Archive for: Media Database

Binny Shah is the author of Binny’s Kitchen and Travel Diaries, a blog in which she shares recipes for dishes she loves and restaurants she’s tried. She also travels and writes about the destinations she visits and reviews hotels around the world. We spoke to Binny about getting out of your comfort zone, PRs appreciating quality and the best meal she’s ever had.

How would you describe your blog?
I am a writer, dreamer, serial wanderluster and travel addict and my blog captures my passion for food and memorable travel experiences.

Why did you start your blog?
I was always being asked by friends and family for tips on where to go and which restaurants to eat at, so it made sense to put them all online on one platform. I’ve always had a passion for writing and Binny’s Kitchen and Travel Diaries launched as a creative outlet where I could share my recipes and document my adventures, both in London and internationally, covering events, restaurants, hotels and destinations I have been to.

It’s also like a digital diary for me and I love reading back on some of my earlier posts from time to time and reliving the memories and experiences.

What’s the best thing about being a blogger?
What I love most about blogging is that it has really enabled me to move out of my comfort zone, meet amazing people, make some brilliant friendships and the blogging community is simply amazing. I hope that in five years’ time my blog has made a valuable contribution to the blogosphere and that it continues to inspire people to move out of their comfort zones and to travel off the beaten track and try new things.

What’s your favourite place to travel to?
As I was born in Kenya, it continues to be my favourite destination to travel to and I love discovering new places and sights every time I travel home. I also love exploring Italy and Spain.

Where haven’t you been yet that you’d like to visit?
The destinations at the top of my wish list are Tahiti, Fiji, Anguilla and Santorini.

What and where was the best meal you’ve ever had?
The best meal I ever had was a BBQ on top of a Catamaran in Mauritius. It was surreal! I also love the Butter Chicken at Jamavar in London, which was recently awarded a Michelin Star. Whenever I am craving Indian food it is 99.9% of time that particular dish.

What makes your blog successful?
I think the key to a successful blog is to be consistent, committed and dedicated to it. It is also wise not to compare yourself to others unless it is to inspire, and to focus solely on growing and improving your blog, finessing your writing style and loving what you do. Personally, I try to blog at least four to five times a week and I have focused on improving my photography as well, which has motivated me to blog and share my experiences even more. I think dedication, commitment and self-focus are the most important factors.

How do you like to work with PRs?
I like to establish ongoing relationships with PRs and agreeing upfront what expectations are from both parties every single time. I have been really lucky to have worked with some amazing PRs and I like the fact that PRs are becoming more switched on to quality rather than quantity when it comes to aspects such as follower numbers, content engagement and reliability. I like it when PRs actually read your blog too and so know what kind of content you enjoy collaborating on. I keep in touch regularly with my PR contacts to always keep on top of what is new or coming up in the pipeline.

What one thing should PRs know about you?
I love travel, taking my own photos and I don’t accept infographics on my site.

What other blogs do you read?
My favourite blogs to read are SilverSpoon London, Fresh and Fearless, Follow Your Sunshine, Adventures of a London Kiwi and The ZRW.

Binny Shah and her blog Binny’s Kitchen and Travel Diaries are both listed on the Vuelio Influencer Database, which is the UK’s leading influencer database available to the PR and communications industries.

Miss Thrifty Blog recently ranked in the Top 10 UK Personal Finance Blogs. Written by Karyn Fleeting, the award-winning blog focuses on spending and living well. We spoke to Karyn about the return of fashionable thriftiness, her advice for young adults and why PRs need to get to know her first.

How would you describe your blog?
The Miss Thrifty Blog champions the idea that you can spend less and have more. In other words: you can live within your means, get out of debt and begin saving for the future, without resorting to recycling teabags. My posts tackle all areas of spending, from food and fashion to personal finance.

