The Life of a Travel Blogger

Welcome to final part of the 'Life of a Blogger' series where I look at the different cultures in the blogging communities. All week I have been looking at areas such as fashion, beauty, books, pop culture and interiors. Yesterday I looked at interiors blogging and today will be devoted to the exciting world of travel blogging. Ola Fagbohun is the editor and founder of Diverse Traveller which is aimed at women who travel and write about their experiences. Alongside thats she also has a blog called Ola's World which documents her own personal experiences. She tells us all what it is like to be a travel blogger.

Why did you start blogging?
I used to write a letter from the edditor in the Diverse Traveller newsletter, sharing with readers what I had been doing over the previous month. I mentioned highs and lows and things I was planning to do. Interesting I received emails from Diverse Travellers telling me that was their favourite part of the newsletter as they liked getting to know me.  I started to think about keeping a blog but worried about the time committment, so I started in 2006 sharing my life in the North of England but struggled with how much to share plus I wasn't convinced I was that interesting. After a few erractic months I stopped. Then in 2008 I resurrected the Diverse Traveller blog writing about all things travel. It was still a struggle in terms of time and hoping that my content was interesting.  In 2009 i changed platform to Typepad and changed the name of the blog from Diverse Traveller to Ola's World and now I tend to write about my travels, my interest in culture e.g theatre, events, my views on travel news and trends, as well as infequently guest posts on the same subjects. My current  blog is more for myself, acting as a journal enabling me to express my creatvity in various ways. My view is others read my blog that is great but I would keep going even if no one read it.

Why did you choose to write about travel?

As mentioned above I write about travel because of my website Diverse Traveller. Also because as a black woman I want to inspire other black women in particular to share their travel experiences. I am passionate about all things travel, i.e travelling uk & abroad, a day away to longer, reading about travel, travel research, trends, etc. I try and learn as much about the subject as I can. I am also passionate about encouraging women to share their travel experiences through travel writing, that's why I set up Diverse Traveller.

Are you a member of any bloggers groups?

I'm a member of the Travel Exchange but not an active member I comment on posts once in a while. I am hoping to get more engaged by devoting specific time each week

Do you attend any blogger meet ups?
I wanted to attend the last London bloggers meet up but the meetup clshed with somthing else. I would be interested in dong so to find out what makes a successful blog

How do you find the travel blogging community? 
I don't think there is a travel blogging community. There are so many people blogging about travel who are not connected to a 'group'. I could be wrong but only one i know of specifically for travel bloggers is travel blogger exchange. Unlike many other topics travel has always been 'blogging' but back then they were called 'travel journals' and this is what most current travel blogs are. Some use just to share experiences with friends and family while others are looking for a way to make travel pay. Most travel social networking websites e.g bootnall, matador etc encourage their users to keep their journals / blogs on their websites. I don't think this is any different from any other popular topic. One thing I have found interesting is that most of the frequent and 'popular' travel bloggers are based in the USA. When i have interacted with other travel bloggers they have been friendly and helpful. Travel blogging is not seen as glamourous, whereas travel writing is. Basically because the travel writing industry doesn't see blogging as the same as travel writing - issue quality of writing. But travel is not alone in this as I have heard similar comments from journalists who rant about the lack of writing quality of blogging posts.

Are there any community blogging activities that you are involved in?
As I mentioned there is no one travel blogging community. I do exchange links with both travel bloggers and websites on a random basis, when i joined the travel blogger exchange I posted my links and got a few back. I tend to use various social media marketing tools to find and exchange links. Twitter is particulary good.

You can read Ola's blog here and read Diverse Traveller here.

You can follow her for Twitter.

Click here to read the rest of the posts from 'The Life of a Blogger' series. I hope you have enjoyed the series, I have certainly had a great time interviewing so many interesting and wonderful bloggers. 

The Life of an Interiors Blogger

Welcome to part five of the 'Life of a Blogger' series where I look at the different cultures in the blogging communities. All week I have been looking at areas such as fashion, beauty, books and pop culture. Yesterday I looked at pop culture blogging and today will be devoted to the glam world of interiors blogging. Adrienne S. from Mustard Seed Collective tells us all what it is like to be an interiors blogger.

