Blog Media Kit Research

I have researched a number of Media Kit's to ensure I include all the relevant information in my blogs. I will have a digital PDF version and a printed version.

Six out of ten - Post regarding producing a press pack/ media kit for your blog.

Queen Beady's Media Kit 

Media Kit Examples & Inspiration

Logo/Brand Research

Viviannadoesmakeup.com, Essiebutton.com and Zoella.com Blog Headers

To create a brand and strong logo I have compiled a collection of logos from successful bloggers and brands.

Zoella YouTube Header

Beautycrush.co.uk Blog Header

BeautyCrush YouTube Header

Hello October Blog Header

HelloOctober Christmas YouTube Header

Blogger Case Study - Stephanie Klein

A third blogger found through The Guardian article is Stephanie Klein.

Stephanie Klein's blog allows her to 'create an online scrapbook of my life, complete with drawings, photos and my daily musings' or, rather, tell tawdry tales of dating nightmares, sexual encounters and bodily dysfunctions. Thousands of women tune in for daily accounts of her narcissistic husband and nightmarish mother-in-law and leave equally self-revealing comments transforming the pages into something of a group confessional. The blog has been so successful that Klein has penned a book, Straight Up and Dirty, and has featured in countless magazine and newspaper articles around the globe. Not bad for what Klein describes as 'angst online'.

Least likely to post 'Enough about me – what's your news?'

Stephanie's blog feature's a section called Relationships with subcategories such as "breakups and breakthroughs", "dating & mating" and "marriage". Her posts are generally question and answers, a reader asks her question and she answers it. This section of her blog hasn't been posted into in years and even then posts were scarce, so it isn't something she is still doing often, as posts now include recipes and fashion. However, this just represents the journey of her life and the stages, so it's necessarily a negative. Both "Family Matters" and "Friendships" have had more recent posts, suggesting this is where she is currently at in her life.

Blogger Case Study - The Sartorialist

Another blog found through The Guardian Article is The Sartorialist.

"As ideas go, this one is pretty simple. Man wanders around Manhattan with a camera. Spots someone whose outfit he likes. Asks if he can take a picture. Goes home and posts it on his blog. But the man in question is Scott Schuman, who had 15 years' experience working at the high-fashion end of the clothing industry before starting The Sartorialist. He's got a sharp eye for a good look, a gift for grabbing an on-the-hoof pic and an unwavering enthusiasm for people going the extra mile in the name of style. Minimalist it might be, but his site – a basic scroll of full-length street portraits, occasionally annotated with a brief note – is mesmeric and oddly beautiful. The site attracts more than 70,000 readers a day and has been named one of Time's Top 100 Design Influences. So if you're out and about and a guy called Scott asks to take your picture, just smile. You're about to become a style icon."

Each post features just a photo and title. Occasionally they come with a brief annotation, but generally it is no comment, no explanation, just an image. The posts show a wide variety of people, from all across the globe, as his way of documenting his travels.There's also occasionally a section of writing about a place or photo, or a video shared that he's enjoyed. The blog is very personal, even without the writer being visible, you know it's always them behind the lens, always something they wish to share, or something they've seen and love.

All Images taken from various posts on The Sartorialist

Blogger Case Study - Tree Hugger

A whole world away from the Blogs I've previously explored. I found this article on The Guardian featuring "The World's 50 Most Powerful Blogs" and began to explore through to find a wider variety of blog. 

Tree Hugger was number 13: Treehugger is a green consumer blog with a mission to bring a sustainable lifestyle to the masses. Its ethos, that a green lifestyle does not have to mean sacrifice, and its positive, upbeat feel have attracted over 1.8m unique users a month. Consistently ranked among the top 20 blogs on Technorati, Treehugger has 10 staff but also boasts 40 writers from a wide variety of backgrounds in more than 10 countries around the world, who generate more than 30 new posts a day across eight categories, ranging from fashion and beauty, travel and nature, to science and technology. Treehugger began as an MBA class project four years ago and says it now generates enough revenue from sponsorship and advertising to pay all its staffers and writers. It has developed a highly engaged community and has added popular services like TreeHugger.tv, and a user-generated blog, Hugg. It was bought by the Discovery Channel last year for a rumoured $10m.