Why did you start your blog?
When I launched Miss Thrifty in 2008, I was thousands of pounds in debt, but talking about money just wasn’t ‘done’. With the exception of my grandmother, who lived through the Blitz and still makes do and mends, my friends and family had zero interest in hearing about my new passion for making ends meet. So, I began sharing my money-saving tips, tricks and discoveries online instead. As the recession hit, traffic to Miss Thrifty soared. Thriftiness became fashionable again – for the first time since the 1940s.

What’s the biggest issue facing personal finance today?
The pension’s hole and the difficulties facing younger people who want to save. When house prices are going through the roof, rental prices are going the same way; you are saddled with an exorbitant amount of student debt and you are expected to plonk down tens of thousands of pounds for your wedding. What can you – and will you – put aside for your pension?

How do you think Brexit will affect our finances in the UK?
Generally, I avoid writing about politics on Miss Thrifty, because I have found my audience doesn’t engage with that subject on my site. People come to Miss Thrifty to discover good ideas and to cheer up! However, Brexit goes beyond politics, because the financial implications are going to affect so many of us. I think we are going to be in the soup.

What piece of advice would you give a young adult in relation to how they manage their money?
Never borrow against a depreciating asset. Don’t take out a car loan, or pay for electronic goods with a credit card if you can’t pay off the balance immediately.

How do you engage with your readership?
I serve Miss Thrifty readers on a variety of platforms. A number of email subscribers communicate with me via email, asking questions and sending ideas. The blog has been around for a long time now, but I always try and reply personally and promptly. Right now, I enjoy engaging with Miss Thrifty readers via Facebook Live. I like the immediacy of it, and the ability to engage with my audience in real time.

What makes your blog successful?
It makes frugality fun and the editorial voice is distinctive. I am not a domestic goddess; nor am I a 1950s housewife. But this, I believe, is where much of the blog’s appeal lies. What really sets the Miss Thrifty Blog apart is its strong, active community of readers, contributors and followers. They range from schoolgirls to great grandmothers. What they share is the love of a good bargain.

How do you like to work with PRs?
I don’t do much with the news releases I get, but I like to work with PRs and their clients on a more meaningful level: brand partnerships and exclusive, in-depth features are more my thing.

What’s the one thing all PR pros should know about you?
I live with my young family, in a modest semi in Greater Manchester. Why am I taking the trouble to point this out? Firstly, if you invite me to your after-work event in London, I probably won’t make it. Secondly, journalists at a women’s magazine once asked if they could come and photograph me in my ‘craft room.’ I was amused by the assumption that I lived in some sort of Pinterest mansion, but had to let them down gently.

What other blogs do you read?
When I started the Miss Thrifty Blog, there weren’t many other UK money blogs around – but now there are lots, and I enjoy reading them. Current favourites include Debt Camel, Be Clever With Your Cash, The Money Principle, Skint Dad and Emma Drew.

Karyn Fleeting and Miss Thrifty Blog are both listed in the Vuelio Influencer Database, which is the UK’s leading influencer database available to the PR and communications industries.

Jonathan Gutteridge is the author of The Money Shed, which recently ranked in the Top 10 UK Personal Finance Blogs. The largest community websites focused on earning money online, The Money Shed helps people find home-based opportunities and shares experiences of making money in the digital world. We spoke to Jonathan about avoiding judgement, engaging his readership, working with PRs and his absolute favourite blogger.

How would you describe your blog?
The Money Shed is the UK’s largest community website dedicated to earning money from home. People can come to our site and instantly find out how to earn £1,000+ a month from home without any trouble. We have a community forum with over 100,000 posts on it as well, which is chocked full of thousands of UK members all talking about how they earn money from home.

Why did you start your blog?
I wanted to create an alternative to MoneySavingExpert. I wanted to create somewhere where people could ask questions and get helpful replies instantly to get them earning money as soon as possible. I wanted to create a culture that wasn’t just advising people to do surveys for pennies but would promote higher paying things such as Web Search Evalulator work or Risk Free Matched Betting .

What’s the biggest issue facing personal finance today?
Judgement. People made decisions a lot of the time because they are right for them at that point in their life. Sadly, that can come with a lot of judgement, either from their family or friends or from the banks. There’s sadly a real culture of looking down on people who are just trying to crawl their way out of debt in the best way they can.

