Archive for: Press and Bloggers

Dr Paul Johnson is the brains behind A Luxury Travel Blog, which has once again been named the number one luxury travel blog in the UK. Covering the finer side of global travel, Paul covers the most luxurious hotels, resorts and restaurants around the world.

We caught up with Paul to find out more about the travel industry, his favourite experiences around the world and how he works with PRs and brands.

How do you describe what you do to other people?
I tell people as it is – I run a blog about luxury travel. I don’t like to dress it up with confusing terms such as ‘travel influencer’ or, worse still, ‘digital media architect/guru’ and other horrible terminology.

How do social channels work with your blog? Are any more important than others?
Our social media channels are very much used to drive traffic to our blog. We have over a million followers across all channels, with Twitter (715k) and Facebook (275k) being the most important two.

Do you feel travel blogging is segmented (luxury/standard/local/family/budget etc)?
For sure, there is a lot of segmentation within the travel blogging industry, and I would say it’s very much necessary. People will tend to read and visit a blog because its area of specialism resonates with their own specific interests.

What’s the best balance between visual and written content?
I don’t think there is a best balance, really. It will be different for different people. Some people will prefer to focus on the text while others will opt for graphically-heavy posts. Personally, I like to intersperse my articles with occasional, good quality images. From the perspective of a blogger, it’s important to have plenty of content for SEO reasons, while great quality imagery always makes a huge difference but must be incorporated without adding significantly to the page’s load time, in my opinion.

What’s your favourite hotel in the world?
I have been lucky enough to stay in many of the world’s top hotels, from the Burj al Arab in Dubai to Raffles in Singapore, that I couldn’t possibly pick just one. I do tend to prefer luxury hotels that are smaller and more intimate, and not overly fussy and pretentious, though.

Which airline is the best (and why)?
I very much enjoyed my flights with All Nippon Airways (ANA) when working on a campaign with them. It has been rated a Skytrax 5-star airline for seven consecutive years now and remains the only 5-star rated airline in Japan.

How conscious are you of political upheaval and local issues when travelling?
Very conscious. I would go so far as to say it would be irresponsible not to be. To visit a country with little knowledge of any ongoing political turmoil would be a little foolhardy in my opinion.

Do you accept press releases?
If you mean, do we copy and paste press releases on to our website, then the answer is ‘no’ (although, despite this, many PR companies will email them to us, without any introduction, with that expectation). If it’s the right fit for our blog and there’s budget to work with, what we will do though is work from press releases and other material to craft unique content into a form that we can use on the blog.

What’s the best PR campaign/collaboration you’ve worked on?
Again, I have enjoyed many different collaborations. One that stands out for me is a collaboration I did with Land Rover many years ago, where we drove four prototype Land Rovers from Kathmandu, right across Nepal, and to New Delhi. This was a 10-day collaboration and part of a much wider project from Land Rover (the vehicles were driven from the UK along the Silk Route, eventually finishing in Mumbai).

What other blogs do you read?
I am so busy with A Luxury Travel Blog (we have had more than 700 different contributors to date and recently passed our 10,000th post on the blog!) that I rarely have time to read other blogs, sadly. Rather than following specific blogs, those that I do read are ones that I just stumble upon from time to time, be it through search or social media.

Jeremy Williams is the author of leading green blog The Earthbound Report. Previously called Make Wealth History, Jeremy covers a huge range of environmental issues around the belief everyone should consume less to create more space for all. We spoke to Jeremy about climate change and the work of Extinction Rebellion, how people can be more environmentally aware and how Jeremy wants to collaborate with PRs and brands.  

How do you describe what you do?
At its simplest, I try to find solutions to big problems and describe them in straightforward language. The blog ranges across social, environmental and economic issues, and tries to draw connections between them all. I try to strike a balance between being realistic about the challenges we face and being hopeful about our ability to change.

How important is social media to your blog – are any channels more important than others?
Most new readers find the blog through search engines, but social media runs a close second. Posts are often shared on Facebook, and on the occasional times a post has really taken off, it’s been because of Facebook shares.

Climate change is in the news a lot, do you think it’s getting the attention it needs?
Climate change is enjoying a moment in the spotlight, thanks to protests and school strikes. That’s long overdue, and the challenge now is to translate that popular attention into political decision making. Lots of people are agreeing that it’s important, but examples of action are a little harder to find just yet.