Least likely to post 'Why Plastic Bags rock'

The Blog focuses on the problems in this modern age, over hunting of animals and fish, exploring pollution and it's impacts and in general promoting a clean lifestyle. Alongside this, they share some really incredible images and videos. 

http://www.treehugger.com/slideshows/natural-sciences/photo-monarch-butterfly-sheds-its-chrysalis/

See full post here

See full post here

See full post here

Blogger Case Study - Man Repeller

Man Repeller is a Blog by Leandra Medine, an American Author an Fashion Blogger. It is a humorous website for serious fashion. The website includes a link at the top to find out exactly what they mean by the term 'Man Repeller'. Simple, easy to find and no uncertainty to what the blog is about.

The blog has a variety of topics explored, in Shopping you can find the below post on "How to Dress Next Week as Informed by Paris". The styles featured are typical to what is seen by girls as loved by girls and hated by men. It's common discussion with regards to boyfriend jeans being hated by boyfriends, alongside other trends which girls always love.

Pop Culture explores a more wide variety of topics, including an article discussing Kim Kardashians recent exposure on the cover of Paper, (no-one will ever know for certain whether she really got paid millions for it or not). While it is far more diverse and opinionated than most blogs, it still has a clear style subject, focusing on fashionable celebrities, style icons and looking at trends. It does occasionally explore topics such as feminism, but this is all still in a generalised category.

The blog itself, while the author is well credited, isn't overly personal or featuring her face, similar to Style Rookie by Tavi Gevinson (see the Blogger Case Study on her blog here)

Blogger Case Study - February Girl

Following on from the My View post about Joelle's article on "Blogsploitation" I began to explore the rest of her blog. Much different from most 'Fashion & Lifestyle' blogs, hers showcases her personality well. 

Among a few comedic style posts she has "My Blogging Fails" and "Get Ready With Me (Honest Version)". The first of which, features outtakes from various posts, alongside being a great way to share old posts and encourage traffic, it shows her fun side and makes her appear friendly and comfortable with her followers.

A great and really personal touch to her posts is the Song Feature at the top of each, for this post it was "Only Love Can Hurt Like This" by Paloma Faith, or for her Get Ready With Me post it was "She Moves In Her Own Way" - The Kooks, a suitable song for the realistic post.

She is open and honest with her followers which I love, no fake outfit posts here! It all seems very genuine and real. Joelle is also not afraid to make fun of herself, or show her true personality despite the risk of criticism and hate due to being so public about herself.

Blogger Case Study - Hello October

Hello October

 Suzy, who runs the blog and YouTube channel Hello October, has created a strong blog persona. Her simple logo is classic and structured just like her blog theme and photos. 

All of her social platforms have a heavy focus of Beauty, Fashion and Lifestyle. She shares a large amount of information about her personal life by Daily Vlogging, including her boyfriend and occasionally friends in videos and posts, and sharing life updates, such as her getting a puppy, Nala. She works as well, in events, alongside running all of this, a rarity for large Bloggers/YouTubers these days. Due to this, it's quite amazing at the quality of her blog posts and videos, as timing must be scarce. She is definitely a quality over quantity blogger, with about 12 posts this November, and 4 videos. 

Personally, I love her style and beauty videos, which in turn makes me interested in hearing about her lifestyle. Her YouTube videos often feature crisp white walls and Pinterest style furnishings. Her most regular videos are monthly favourites, or her daily (ish) vlogs she occasionally runs in sequence (she posted for Vlogtober and is due to do Vlogmas). But she also posts make up tutorials, Lookbooks, reviews and hauls. 

Her most viewed video is this Lovebox Festival MakeUp Tutorial

Blogger Case Study - Lily Pebbles

Lily (known as Lily Pebbles, formally What I Heart Today) is a blogger and YouTuber who blogs primarily about lifestyle, but also beauty (she now creates weekly vlogs with snippets of her life). Recently she has also begun including an element of fashion in her blog, at the request of her followers. Lily begun her blog while at uni, and continued into while working but later dedicated herself to it full time to allow it to grow. 

"I started my blog at Uni as part of my Digital Marketing module. I'd read blogs for a while so decided to give it a go myself. When it started it was mainly about lifestyle but has gradually turned into more of a beauty website as my love for all things beauty has developed. 

On here you're likely to find beauty reviews, style tips, beauty videos and random shenanigans in London. "

On Lily's blog, her photography really stands out to me, cleverly thought out images in high quality. She blogs daily, so there's always something new to read. There is a recurring post called "Wear Life Eats" where Lily features an item she's been wearing often/loving lately (for example a top), a short bit of writing about what's happened in her life that week, or a memory that's on her mind, and something she's been enjoying eating (perhaps a restaurant, or a new tea brand). It's a really personal edit with a nice combination of things to appeal to everyone.