Why did you start blogging?
I just stumbled across a blog one day, not really knowing what it was and after about an hour of going through the pages of the site I was amazed that it was an everyday person who wrote it. I’m everyday people. There’s nothing fancy about me and I though I could do it to.  So I did.

Why did you choose to write about interiors?
I’ve always loved interiors, but never really knew what to call it.  I would rearrange the living room when I was a kid and I was all about DIY projects but never knew it could be a profession.  So since I’m not a professional interior designer, I compensate by posting my favorite pics.

Are you a member of any bloggers groups?
I’m not a member of any formal groups but I would love it if bloggers, no matter their levels of expertise, could get together and come up with a brilliant project that could benefit everyone.  Actually, I have just started collaborating with Chic Modern Vintage and Chic Chocolate for a series of posts that have been a lot of fun to create.

Do you attend any blogger meet ups?
Unfortunately in New Mexico there are not a lot of décor bloggers, but I am relocating to California at the end of the month where I am hoping to meet up with a few of my faves who call the Bay Area home.

How do you find the interiors blogging community? 
Friendly?  Yes.  Really, it should be no other way. I’ve communicated with people like you, Beauty is Diverse, Haute Design, Get Togetha and so many many more who make it a point to share and care.  Unfortunately with the good comes the bad. Cliquey?  Most definitely. Competitive?  I’ve only heard that it is. I’ve never experienced it first-hand.

Are there any community blogging activities that you are involved in? 
Oh, I love to swap links.  Why not?  It’s a great way to make connections and to show yourself friendly.  Not everyone is into it, and for good reason, but I like it, especially if I’m linking to a blog that’s really on the verge.  I kind of feel like I’m letting the world in on a little secret even if I’m not the first person to discover it.

You can read Adrienne's blog here.

You can follow her on Twitter

Click here to read the other posts in 'The Life of a Blogger' series.

Tomorrow you will fid out what it is like to be a Travel blogger.

The Life of a Pop Culture Blogger

Welcome to part four of the 'Life of a Blogger' series where I look at the different culture in the blogging communities. I will be looking at areas such as books, pop culture, travel, film and interiors. Yesterday I looked at book blogging and today will be devoted to the diverse world of pop culture blogging. Nik Thakkar from mediacation  tells us all about the weird and wonderful world of pop culture community.

Why did you start blogging?
Most bloggers that I have spoken with have an answer for this question, but I honestly don’t remember. It was linked to a wave of inspiration in early 2009, where I must have felt the urge to document my views on pop culture for the world to see – it has just snowballed from there.

Why did you choose to write about pop culture?
I work in fashion and entertainment PR and pop collaborations is what I live and breathe, and where my passion lies. I love the space where fashion meets film or music meets art and design etc. Examples of stories that you might expect to read on mediacation range from details of the latest editorial shoot from an iconic photographer such as Ellen Von Unwerth or Steven Klein, to news of a collaboration between Lady Gaga and Terence Koh or Karl Lagerfeld-inspired Diet Coke bottles.

Are you a member of any bloggers groups?
mediacation is part of Vice Magazine’s Blogger Network, and I frequently attend independent fashion blogger events, but nothing more extensive than that.

Do you attend any blogger meet ups?
Yes, however these tend to be organised by a group of London-based fashion bloggers that I have a close relationship with. Alternatively, it might be something that I set up on behalf of one of my clients.

How do you find the pop culture blogging community? 

I would definitely say that there is an element of competitiveness in the blogging community in general, however the term “pop culture blog” can often be mis-interpreted. A lot of exclusively gossip blogs position themselves (incorrectly) as pop culture outlets, and these sites are in constant competition with each other. mediacation does celebrate celebrity culture, but is far from being a gossip blog – the content is more artistically inclined.

