Believe it or not, bikinis can teach you more than how to freak out before summer starts.

In the internet world, it seems like everything is free. You can use Facebook for free, Twitter, Pinterest… you can even set up your blog for free. There are free photos you can use in the Public Domain, and free fonts, free news and free magazine access. It’s almost like a utopia where money doesn’t matter. Or does it?

It starts to matter when you need to pay your rent and you need to decide if spending time online is worth it when you don’t get paid for the work you put into it. But putting up a paywall for your blog when you have even 1,000 visitors a day can dramatically decrease your readership. So, what can you do?

…putting up a paywall for your blog when you have even 1,000 visitors a day can dramatically decrease your readership. So, what can you do?

That’s where the Bikini Concept comes in.

The Bikini Concept is where you show off 80 or 90% of your work, but keep the “goods” under wraps.

• If you’re a photographer, share your photos online, but keep the best for galleries and books.
• If you’re a writer, share your writing, but charge for your books, and articles.
• If you’re stylist, share your style, but save your services for your clients.
• If you’re a consultant, share your general tips, but keep the real knowledge for your clients.

You get the drift.

You see this theory in action on many websites: you can use Facebook and Twitter for free, but advertising will cost you. You can have a free LinkedIn account, but to get introduced to people you don’t know will cost you. On ProBlogger the blog is free, but the forums, eBooks and the webinars cost money. IFB’s content is free, but our conference is is not.

The Bikini Concept allows for you to build trust with your potential clients and customers in an internet-friendly way.

The Bikini Concept allows for you to build trust with your potential clients and customers in an internet friendly way. You are giving them something for free, so they know the quality of work you do. When they decide they just can’t live without your services, then paying for them isn’t a problem. You’ve earned it!

So when you’re thinking about how to structure you business, think about what you can offer that people will pay for, then think about how you can share this for free without hurting your business by revealing the “goods”.

[Image Credit: Shutterstock.com]

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Cosmopolitan UK  Blog Awards has been running for four years now. I’ve heard bloggers working with them over the years, and they’ve been supportive of the community. When they approached me about the new category for “Best International Blog” of course I was tickled pink, the UK has a special place in my own heart, and I’m happy to share this opportunity with the IFB community of bloggers in the US (and every other country that’s not the UK).

…previous winners have gone on to work with established brands and even offered book deals.

In addition to being an honor to win an award, previous winners have gone on to work with established brands and even offered book deals.

You can either nominate your favorite blogger, or even nominate yourself! I am on the panel to select the winner of the “Best International Blog” and looking forward to reviewing your blogs!

Enter your blog or your favorite blog here by June 3rd, 2013!

Good luck!

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Most of us use WordPress, Blogger, Tumblr or other platforms that allow us to share our text, photo and video posts. Some bloggers have made a living on their YouTube channel alone. Yet other superstars have managed to create huge followings on both their blog, their YouTube channel as well as their other social media profiles (Wendy Nguyen, how do you do it?!?)

I spent some time in the YouTube trenches to scope out the top fashion & lifestyle starlets. Whether you’re looking to beef up your own YouTube channel, or just looking for some inspiration to infuse more video posts on your blog, these ladies are leading by example.

Crisp & Clean: Wendy’s Lookbook

I adore and admire Wendy on just about every social media channel she’s on – and I’m not the only one. She’s got legions of followers on her blog, Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest – but her YouTube channel is where you can really see her shine. Wendy makes sure her videos (and photos) are always as crisp, clean and professional as possible. She uses a Canon 5D Mark 2 to shoot her vids and is very friendly with her editing software (a few free choices for you here.) Check out the behind-the-scenes post of her uber-famous “25 Ways to Style a Scarf” video to see how she concepted, produced and edited the video.

Just like your blog posts, a consistent video upload schedule will help build a YouTube following over time. Anna from The Style Diet gets straight to the point in her YouTube bio. Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, you’ll see a new video on her channel on fashion, beauty and her lifestyle as a new mommy.

Get Out of Your Comfort Zone: Jarmaine

YouTube videos can literally be a means for you to let it all out there. Jarmaine’s over-the-top humor add such a sincere layer of quirkiness, she can’t help but stand out in the sea of makeup tutorial and haul videos.

