Cash a la mode: How style bloggers are turning social savvy into six-figure salaries.


Fashion bloggers have become a new force in the industry, often earning hefty fees through brand collaborations and advertising. One of the most successful is 27-year-old Italian, Chiara Ferragni, whose blog The Blonde Salad gets five million views a month. Fashion bloggers have become a new force in the industry, often earning hefty fees through brand collaborations and advertising. One of the most successful is 27-year-old Italian, Chiara Ferragni, whose blog The Blonde Salad gets five million views a month.
New kids on the block.
  • Fashion bloggers have become important players in the fashion industry
  • With millions of followers, they command front row seats at fashion weeks
  • Bloggers are now converting their social currency into hard cash
  • Top bloggers earn six-figures a year from advertising, brand collaborations
London (CNN) -- Seven years ago, Imran Amed started a blog from the living room of his flat in Notting Hill, West London.
He had recently quit his job as a management consultant and decided to pursue a passion he harbored since childhood -- fashion.
Fast forward to today, and what started as a collection of musings read by Amed's friends and family has grown into The Business of Fashion, one of the industry's most influential online journals, with 1.6 million followers.

The site employs 15 people and regularly features interviews with the likes of Karl Lagerfeld and Michael Kors, making Amed one of the rising stars of the blogging phenomenon that is taking the fashion world by storm.
In a few short years, bloggers have gone from being observers on the fringes of the action to bona fide tastemakers, whose recommendations can make products sell out. And brands, keen to capitalize on this effect, are increasingly looking to advertise on the blogosphere, hoping to tap into a ready-made audience of followers.
On the high end people are charging $50,000 for a sponsored post.
James Nord, cofounder of Fohr Card
Cashing in
This means that, for many bloggers, what started as a hobby has turned into a revenue-generating vehicle -- and for a select few, a full-time job raking in a six-figure annual salary.
"A lot of these blogs are like businesses now, and may have three, four writers working for them," says James Nord, co-founder of Fohr Card, a directory which charges brands a subscription to connect with the blogs on its books, and also provides them with traffic and follower data.
"On the high end, people are charging $50,000 for a sponsored post. Those big numbers are usually due to the fact that the blog is reaching a lot of people," he explains, adding that the fee was appropriate for the amount of promotion the brand was getting, and similar to what would be spent on traditional advertising.
Italian blogger Chiara Ferragni has built a world-wide following with her blog The Blonde Salad, and has over 2.8 million followers on Instagram.
Courtesy Chiara Ferragni/Instagram
One of the most common ways bloggers make money is by affiliate marketing where, through companies like rewardStyle and Skimlinks, they get a commission every time someone buys a product after clicking through from a link on their blog.
The people that you see now have amazing skills, many have teams in place, and it's definitely more of a professional game
Yuli Ziv, founder of Style Coalition
Bloggers are now earning money from Instagram too.
RewardStyle's LIKEtoKNOW.it app sends followers who like an Instagram photo an email with ready-to-shop links of featured products, paying bloggers a small percentage if a sale is made.
"Right now, Instagram is one of the most important platforms a blogger can be on," says James Nord. "What we're seeing as a trend is that URL traffic from their actual blog is falling, but following on their other channels such as Instagram, Tumblr, and Facebook is growing fast."
Other sources of revenue include sponsored posts, Twitter chats, ad banners, and for those who have built up a personal brand, co-designing capsule collections and acting as a spokesperson for a label.
How fashion blogger makes millions
"Many of these bloggers are becoming celebrities and getting TV careers. For some of them it's a path for a high-profile job, but many of them realize you can run a successful business earning six figures by doing what you love," says Yuli Ziv, author the book Blogging Your Way To The Front Row and founder of Style Coalition, a company which connects brands with influential bloggers who have a minimum of 10,000 unique visitors a month.
Social superstars
How catwalk king works his magic
Some blogging superstars have become celebrities in their own right.
New York City-based Leandra Medine, author of Man Repeller, signed to CAA, the Hollywood mega-agency better known for representing Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks than street-style sensations.
Chinese supermodel makes history
Italian front row regular Chiara Ferragni, who has clocked 2.8 million followers on Instagram since starting her blog The Blonde Salad in 2009, has collaborated with luxury brands like Christian Dior, Louis Vuitton and Max Mara.
Rihanna inspires rising designer
"Three months after I started the website I started getting fist invitations to shows at Milan Fashion Week, some of them for the front row so I was like, 'wow!' I had never been to a show before, and I didn't know the way the fashion world worked, it was totally new to me," says Ferragni.
She now has a team of 13 people, and says she generates over $7 million a year, mainly from her line of shoes, as well as adverts, commissions and brand consultancy.
You don't have to be based in a fashion capital to make spectacular earnings. According to Women's Wear Daily, Salt Lake City blogger Rachel Parcell, who pens a personal style blog Pink Peonies, is expected to make $960,000 this year from affiliate links alone.
Cutthroat competition
Leandra Medine, author of the Man Repeller blog, has built up a loyal audience with her unique point of view on dressing, and signature "arm parties" where numerous bracelets are stacked together.
Courtesy Instagram/Leandra Medine
But before you pack in the day job to make your fortune blogging about shoes remember it's a competitive arena.
"The competition is so tough, even compared to three years ago, the stakes are getting higher. The people that you see now they have amazing skills, many have teams in place, and it's definitely more of a professional game," says Ziv.
Many of these bloggers are becoming celebrities and getting TV careers.
Yuli Ziv, founder of Style Coalition
A huge number of followers doesn't always translate to mega-earnings either, according to Micky Khanna of UK-based Optimus Performance Marketing, which connects brands to bloggers.
"We look at those who have an active following. You can have a low number of followers but of good quality, or you may have a large number of followers, but because of the quality it may not necessarily convert. That's something we need to determine on a face-to-face basis," he says.
So what exactly do established brands get out of working with bloggers?
"The custom content that bloggers create on behalf of the brand is something that you can't compare with advertising because it's very personal and very authentic," says Yuli Ziv. "We've seen the quality of bloggers' work increasing constantly, and if you compare average advertising budget that brands spend on TV or print, what they can get for the same budget working with bloggers is incomparable."
Rachel Parcell, author of Pink Peonies blog, is set to earn a six figure sum this year according to WWD.
Courtesy Instagram/Rachel Parcell
Style Coalition says that 13% of their bloggers earn more than $100,000 a year and 54% blog as a full-time job.
And how do you build the right kind of following that attracts advertisers?
Audience wants to come to your blog and Instagram and see new content every day.
James Nord, cofounder of Fohr Card
"Social media has enabled people writing from literally their living rooms to get in contact with a global audience," says Imran Amed. "Every time we create an articles or a video it's shared thousands and thousands of times on social media. It's kind of like turbo-charge word of mouth
So with blogging becoming increasingly popular and everyone and their dog penning their thoughts on fashion, what separates the professional bloggers from the amateurs: "Consistency," says James Nord, "the people who become successful do have a unique point of view, but the hard part is waking up every single day and producing things over and over and over again. Audience wants to come to your blog and Instagram and see new content every day."

