The Budget Fashionista

Kathryn, thanks for the lead to the SEO book. Your tips are right on. Every time I check into TBF, I find new info and thoughtful commentary. This is definitely one of the best blog sites out there.

I would add that the reason this site is so successful is that your content stems from a unique point of view, you have a theme and something to say, you aren’t just telling us, “oh I love pink!” or whatever.

There is a great blog book I found recently, “Nobody Cares What you Had for Lunch,” and the author makes some of the same points. Good blogging is good writing, which stems from clear thinking. Happy New Year!

Thanks for the advice! If I ever started my own fashion (or other type) blog, my biggest worry would be that I would sound repetitive in comparison with other blogs of similar topic out there. There’s so many! Yikes!

Thanks for the tips Kathryn!  You’ve been such an inspiration!

Great advice - thanks! Another tip I would add is to just have fun with it.  If you aim to “get rich and famous” by blogging, you’re setting yourself up for failure.  There are literally millions of blogs out there; very few of them become notable.

Dear Budget Fashionista,

I have tried various free methods of marketing my blog and one of the most useful has been participating in blog carnivals.  For anyone not familiar with this, a blog carnival is where someone with a web site or blog acts as a host, featuring posts by other bloggers on a given topic.  Because I write about different lifestyle related topics, I have submitted articles on everything from beauty to personal finance to different blog carnivals.  After checking the guidelines for a carnival I am interested in, I usually submit two or three articles that would be relevant to that particular carnival.  I wouldn’t consider the increase in traffic to my blog to be huge numbers, but I believe consistently participating in blog carnivals is a cheap and easy way to build an audience over time.

Check out blogcarnival.com for more information or just google the phrase blog carnival for more opportunities.  I am a relative newcomer to blogging and I found your advice on How to Be a Professional Blogger very insightful.  I hope my suggestions are helpful to aspiring bloggers.