So tell us a little about Bespoke Bride. What made you decide to start blogging in one of the most competitive blogging niches there is?!
We started Bespoke Bride in November 2011 as a hobby, we were both just starting out in the wedding industry with our own businesses and planned on using the blog as a promotional tool. We were lucky enough to be in a position where in just a few months we had built up a following and it was from here that we realised our blog had potential. Now Bespoke Bride inspires brides with personalised real weddings, alternative DIY ideas and unusual inspiration boards as well playing host to some of the industry’s most unique and innovative wedding suppliers.
Bespoke Bride has of course become extremely successful, which is a great inspiration for all bloggers hoping to stand out in a competitive market. How do you think you managed to make your site stand out from the crowd?
In all honesty I think we owe a huge amount of our success to The Blogcademy. After Jess attended at the beginning of 2012 we realised some big changes needed to be made so we completely rebranded and focused on make the blog a lot more about personality. This has really been what has made us stand out.
The design of you blog is lovely. Do you think having a great design is an important factor to having a successful blog?
Good branding has been so important for us. We decided we wanted our personalities to shine through via design and colour and so this is what we did. I think people come to a wedding blog expecting pretty pastels and floaty fonts but we are nothing like that and that is why I believe people stay, they feel refreshed and excited by what they see.
How important do you think it is to collaborate with other bloggers? And how have you done so yourself?
Collaborations with other bloggers is important for a number of reasons. First we have built up such a good network of blogging friends now, all of which are really great support. Not only that, it is really great for reaching new crowds and potential readers for your blog. I have to admit the second part is something we aren’t so great at but we have promised ourselves to get more involved with other blogs next year.
We get so many questions from budding bloggers trying to emulate the success of now incredibly well known bloggers like yourself. Do you have any tips you think could help them stand out and build a loyal following?
I think it is so easy to compare yourself to other bloggers in your niche but my major piece of advice is to take your inspiration from elsewhere. When we first started blogging it was so easy to look at what other wedding bloggers were doing and so we ended up being quite samey. After our rebrand we moved away from that, we took our inspiration from things we enjoyed such lifestyle blogs, home decor magazines, crafting magazines and travel and photography. This new perspective reflected in the posts we featured and made us stand out. As a wedding blog we didn’t feel it important to build a loyal following as once couples got married they were no longer interested in the blog. However we realised that this was a huge niche and we decided to tap into it which is why now our blog isn’t just about weddings, we do food and Home Decor DIYS, travel and fashion posts and this is has now attracted a loyal following. I think the trick is go beyond what readers expect.
Where do you hope to see your blog in 2 years from now? Do you have an action plan for the future?!
Well this time 2 years ago we had only just started out. In two years our blog has gone from a nothing to attracting a quarter of a million readers a month, being voted in Bridetides top 100 wedding blogs worldwide, being recommended by Wedding magazine as a Highly commended DIY wedding blog and features in Perfect weddings and Handcrafted magazine. I can only imagine where our blog will be in two years time I would love to think we will have won many more awards and have an even bigger following. We are launching a new business next year and the blog will play a huge role in its promotion, but really who knows, it’s the not knowing that makes it even more fun!
And finally, who are your favourite bloggers right now?!
We both really love Elsie and Emma of A Beautiful Mess, when we first started blogging those girls were hugely influential as they seemed so similar to us. As I said one of our main passions is home decor so Design Love Fest and Design Sponge are pretty cool too. Both myself and Jess are huge believers in the power of positivity so bloggers such as Gabrielle Bernstein and Gala Darling are huge, more recently I have started following a new kid on the positivity blog and that is ‘She is the Revolution’, I love her!
You can take a look at bespoke bride here: http://www.bespoke-bride.com/
If you’d like to be involved in any features or interviews get in touch with or tweet in!
No comments yet.