Popular posts from this blog

UK GENERAL ELECTIONS:Inquiry announced into memo alleging Sturgeon wants Tory election victory.

Image
Civil service instigates investigation into leaked memo from Foreign Office about supposed comments made in February Scotland’s first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, with David Cameron in her office at the Scottish parliament earlier this year. Photograph: WPA Pool/Getty A civil service inquiry into a leaked memo which claimed that Nicola Sturgeon privately wanted to see David Cameron remain in power after the general election has been instigated following calls from the First Minister. Ms Sturgeon described the allegation as “100% untrue” and accused Whitehall of “dirty tricks”.
Read more

Sandhurst's sheikhs: Why do so many Gulf royals receive military training in the UK? A parade outside the building at Sandhurst Continue reading the main story In today's Magazine The death list that names 5,000 victims Is this woman an apostate? Voices from a WW1 prison camp The Swiss selfie scandal Generations of foreign royals - particularly from the Middle East - have learned to be military leaders at the UK's Sandhurst officer training academy. But is that still a good idea, asks Matthew Teller. Since 1812, the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, on the Surrey/Berkshire border, has been where the British Army trains its officers. It has a gruelling 44-week course testing the physical and intellectual skills of officer cadets and imbuing them with the values of the British Army. Alongside would-be British officers, Sandhurst has a tradition of drawing cadets from overseas. Many of the elite families of the Middle East have sent their sons and daughters. Perhaps the most notable was King Hussein of Jordan. Continue reading the main story Find out more Matthew Teller presents Sandhurst and the Sheikhs, a Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4, on Wednesday 27 August 2014 at 11:00 BST It will be available on iPlayer shortly after broadcast Four reigning Arab monarchs are graduates of Sandhurst and its affiliated colleges - King Abdullah of Jordan, King Hamad of Bahrain, Sheikh Tamim, Emir of Qatar, and Sultan Qaboos of Oman. Past monarchs include Sheikh Saad, Emir of Kuwait, and Sheikh Hamad, Emir of Qatar. Sandhurst's links have continued from the time when Britain was the major colonial power in the Gulf. "One thing the British were excellent at was consolidating their rule through spectacle," says Habiba Hamid, former foreign policy strategist to the rulers of Dubai and Abu Dhabi. "Pomp, ceremony, displays of military might, shock and awe - they all originate from the British military relationship." Sheikh Hamad Bin Isa Al Khalifa, King Abdullah, Sultan Qaboos Sandhurst alumni: King Hamad of Bahrain, King Abdullah of Jordan and Sultan Qaboos of Oman It's a place where future leaders get to know each other, says Michael Stephens, deputy director of the Royal United Services Institute, Qatar. And Sandhurst gives the UK influence in the Gulf. "The [UK] gets the kind of attention from Gulf policy elites that countries of our size, like France and others, don't get. It gives us the ability to punch above our weight. "You have people who've spent time in Britain, they have… connections to their mates, their teachers. Familiarity in politics is very beneficial in the Gulf context." "For British people who are drifting around the world, as I did as a soldier," says Brigadier Peter Sincock, former defence attache to Saudi Arabia, "you find people who were at Sandhurst and you have an immediate rapport. I think that's very helpful, for example, in the field of military sales." The Emir of Dubai Mohammad bin Rashid Al Maktoum with his son after his Passing Out Parade at Sandhurst in 2006 Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Emir of Dubai, with his son in uniform at Sandhurst in 2006 Her Majesty The Queen's Representative His Highness Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, The Emir of Qatar inspects soldiers during the 144th Sovereign's Parade held at The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst on April 8, 2004 in Camberley, England. Some 470 Officer cadets took part of which 219 were commissioned into the British Army Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, the Emir of Qatar until 2013, inspects soldiers at Sandhurst in 2004 Emotion doesn't always deliver. In 2013, despite the personal intervention of David Cameron, the UAE decided against buying the UK's Typhoon fighter jets. But elsewhere fellow feeling is paying dividends. "The Gulf monarchies have become important sources of capital," says Jane Kinninmont, deputy head of the Middle East/North Africa programme at the foreign affairs think tank Chatham House. "So you see the tallest building in London being financed by the Qataris, you see UK infrastructure and oilfield development being financed by the UAE. There's a desire - it can even seem like a desperation - to keep them onside for trade reasons." British policy in the Gulf is primarily "mercantile", says Dr Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, of the Baker Institute in Houston, Texas. Concerns over human rights and reform are secondary. The Shard at dusk The Shard was funded by Qatari investors In 2012 Sandhurst accepted a £15m donation from the UAE for a new accommodation block, named the Zayed Building after that country's founding ruler. In March 2013, Sandhurst's Mons Hall - a sports centre - was reopened as the King Hamad Hall, following a £3m donation