Have you always wanted to start your own sustainable & ethical fashion blog? Or a green beauty blog? Or a zero-waste blog? After several years of experience, I wanted to show you how it all began for me and give you easy tips to start a successful blog and make income off your hard work!
Sustainably Chic is six years old today (7.7.14)… Yes, 6! I can not believe what started as something fun has turned into a full-time job. When I started my blog, I had no idea you could actually make a living off it. I always thought of blogs as a side thing people just did because they wanted to - and don’t get me wrong, I want to do what I do, but after all the hours spent, it doesn’t make sense to create for free. My passions for sustainable fashion are always there; however, there is nothing sustainable about working for free.
All blogs are different- some are just side gigs where they randomly create posts, and it’s on their own terms. These blogs aren’t usually for-profit. Then there are blogs where advertising and sponsorship are relatively heavy because it is their main income source. These blogs typically create a lot of content for brands, so payment for their time and work is crucial. For years I have told content creators, ‘if a brand asks you to speak about their product, you must be paid a fair wage for your expertise and time.’
*Full Transparency* Sustainably Chic receives about 70,000 unique visitors a month & earns around $7,000 per month from a combination of sponsored content and affiliate links (this number does not exclude monthly expenses for the website, contract work, etc. so overall profit is less - not to mention, i’m paying myself back for the first 4 years of making less than $20k a year - but we can get into finances and costs for a blog in another post!)
There are dues to be paid… You can’t just start a blog and expect brands to pay you right away. There is a following and trust you must build first. I’ve worked many a full-time week without pay, and we all have to do this in the beginning for some time. But you are obviously here because you are serious, you want to talk about a passion of yours, and you want it to be sustainable… so let’s get into it…
Pick a Topic
I’ve heard some people say this isn’t as important because you can rebrand, but I find it to be everything. This is how I remember people and blogs. If it’s something hard to pronounce, it won’t stick in their minds. For Sustainably Chic, I sat down one day and started writing out names for the blog. I thought of five, but when I wrote Sustainably Chic, I knew it was the one. It may take you longer than a day, but this is an important process, so it’s okay to take your time. Also, make sure no one has the name already. You don’t know how many ‘Sustainably Chics’ I’ve seen pop up in the last couple of years. Once sustainable fashion became a bit more mainstream, my blog was being replicated often—good thing I’m trademarked, though. I will get into this later on.
Pick a Name
I’ve heard some people say this isn’t as important because you can rebrand, but I find it to be everything. This is how I remember people and blogs. If it’s something hard to pronounce, it won’t stick in their minds. For Sustainably Chic, I sat down one day (exactly 6 years ago, hah) and started writing out names for the blog. I thought of five, but when I wrote Sustainably Chic, I knew it was the one. It may take you longer than a day, but this is an important process so it’s okay to take your time. Also, make sure no one has the name already. You don’t know how many ‘Sustainably Chics’ I’ve seen pop up in the last couple of years. Once sustainable fashion became a bit more mainstream, my blog was being replicated often. Good thing I’m trademarked though… will get into this later on.
Buy a Domain
Yay, you choose a name! Now, buy the domain link. I personally use GoDaddy for all of my domain purchases. This is an easy step, but it’s important because you don’t want to have your blogging platform showing in the link.
Choose a Blogging Platform
There are many different platforms you can use to host your website domain. I use Squarespace for mine and have since the beginning. WordPress is probably one of the most famous and widely used in the world of blogging, but I’ve always preferred the simplicity and ease of using Squarespace.
Pick a Template & Make it Unique
This was always fun for me. Squarespace has a lot of simple-to-use templates where you can manipulate to fit your aesthetic. My blog looks nothing like the Template I use. I think establishing a certain look in the beginning, makes for better consistency for the readers.
Write Your First Post
Easy enough, right?! For your blog posts, they should always be over 500 words, and I try not to go past 2,500 because most people don’t want to read all of that from a blog. To me, blogs have always been more of a snippet of a book - like 2-3 page chapters. If you look at my brand features, you can see how I have a format for each post. It’s personal at first, then goes into why you should love the brand, what I’m wearing and where to buy. Consistency, as I stated above, is key.
Create a Newsletter
The people who really like what you do, want to keep up with your new content. Make sure you have an email sign-up for them to leave their info so you can send weekly newsletters. I use MailChimp!
Create a Contact Email
This is so important for brand inquiries. If brands want to feature their product on your site, they need somewhere to send you the proposals (and NOT through Instagram, please - hah, social media is another story for a different day). Make sure to create your domain name with your website, so it isn’t going to ‘@gmail.com’.
Link Up to Social Media
I’ve started to spend more time away from social media, but some people still really love to use it. I think it’s important to share what you are working on with whatever social media platform you can. It helps bring in different people other than google searches. Currently, I only use Facebook and Instagram to share Sustainably Chic posts.
Repeat
Just keep it up!! You can start at one post a week and work your way to 2-3, which seems to be the norm in the blogging world. We are starting to post every day, Monday-Friday - and I say WE because I am no longer the only one behind this blog. At some point, you can’t keep up with everything on your own, but you can find really amazing people out there who have the same energy and thought process as yourself.
If you have created a following of 3,000+ visitors a month, it’s time to take things more seriously!!
If you notice an increase in traffic and have over 100 unique visitors a day, it’s time to start charging for your time when brands reach out to you. Even if you don’t necessarily write about brands - let’s say you give tips on how to be less wasteful - there are brands out there who are going to want to put their eco-friendly product on your blog.
*ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS, only take on what you genuinely believe in. While you should always be paid for your time, you must be honest and truthful to your viewers and choose to work with brands that align with your ethos. It’s not about the money. It’s about transparency and building trust on your platform.
Brand Partnerships
This is probably the most straightforward way because it’s up-front money, and you usually have a pretty solid plan on what you need to produce for the brand. I suggest creating a Media Kit which features all your analytics and a pricing sheet for your services. Working with brands is a whole other long topic I can save for a future post.
Affiliate Marketing
Adding affiliate links to your site is incredibly easy. An affiliate link enables you to earn a small commission if a reader clicks on it and makes a purchase within its cookie length. Platforms you can join are ShareASale, Skimlinks, AvantLink, Bead&Reel, CJ, Pepperjam, Awin, etc... the list goes on and on. So, how do you know if a brand you love has an affiliate program? You can usually find this information on their website or a quick google search, and you can always send them an email to find out more details.
sitewide Ads
You don't earn a ton of money from this if you don't have many views. Still, there are a few ways you can go about creating Sidebar Ads (these ads can also be between blog content and on the footer/header of every page, but, personally, I'm not too fond of that look - it can look like ad overkill quick). 1) You can offer the Ad space. 2) You can use AdSense, which is available to any amount of traffic. 3) If you receive more than 50,000 sessions a month, you can apply for Mediavine, which I what I use instead of AdSense.
I could add so many things to this post, but this is an overall view of what your beginnings would entail. If you need to pick my brain (for a small fee, of course), fill out my contact form, and we can discuss a good time to chat. Always value your time and what you know. You will learn quickly that people always want to learn or receive something for free. Even in the sustainable fashion world, you will run into this. Never feel obligated to do anything, and always stick to your values!
I know I would have loved to have read something like this when I first started, so I hope you find this helpful, and I wish you the best on your blogging journey!!
Bis,
Natalie | Creator of Sustainably Chic