What do you think Extinction Rebellion and Greta Thunberg have done for the conversation?
Both are examples of truth telling – they’ve confronted people with the reality of the situation and provided a wakeup call. They’ve also changed the terms of the debate and injected a new urgency. I’ve been able to get involved a bit with Extinction Rebellion, and in over a decade of climate campaigning, it’s feels like the most significant thing I’ve had a part in.

Who is ultimately responsible to make change?
It’s tempting to say the Government needs to act, but we live in a democracy – the Government will take its cues from the people, so it’s up to us to say what we want and prove we’re serious. Same goes for business. They’re taking their lead from consumers, so we need to vote with our wallets and show what kind of business will thrive in the 21st century and which ones will get left behind. Everyone will be involved in making change happen, but responsibility starts with us.

What are the most important steps people can take at an individual level to be more green?
From a climate change perspective, the three things that will make the biggest difference are to have one less child than you were considering, stop flying and eat less meat. Those can all be big decisions, but we shouldn’t be daunted by them. It’s okay to take one step in the right direction and see how it goes. Minus the first of those, of course – babies are very much an all or nothing commitment!

What advice would you give PRs and comms?
Treat bloggers as real human beings, rather than abstract link placement opportunities. That starts with the simple courtesy of addressing me by name. Emails that begin ‘dear admin’ or ‘dear editor’ tend to get deleted unread. It’ll take two seconds to find out who I am from the blog homepage. If you haven’t done two seconds of research into who I am, what are the chances of your offer being relevant to me? Any serious comms person knows this of course, but I still get emails like that every day.

What are the best campaigns you’ve collaborated on?
I think my favourite collaboration was a series on eating insects. A number of brands and businesses helped with that, sending information and samples, including some foods that weren’t on the market yet. I’m not sure my family think of it so fondly, but I had fun with it.

Do you accept press releases?
I get story ideas from press releases fairly regularly, so in that sense yes. They tend to be an inspiration rather than a source of material, and I almost never use their actual content beyond the initial idea.

What other blogs do you read?
There are dozens that I’ll look in on from time to time. Some that I read more regularly would be Carbon Brief, Unearthed, Inhabitat, Grist and Inside Track, which is also in the top ten.

Growing Family was recently ranked in the top 10 UK gardening blogs. Written by Catherine Hughes, the blog makes the most of family life both indoors and out. We caught up with Catherine to find out how social channels work with her blog, the best ways to get into gardening and working on campaigns close to her heart.

How do you describe what you do?
Growing Family is my home and garden blog where I share ideas, inspiration and tips for making the most of busy family life. I also provide freelance writing services and social media promotion.

How important is social media to your blog – are any channels more important than others?
Social media is so important for helping to spread the word about my blog posts, it’s also a great source of inspiration for me and a place to catch up with fellow bloggers. I love the visual nature of Instagram, but I would say Twitter is my biggest channel in terms of engagement.

How does the Chelsea flower show affect your blog, if at all?
Chelsea is always a great barometer for gardening trends, and it never fails to inspire me – both in terms of what to write about, and ways to make my own garden look better. The show also provides some lovely opportunities to collaborate with gardening brands.

What’s your favourite plant?
Now that’s a hard one to answer, I have so many! If I had to choose just one, it would probably be clematis; they’re easy to grow, you can create so much impact in a single growing season, and there’s a huge variety of colours and sizes to choose from.

What advice would you give people who only have a small garden?
Don’t try to fit everything you like into the space, it just won’t work. With small gardens you have to be quite firm about the look you’re going for, and really focus on the plants you love. Simplicity can work really well, whether that’s in the layout, the planting scheme or the colours you choose to introduce.

What’s the best way to get into gardening?
Just get out there and grow something! Having a go yourself really is the best way to learn. You don’t need to be an expert, and there are loads of great blogs and books to help you when you need advice. I’d also say start by growing something you either love to look at or love to eat – you’ll enjoy looking after it so much more.

What’s your favourite garden in the world?
I’m a sucker for a walled garden, and the garden at Clumber Park in Nottinghamshire would probably be top of my list. In addition to the fruit and veg elements of the garden, there’s also a 400ft herbaceous border, a rose garden, and a beautiful old glasshouse. The whole place has its own unique atmosphere, with whispers of the past everywhere you wander. It’s just magical.

