How to Start and Monetize a Fashion Blog

A blog is a great way to share your love for fashion, whether via your own outfits, commentary, or by highlighting others’ street style. Before you start writing, think about what you want to get out of your blog. That vision can help guide you as you design your website and choose what topics to cover.

Once you’ve built a following for your fashion blog, you can explore ways to make money from it—including passive income—through ads, affiliate marketing, or sponsorships.

1. Decide what you want to focus on

It’s generally easier to build an audience if your blog focuses mainly on one angle or niche of fashion. That way, readers know what to expect when they come to your website.

If you’re not sure where you want to start yet, make a list of broader topics in fashion you’re interested in. For example, someone might want to cover high fashion news, but you may be more interested in local fashion designers and sharing how to DIY your own clothes. Once you have a list of topics, narrow it down to one or two by asking yourself a few questions.

1. Do I have a lot to say on this topic, and will there be changes to the topic that’ll keep it relevant long-term?

2. Do I need to invest any time or money to create content about this topic?

3. Do I have a specific angle I want to take on this topic that would make my approach interesting or unique?

The answers to these questions can help you decide where to put your focus first. Once you build a following, you can start to experiment with other types of content to see if your audience is interested.

Get more tips for choosing your niche

2. Research your audience and competitors

You’ll attract first-time visitors and keep them coming back to your blog by making your content uniquely appealing to your readers. That could be done through your topic focus, your point of view, or the style of your writing or visuals.

First, take some time to think about how you want to approach being a fashion blogger. It may be helpful to brainstorm five to 10 topics and how you’d put your own spin on them. From there, think about who your audience would be for those posts. What demographics do they fall into, and where do you think they find new content online?

Then, think about what other fashion blogs or accounts those ideal readers would follow. Take a look at those blogs and content creators to get an understanding of what’s appealing about them. Consider how your content could hit on similar points but still feel different and fresh. 

All of this research will help you get an understanding of how you want to present your blog and brand to readers.

Learn more about finding your target audience

3. Choose a website template or design your own

Once you have your initial topics and audience in mind, you can start building a website for your fashion blog. You can get started quickly with a website template. Choose or create a template that includes:

• Homepage

• Blog pages

• Aboutページ

• お問い合わせページ

Those pages should set you up with the basics so that new visitors can quickly learn about you and your blog. As your audience grows, you can look into adding other pages, like an online shop or members-only section.

When choosing your blogging platform, consider using one that has everything you need in one place. For example, Squarespace has the tools you need to set up your blog website, but a subscription also includes web hosting and support for website ad tools like Google AdSense.

See how Sustainable Baddie built a fashion blog and brand

4. Customize your design

After you choose your blogging platform and website provider, lean on your audience research and your own aesthetic preferences to customize your website design. Change page layouts, choose fonts and colors, and add extra style features like scrolling text or section break designs.

It’ll make sense to show off your latest and most popular posts on your homepage. Make sure your navigation makes it easy to find your blog and other website pages. You can also consider adding a newsletter sign-up field, so you can let any subscribers know when you’ve published a new post. 

Get inspired by blog website examples

5. Get a custom domain name

Brand your blog and claim your online space with a domain name of your choosing. Your domain name is the URL website visitors will type in to reach your website, like squarespace.com. 

To choose your domain, start by making a list of possible domain names. Most people go with their blog’s name or their own name. Once you’ve decided on a few top picks, do a quick domain name search to make sure your ideal name is available. From there, you’ll register the domain name for a—typically low—price and connect it to your website.

Get more advice for choosing a domain name

6. Start writing

Go back to your brainstorming list of topics and start drafting up your first posts. Depending on your schedule, you may find it helpful to draft a handful of posts in advance and publish them gradually. That’ll give you time to promote each post and create a planned publishing schedule.

You can schedule blog posts to publish at a later date to save yourself the task of manually publishing each one. As you build up your blog, you can create a content calendar to keep track of what you’re publishing when and any other content you’re sharing elsewhere. That’ll also help you plan around major fashion events or relevant holidays.

See tips for writing your first blog post

7. Share your work

Once you’ve published a few posts, start showcasing your hard work. Personally share your new blog with friends and family and encourage them to share it with their own networks. 

Add the link to your blog to your social media profile or link in bio and post about it. If your blog fits in with your personal or professional brand, consider linking to it in your email signature. 

As you continue writing in your area of focus, you’ll also naturally start using common search keywords in your posts. Those, and your unique knowledge and perspective, will help you optimize your blog for search engines. The better optimized your site is, the higher it’ll rank in search results and the more new readers can naturally find your site.

8. オーディエンスを拡⁠大す⁠る

To start earning money from your blog, you’ll need to prove to advertisers and brands that you have an engaged audience. Building an audience starts with the sharing step above. From there, you can explore other ways to promote your work. 

Consider creating a social media account just for your blog. You can post new or repurposed content there. Seek out places where your peers and audience spend time and share your work there, or get to know other bloggers and look for opportunities to partner with them to get in front of another group of readers. 

Audience growth takes some trial and error. What works for one blogger may not work for everyone. But keep an eye on your website traffic over time. Where visitors are coming from and which posts are most popular can give you an idea of where to focus more of your energy.

See more tips for growing your audience

9. Explore monetization options

There are a few common ways that you can make money as a fashion blogger:

1. Try affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketing is when you share a unique affiliate link on your website that takes readers to an online store or product page. If that reader makes a purchase there after clicking on your link, you get a small piece of the profit.

2. Get content sponsorships. You may be contacted by potential product sponsors, but you can also seek out these partnerships yourself. Usually, a brand pays you to share their products or content with your audience.

3. Sell ad space on your blog. Create some space for ads within your blog posts. You can then sign up for a program that displays ads based on your website visitors, and you’ll earn a small amount for each view or click.

4. Sell related products or services. If your readers trust your taste and expertise, you can sell your own products or affiliate products to them in an online shop. Or you can offer your services, like fashion styling or design, depending on your interests.

5. Add a paywall to your blog. As your audience grows, you may be able to start charging for access to your blog or a secondary blog. Set a few free previews to give readers a sense of your content, then set an affordable price to charge for access.

Affiliate marketing and showing ads on your blog are low-risk ways to explore monetizing your blog since they require a smaller investment of your time. You can apply to affiliate programs and set up display ads on your own, but you don’t necessarily need to create content around the links or ads.

No matter how you choose to monetize, keep your audience in mind. Your audience trusts you to create an experience that they care about and enjoy. That means being mindful of how disruptive ads might be and disclosing when you’re sharing sponsored or affiliate content. That also means being thoughtful about which brands you work with. Stay true to your own vision and audience, and they’ll be more likely to stick with you as your blog grows. 

Get our step-by-step guide to monetizing a blog