Are there any community blogging activities that you are involved in?
Just last week, I announced a weekly collaboration with long-established US celebrity and pop culture blog, popbytes.com. mediacation will feature a weekly column called FASHIONBYTES every Friday, so make sure to add popbytes.com to your favourites now too.

You can read Nik’s blog here.

Follow Nik on Twitter.

Become a fan of mediacation on Facebook.

Click here to read the rest of the posts from ‘The Life of a Blogger’ series. 

Tomorrow find out what it is like to be an Interiors blogger.  

The Life of a Book Blogger

Welcome to part three of the 'Life of a Blogger' series where I look at the different culture in the blogging communities. I will be looking at areas such as books, pop culture, travel and interiors. Yesterday I looked at beauty blogging and today will be devoted to the wonderful world of book blogging. Kirsty Greenwood from Novelicious tells us all about the literary world of book blogging community.

Why did you start blogging?
I started personal blogging about four years ago as a way to write regularly. To be honest I was a bit rubbish at it. I was sporadic and wrote mainly about what I'd had for breakfast that day and whether I should paint my toenails crimson red or cherry red. Oddly enough, I still got comments on my little ramblings and ended up making some really good friends through it.

Why did you choose to write about books?
I started Novelicious for two reasons. First, because I'm passionate about Romantic Comedy. I know there are a lot of us fans out there. I wanted to provide a web space where chick lit fans could discover information about new releases and read reviews and interviews by their favourite authors. Second, I want to be a published author. I thought creating a book blog that covered the genre of books that I wanted to write would be an excellent way to meet people in the industry. And it worked as I'm now signed with a literary agent who found me through my book blog.

Are you a member of any bloggers groups?
I'm a member of a Ning Network called 20 Something Bloggers. I'm also part of a small network of bloggers called The Lovely Blogs. We pretty much just link to each other on all of our sites. Novelicious has its own team of bloggers working on the site. I suppose that forms a nice little bloggers group.

Do you attend any blogger meet ups?
I've been invited to a few, but haven't been able to attend. They're always in London and I live up North.

How do you find the book blogging community?
The book blogging community is massive. There are blogs for every genre of books you could imagine - it's great and everyone is very enthusiastic and friendly. There aren't as many blogs covering Chick Lit and Romantic Comedy books, so some of the blogs in this genre do tend to get a little competitive. I try to ignore that side of it and concentrate on making Novelicious as awesome as possible.

Are there any community blogging activities that you are involved in?
No, I don't believe I am. Something I'll be looking into.

You can read Kirsty’s blog here.

You can follow her on Twitter.

Find out what it is like to be a Fashion blogger and a Beauty blogger.

Tomorrow I will be looking into what it is like to be a Pop Culture blogger.

The Life of a Beauty Blogger

Welcome to part two of the 'Life of a Blogger' series where I look at the different culture in the blogging communities. I will be looking at areas such as books, pop culture, travel and interiors. Yesterday I looked at fashion blogging and today will be devoted to the wonderful world of beauty blogging. Sarah Smith from I Heart Cosmetics shares with us the ins and outs of the beauty community.

Why did you start blogging? 

I started blogging partly through boredom as I don't have another hobby apart from going to the gym and partly as I read a lot of other blogs and thought that I would like to give it a go as well. 

Why did you choose to write about beauty? 

 I have been into makeup and beauty since I was a child.  The present I got for passing my 11+ exam was the first hardback copy of the Beauty Bible book so it's been a lifelong obsession.  My mum has always been interested in makeup and nail varnish and making the best of herself and I guess it just rubbed off on me.  Now she steals my makeup and products and expects me to bring around a bag of goodies for her at least once a month!  The only topics I know much about are beauty, health and fitness and healthy eating and since beauty is much more interesting to me it seemed natural to blog about that.

Are you a member of any bloggers groups? 

I am an Aussie tribe member for the Miracle Moist products but I think that's it in the way of bloggers groups.

Do you attend any blogger meet ups? 