What’s your favourite PR/brand collaboration you’ve worked on?
I loved collaborating with Baby Bio on a photographic diary of a growing season at my allotment. It really allowed me to appreciate all that I achieved with my plants and gave me the opportunity to take some lovely close-up photography. I also really enjoyed working with RSPB to help promote their Wild Challenge campaign, encouraging families to help wildlife and connect with nature – two garden-related topics that are very close to my heart.

Do you accept press releases?
I’m always interested in press releases related to my blog’s content as they keep me up-to-date, but I don’t tend to publish them on my blog.  I prefer to collaborate with brands on a more personal basis, and I think my readers prefer that too.

What other blogs do you read?
Lots of gardening blogs, obviously! The Middle-Sized Garden always has articles that inspire me, Sharpen Your Spades is brilliant for all things grow your own and Gardens, Weeds & Words is beautifully written with stunning photography. I also love Thrifty Home for great family budgeting tips and Love Chic Living for fantastic interiors inspiration.

The Blackberry Garden has once again been named the number one blog in the top 10 UK Gardening Blogs. Written by Alison Levey, The Blackberry Garden follows Alison’s journey turning a lawn into a beautiful garden. We spoke to Alison about her favourite plants, the draw of the Chelsea Flower Show and how she works with press releases.

How do you describe what you do?
In terms of my blog I am a freelance blogger and writer. I love sharing my garden and gardening adventures.

How important is social media to your blog – are any channels more important than others?
Social Media is very important to my blog. Twitter is a key audience and I also have a dedicated Facebook page.

How does the Chelsea Flower Show affect your blog, if at all?
It massively affects my blog as I love going to the show. It is the highlight of the gardening year for me. I usually write at least two blog posts on it.

What’s your favourite plant?
Ooh now there is a hard question, but I think it has to be the simple corn poppy.

What advice would you give people who only have a small garden?
Think big and enjoy the space you have.

What’s the best way to get into gardening?
One plant at a time. Just do something small and easy and then see where it leads you.

What’s your favourite garden in the world?
That is really hard as it does depend a lot on what mood I am in.  Often my favourite is the last one I visited but I am a huge fan of Great Dixter so that has to probably be top of the list… today…

What’s your favourite PR/brand collaboration you’ve worked on?
I genuinely do not have a favourite, but there are some events that are huge fun such as the Garden Press Event.

Do you accept press releases?
I do but I only use them when they work with what I am doing.

What other blogs do you read?
The Cynical Gardener, Gardens, Weeds and Words and Bramble Garden spring to mind but there are many I dip in to.

The Tomkins Times was recently included as a new entry in the Top 10 UK Football Blogs. Created by Paul Tomkins, The Tomkins Times has a team of editors covering Liverpool FC in a grown-up, intelligent way. We spoke to Paul about Liverpool’s season, the importance of his community and paywall and the changing face of football fandom.

How do you describe what you do to other people?  
The Tomkins Times was originally set up in 2009 to be a platform for my football writing, which is almost entirely Liverpool FC-focused, with roughly half of the content paywalled to enable me to make a living from it – having had to give up my career as a designer years earlier due to being diagnosed with M.E.. So, it was just a small entity, hence the name.

In time the site has become a vehicle for other writers too, although we remain fairly niche. I pay no attention whatsoever to the number of hits the site gets, I just monitor the quality of work, and if we have enough subscribers to pay all the wages.

How important are the different social channels when they feed into your blog? 
I used to spend a lot of time on Twitter and built up a fairly big following, but I’ve barely used it for three years. It’s too negative and stressful. I occasionally log in and post, and use it to promote my work, but more than a few minutes makes me anxious. I have my own Facebook and Instagram accounts, and a Facebook page for The Tomkins Times, and post stuff to that, too. But it’s hard to run a site and various social media accounts, and with my health problems, it’s hard to rely on too many other people.

The aim of the business is not to grow and make more money – it’s to stay viable. This is our 10th year and it remains a viable business, even if it’s usually a case of making a small profit, after paying all my bills and paying all the contributors.

