Fashion Blogging. Connections and a Lot Of STUFF.

First, I am so sorry I was a b***h. But let me make it up to you...

let me butter you up with a champorado...so are we good now? Are we good?

Okay.

Now you have a blog. Woohoo! Congratulations. You have readers now and get reactions from some people too. That's great. But you feel that you're not out there yet. Like totally-exposed out there. So you need connections and exposure. Again I am not an authority for these kinds of matter but I believe I am a huge authority over myself as a reader to distinguish the annoying kind of exposure and the classy subtle way. So it's a personal opinion.

Some are:

• Form a small group. Blogging sisterhood not sorority/mean girls. We are meant for community because we know we need each other. So contact bloggers same as your blog-age, same with your style or someone you feel most comfortable and form a "bond" so you can help promote each other. Having a group with diverse individuals is how we will find our security, also learn to help other bloggers and form a vibrant blogging culture. Do not go for the big-guns-bloggers yet. Don't even try to kiss their cyberspace-ass. That's blog climbing. And it's not classy. I suggest for the sake of your sanity, do not mind these bloggers. Do not follow their lead. Don't get me wrong, most of these bloggers are fabulous, jut like what I said, they've been doing this for the longest time. My point is, if you compare yourself to them, you're a toast. Blog outside the fashion blogging norm. Fashion blogging now is in a complete rut. Why/how dare I say that? It has become so lazy. They create a look. Picture.picture.pose.pose.do the duck face: with a caption: i went to Starbucks wearing this, or Do i look fat?, or say hello to my new babies, and bam! That's fashion blogging. I wish there was more concept and idea going through each post. But i guess some kids don't like to read. They prefer to "read" who are most likely on top of the envy-peddler bloggers, and wishing they were them. I read somewhere, some blogger wanting to be the next Laureen Uy. I hate to burst your ombre-bubble but dude, you have a penis! c",) Again, having your set of blog sisters will give you a stable hype. It may not be huge at first. But as long as it is stable that is enough. Remember blog success isn't an overnight thing. 

•  Do a make over. This is so girly-girly and so fun to do. Do not wait for sponsors to fire up your blog. Example here. See?

• Great Styling Idea. Example: One dress, twenty ways. See the Uniform Project? She landed a book deal because of that and it's for a cause. Eat your heart out wanna be sponsored bloggers. 

• Guest posting. Say, it's your finals week, You can ask your blogger friends (new or advanced bloggers) to guest post on your blog. It's not laziness. It is a perfect example of blogging strategy. Example here. The idea is to get your name out there. Promote yourself and your friends too.

• Do an interview. This is work. The real kind of email job you do to contact people. You can showcase all your favorite bloggers through interview. You can ask fun, witty questions that shows how smart you are. Examples here and here. 

• Links and credits. If you're going to use other people's photos or ideas make sure you link it back to them. Or at least try to mention it. Links in blogs are like "poke" in facebook only it's not that annoying. The owner of the photo will surely notice some of her traffic are coming from your blog. So it's a great way to get noticed. 

• Hashtags. But do not annoy your followers with the abusive 30 hashtags. Not funny. 30 # will cost you more that 30 un-followers. Trust me. 

• Twitter mention. If you buy something and you want to tag the brand, that's good. That way they will notice you and they will probably tap you for your dream of a lifetime "collab". ("probably" being the operative word)

• Lookbook and chictopia. 

• Join groups. Flicker groups. You can join here.   

•  Blog comments. Instead of doing 100 comments a day to all the bloggers you follow, narrow it down to ten. And make it meaningful like you read the whole blogpost. And do it constantly to the same number of bloggers. But leaving comments like this:

 " cool shoe.

xoxo, 

dumbledore

follow me and Ill follow you.

www.overtherainbowwithdumbledore.com

follow me on facebook

follow me on chictopia

follow me on lookbook

follow me on myspace

follow me on friendster 

follow me on twitter

follow me on instagram "

....seriously, what is wrong with you?

• Swap. Clothing swap. You won't spend anything with swapping. Hello? The Sisterhood of The Traveling Pants? Or dress, or Jacket. Go here. Your dress will go places and so are you. Remember the beginning and  future of blogging is sharing. So share, swap. Set up a day with your blog friends. Document everything, all the clothes or make up you brought and the snacks. (gossip too, of course, but you don't have to blog about it) These are the blog contents we are talking about. Ideas. Bring back the fun to blogging so we can stop obsessing about freebies. 

