Everyday, we get emails from readers who ask how they can get their blog to grow, how they can make their blogging dreams come true. And, more often than not, we simply say it’s all about being fearless and extraordinary. Fearless because working on a creative pursuit or big dream requires a lot of guts and perseverance. Extraordinary because it’s your job to standout in the crowd, to make yourself known.

Some bloggers make blogging look easy, effortless. But, in reality, making your blog successful can be hard work. It means endless emails, long nights, busy days, bottomless cups of coffee, tears (only sometimes), and a few other obstacles. But when you get to that point when you can look back and see your successes and achievements, you will be so proud.

How am I an extraordinary blogger?

You can be extraordinary by staying motivated. Keeping yourself inspired. Last, but not least, you can be extraordinary by using exceptional tools like the HP Spectre.

With a battery that lasts up to 9.5 hours, the HP Spectre gives you the power you need to spend hours upon hours doing research and finding all kinds of inspiration. Plus, since it only weighs 4lbs, you can carry it around while you travel, giving you the chance to share your adventures and stories with family & friends. Staying connected wherever you are? Sounds extraordinary to us!

Because we enjoy sharing the tools that we know can only help bloggers grow, IFB is giving away one HP Spectre laptop to one lucky reader.

A few weeks ago, our intern participated in a NYC Scavenger hunt and showed off her savvy skills, proving that not only was she super smart but extremely resourceful. Thanks to her, you all get the chance to win this laptop!

To enter this giveaway, you must:
1. Follow IFB on Twitter.
2. Tweet this message: “I’m an extraordinary blogger because ____ #Spectre @HP @_IFB”

To learn more about the HP Spectre, head here. Good luck to everyone participating in the giveaway and stay tuned to our Twitter account for contest updates and the winner announcement on 5/23/2012!

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Be honest: What would you do if your Pinterest account was deactivated?

However, on May 7th her pins started being flagged as spam when users tried to click through the image to visit her site. She checked out the support page, filed a request detailing her issue, and waited for a response. All the while losing quite a bit of sleep wondering what was going on and how this could have happened.

The next day, May 8th, she returned to Pinterest and attempted to login – only to be notified that her account had been deactivated. She sounded off on her blog, on her Facebook page, as well as Pinterest’s Facebook page. She discovered she was not alone, and that other bloggers were complaining of the same issues.

A week after her initial complaint to Pinterest (May 14th), Pinterest finally got back to her (and to IFB) with a response from a real person. Aaron Franklin, Pinterest’s Community Specialist, informed her that the problem wasn’t that her blog was being marked as spam, but that her pins were redirecting from one place to another. For example, a pin linking to her “blogspot.it” address would redirect to her “.com” address, which Pinterest detects as suspicious, and then presents a warning to users. (Pinterest tries to monitor that all pins link back to the correct URL where they were originally pinned from.)

Though Donatella’s Pinterest account was reactivated about 3 days after her initial issues, she believes that the redirect isn’t what caused the problems, since she only changed her URL over the weekend (May 13th). Still, she says she’s not much of a fighter, and would rather not cause a fuss since everything seems to now be resolved. At this time she still does not know what caused her pins to be marked as spam.

Pinterest is a relatively small company (less than 30 employees) so it’s understandable that communication between them and their millions of users might be slow. We reached out to Pinterest’s press email on Thursday May 10th, to find out a little more about Donatella’s situation, and immediately received an auto-reply, informing us that a personal response might never come, but here’s some links to the support page. However, Mr. Franklin responded personally on Monday, citing the redirecting issue as the problem, as well as a mention of apology for Donatella’s issues getting a hold of Pinterest.

What we can learn from this:

• If you’re having issues, be patient with Pinterest, they will get back to you (but perhaps not immediately).
• Categorize your support ticket appropriately – it’s the most effective way to ensure your ticket ends up in the hands of right customer service representative
• Make sure your pins are not redirecting from one URL to another.
• When you post images and content to a site you do not host or own, you always run the risk of losing your account, or having your access denied at any time.