How do you think Brexit, once enacted, will affect our finances in the UK?
Well it’s already affected our exchange rate with the Dollar. I remember working the night of Brexit and literally watching it nosedive as it became clear ‘out’ was going to win. Apart from that I just think it’s too difficult to say at the moment how it will change things financially, heck, not even the Government seem to know!

What piece of advice would you give a young adult in relation to how they manage their money?
Make a spreadsheet. I know it sounds boring to anyone under 40 but visually being able to track where your money is going can really set you up for life. If spreadsheets really aren’t your thing then you can look at using one of the many money tracking smartphone apps around so you can keep on top of things.

How do you engage with your readership?
The forum is the number one place to find me. As the UK’s largest community site dedicated to earning from home, it is always busy but I personally connect with every new user who signs up to get an understanding of what drew them to The Money Shed and what I can do to help get them earning and improve their financial situation. On top of that I would say social media is a biggie, it can feel like you are on a conveyor belt sometimes trying to manage Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc. all at once but it’s worth it when you connect with people and are able to help them out.

What makes your blog successful?
It’s been featured in The Sun, Daily Mail, The Mirror and all sorts of other places but I wouldn’t say that’s what makes successful. Instead I look at how many lives The Money Shed has been able to change. People have been able to have holidays or even just been able to afford the bills easier thanks to my site once they are shown how easy it is to earn a decent amount from home.

How do you like to work with PRs?
Always, until I get told there isn’t a budget and ‘others’ have worked for free and they sort of expected me to do the same. Lol.

What’s the one thing all PR pros should know about you?
That I don’t work for free but your content will get cross promoted across both our blog AND our forum so you get double the bang for your buck!

What other blogs do you read?
Slummy Single Mummy is probably the only regular one that I read every few days if only because I like to see her latest middle-class japes.

Jonathan Gutterridge and The Money Shed are just two entries on the Vuelio Influencer Database, which is the UK’s leading influencer database available to the PR and communications industries.

Zen Terrelonge is the founder of DADult Life, a new parenting blog started by Zen during his partner’s pregnancy. With baby Roma now just over five months old, we caught up with Zen to talk all things proud parent, joining a crowded parenting blogging industry and working with PRs.  

What inspired you to create your blog?
Finding out I was going to be a father filled me with such incredible pride and passion that I wanted to scream the news from the rooftops – I couldn’t for 12 weeks, of course.

In the meantime, I contented myself by writing about what was happening behind-the-scenes and finally decided I’d make it a regular thing, leapt two feet in and had a website launched.

My close mates aren’t dads yet, so, being something of a lone wolf in that regard, I wanted to share my thoughts throughout pregnancy, birth and fatherhood to reflect on the serious and the funny. And if anyone takes something away from what I’ve written, then even better.

I’m a journalist by trade, so writing is something I do on a daily basis, but with parenthood and my family, they make me feel so strongly and deeply that writing is even more of a pleasure than I would have thought possible.
What is the most challenging part of being a blogger?
I suppose the biggest challenge is giving people a reason to listen or to sit up and pay attention. There are a lot of blogs in operation, so getting heard in the noise of the online world can be tricky.

Launching a blog in such a popular space almost feels like being the new kid in a school. It can be quite cliquey and you just hope someone wants to be your mate instead of flushing your head down the loo or writing about you in their Burn Book – the blogging equivalent of which I guess would be indirect tweets.

How have you built up your audience?
I’ve been as engaged as possible. Whether it’s on Facebook, Instagram or comments on the site, I’ll make sure I react to what people are saying and attempt to foster conversation.

And as I mentioned, given that writing is my profession, I pride myself on the content I’m pushing out, so I won’t rush anything or put out a blog that’s been written with a half-arsed approach.

Since starting your blog, what have you learned about the industry?
I’ve learnt that there is a genuine community of parents who love to talk and share. As someone who doesn’t know lots of young parents, it’s been a brilliant way to connect with others going through the same things I am, as well as learning from others further ahead in the parenting journey or offering my experiences to those just starting theirs.