Which team is going to win the Premier League on Sunday? 
I obviously want to say Liverpool, but it’s in Manchester City’s hands. I’ll be at Anfield on Sunday, cheering the Reds on, but now Liverpool are also in the Champions League final, the league is not the only thing on the line.

Who’s your player of the season?  
My player of the year is Virgil van Dijk, who is quite simply the best all-round defender I’ve ever seen. You sense he could play as a striker or a goalkeeper and still be this good.

How is football fandom changing the way we consume football content?  
As a middle-aged writer with an older than typical audience – mostly men aged 30-70 – it’s perhaps hard for me to say. I started writing for various Liverpool FC blogs 20 years ago and now I’m one of the older guys. I was at the vanguard and an early pioneer of paywalls after someone suggested I try it, but I can’t keep up with all the developments. As is the way, the next wave will always come along and find a new way to do things.

There’s less patience in football in general and perhaps in society. And more football content seems to be about transfer speculation – living in the future, in terms of what some new signing will bring, rather than just enjoying the here and now and living in the moment. I love a bit of transfer speculation too, but it can become all some fans seem to care about; the actual football is secondary. So, we try to do some analysis of potential transfer targets using professional scouting tools, rather than just peddling speculation for hits.

What’s your view on esports and the likes of teams having their own esports players/teams? 
I’m probably in the wrong age demographic to answer this! I play the PS4 with my teenage son, and I love Overwatch, but beyond that I don’t really pay too much attention. I have enough difficulty finding the time and energy to follow everything about the ‘proper’ Liverpool team without any esports teams they have, but I did hear that they won the first ePremier League. Which is good, I guess!

As much as I love playing Overwatch, I still think of sport as being in the physical word, rather than online, but due to my poor health, and age, a bit of online team-based gaming can sometimes give me the feeling of when I used to play football! So, I can see how it all works, but it’s not something I’d watch if I wasn’t playing.

How important is the community to your blog? Do you accept press releases? 
The community has become everything. All comments are behind the paywall, even if articles are free, so a community was built up with a lack of trolls. The site became much bigger than initially intended, but equally, I don’t want it to become much bigger than it is now, as it would become harder to manage, and more impersonal. We only run original content, and don’t publish press releases, sponsored content or anything like that. We don’t really do ‘news’ articles either, just analysis and opinion.

As you have a paywall, do you work with PRs? 
If I find something I like – such as the film Free Solo – which I can work into my writing, I’ll do so, but nothing is ever sponsored. So sometimes I’ll give ’shoutouts’ to things I like, but never for anything in return. The same applies to other football blogs – if I find something I like, I’ll reference it with a link to their site. The one exception is one of our regular freelance writers recently having the chance to meet an ex-Liverpool player for an interview, and it was ‘in association with’ a betting company he also does some writing for. I’d never choose to go down this route, but as it was offered to me as original content that would be written by one of our regulars, and would be of interest to our readers, I thought it was okay.

I’ve unfollowed a lot of people on social media for promoting stuff without admitting that they are being paid for promoting stuff. I don’t mind if they make it clear, and don’t do it too often, but I’m only really interested in following people who are open about such things – once they lose their integrity in my eyes they’ve lost me as a fan/follower/reader.

What other blogs do you read? 
I read a lot of other football blogs and websites, but too many to mention. I listen to quite a few podcasts, often because I do so much writing I like to rest my eyes, and listen to something with a sleep mask on! A lot of football podcasts, but also true crime, and anything on psychology or writing/creativity.

Wendy Graham is the creator of Moral Fibres, which was recently ranked number one in the top 10 green blogs. Designed to help anyone easily, affordably and stylishly live a greener life, Wendy is on a mission to bust myths about sustainable living.

In this spotlight, Wendy told us about the changing perceptions of environmentally conscious people, the power of people, the best ways to collaborate with PRs and her five tips for individuals to live greener lives.

How do you describe what you do?
I write at Moral Fibres – a blog that seeks to inspire people to live a little greener, by suggesting habits and actions to adopt. This includes tips such as reducing plastic, shopping ethically and cleaning your home in greener ways. It’s all wrapped up in the tagline ‘sustainable living that’s hip, not hippie’ because when I first started the blog in 2013, I had been working professionally in the environmental sector for nearly 10 years and there was still very much a widespread belief that caring for the environment was for ‘lentil weaving tree huggers’, and I wanted to challenge this preconception. Things have changed massively since then – environmentalism is seen as less of a niche interest thanks to people like David Attenborough and the actions of amazing activists like Greta Thunberg – so maybe one day I should look at changing my tagline!