Pinterest has two helpful troubleshooting posts here and here, that are worth checking out if you’ve encountered a similar problem.

Have you ever had this kind of experience with Pinterest or a similar social sharing site? Or perhaps your blogging platform? Let us know in the comments!

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Along with being the founder of I Like What You’re Wearing, Olivia Gossett also holds the title, Director of ‘Ness. It’s a concept she came up with to encapsulate what her less-than-two-week-old publication is all about. She wants to “save the [fashion] industry from its stagnant state of Same.”

In 2010, Gossett launched a blog to shine some light on a oft neglected facet of the fashion industry: rising and local designers. She felt there should be a bridge between getting press for these designers that could translate to sales. Thus, the concept of I Like What You’re Wearing (ILWYW) – a click-to-buy online magazine featuring rising designers across the United States – was born.

Ten months in the making, ILWYW launched just a couple of weeks ago, and has already been featured in Forbes. Gossett and her team run the company out of a sleek space in the heart of the Garment District In New York City – a fitting location for a company that’s passionate about changing not only how we shop but who we shop from.

“You become more interesting when what you’re wearing is interesting,” says Gossett.

When you visit the ILWYW magazine, you’re greeted with color-rich images that illustrate each article, written by a contributing blogger. (Yes, bloggers like you!) Pieces from each editorial can be shopped right out of the story, but you can also shop by designer or product.

While the site is still in it’s infancy,  ILWYW’s Managing Director Alexandra Wachtel says social media is already a key component of their marketing strategy. “As we build this community of ILWYW and its movement for rising fashion it is imperative that we keep in mind those who foster the growth, and there is no better way to keep track than through the social media channels,” says Wachtel.

While fostering the awareness and sales for designers, ILWYW is also supporting (and paying) writers and bloggers to produce their content. Gossett says they currently reach out to bloggers whom they think would be a good fit, then wait to find a story that matches their style and voice. (If you would like to be considered to contribute to ILWYW, you can shoot an email to: Alexandra (at)ILWYW(dot)com.)

What are your thoughts on this start-up’s concept? Do you think consumers will be able to step away from popular stores, brands and designers and embrace this grassroots movement towards supporting rising and local designers?

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We’ve been noticing a trend here at IFB headquarters - it seems as though fewer and fewer comments are being left on blog posts. It’s been a gradual decline, but it’s noticeable. Blogs that once got hundreds of comments per post now only receive a dozen or so.  Smaller blogs are only getting a handful here and there.

Are bloggers getting to busy to get their own post published, bet alone visit and leave notes for other’s in the blogging community? Or have blogs become something different than what they were 5 years ago?

An article spotted on Social Media Today helped solidify these ideas, and got us to dig in a little more.

Here are our thoughts on why conversations have left blogging – and why we need to work to bring them back.

• Social Media Has Exploded. Really, think about it. 5 years ago we were just getting used to Twitter. Facebook was still only open to those of us with .edu email address. And Google was years away from thinking up G+.
  So if one of your readers wanted to chat, the only logical place to do so was in your comments. The only way for you to show love to new blogger friends was by leaving comments for them. Commenting was really the only community we had.
  Fast forward to today: My grandma has a Facebook page, my dad is on Twitter… conversations have become fragmented and dispersed over all our various networks. Tweeting at someone when you love their post, or discover their blog feels more natural and conversational. And let’s face it – it’s just plain easier.
• We’re All Busy. Is it just me, or does it seem like life had gotten a lot busier lately? It’s no longer about just updating your blog and visiting the links on your blog-roll. We’re trolling twitter, stalking old friends on Facebook, trying to read the thousands of un-read posts in our google readers. All while searching for jobs, finishing final papers, working towards promotions or something else on the endless list of life’s important tasks. Responding to our commenters and leaving comments of our own seems to take a back burner.
• Chalk it up to Spam? As spammers and bots became a common threat to blogs comments more and more bloggers (and even blog platforms) implemented anti-spam tactics. The good ol’ “Prove You’re A Human” step in commenting that we’ve all grown used to. However, CAPTCHA and its fellows are sometimes to much of a roadblock. The words are un-readable, you have to try to many times to post a simple comment and in the end you just give up. It’s not worth your time. Spam comments might be gone now, but sadly so are notes from your friends and fans.