Is there any advice that you would like to share with any PRs or aspiring bloggers?
To PRs: please spare a moment and take the time to recognise who you’ve approached – make sure what you’ve sent is relevant and addressed to the right person. Respond to all emails if they’re genuine because everyone starts somewhere, and look beyond high follower numbers – what is the content itself really like?

To aspiring bloggers: You’re not alone – come and say hello! I don’t have snacks, but I have memes and hug emojis to provide.

How do you like to be approached by PRs?
I’m flexible; email is great because it spells everything out in front of you and it’s fast, and phone calls are also welcome – but if you call someone and don’t get an answer, leave a voicemail!

I’ve become friends with some PRs over time, and ones I’m pally with will just send a message via WhatsApp for guaranteed delivery and convenience.

Do you consider social media an important tool in directing traffic toward your blog?
Certainly. You can showcase your personality via social media in terms of what you’re about with posts, whether that’s through pictures, statuses, videos and even captions, so doing so should support redirection to the meatier stuff on the blog, which ultimately has the richest content of all.

What are your plans for DADultLife in 2017/18?
I’m embracing fatherhood as much as possible, so naturally that’s going to result in some interesting scenarios. In just under three months since Roma has arrived, I’ve been blasted by a poozooka, invented the prambrella, as well as taken her to the cinema and a festival – not locations you’d normally associate with a newborn.

I’m having an incredible amount of fun while also gaining knowledge with parenting, which I hope comes across with my work – I plan to continue that, meeting other amazing dads and mums along the way.

What kinds of PRs or campaigns are you interested in working with/on in the future?
I can openly say my knowledge of baby and parenting brands is still a work in progress. I’ve tried a few gadgets and gizmos and whosits and whatsits, as well as various nappy brands, but I’m by no means an expert.

If any PRs want to educate me on the wares of their clients, then I’ll be only too happy to listen to what they have to say – I’m one of the good guys.

Just as long as it doesn’t involve me using ten brands of teeth whitener like a reality TV star, I’m open to suggestion and available to talk.

Zen Terrelonge and his blog DADult life are just two entries on the Vuelio Influencer Database, which is the UK’s leading influencer database available to the PR and communications industries.

Continuing our spotlights of amazing pet bloggers – who all feature on the Top 10 UK Pet Blogs – we’ve caught up with Rosemary Kind, author of Alfie’s Diary. The blog has been updated every day since its creation in 2006 with the exploits of Alfie, the ‘leader of the Pet Dogs Democratic Party’, Aristotle and Wilma. Alfie has three books to his name and they have accompanying merchandise.

We caught up with Rosemary to talk about Alfie’s fame, the best pet products and her advice for PR professionals.

How would you describe your blog?
Alfie’s Diary is the world through the eyes of Alfie, Aristotle and Wilma, three Entlebucher Mountain Dogs, each of whom have their own views of the world. Alfie is the serious one and is founder of the Pet Dogs Democratic Party. Aristotle is too clever for his own good and Wilma is everyone’s friend and loves life.

Why did you start your blog?
Alfie was just 10 weeks old when he moved in with us. We were living in Belgium and so much around us was new and different. It coincided with me leaving a more traditional career to write full time. The blog was initially a way to share all the funny things that were happening living abroad with a new puppy and a way to make sure I wrote every day. I planned to write it for a year or so, but as it became popular with a much wider audience we just carried on. Alfie has missed posting his diary one day in nearly twelve years and that was because of unexpected hospitalisation so he couldn’t get the password from me!

What’s it like having a famous pet?
It’s really fun. He’s been interviewed in a radio studio and I regularly get people coming up to introduce themselves to him and ask about him and the others.

How does your pet cope with the pressure?
He’s doing well. He hasn’t let it go to his head and now he’s older he’s taken semi-retirement, sharing the workload with Aristotle and Wilma. Wilma being the youngster is usually up for anything and will be off to meet the Swiss Ambassador in a couple of weeks.

