Nine Off-Duty Models Share their Top Tips for Starting a Blog
1/9Coco Rocha: <a href="http://oh-so-coco.tumblr.com/" target="_blank"><em>Oh So Coco</em></a>
Why did you decide to start a blog?
"I saw that within fashion, there was a void to be filled. Lots of people were blogging about the fashion world, but few were blogging from inside the fashion world. To my surprise, my little amateur blog received a lot of attention, and for the first time ever, I had an audience interested to read my next few words rather than just see my next few pictures."
What do you like to post?
"I use my Tumblr as a public forum to set the record straight, and also as a photo diary of my adventures. I have it linked directly to the Instagram on my phone, so no matter where in the world I am, I can show my friends and family what’s going on around me."
How do you interact with fans?
"Fans can always leave me a comment, or even write me a private email through my blog. I read every single thing that I’m sent and often reply privately. Another big part of Tumblr is ’tagging’ your posts, and I always check the posts that my fans tag me in."
How much time do you spend blogging?
"Some days I’ll post two or three things, some days nothing. It’s not hard to find a few minutes here and there to update my social media. I have eleven different account apps neatly laid out on my iPhone and I’ve become a pro at updating them all: Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, Google+, Instagram, Viddy, VideofyMe, Sina Weibo, Tencent Weibo, and Pose."
Why did you select the Tumblr platform when you started blogging?
"Tumblr is perfect for me because it’s all about the visual image, and modeling is an entirely visual career. With Tumblr, a picture has the capability to go viral if the public responds well and re-blogs it. Just last week, a simple picture of a sunset that I took in Manhattan had over 17,000 re-blogs."
What are your top tips for starting and maintaining a successful blog?
"Have a unique point of view and stick to that. Find something that you’re passionate about, and you will find like-minded people who appreciate your zeal."
2/9Amy Finlayson: <a href="http://www.byfin.net/" target="_blank"><em>by FIN</em></a>
Why did you start your blog?
"I found blogging to be easy way to communicate my thoughts and aesthetics into a vision I love. It's easily edited and I am under total control, which I think is important as I am in an industry where I relinquish a lot of control regarding my image. It's nice to have a forum to express my identity."
What topics do you cover?
"Artist interviews, imagery both professional and personal, image comparisons, reviews of collaborations, simple fun snaps and so on. It's a bit of a mash-up. I am keeping it predominantly as an art and fashion blog. I am sure modeling will come up under the umbrella of the 'fashion' theme, but my aim is to educate regarding fashion and art as overlapping themes and expressions. Fashion gets a bad wrap as an industry with no depth."
Can you describe your writing process?
"I try and keep it simple. People don't want to go to an art blog to read an essay. Short, sweet, interesting, and to the point. It's about the images speaking for themselves as much as they can, and I just clarify and pose questions to elicit interest and evoke emotion."
_ Do you think that having a blog helps dispel misconceptions about models?_
"I think it depends on the blog. Modeling is seen as quite an egocentric profession, and if the blog plays up to that, I think it only acts to solidify stereotypes. All the models I know, however, are exceptionally smart and push the boundaries and preconceived notions regarding modeling and our industry."
3/9Cameron Russell: <a href="http://artroots.info/" target="_blank"><em>ArtRoots</em></a>
Why did you start this blog?
"I started my first blog, Funny and Interesting, a really long time ago. I haven’t updated it in a while because I was finishing college at Columbia. I wrote a thesis on public art, and for all the interviews I did, I took videos. The idea of the project was to talk about what people can do at the grassroots level to change their neighborhoods and improve where they live. I didn’t want my thesis to sit on a stack, so I turned it into a blog."
Why did you decide to use Tumblr as your platform?
"I feel like Tumblr is the most beautiful blogging tool that exists. I’ve done this long enough that I know the basic HTML, and people should not be afraid to make changes to their blogs. If you Google ’how do you change this’ or ’how do I add this button,’ you can copy and paste HTML and learn the basics. Codecademy is also a new way to learn HTML. To edit the videos, I learned how to use Final Cut."