from the monarch of Bahrain, who was educated at one of Sandhurst's affiliated colleges. The renaming proved controversial, partly because of the perceived slight towards the 1,600 British casualties at the Battle of Mons in August 1914 - and partly because of how Hamad and his government have dealt with political protest in Bahrain over the last three years. A critic might note that the third term of Sandhurst's Officer Commissioning Course covers counter-insurgency techniques and ways to manage public disorder. Since tension between Bahrain's majority Shia population and minority Sunni ruling elite boiled over in 2011, more than 80 civilians have died at the hands of the security forces, according to opposition estimates, though the government disputes the figures. Thirteen police officers have also lost their lives in the clashes. "The king has always felt that Sandhurst was a great place," says Sincock, chairman of the Bahrain Society, which promotes friendship between the UK and Bahrain. "Something like 20 of his immediate family have been there as cadets. He didn't really understand why there was such an outcry." David Cameron and King Hamad David Cameron meeting King Hamad in 2012... A protester is held back by police ... while protesters nearby opposed the Bahrain ruler's human rights record Crispin Black, a Sandhurst graduate and former instructor, says the academy should not have taken the money. "Everywhere you look there's a memorial to something, a building or a plaque that serves as a touchstone that takes you right to the heart of British military history. Calling this hall 'King Hamad Hall' ain't gonna do that." Sandhurst gave a written response to the criticism. "All donations to Sandhurst are in compliance with the UK's domestic and international legal obligations and our values as a nation. Over the years donations like this have saved the UK taxpayer a considerable amount of money." But what happens when Sandhurst's friends become enemies? In 2001, then-prime minister Tony Blair visited Damascus, marking a warming of relations between the UK and Syria. Shortly after, in 2003, Sandhurst was training officers from the Syrian armed forces. Now, of course, Syria is an international pariah. Journalist Michael Cockerell has written about Libyan dictator Colonel Gaddafi's time at the Army School of Education in Beaconsfield in 1966: "Three years [later], Gaddafi followed a tradition of foreign officers trained by the British Army. He made use of his newfound knowledge to seize political power in his own country." Ahmed Ali Sandhurst-trained Ahmed Ali was a key player in the Egyptian military's removal of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi That tradition persists. In the 1990s Egyptian colonel Ahmed Ali attended Sandhurst. In 2013 he was one of the key figures in the Egyptian military's removal of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi, now rewarded by a post in President Sisi's inner circle of advisers. In the late 1990s there were moves by the British government under Tony Blair to end Sandhurst's training of overseas cadets. Major-General Arthur Denaro, Middle East adviser to the defence secretary and commandant at Sandhurst in the late 1990s, describes the idea as part of the "ethical foreign policy" advocated by the late Robin Cook, then-foreign secretary. Tony Blair and Robin Cook Tony Blair and Robin Cook at one point planned to end Sandhurst's training of overseas cadets The funeral of King Hussein in 1999 appears to have scuppered the plan. "Coming to that funeral were the heads of state of almost every country in the world - and our prime minister was there, Tony Blair," says Major-General Denaro. "He happened to see me talking to heads of state - the Sultan of Brunei, the Sultan of Oman, the Bahrainis, the Saudis - and he said 'How do you know all these guys?' The answer was because they went to Sandhurst." Today, Sandhurst has reportedly trained more officer cadets from the UAE than from any other country bar the UK. The May 2014 intake included 72 overseas cadets, around 40% of whom were from the Middle East. "In the future," says Maryam al-Khawaja, acting president of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, "people will look back at how much Britain messed up in the [Middle East] because they wanted to sell more Typhoon jets to Bahrain, rather than stand behind the values of human rights and democracy." "It's one thing saying we're inculcating benign values, but that's not happening," says Habiba Hamid. Sandhurst is "a relic of the colonial past. They're not [teaching] the civic values we ought to find in democratically elected leaders." line Who else went to Sandhurst? Princes William and Harry, Winston Churchill, Ian Fleming, Katie Hopkins, Antony Beevor, James Blunt, Josh Lewsey, Devon Harris (From left to right) Princes William and Harry Sir Winston Churchill Ian Fleming, creator of James Bond (but did not complete training) Katie Hopkins, reality TV star Antony Beevor, historian James Blunt, singer-songwriter Josh Lewsey, World Cup-winning England rugby player Devon Harris, member of Jamaica's first bobsleigh team line Sandhurst says that "building international relations through military exchanges and education is a key pillar of the UK's international engagement strategy". Sandhurst may be marvellous for the UK, a country where the army is subservient to government, but it is also delivering militarily-trained officers to Middle Eastern monarchies where, often, armies seem to exist to defend not the nation but the ruling family.

