Being a Blogger Seemed like a Huge Joke

There was a time when being a blogger seemed like a huge joke. People called bloggers fools for making blogging their main preoccupation. Back then, the thought of making a living through your blog was nothing more than a fantasy. Nobody thought it was possible. No one was familiar with the concept of working from home. How could sharing your thoughts on a blog be something of interest?

When you fast forward to our world today, the perception of bloggers and blogging has changed. Bloggers now make a comfortable living just sharing their ideas and giving value to people through their blogs. More and more people read blogs everyday and a good number of people have embraced blogging all together.

 

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We were once considered as foolish but unknown to society we were wiser than they thought we were. Does this mean that bloggers are free from criticism or being looked down upon? Unfortunately, no. There are still many who think blogging is a waste of time. But if you’re a blogger or intend to start your own blog one day, here are some reasons why bloggers are smarter than many people think them to be.

 

A Blogger is self-made

As bloggers, we put in a lot of hard work to build our brand and elevate ourselves to the stage where we will earn a comfortable living through our blog. At first, it seems crazy to put hours into writing, editing, and consistently publishing and promoting your blog posts, but we bloggers had a goal in mind.We see opportunities where others see “too busy to blog”.

 

Bloggers have great influence in the industry

Who would have thought anyone would care about a common blogger’s opinion? Today, many people do. In fact, bloggers are among the most influential people online. There’s hardly an influencer who doesn’t own a blog of some sort, whether it be written or in video.

Most bloggers have a target audience they relate with on a level big companies would only dream about. Which is why we how we have become so relevant. Now people seek out influencers to promote their products or chip in a good word for their brand, products or services.

 

Bloggers made their blogs great resources

The answer to almost every question you need answered can be found on a blog. This makes blogs go-to resources for their readers. Bloggers are dedicated to giving loads of value in their blogs and making sure that there are actionable steps or are jam-packed with useful information. If you’re learning something new, you can always find a step-by-step tutorial to guide you through the process.

Blogs rich with information are highly consulted and bloggers are seen as experts in their niche.

 

Do you run a blog? How are you finding it?

 

The Most Lucrative Blogging Niches

Blogging has really taken off in the last 5 years. There are now millions of blogs available. The blogging industry has changed from what it was when I started blogging 5 years ago. There are more blogs in various niches, and it has all become very competitive. Since I started blogging, I have seen many blogs move from a particular niche to a lifestyle niche or become more varied. With my blogging experience, I have come to spot the most lucrative blogging niches, and why more bloggers are setting up blogs in those niches.

 

 

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Fashion and Beauty Blogs

Fashion and Beauty is one of the most popular blogging niches that work well together. Most fashion bloggers are also beauty bloggers and vice versa. I guess the reason this works great is because the fashion and beauty industries are marketing sisters; most women interested in fashion are also interested in beauty. And these are the same women writing and reading these blogs. With this niche, one is usually the primary niche, while the other a secondary.

The fashion and beauty industry is worth millions of pounds, which makes it a very lucrative blogging niche. It is also one of the easiest niche to blog, which is why it is saturated. It usually doesn’t take a lot of effort to get a fashion and beauty blog running. But for you to stand out from the rest, you would have to think outside the box and bring a lot more to the table. This is where your creativity, writing and photography skills come in.

Because the fashion and beauty blogging niche is so saturated, it can be tricky to get to the brands to notice you enough to offer you samples. And it is even a lot more tricky to get past the getting samples to review for free stage, which can feel like a never-ending phase.

Having said that, it is one of the most lucrative blogging niches we have today. The sky is only the beginning with a quality fashion/beauty blog. You can earn thousand of pounds a month from collaborating with brands on blog posts, attending events, and social media promotions. Regardless of how saturated the blogging industry may appear, there is always room for amazing blogs, so don’t let the numbers deter you.

 

Lifestyle Blogs

 

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I love lifestyle blogging. It is fast becoming a popular niche. The fact that it is so varied and flexible makes it an interesting niche to write about and read. It is also another lucrative blogging niche. The possibility to earn money through lifestyle blogging is endless. Established bloggers can earn money reviewing lifestyle products/services, writing sponsored posts, promoting products and services on social media and so on.

The lifestyle niche is one niche I truly enjoy writing about because it allows my creativity shine. I hate being in a box. So the fact that I can write varied posts keeps me writing. There is room for more quality lifestyle blogs. Lifestyle blogging is very personal, so there would never be enough lifestyle blogs around.

The way to shine in this niche is to be yourself. There is only 1 YOU, so make sure you make the most of it. Write about interesting things going on in your life, and let your personality through your writing. Your tribe will find you.

 

Parent Blogs

Parent blogs also known as mummy/daddy blogs are on the rise. Sometimes it feels like I am the only work-from-home mum that is not a parent blogger. Many fashion/beauty blogger gradually become parent bloggers once they pop and I can see why. It is super easy to write about what you deal with everyday. And it kind of falls into lifestyle blogging as well since parenting is a lifestyle choice for almost all of us.

I wasn’t thinking about the most lucrative blogging niches when I started blogging. If I was, I would have been tempted to include parenting posts on here or to set up a separate parent blog when I became a parent. I just wanted a space to write about things that interested me, and I didn’t want my kids on the blog constantly.