What do you look for when you read other blogs?
"I think it’s easy to look at blogs when there’s a lot of mid content. I tried to do that on Art Roots. Blogging really lends itself to images that are easy to re-tumble, re-post, re-blog. You can post comments on other people’s blogs and form relationships online. Or you can be a complete genius and start Texts From Hillary overnight!"
4/9Kelly Mittendorf: <a href="http://kmitt.tumblr.com/" target="_blank"><em>I Will Cleverly Entitle This Later</em></a>
What do you like to post?
"I like to answer questions with gif images and make people laugh, and I also post inspirational photographs."
How do you interact with readers?
"Answering questions shows people a little about myself, and going back and forth with a person lets me know something about them! I’ve actually made friends from doing so."
_How much time do you spend blogging? _
"If I’m awake, I’m blogging already. I’m connected to it to my phone so I have access to it wherever!"
What are your top tips for starting and maintaining a successful blog?
"It sounds cliché, but be yourself and be social!"
What other social media platforms do you use?
"I have an official Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram! They’re all connected."
5/9Chrissy Teigen: <a href="http://sodelushious.com/" target="_blank"><em>So Delushious</em></a>
What motivated you to start blogging?
"It came out of nowhere! I wasn't that busy—I was moving agencies and unsure of what to do with my life. In the early entries, I start out talking about making my own bacon, and then am like, what do I do with my life? I saw that I had over 100 comments, and it was from this group of amazing women who were in the same position as me. We all picked each other up. I always thought that social media was place where people were going to hate on you, but my blog has formed this wonderful community."
Why did you decide to focus on food?
"I wanted to be involved with food first. Modeling just kind of happened—it can be a shorter window, especially nowadays. I wanted to go to culinary school when I was younger, and food was always a passion. People can keep me company on my modeling trips through the blog, but the recipes are still the most popular. I'll post a recipe that's simple, eye-catching, and no-fail, like mustard potatoes in a zip-lock bag, and it gets thousands of hits. My readers are new cooks. They don't want to be Martha Stewart, but they want to step it up!"
Can you describe your writing process?
"I end up with a ton of run-on sentences. I think, are people going to make fun of me because I'm ranting? I try to not care about the punctuation as much as the flow."
How do you find the time to update your blog?
"It's hard! You want readers to love the dishes as much as you've talked about them on Twitter. There's a lot of time that goes into it. I want to have the best photos—a lot of times it's an amazing dinner, but I have all the wrong pictures, so I have to make it again."
Do you use other social media platforms?
"I'll post a recipe to Twitter with my Instagram photo of the recipe, and then that will lure people to the blog later. Bringing them all together helps. I like my blog to be very real. When something is hideous, I say it. Not all dishes have the best presentations. Instagram makes everything look so gorgeous; it's too pretty! I don't want people to say, 'my dish doesn't look like that; it must not be right.'"
6/9Cailin Hill: <a href="http://themodelburnbook.tumblr.com/" target="_blank"><em>The Model Burnbook</em></a>
Why did you start your blog?
"I started modeling with the aim to transition into fashion writing. I seem to have created this little niche for myself by combining the two."
What topics do you cover?
"I try to keep it fashion-oriented. I'm a bit of an outsider by nature, and it's not a blog about being beautiful and adored. I was the awkward weird kid in high school, and I'm the awkward weird kid of modeling. Someday, I'll be the awkward weird grandmother who lives in a yurt, wears vintage Comme Des Garcons and has to stop and pet every cat she sees on the way to the supermarket. I'll own that. It would probably make a great blog."
Can you describe your writing process?
"Usually, I will feel a writing mood come over me, I can't force myself to sit down and bang something out. I have to really feel passionate about how I'm feeling in the moment. I will be completely frustrated by something, or completely in love with something—then it 'goes in the book,' that's where the Mean Girls reference comes in. If I don't commit to finishing it all in one sitting, I rarely publish it."
What are your top tips for starting and maintaining a successful blog?
