too.

How often do post content on your blog? At least five times a week, often more.

Do you follow any other blogs? Lots. I belong to a travel blogging influencer network of sixty of the world’s top travel bloggers.  And, I have a lot of food blogging friends too.

Once you’ve got the followers how do you keep them? I use social media a lot to promote new posts. And, I’m in the process of setting up a newsletter.

Where do you see your blog in the next five years? I’m just in the process of a restructure. I’ve got a very good theatre reviewer and I want to highlight her work. And, we are focussing a lot on short breaks from London, both in the UK and overseas. In five years’ time, I suspect that I may have created two or three very focussed blogs – one for London restaurant, theatre and events one for travel and one for recipes, health and fitness. Right now, I’m not sure I could manage that, so I am sticking to one!