Her YouTube channel is fast growing, she has begun putting a large amount of effort into her edits, resulting in interesting and eye-catching footage, edited in a snappy, quirky fashion. 

This is her most viewed video

Blogger Case Study - The Londoner

Thelondoner.me is one of my favourite blogs. The variety of posts, the amazing recipes, Rosie's envious lifestyle, and beautiful photography create an entire blog of posts I could read time and time again. Her posts are simple, well written but casual and friendly, and it's very relatable (who wouldn't love slutty chocolate brownies, or guilt free No-Carb Pasta). Rosie's lifestyle is also envious, travelling to beautiful locations and sharing the images with us. 

Portugese Chicken

"Boozy Lemon Frosties"

Just a simple recipe is photographed in such a directed and personalised way, with simple props to create a beautiful photo. I like relatable blogs, and when I met Rosie at LFW she definitely didn't let me down, with a lovely friendly conversation. She asked all about my internship and made me feel appreciated as a long-term reader of her blog. I also found out that her photos aren't even taken with an expensive DSLR, showing she has a real talent for beautiful images.

Layout makes it easy to navigate

"Knee Deep in Fashion Week"

In my opinion, one of the ways Rosie entertains her readers is through her Puns. "Knee Deep in Fashion Week" is the title of a post from fashion week where she is wearing knee high boots. (She's reposted this a few times on her Facebook, as the dress came back in stock, and then the boots in different colours, a way to get return readers and keep promoting herself). Possibly my favourite of her puns has been this one...

Blogger Case Study - Zoella

Zoe Sugg began her blog in 2009, it focused on Fashion, Beauty and Lifestyle and quickly launched into her YouTube channel. It is a regular stream of Fashion, Beauty and Favourites videos, and runs alongside her second channel "More Zoella" which involves vlogs showing snippets of her daily life, giving a very personal view into her lifestyle, home and friends.

Her YouTube channel now sits at over 6 Million Subscribers, with her having launched her own beauty line, signing a 2-book deal with penguin and currently having won a BBC teen choice award for Best Vlogger two years in a row. Zoe has also been featured in the British November issue of Vogue, merging two worlds, designer with a relatable girl.

Images from Zoella's Beauty range launch party sourced from her Blog (Zoella.com) 

"She is not a pop singer, actress or television star. Instead, Zoella is one of a new breed of YouTube celebrities. She is famous simply for being herself.

Her online video channels, filmed in her Brighton bedroom and offering tips on anything from make-up to dealing with anxiety attacks, have made her a global sensation with over six million YouTube subscribers.

She inspires extraordinary devotion among her fans, with young girls regarding her as a big sister and teenage girls wishing she was their best friend....

Her quirky, approachable style quickly won her a legion of fans. And while the overtly sexual performances of today’s pop stars send chills down the spine of many a parent – Rihanna and Miley Cyrus being the main offenders – Zoella is a reassuringly clean-cut role model, who doesn’t drink and is so anti-drugs that she doesn’t even touch paracetamol." - The Telegraph (read full article here)

Blogger Case Study - Style Rookie

Tavi Gevinson began her blog Style Rookie in 2008. The blog, which featured photos of the eleven-year-old and her individual style, DIY posts to recreate designer looks, and commentary on the latest fashion trends, began drawing up to 30,000 readers daily. She became one of the first fashion bloggers to grace their presence at Fashion Week's, and receive recognition for their blog. She begun travelling the world funded by companies, and writing commissioned pieces for Harper's Bazaar and Barneys.com. She received a large amount of criticism from those in the fashion industry, due to both her age and the unknown nature of Fashion Blogs. (INSERT QUOTE FROM DISSERTATION)

By the age of fifteen, her blog took a backseat, and her focus became pop culture and feminist discussion. She launched her own magazine, Rookie Magazine, of which she is the founder and editor-in-chief. It is currently in it's 3rd copy, and 38th edition. The website is updated daily, mainly contributed to by teenage girls, the primary target audience. 

Tavi has become a well known character, having appeared on the cover of many of the most celebrated fashion magazines, such as Nylon. She is also a regular on the front row of Fashion Shows, and has become a celebrity in her own right.