Another thing I didn’t want was to rely on my kids to blog if that makes sense. I didn’t want my work to be solely about my kids and my life as a parent. Deep thinking is what I do, and I overthink everything. Which can be a blessing and a curse at the same time. I mean what if they were not interested in the blog or didn’t want to be a part of it once they are old enough to understand what it was about? What happens when they are off to high school or university? Would that be the end of my parent blog? Yes, I am a long-term thinker and I plan to keep blogging until I can no longer type. So this is not a fill-in-the-gap job or career.

The parenting niche is saturated like all other niches, but it is also another very lucrative niche. I read hundreds of blogs a week and many of them cover parenting, and I can see how well they are doing with brand collaborations and various sponsored deals. So I know it is a lucrative niche.

There is always room for more quality blogs so don’t let the millions of amazing parent blogs put you off.

 

Food Blogs

One thing I love about food blogs is the amazing food photography many of the blogs have. I can get filled for lunch just by scrolling through some food blogs.

Great photography is an essential for most blogs, and it is one of the easiest ways to stand out from the crowd. So if you are new and want to shine through, work on your photography skills.

I have written a few food blog posts; they fell under my lifestyle category and they took me out of my comfort zone which was great. I admire food bloggers. I can see a lot of work goes into what we see and I applaud them for that.

The food blogging industry is saturated but not as much as the other niches, and I can see why. Having an established food blog means you a great recipe developer with amazing photography skills. Two skills not so common. Which is why the best food bloggers are laughing all the way to the bank!

 

Do you blog? Which niche do you fall under? What do you think of these lucrative blogging niches?

 

 

 

 

 

Blogger Thieves & How to Deal with Them

Theft in the blogging industry is a common occurrence. We bloggers always complain about our blog content being stolen. I have heard of bloggers complaining about other bloggers being a little bit inspired, and stealing their blog ideas. Having said that, we can argue about the fact that no idea is 100% original, but that would be a topic for other day. This blog post is all about blogger thieves & how to deal with them.

 

 

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It is very hard to keep track of every blog post published or image shared. Once content is shared, there is always a possibility of it being republished on another blog/website with or without credit. This sucks but it is the reality. In the last couple of weeks, I have caught 2 bloggers with their pants down, stealing my blog content. These bloggers stole a couple of my blog posts word for word, and even with my images. One blogger thief linked back to Fashion and Style Police on the stolen posts, and the other didn’t bother.

 

The First Blogger Thief

How did I find out? The first blogger thief linked back to me so I got an email. I have emails set up whenever any blog or website links back to me. I went to have a look, and I was flabbergasted at the amount off blog posts copied word for word, and with my images. After I got over my shock, I became really angry. This was the blog section of a business website, and the fact that the owner felt it was OK to steal from me was super annoying.

I tried contacting the website owner but there was no contact details (surprise surprise), so I left a comment on 1 of the stolen post, expressing my disgust. A few hours later, I checked to see if my comment has been approved/replied to, and found out I couldn’t access the post anymore. It was asking for a password. So the website owner knew exactly what he was doing and couldn’t be bothered. I was so mad.

 

 

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I went on a mission to find out who the website owner was. Going on WHOIS helped, I got the name of the host company. I had to fill out a take down form, and wait to have my content taken off.

 

The Second Blogger Thief

Now this blogger thief is the funniest thief I ever met. He thought it was ok to copy and paste my blog posts, and he did copy over 5 of them, word for word, image for image. I found out pretty much the same way I found the first blogger thief, I got an email notifying me of a link back. I should mention the fact that it was never the intention of this blogger to link back to Fashion and Style Police, the inbound link was in an existing post he copied, which led to the notification.

Like the previous blogger thief, there was no way to contact this one either (it must be a strategy). So I left a comment asking for my blog posts to be taken down immediately. He ignored and went on to copy and paste another blog post I published after leaving that comment. I reported the blog to WordPress and got my content taken off within 24 hours, which was amazing. I was impressed with how quickly WordPress acted on this case.

The blogger thief later left a comment on my blog expressing his annoyance of me reporting him to WordPress and getting my content taken off his horrible blog. His comment  made me laugh so hard, because he called me greedy and a fool, for reporting him, which I found more funny than annoying. I hope he learnt a thing or 2 from this experience, and would hopefully stop stealing people’s work. I guess he has because he hasn’t posted a new post since then. Maybe he is too scared to steal now, which is good for other bloggers. His blog is filled up with various blog posts from  different bloggers, and I find it very sad. Blogging is clearly not for everyone.

 

 

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Going Forward with Blogger Thieves

Blogger thieves will always be around and there is nothing we can do about that. What we can do is to make it very hard for these thieves to steal our work. I have installed a plugin – WordPress Content Copy Protection. This plugin stops anyone from copying and pasting my blog content. The plugin has pros and cons like any other plugin, but the pros outweighs the cons massively.

I have also added a contact form on my contact page, so people can reach me easier. A Brand Rep informed of how frustrating it can be to grab my email off the blog because they can’t just copy and paste.

 

Have you ever had to deal with a blogger thief? Please share your experience in the comment section.

 

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