"I think there has to be something interesting there that reaches a larger audience than the niche you're trying to hit. Before I hit post, I always put on my, thinking cap. Look at your blog from a number of perspectives."
7/9Michele Ouellet: <a href="http://micheleouellet.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><em>KISSSER</em></a>
Why did you decide to start a blog?
"I really enjoy taking photos, and I’m in extraordinary situations that needed documenting. I was going on amazing trips without taking one picture, so to the blogosphere I went!"
What do you like to post?
"Kissser is mostly a photo blog. I put up behind-the-scenes pictures and videos from jobs and trips along with my latest modeling shots. I’m very interested in food, so I started another blog called KISSSER EATS.
Can you describe your writing process?
"I usually let the photos do the talking with some light captions. Whatever I post is always positive!"
Why did you select the platform of Blogspot when starting your blog?
"I started the blog in 2006, and I saw my favorite sites were on Blogspot, so that’s what I did too. The interface is user-friendly, but there weren’t as many options then as there are now. I like Tumblr, too."
What are your top tips for starting and maintaining a successful blog?
"Be honest with yourself and post what you think is great. There are plenty of other sites about other people’s opinions and style. Be unique, and don’t worry about the haters!"
8/9Lauren Maxwell: <a href="http://lifewithouttanlines.com/" target="_blank"><em> Life Without Tanlines</em></a>
Why did you start your blog?
"Coming from a suburban neighborhood in Arizona, I started my blog to show other young girls that fashion can be goofy and quirky– and most importantly, that no matter where you are in the world or what brand you're wearing, you can be a part of it."
What do you like to post?
"I try to bring a different angle to things on my blog. I've been fortunate enough to have a small career as a model so I do enjoy writing about my experiences as a model, whether it's the good, the bad, or the ugly. I find myself answering a lot of questions on my blog from readers who are inquiring about what it takes to become a model and how I cope with the harshness of the industry. Diversity is the key to having an interesting blog—no one wants to constantly read the same thing over and over again."
Why did you choose to use the WordPress platform?
"I've found it to be the most reliable, user-friendly, and professional platform. Although I'm not to shabby with html coding, it's convenient to have so many premade layouts on Word Press, especially since I'm able to customize them if I desire."
What other social media platforms do you use? How do you connect them to your blog?
"I use my Facebook as a type of fan page to share with readers what is up-and-coming on the blog. Twitter is a place where my followers can feel connected to me on an even more personal level. Tumblr is essentially an inspiration board that I tie into my blog with images that have caught my eye. Instagram is a behind-the-scenes platform for my blog. I share funny photos or more detailed shots of daily outfits on there to give people a minute-by-minute look into my life."
What are your top tips for starting and maintaining a successful blog?
"It's easy to get people to come to your blog initially, the hard part is convincing them to keep coming back. I know who my readers are and what they enjoy reading about. I've always tried to stay true to who I am as a person – and I believe that's why my readers keep coming back."
9/9Lydia Carron: <a href="http://pleasedofeedthemodels.tumblr.com/" target="_blank"><em>Move Munch Model</em></a>
Why did you start your blog?
"I followed a lot of blogs, and I at first thought that there was no point because there are already a lot of good blogs out there. Over the past few years, I've kept a journal. I'll write in it and add photos, but no one prints out photos anymore, so it was more convenient for me to blog. Everything is there, and it's all clean and on my computer."
How do you connect with readers?
"I was surprised by all of the questions I receive. I've had my blog for four months, and during the first two months, no one could write comments because I didn't have that section enabled. I try and answer all of the questions—sometimes they are hard, but I think it's really important."
Why did you decide to use the Tumblr platform?
"It's the most basic and easiest to use. I wanted to keep the layout pretty simple."
Do you use other social media platforms?
"I'm a shy person, so even having a blog is a lot for me. It felt weird to me to post about myself. I didn't think that I was that interesting!"
What are your top tips for blogging?
"It makes it easier when you're honest. I'm trying to share information and be truthful about what I eat. I hope it gets the point across that models do eat and ercise. If you're going to start a blog, you should write about something you are truly interested in."