Short & Sweet: LEAFtv

Geri Hirsch says the inspiration behind her and co-founder Erin Falconer’s LEAFtv (Living, Eating & Fashion) channel is “The girl who has a job, is social, wants to be in a dope outfit and just needs a little help.” (source) Simple enough, yet LEAFtv is able to be that and so much more. By keeping videos tightly edited and concise (most are right between 30 seconds & 1 minute), you can learn everything from how to layer jewelry & wear a white shirt 4 ways to how to mince garlic & make the perfect martini.

Let Your Personality Shine: Blair Fowler & Elle Fowler

Elle & Blair are sisters who shot to YouTube stardom simply by being true to who they are. Watching their videos is like sitting across from your roommate or best friend, who just happens to be giving you a rundown of her new favorite nail polishes or a tour of her new home. It’s common for bloggers to hear that they should ‘write like they speak’ – and the same rule runs true in front of the camera, too.

Become the Teacher: Chriselle Lim

All of these YouTube stars are great at teaching their viewers how to style their hair, face and outfits. Chriselle Lim’s smartly edited videos are shot with an editorial feel, with style tips, eye-catching graphics and kitschy props that weave her tutorial together. Chriselle includes links to outfit pieces and her other social media sites in the description of each video – a smart way to convey all the pertinent link info (maybe with affiliate links!)

Work with What You’ve Got: Dawn Del Russo

Most of us (me included) don’t have the time or patience to produce beautifully edited videos. That’s where the magic of Dawn Del Russo’s channel shines. She uses the SocialCam app for iPhone to film quick outfit posts and behind-the-scenes looks at her editorial shoots (she’s a stylist by trade.) So if you’d prefer Vine, Videolicious or just your smartphone’s camera video option, you can still make great videos on-the-go.

Engage the Community: ThreadBanger

Corrine and Rob of ThreadBanger know their niche and nail it – giving back to their community at the same time. Not only do they share their crafty DIY projects, they regularly encourage their viewers to make their own DIY videos to feature on their channel. Such an awesome way to engage your readership and show them thanks for their loyalty.

The ladies of The Platform are doing what we’re all doing with our girls – talking dating, fashion, beauty and life – with the whole world watching. They maintain their own popular YouTube channels while working hard to bring the community of YouTube lifestyle vloggers together via The Platform. They also solicit other lifestyle vloggers to join in on the fun – you can apply to be part of The Platform here.

Connect & Keep it Real: Shirley B. Eniang

As bloggers, we will get questions from our readers on what we’re posting. YouTube clips are excellent for responding to those questions with the depth and genuineness that just can’t be conveyed with the written word. I love British blogger Shirley B. Eniang’s response and words of encouragement when asked about the topic of bullying and how to deal:

Any tips from you or your favorite YouTube stars? Share them (with links) here!

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We’ve all heard people tell us, “Be the best you can be!” Hello, army!

But what does that really mean? Some days my best is just making it to work, other days my best is pretty damn good. I like the idea of being the best “version” of yourself, because as someone who is quite human, I can easily get wrapped up in petty things and unhealthy habits. Setting goals of who I would like to be helps to keep myself from slipping into my flaws and vices. Would the best version of myself lay around all night binge watching trashy TV shows Netflix? Possibly, but I would imagine a better version of myself would be finishing the pile of books on my nightstand.

So, here’s to the best versions of ourselves! May the eventually become the regular versions of ourselves.

[Quote source]

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My whole life I didn’t know what I wanted to do, but it had to be extraordinary. Now, my life didn’t turn out to be exactly “extraordinary” but so far, I’ve been able to accomplish most of my goals on some level, and I’ve collected a few good anecdotes along the way.

When it comes to living, you don’t have to do extraordinary things to make an entertaining best seller. Heck, half the books on the shelves are about ordinary people getting through just regular ol’ life, only told in an interesting way. For your blog, think about how your life could be told in an interesting way. What are the lessons you’ve learned? What are the stories that make you, YOU?

It’s all there, it just takes some time to find the best seller inside.

[Quote source]

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Don’t get me wrong. I love Photoshop, it makes raw photos come to life. You can make colors more vivid, transform into black and white, add more contrast, make subtle changes, the possibilities are endless. Like plastic surgery, there is a point when a few tweaks can look freakish, and they make a bad photo look even worse.

Fake Depth of Field

Do you love seeing a photo where the important part is in focus and the rest is blurred out? Me too! There is a way to do that using the correct settings on your camera, but if your image comes out and it’s all in focus, try cropping. Don’t fake a depth of field.