Image
Generations of foreign royals - particularly from the Middle East - have learned to be military leaders at the UK's Sandhurst officer training academy. But is that still a good idea, asks Matthew Teller. Since 1812, the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, on the Surrey/Berkshire border, has been where the British Army trains its officers. It has a gruelling 44-week course testing the physical and intellectual skills of officer cadets and imbuing them with the values of the British Army. Alongside would-be British officers, Sandhurst has a tradition of drawing cadets from overseas. Many of the elite families of the Middle East have sent their sons and daughters. Perhaps the most notable was King Hussein of Jordan. Four reigning Arab monarchs are graduates of Sandhurst and its affiliated colleges - King Abdullah of Jordan, King Hamad of Bahrain, Sheikh Tamim, Emir of Qatar, and Sultan Qaboos of Oman. Past monarchs include Sheikh S
Read more

Ebola Outbreak: Guinea Declares Emergency As Overall Deaths From Ebola Rise To 1,069

Image
Health workers take passengers' temperatures infrared digital laser thermometers at the Felix Houphouet Boigny international airport in Abidjan on Aug. 13, 2014. Ivory Coast on Monday banned air travellers from Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, the three countries worst-hit by the Ebola outbreak, and ordered its flagship carrier Air Cote d'Ivoire to cease flights to and from them. Reuters/Luc Gnago Guinea, one of the worst-hit West African nations in the ongoing Ebola outbreak, announced a state of emergency Wednesday. The World Health Organization, or WHO, also  said  that four new people died in Guinea between Aug. 10 and Aug. 11. The total death count in Guinea from the latest epidemic was estimated at 377 by WHO while the number of cases reported had risen to 510. Overa
Read more