• Create your own event. If you're not getting invited to any, go make one. I don't know exactly what kind of event but you do the thinking this time. I mean, by this time you can ask for sponsors and pitch your idea to them. I have no problems with sponsorship especially if it's for a cause. What cause? Feed the whale. Save the frogs. Save the gangsta. c") Etcetera, etcetera. And just be-cause you have nothing to wear it does not count as cause. 

What else? Please please add more.

But then again blogging-success has no formula. You may do all of the things mentioned above or more but still your blog isn't reaching the hype you want compared to others. You may copy this blogger's outfit from head to toe, post after post but still you're not making any progress when it comes to exposure. I have no doubt that there are bloggers telling themselves that they too, with enough hard work and great content, could match this bloggers success and pull in an extra money per month just by blogging. But, the reality is that for every top blogger X there are thousands and thousands of lookalike bloggers littering Bloglovin’ and Blogger. They’re mostly indistinguishable and they’ll mostly stay that way. Success in blogging is more about luck and connections than hard work. Im telling you, blogging is weird. But sure, when it hit you, success may come and sadly when it happens (for some) here comes this enabled, entitled, I-am-the-most-important-person-on-the-Internet blogger persona that slowly corrupts a normal, well-adjusted person into an a-hole. If you want to blog, good for you! But don't do it (again) for fame and free stuff. Sadly the big buzzword among bloggers is “sponsorship.” They always look for a way to sponsor their blog, their outfit posts, their shopping suggestions. They’d love someone to sponsor their vacations. Hell, why not sponsor their entire life?  Is that the big Filipino Blogger Dream? Really?

Let me tell you a little secret. I have a friend in the US working for a clothing company and according to her, sending items aka "collab" in exchange for a blog mention will not be part of their campaign strategies this year…they are not seeing increase in sales compared to the amount of clothes they have sent out… companies are finally seeing that style blogs don’t have nearly the influence on the buying habits of their readers as they have made it sound. So to sum it up, no matter how much a reader loves a blogger or the item she’s wearing, if they don’t have the money, they won’t buy anything. My friend (i swear, this friend of mine is real. Scout's honor!) went on to say that bigger bloggers will most likely still receive some free goods but the days of anyone-with-a-style-blog being able to wrangle free stuff is ovah! Woohoo! This could change the whole face of style blogging, making it even more competitive as bloggers try to reach the level necessary to appeal to companies still offering swag.

So if you're a blogger with a one month old blog looking for a way to wrangle free stuff, am sorry but it's time for a blog make over. But then again, we do not live in US. c",)

I'd love to pride myself on being a simple person, a mom, a wife, living a simple life. But honestly speaking I want more. What kind of "more", I am not entirely sure.  I am, after all, human just like everyone else, I am a woman, I fall prey to the same human vices and temptations. Everyone wants to be successful. Everyone wants to stand out. You may see this blogger's success and you may think that it's just as easy to replicate it. If they can do it why can't I? So you try and hope for success, but really, how do you measure success, especially blogging success? By page views or the number of comments? By recommendations or write ups? By the amount of free products you receive? I'd always been wary about balancing life with an "actual" blog so maybe, I just continue to observe from the sidelines. Sometimes I wonder If only I said Yes to all the invites or those "collabs", where I'd be now? Would I have the same type of exposure and opportunities that many of my blogger friends have now? Would I really desire those things to begin with? I love fashion. I love clothes and shoes. I want a gazillion of them. This blog shows that. But that's not a career for me. I know in our heart of hearts, all of us understand that there has to be something more to life than money and fame. I mean, if you let yourself be honest, the more we have, the worse we feel.

As a blogger, we have some sort of influence to our readers. Even just a little, of course we have. Each time we pitch our voice, share our photos and ideas out there, a life is in a balance. They may be young or old and even with just one blog post we could sway them positively or in other direction. I was saddened by a 14 year old Filipina girl on instagram. Her profile says, " i love fashion bloggers, they are my idol, someday I wanna be like them". Whatever happened to I wanna be a doctor, or a teacher or pilot or the President? I know it is not our fault. But it made me sad.

Denise Katipunera is a collection of events in my life that makes me happy. Some days I am in a rut. Some blog posts reflect that. There is no way I am trying to live in a twee-happy life through this blog. Some people love playing to the crowd and know how to reward people who appreciate them with a certain air of greatness. I am not a politician. I can't do it because I'm always aware that I am far from the person they imagine. As I always say, a blog is just a blog. And I am more than my blog. The blog trend will fade away, and I am happy to be part of it. But It is not my whole life. And I hope, your blog isn't your whole life too.

Again I am sorry. But hey I believe that any idea that comes from a place of honesty is all worth saying. Maybe you should do it too. And yeah, I should stop making speeches like this. Okay, that's it. The End.....aaaand thank you for your time.