Faking depth of field is easy to do in Instagram with their blur tool. Use that sparingly, or not at all. You can get nice depth of field with an iPhone without filters. Just make sure your focal point and your background have a good amount of distance between them.

Crazy Contrast

Who doesn’t want their whites whiter and the blacks blacker? Having good contrast will enhance any photo, but it you’re blowing out the details and making things look like a color photocopy then it’s time to ease up on the contrast tool. Unless, you’re doing a 90′s David Carson deconstruction revival on your blog. Which, props to you!

Funny Filters

All the filters in the world will not make a boring photo interesting. It doesn’t matter how many Bokeh hearts you use. Filters used sparingly can set a mood to a photo, but there is a line where it becomes more about the filter than it does the photo. Spend the extra time setting up  a good shot rather than flipping through all the filters to get a good pic.

Extreme Sharpness

Your pics came out a little blurry. The remedy? Sharpen tool? Maybe, it can help in a pinch to tighten up the pixels, used VERY sparingly. But it’s better to go out and keep taking photos until you get your focus down right, otherwise you’ll get that photocopy effect.

Wacky Watermarks

Your photos get lost on Pinterest. People use your pics all over the place without giving you credit. The solution? WATERMARKS!

Oh no. First of all, if you really do not want your photos circulating the internet, don’t put them online. There are ways to protect your images, but watermarks ruin the photo. If you must, consider doing a discrete watermark on the bottom.

What are some of your Photoshop pet peeves?

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Do you use Tumblr?

Unless you’re hiding underneath a rock, you have already heard about Yahoo purchasing Tumblr for 1.1 Billion dollars. I can’t read that without thinking of Dr. Evil in Austin Powers saying “One Beeeeelllloin Dollars.”  Of course, with Facebook purchasing Instagram last year we’re no strangers to internet giants acquiring smaller hipper internet sensations.

Tumblr has been positioning itself as the must-use web platform for the fashion industry. They’ve even done some significant outreach to fashion bloggers for NYFW.  Many of IFB Members either host their sole blog on Tumblr or have a Tumblr on the side. I have even tinkered around with a Tumblr called Shoe Kitten, and desperately need to get back to it.

That said, Yahoo has purchased websites like del.icio.us and Flickr, which at one time were essential tools for fashion bloggers. Do we still use them? Eh. Flickr was amazing for getting The Coveted off the ground, but they never evolved with the times. It still pretty much operates as it did in 2007 until yesterday’s unveiling of their hot new design.

(See how old my Flickr pics are? That’s IFBcon 2011′s photoshoot!)

Tumblr needed to find a way to monetize to keep running, anyone who had been following the platform knows they’ve been tinkering around with monetization without significant success.  Yahoo needs to step up their game and cool factor.. heck, they even need to make money too. People are freaking out about ads in Tumblr, and changes (which I’m guessing will have to do more with their “adult” blogs).

But what do you think? As a Tumblr user, are you freaking out about the buy-out or are you geeking out about how exciting the possibilities might be?

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When I recently went through a site redesign, one of my bigger goals was to have really succinct, beautiful slideshows in the features section and body of my posts, but had some difficulty finding ones that were easy to use without too many hangups.

Pooling my fellow bloggers on what they use would have certainly expedited the research and trial and error process, but at least those of you who are considering using slideshows now have a great resource to reference when selecting a slideshow. Below are five slideshow plugins that have gotten the thumbs up from fellow bloggers, including myself, along with some important aspects to be mindful of, before installing and using:

WP Featured Content Slider

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This is one of my favorite quotes. Originally I had come across it reading Carrie Fisher’s Wishful Drinking. For the longest time I thought she said it. Alas, it was not Princess Leia who coined this proverb, but Buddha.

The reason why I love this quote is, well, there is a lot of anger on the internet. We all hold anger in on some level without giving thought to how it affects us on our innermost levels. Resenting other bloggers for being more successful, PRs for sending irrelevant pitches, some blogger who wrote an offensive post, what does that really accomplish? Does it feel better to be angry? Anger rarely changes other people, because they have their own reasons for acting. So it’s really up to us to let it go.

Whether it be in real life or online, when anger comes up, stop and think about if it’s worth it to hang onto because it can turn into poison.

[Quote source]

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Do you know your niche?

Honing in on a niche for your blog can be difficult in the very general topic of fashion. Fashion is a glamorous, beautiful topic, and it’s hard to decide which direction to take when there are so many avenues to explore. However, it’s becoming more and more evident that niche bloggers have a better chance of monetizing because they tend to attract dedicated audiences.