What Can We Do About It?

Here’s our proposal to you bloggers – Let’s bring community back to blogs. Constructive and kind comments do amazing things for us – they boost our confidence as bloggers, they get our links out to the world and traffic back to our blogs, they find us new friends and they help us learn and grow. And we could all use more of that.

So here are just a few quick steps to get us back on the commenting train.

• Make the time. Set aside a little bit of your day just for leaving comments. And really think about what you are saying. Try to start a conversation instead of just leaving a generic ”Love this!” comment.
• Respond to the comments on your blog. Socialize with your readers right under your posts. It will engage them and keep them coming back , and you might even make new friends.
• Do away with CAPTCHA. Unless you have a huge spam problem – make it easy for your readers to leave comments.
• Leverage Social Media. We aren’t telling you to do away with tweeting at your favorite bloggers or having conversations outside of your blog. But be conscious of how you are using your social platforms. Try encouraging people to comment on your posts by asking them to on Twitter or Facebook!

 Do you think blog comments are important? How often are you commenting on other blogs?

[image by Nando Alvarez]

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I’ve been doing my make up the same way since I was sixteen. Black eyeliner, loads of mascara, bronzer and a dash of pinky lip balm. It wasn’t until I started blogging about fashion that I was introduced to the world of beauty blogs. Suddenly a whole new universe of possibilities for pretty was available at the click of a mouse!

A sexy cat eye. A tangerine pout.  The perfect nail art tutorial. These are the things we seek when we visit our favorite beauty blogs. Like their sartorially-based counterparts, beauty blogs inspire us with new products, inspired pairings and trends worth trying.

Over here at IFB, yes, Independent Fashion Bloggers, we consider beauty blogs to be part of the family. Because let’s be honest, even in your best outfit, who doesn’t feel naked without a fresh face and swipe of lip color?

 IFB’s 15 Most Gorgeous Beauty Blogs:

AfroBella

Natural hair and beauty tips, celebrity inspiration and product reviews – it’s all here.

AM (the daily face)

A beauty Tumblr (of gorgeous how-to posts) by a professional make up artist.

Beauty Banter

Sleek design and a mix of inspiration and make up bag-dishing make this blog an instant bookmark.

Beauty Blogging Junkie

Beauty with a heavy dose of wit and lots of pop culture references. We like.

Beauty Snob

Part of the Snob Network, this blog is a “selective editorial” on beauty and hair products.

Cult of Pretty

Awesome imagery and honest reviews make this beauty blog a stand-out.

Hello Beauty

From DIYs to health and organic products, this blog has a little bit of everything.

Into The Gloss

From backstage fashion show beauty to profiles on industry pros, we can’t get enough of ITG.

Make Up Alley

A definitive source of reviews, for just about any beauty product under the sun.

Move Slightly

This blogger creates nail art inspired by runway trends. Yeah, it’s as amazing as it sounds.

Now Smell This

A blog all about fragrances and perfumes, including reviews, new products and giveaways.

Product Girl

Reviews and features from a personal perspective, everything from nail polish to skin care.

The Beauty Department

This blog combines trend stories, hair tutorials, DIYs and beauty tips with a flawless and fun design.

The Daily Obsession

Along with helpful product reviews, we love TDO’s “insider obsessions” feature.

ThisThatBeauty

Beauty on a budget, “man stuff” and lifestyle extras? Yes please.

Are you big on beauty blogs? Share your favorites in the comments!

[Image credits: Flickr Creative Commons]

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