Yes I attend all the ones that are of interest to me and are about things that I would buy or places that I would visit.  I probably attend about 50% of the events that I get invited to.  Sometimes I get invited to one that I would like to attend but I can't get the time off work.  I love meeting up with other beauty bloggers and having a gossip and a chat about products and just general stuff really.  I don't have many girl-friends in real life so it is nice to meet up with girls who like the same things that I do.

How do you find the beauty blogging community? Is it a large one? Friendly? Cliquey? Competitive? 

I found the beauty blogging community through Lollipop26's blog as I googled reviews on Lilash.  Through her blog I found other blogs and started reading all of them and watching peoples youtube videos too.  After deciding to start my own blog I have found that the beauty blogger pool gets bigger and bigger.  I find recently that a lot of social media companies have caught on and you often get bombarded with emails about bizarre things, the most recent one about Kylie's legs was particularly amusing. I find that the beauty blogging world can be quite cliquey and competitive but I am not a very cliquey and competitive person so I just let it go over my head.  If people don't like something that I do or say or the way I present my blog that's fair enough, nobody is forcing them to read it!

Are there any community blogging activities that you are involved in? 

I am involved with Beauty Blog Link Love which is run by Rae over at The Notice and she does a fantastic job of sending out a reminder email every time which is much needed otherwise I might forget!  I am also a guest blogger at zuneta have blogged for the Superdrug blog and Shopaholic blog on the Become website.  

You can read Sarah's blog here.

You can follow her on Twitter.

Find out what it is like to be a Fashion blogger.

Tomorrow you can find out what it is like to be a Book blogger.

The Life of a Fashion Blogger

The blogging community has grown tremendously over the last few years and is so huge that it has been segmented into different areas. Genres such as fashion, beauty, travel, interiors, books and pop culture have been developed into sub-communities of their own. The sizes of the sub -communities vary tremendously; there are thousands of fashion bloggers out there while the pop culture blogger community is pretty tiny. A few communities even have their own blogging informal organisations such as Independent Fashion Bloggers for fashion and Brown Beauty Blogger, Inc. But what is it like being a travel blogger and how does it compare to being someone who blogs about fashion and what about if you are ones of those people (like me) who blogs about a mixture of topics? We call ourselves pop culture bloggers as we cover a variety of topics with the sole aim of picking up on trends, events or anything that is simply popular. I set out to find out more about the different cultures of blogging by talking to prominent people from the different scenes. I will be posting the interviews up through out the week. Today I am starting with Ella from Coco's Tea Party who has been blogging since 2006.

Why did you start blogging?
I mainly started on a whim, as it was something to do when I was bored. Ever since I could read I have devoured magazines and writing about fashion was something to do in between the monthly magazines coming out. I was also about to apply for Fashion Journalism degrees and I thought it would give me an edge in interviews if I looked like a pro-active kind of person.

Why did you choose to write about fashion?
Fashion is the only thing I really know about, and it’s the only thing I’m completely and utterly obsessed with. If I was passionate about another subject football I’d probably write about that, but fashion is all I really know. Plus there is always something happening in fashion, so you’re rarely short of inspiration.

Are you a member of any bloggers groups?
No. Not because I don’t want to be I’m just rather unaware of blogging groups online.

Do you attend any blogger meet ups?
I’ve met up with a lot of bloggers I regularly comment and read etc, and I’ve been friends with Stevie from Discotheque Confusion for years as we both set up our blogs around the same time. But I haven’t met any bloggers though excusive ‘blogger meet up’ sessions.

How do you find the fashion blogging community? 

Everyone I’ve met from the blogging community has been lovely and always really friendly and supportive. Because blogging is pretty much something you learn about as you go other bloggers are great for sharing tips with. Funnily enough, myself and all the other bloggers I know are pretty clueless when it comes to computers and technical stuff, so it’s great to be able to swap advice.

Are there any community blogging activities that you are involved in?

Not really. Again it’s something I probably should be involved in, but never seem to find the time too. 

You can read Ella's blog here.

You can follow her on Twitter.  

Tomorrow find out what it is like to be a beauty blogger.