That said, not all niches monetize equally. Some are easier ie, a luxury handbag niche is easier to monetize than a thrift store styling niche. Don’t be discouraged! With some creative, out of the box thinking you can monetize just about any niche.

126 Fashion Blog Ideas

This is just a short list of niches for inspirational purposes only. A brainstorm of sorts, they’re not even in a particular order! It’s a list to get your creative mind thinking about how to position your blog, or how to start a new blog with a niche in mind. I personally started with a goal of 30 niches, and it quickly expanded beyond that. The sky is really the limit! Mix, match and create your own niche!

• Handbags: Luxury
• Handbags: Contemporary
• Handbags: Sale
• Shoes: Womens
• Shoes: Mens
• Jewelry & Accessories
• Lingerie: New
• Lingerie: Vintage
• Hats: New
• Hats: Vintage
• Hats: Avant-garde/Designer
• Eyewear
• Work wear: Corporate
• Work wear: Creative
• Work wear: Corporate Mens
• Workwear: Plus size
• Workwear: Maternity
• Luxury Fashion
• Contemporary Fashion
• Mass market Fashion
• High Street/Fast Fashion
• Thrifted
• Luxury for less
• Sustainable Style
• Sustainable Style News
• Ethical Style
• Independent Designers
• Local Designers
• Local Shopping
• Online Shopping
• Sample Sales
• Online Shopping Sales
• Lookbooks & Previews
• Runway Fashion Reviews
• Product Reviews
• Runway Trends
• Runway to “real way” / Catwalk to Sidewalk
• Music Fashion
• Cinema Fashion
• Television Fashion
• Fashion in Literature
• Fashion in Art
• DIY: Fashion Trends
• DIY: Runway
• DIY: Crafting
• Upcycled Fashion
• Sewing Tutorials
• Knitting/Crochet Tutorials
• Handmade Fashion
• Denim: Women’s Premium
• Denim: Men’s Premium
• Denim Style
• Denim DIY
• Street Style: Fashion Weeks
• Street Style: Local
• Street Style: Mens
• Street Style: Womens
• Street Style: Plus Size
• Street Style: Age Focused (ie. 20′s, 30′s, 40′s, etc)
• Street Style: Events, Music, Clubs
• Fashion History
• Textile History
• Fashion News
• Fashion Technology
• Fashion Social Media
• Fashion Business
• Fashion PR
• Fashion Design Education
• Personal Style: Shopping
• Personal Style: Straight Sizes
• Personal Style: Plus Sizes
• Personal Style: Maternity
• Personal Style: Petites
• Personal Style: Tall
• Personal Style: Menswear
• Personal Style: “Every day”
• Personal Style: Avant-garde
• Personal Style: High School
• Personal Style: College
• Personal Style: Age Focused (ie. 20′s, 30′s, 40′s, etc)
• Personal Style: Modest
• Special Occasion Style
• Wedding Style: Designer
• Wedding Style: DIY
• Wedding Style: Alternative/Niche
• Wedding Style: Sustainable
• Lifestyle Style, ie. Preppy, Active, Urban, Artist, etc.
• Beauty + Style
• Food + Style
• Cocktails + Style
• Nail Art + Style
• Interior Design + Style
• Entertaining + Style
• Floral Design + Style
• Art + Style
• Design + Style
• ____________ + Style
• Trend hunting/predicting
• Lifestyle Fashion Photography
• Editorial Fashion Photography
• Fashion Photography Tutorials
• Fashion Models
• Fashion Model Industry
• Fashion Model Tutorials
• Fashion Designer News
• Fashion Commentary
• Fashion Feminism
• Fashion Body Image
• Celebrity Fashion: Paparazzi, Red Carpet, etc
• Celebrity Fashion: Where to Get It/Shopping
• Celebrity Fashion: Trends
• Vintage Fashion: Contemporary Style
• Vintage Fashion: Retro Style
• Vintage Fashion History
• Vintage Fashion Shopping
• Vintage Fashion Photography
• Replica Vintage Fashion
• Fashion Illustration
• Personal Style Illustrated
• Fashion Illustration Tutorials
• Fashion Illustration History
• Animated GIF Fashion
• Fashion Memes
• Fashion Humor
• Styling: Personal
• Styling: Editorial

What niche suggestions do you have?

Do share!

[Image credit: Shutterstock.com]

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