X

How to Start a Mens Fashion Blog

How to Start a Mens Fashion Blog

Photography by Tom Buck

What I’m Wearing

Hybrid Extendable Bomber Jacket – MLTV* (click here)

Dusty Pink Oversized T-Shirt -ASOS (click here)

Ripped Skinny Jeans – ASOS* (click here)

Black Vans Sk8 Hi – MenLook* (click here)

I think this is the most common question that I get asked daily – ‘How do you start a blog?’. I wanted to put together a little guide on how to start a mens fashion blog. I always find my replies so unhelpful because there’s so much to say and so much to do when starting a blog that I couldn’t possibly tell every single person or I would be typing away for years so I get right in there and say what is needed to be said – I say ‘start a blog’.

Now this may anger some people and cause frustration but that’s not what I’m trying to do. What I’m trying to do is show people that it is relatively easy and if you’re able to send me a direct message on Instagram/twitter then you definitely have the technical abilities to start a (simplified) blog. There are loads of great bloggers out there who already offer some incredible advice on how to start blogging etc. However the majority of the bloggers out there are female so I wanted to write something from a male perspective.

I’ve posted to this blog (previously called thehallowedground) for about 5/6 years now. It’s basically my diary, documenting my personal style, travels, thoughts and ideas. I’m pretty proud of myself for where I am today, since the start of 2016 – this blog is my full time job. I also have Instagram and YouTube to thank for that too. There are so many positives to having a Mens Fashion Blog, not only for personal reasons but it’s also helped my career too. It’s taken me this long to figure out my own personal style, which is still always changing! However now I feel like I have a much better grasp on what I like and what I don’t like. I’ve gained jobs in the fashion industry through having my blog, met amazing friends and worked with countless incredible brands/companies.

So I’d like to start imparting some of my wisdom (lol) onto you guys who take the time to actually read what I write here and give you some advice for starting a Mens Fashion Blog. (scroll down to read more)

edit6 edit7Platform

To begin you need a platform, a place to post your content. In the beginning I tried and tested a couple of options, I started by using tumblr but it wasn’t really what I wanted, it was too busy and image based and at the time I wasn’t taking a lot of pictures, mainly because I didn’t own a camera. I then tried using blogger (here) and ended up using it for a very long time, 5 years maybe? You really just have to find what platform works for you. I now use a self hosted WordPress site (this does cost money but it allows for a much more customisable layout) but you only really need this once you want to start investing in your blog.

(scroll down for more)

edit9

Content

For me, I knew I wanted to make a personal style blog about what I wear each day so to me, my blog is a Mens Fashion Blog. That may mean something different to you and it doesn’t mean that yours has to be the same! This is your space to create what you want to show the world so there really are no boundaries. That’s the beauty of blogging really, it is what you make it! A Mens Fashion Blog to someone else might mean posting the latest mens fashion collections, commenting on trends, focusing on smaller lesser known brands etc. The possibilities are endless really. So decide on what content you want to create and go from there. Everything is a learning curve, nothing is ever right or wrong so don’t be afraid to post your work. Remember what a Mens Fashion Blog means to you and keep that in mind.

(scroll down for more)

edit10

Consistency

The next step and probably the most crucial step to blogging is consistency. I have had so many friends tell me they’re starting a blog or they ‘had a blog’ but they just couldn’t be bothered to post anymore. I think this is the hurdle that catches out a lot of people, even some bloggers that I know don’t actually post that often or only post when it’s a paid for/sponsored post and it’s a pet peeve of mine. Blogging to me is constant updates and documentations and you’ve got to get into the habit of constantly updating. I post two outfits a week (regardless of whether It’s a paid post or not) over here on gallucks.com and If I don’t I feel so so guilty haha.

Not because anyone is making me do it or because something will happen if I don’t but I would be letting myself down. I love sharing my outfits with you guys and It’s what I used to do as a hobby in my spare time so for that to be my actual job – makes me even happier about doing it! When I did get consistent with my outfit posts and my Instagram posts etc after about 6 months I started getting emails from brands who wanted to collaborate with me because they’d seen me progress – which was fantastic! Consistency definitely is key, don’t set your objectives too high, make it manageable, even 1 post a week on your blog and see how it goes.

(scroll down for more)

edit5 edit11

Photography

A big breakthrough for me and my own Mens Fashion Blog was discovering my own photography style, in the past I used to use my webcam on my laptop to take pictures of my outfits (if you go back to 2011 I’m sure you’ll see!). But when I turned 21 I asked for a DSLR camera (here) for my birthday (which I still use today) and that’s when everything kicked off really, when I moved to London I bought myself a tripod because no one was around to take pictures of me. So I would find a quiet spot and set up the camera on self timer, although I had constant fears of someone running off with my camera/tripod and wouldn’t really recommend shooting alone because it’s not that safe. I did what I needed to do, I wanted to create content and all I had was myself – my biggest lone shoot I did on my lunch break at Westfield Shepherds bush shopping centre, my god did people stare! haha.

Aside from my tripod I also found a lot of help through other bloggers, like my good friends Olivia (here) and Mikko (here). We would meet up and take each others outfit photos! It’s a great way to meet other bloggers and find out little tips and tricks that other people use when posing or shooting and I do recommend reaching out to other bloggers but only meet people you feel comfortable with meeting.

Now I feel though that the times have changed and blog photography has reached a new level that is on parr with magazine editorials and campaign images. If us lot can go out and create incredible imagery that is sometimes better than high fashion brands multi million dollar campaigns – then that’s fantastic! However don’t feel that to have a successful blog you need to buy the best camera, pay for a photographer, wear the best clothes etc. because you really don’t. Dedication, honesty and passion will always prevail. Obviously constant improvement is important, I try and improve on every post that I create, it’s like I’m in competition with myself and that’s the only kind of competition that I actually like.

(scroll down for more)

edit2 edit8

Community

There is an ever growing community of mens fashion enthusiasts and Mens Fashion Blogs  all with their own individual take on fashion, there’s bloggers, writers, shoppers, designers, illustrators from streetwear to sartorial it’s HUGE and gets bigger everyday. So don’t feel shy about messaging, emailing or reaching out to someone. Try and get involved in what you’re passionate about because you never know where it might lead.

(scroll down for more)

edit3 edit4

Final Thoughts

Finally I will say that you’ve got to be happy and comfortable in what you’re doing, if you’re doing it for the wrong reasons it will show through. Never expect anything just because of how many pageviews, followers or likes you have, I do get a lot of messages from people asking ‘how do I get stuff for free’ and things like that. Obviously once you’ve established an audience things like product reviews and sponsored posts will start cropping up but when I first started my blog I didn’t even know that was a thing, I was simply doing it because I wanted to. I think passion and modesty is really important to a blogger because no matter who you are or what you do, we’re all just people.

Was that a really cheesy ending? haha Thank you so much for reading and congratulations if you got this far! Good luck if you are starting your own Mens Fashion Blog – Do leave a comment below with any questions you have or if you simply want to tell me what you thought of this post. I think this is the longest blog post I’ve ever written.

Don’t forget to follow me on Instagram, YouTube, Twitter  and Snapchat ‘gallucks’ if you like!