Stylist Network / Make money from blogging / Stylist - Careers - Stylist Magazine

1. Zoe Griffin, 27, makes £80,000 a year from celebrity blog zoegriffin.co.uk

I fell in love with blogging when I was the celebrity and showbiz columnist at The Sunday Mirror. After two years building up the column and testing the waters by blogging for the newspaper, I decided to go it alone. In October 2009, I launched zoegriffin.co.uk with the aim of attracting readers by publishing gossip before anyone else.

In a year I’ve gone from zero to 100,000 unique users a month, through a combination of being in the right place at the right time and hard work. To launch the site, I held a party and invited celebrities that resulted in lots of coverage. Now I attend celebrity events every night and spend at least eighteen hours a day blogging. But it pays off. When Leona Lewis did a book signing at Waterstones and was dramatically attacked, I filmed the whole event and it was picked up in every national newspaper, and was all over TV.

Making money out of a blog is complicated. Approximately 40% of my revenue is from adverts. Depending on the size of the ad, I can charge between £500 to £1000 a month. I make approximately £200 a month through affiliate schemes like Skimlinks and Buy.at, where you pick banner ads and internal links to online stores and earn commission if someone buys as a result.

As a consultant, I charge an hourly rate to write blogs for fashion and beauty brands and earn anything from £500 to £1500 a month for each. I am advising a new lifestyle website www.gocitygirl.com about ways to get girls engaged with gossip, where I charge an hourly rate of £100/hr. I organise celebrity parties where I get paid between £2500 and £5000. I am often a talking head on TV programmes and Breakfast News, which is £100-£150 a time. I write features about celebrity destinations for Ryanair magazine which is a free holiday and approximately £400.

What I do isn’t rocket science. You can do it too if you work out what you are good at and establish yourself as the best in your field. People pay for what they cannot do themselves. Also, make a plan of what you want to achieve from your site, identifying potential advertisers and people in need of your expert subject. Keep going back to that plan. Stop making excuses. Just do it!

zoegriffin.co.uk

3. Bethanie Lunn, 30, makes £35,000 a year from fashion and beauty blog moderngirlsguideto.blogspot.com

I started writing online in 2005, before blogging became a media form in its own right. This was before Facebook or Twitter, I saw writing online as a way to express my views and spread the word globally.

I spend on average two hours a day blogging and it's the research that takes the longest, you have to ensure you're factually correct and include topics your audience will love. After all, these entries are what set you apart from the competition.

I draw my inspiration from both industry news and my own insight. I get sent hundreds of press releases every month, plus I attend as many product launches and press events as possible to ensure I have my fingers on the pulse. I also use my contacts and consistently keep my eyes and ears open to ensure I deliver news fast and in my own original way.

I started making money when magazines noticed my work online and commissioned me to write for them. This has led to consulting for companies, either using my expertise on fashion and beauty or advising clients on how to appeal to bloggers as part of their marketing and PR strategies. This pays well, anywhere from £400-1,000 a day.

I do a lot of styling events with brands such as Jaeger, Karen Millen and L.K. Bennett, I film and host events at Meadowhall Shopping Centre in Sheffield as their resident Fashion and Beauty Expert.I've just published my first book, The Modern Girl's Guide to Fabulousness. Released in October 2010 it sold out in 3 days and has just gone to re-print. Social media helps me increase my followers and raise awareness of my blog entries. Tweeting links to my blogs resulted in very.co.uk recruiting me as their style blogger and online presenter.

My tips for women wanting to make money from blogs? Develop your niche, decide what it is you know about and love and stick to that. Post links to your blog everywhere, network and always remember to be factually correct, original and relevant.

moderngirlsguideto.blogspot.com