What’s your favourite pet product?
Oh, that’s a hard one. At the moment, it’s probably Wilma’s new rucksack. It means she can carry her own things when we go out for the day. Their answer would be different. I’m guessing they’d all say they couldn’t live without their Bonio bedtime biscuit.

What’s your favourite post?
Alfie has written some lovely Christmas messages over the years but one of my favourite posts was the one he wrote as a message to young pups.

How do you like to work with PRs?
It can be great or difficult depending on how they approach things. At the end of the day, I earn my living writing and whilst the blog is mainly for fun it takes me time and when companies ask for ‘something for nothing’ it is a little unreasonable. There has to be give and take and if for any reason what is proposed is not something that is a good fit for us then it is far better if PRs accept that and don’t try to keep pushing.

What one thing should PRs know about you?
I won’t say I’m interested in something if I’m not!

What’s a memorable campaign you’ve worked on?
I think the Panasonic Home Monitoring and Control Kit has been one we had most fun with!

Rosemary Kind and Alfie’s Diary are just two entries on the Vuelio Influencer Database, which lists thousands of bloggers, influencers and journalists, editors, titles, publications and channels. 

Philip Friend is the Top 10 UK Baking Blogger who writes Baking Fanatic. Featuring bold twists on classics, Baking Fanatic also specialises in the perfect bakes for Philip’s favourite – afternoon tea. We caught up with Philip to discuss his quirky bakes (crab meat profiteroles!), viennoiserie as comfort baking and working collaboratively with PRs.

How would you describe your blog?
A collection of recipes for bakes that I love to bake and eat, without any shame whatsoever. The lack of shame is crucial as I feel that with baking, one should never feel guilt and should enjoy the bakes and share the baking love. I also include masterclasses for perfecting bakes such as croissants, cake decorating tips, macarons and breads that I have honed over years. My recipes are rooted in the classics, but I often have my own twists on them, such as my chocolate, orange and cranberry sourdough loaf and my warm savoury choux buns filled with crab meat in a chive mayonnaise.

What’s the best thing about being a baking blogger?
Meeting other bloggers, either virtually or in person, and discussing anything baking related, whether it is dissecting a new recipe or chatting about the latest trends in baking.

How much does Great British Bake Off affect your blog?
Most of the technical and other bakes on Bake Off have featured in my blog, often before the episode is aired, as I love to try and second-guess bakes that could pop up on Bake Off. I get many emails from others who love Bake Off and after episodes are aired I get people asking me if I have a recipe for a bake that has just featured.

What’s your favourite bake to make?
Croissants and any related viennoiserie. Very much a labour of true love, but for me croissants are the epitome of comfort baking.

What’s the best bake you’ve ever eaten?
My multi-tiered chocolate and raspberry cake that I made for my anniversary of my Civil partnership. This also featured on a recent episode of James Martin’s ITV cookery show.

What makes your blog successful?
I think my blog is set out simply and without too much fuss. My recipes are easy to navigate now that I have an index, and my photographs have improved considerably in quality: several people have commented to me that my photos often ‘sell’ my blog and make people want to get in the kitchen to have a go; it is always nice when others want to do that.

How do you like to work with PRs?
I like to be guided with what it is PRs want and I have established a good, warm working relationship with many PRs over the years. Once I am given a brief, I love the challenge of working through it to deliver, what I aim to be, a bake that others want to make for themselves.

What’s a memorable campaign you’ve worked on?
For Macmillan Cancer Research, I showcased a few of their bakes for last year’s Coffee Morning – this was an honour, as it is a charity so close to my heart.

What one thing should PRs know about you?
I keep my blog posts honest at all times and pride myself on both the quality and clarity of my writing.

What other blogs do you read?
So many, but I am a very regular visitor at The Pink Whisk, BakingQueen74 and Deliciously Ella.

Philip Friend and the Baking Fanatic feature on the market-leading Vuelio Influencer Database along with thousands of other bloggers, influencers and journalists.