How important is social media to your blog – are any channels more important than others?
Social media has always been hugely important to the blog – being able to continue to conversation off the blog and build community with likeminded individuals has always been a key goal of mine to help spread the word about green living and climate change, because one person alone can’t bring about change on the scale we need to help reduce the impact of climate change. It needs lots of people talking and doing things, and social media can help you feel part of that wider movement.  There are lots of great hashtags to follow to feel connected to the wider environmental efforts, no matter where your specific green interests lie.

In the last six and half years, different platforms have brought more traffic to the blog. In the early days, Twitter brought the most traffic, then Facebook took over and right now Instagram is the biggest social driver. Different platforms have different strengths and you have to adapt your approach to each platform to get the most out of them.

Climate change is in the news a lot, do you think it’s getting the attention it needs?
It’s certainly been on the news more recently, but it’s definitely not given the attention it needs, considering we don’t have long to make the changes we need to make to help limit the impact of climate change. It’s where bloggers, like the other bloggers in the Top 10 Green Blogs, and social media comes into play – keeping that conversation going when it’s missing from the media.

What do you think Extinction and Greta Thunberg have done for the conversation?
Their impact has been massive. With Parliament declaring a climate emergency, and more and more people joining the climate conversation, it’s proof that activism works, and of the impact that using our collective voices has.

Who is ultimately responsible to make change?
Ultimately, it’s everyone’s responsibility to make change. The Government, corporations and manufacturers undoubtedly have a huge role to play in driving change, but as individuals we need to make change too, by consuming less and consuming better. These individual changes will help drive change at the business level – businesses adapt to changing consumer demand, for example, packaging products in compostable materials rather than plastic.

What are the most important steps people can take at an individual level to be more green?
If you want to bring about big changes fast then there are five easy things you can do:

1. Switching who you bank with to an ethical bank that doesn’t use your money to invest in fossil fuels is a great place to start.
2. If you own your home, then insulating it to current standards using the grants and funding available is an incredible way to save a load of energy (and fossil fuels) in heating your home, and conveniently a whole lot of money. We’ve insulated our house – we got free loft and cavity wall insulation through the green grants available and reduced cost underfloor insulation – and the difference has been incredible. If you rent your home, try talking to your landlord to see if they will apply on your behalf.
3. Switching your electricity to a 100% renewable tariff is a great step that doesn’t necessarily cost more. Shop around on uswitch.com to find a good renewable deal.
4. If you eat meat, try to cut back on your lamb and beef consumption, and see if you can have at least one meat-free day a week. If you’re vegetarian, try to cut back on your dairy consumption. This is the best vegan milk I’ve found.
5. For being such a small island the UK has some truly amazing spots to holiday in that you don’t need to fly to get to; from beaches to mountains, forests to cities, there really is something for everyone.

What advice would you give PRs and comms?
Do your research before contacting bloggers. Take a look at recent content on their site to see what they blog about and how they tend to work with brands before contacting them. I’m often contacted by PRs and comms about matters unrelated to green living, but if they had spent a minute on the blog they would realise it wouldn’t be something I would cover.

What are the best campaigns you’ve collaborated on?
I really enjoyed working with Little’s Coffee recently. They have switched to using 100% recyclable and plastic-free packaging materials across their entire range of instant coffees and packaging materials and it was a pleasure to work with such a forward-thinking company to help spread the word and deliver exactly the kind of content Moral Fibres readers enjoy and find useful.

Do you accept press releases?
No, Moral Fibres is a one-woman show that I work on part-time. I don’t have the capacity to post news articles on a daily basis, but if your press release has been published elsewhere then do send me that link and if it’s relevant then I might include it in my weekly environmental news roundup that I publish every Sunday.

What other blogs do you read?
Aside from the other blogs in the Green Blogs Top 10 (there are some great ones in there, and it’s a pleasure to be in their company!) I enjoy Reading My Tea Leaves and Peppermint Magazine.