Over at Shudoo.co.uk we’re working with Mark Heyes, who you might just recognise as GMTV’s expert stylist.

Mark will regularly be picking his favourite products, answering style advice questions and blogging at Shudoo News.

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If you want up to the minute information on the best sample sales, restaurants, salons and places to go, you’re spoilt for choice.

Stylebible.com charges for premium content

Chiconomise and Daily Candy are just two lifestyle email newsletters which offer tips for free, whilst Stylebible charges for access to similar content.

According to Stylebible’s Racheal Cooper “Membership is designed to pay for itself. If premium members take up offers or go to the higher end sample sales, the savings more than cover the cost of membership”.

Stylebible membership does come with perks (see here).

But are they enough to make you cough up £120 per year?

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A few weeks ago I caught up with Malika Dalamal, editor of the London version Daily Candy.

Malika used to write for another Daily, The Telegraph, but can now be found looking for quirky lifestyle venues, brands, events and people to feature in the glossy daily email newsletter.

Daily Candy prides itself on its organic growth, relying on subscribers recommending it to friends, as well as its strict editorial guideline, where it must be the first to feature a story.

If something’s been published elsewhere, it gets dropped from Daily Candy’s radar – it’s exclusives or nothing here!

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What did you think of Online Fashion 100?
A great idea. My mum couldn’t understand why I wasn’t at number one though!

Who in the list would you most like to be stuck in a lift with?
For stealing style tips, definitely Natalie Massenet. I suppose with net-a-porter as your own private wardrobe, it’s not difficult to be well-dressed, but she always looks so effortlessly chic.

If I’m going to be there for ages, probably Maria Milano; we’re old friends, having sat next to each other for three years when she edited GQ.com and I edited Glamour.com, so always have plenty to gossip about.

You worked with My-Wardrobe on a trends channel, would you like to work more closely with retailers on content in the future?
We’re always on the hunt for new partners and have done some great partnership work this year with Wallis, Uniqlo, Lastminute.com and i-escape.com, to name just a few.

Carla Bevan is the editor of MarieClaire.co.uk

Some say in a recession sales of shoes, make-up and accessories grow faster than that of other fashion items. Do you believe this theory, and is it impacting your content plans?
Yes, definitely, it’s far easier to update your wardrobe with a few well-chosen accessories, than expensive top-to-toe outfits.

We’re ensuring we include plenty of shoes and bags in our ever-popular Buy of the Day slot and our What to Wear This Week feature. Having said that, our readers seem to love reading about dresses, too, right now.

If you could choose a fashion blogger to do your job for a day who would it be?
Tavi, of tavi-thenewgirlintown.blogspot.com - she’s ace.

Visit the Marie Claire website

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I popped in to the, soon to be departed, London office of online fashion store Oli to meet Karen Allen and Katie Tibbs.

Me with Karen Allen (left) and Katie Tibbs (right)

Karen and Katie are based in Bradford but occasionally make the trip down to the capital for meetings.

We chatted about who the Oli customer is and what celebrities she looks to for style inspiration.

Karen brought up an old debate on whether Danielle Lloyd was an Oli-girl celebrity.

It reminded me of an online store I used to work with. An outfit Danielle wore, soon after leaving Celebrity Big Brother, sold out unbelievably fast – whether she would have that effect now is unlikely.

On another note, it’s no secret that Oli has been through some major changes of late.

Responding to the current climate the business has restructured. The Oli customer magazine is no more, the buying has been moved abroad and a lot has been outsourced.

It’s a clever strategy that will hopefully see the business maintain its position, ready to reinvest when things pick up.

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Mademoiselle Robot on negative blog comments - a must-watch.

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Gemma Cartwright and Michele Obi talk fashion blogging

Before she left Shiny Media for pastures new, I asked Gemma Cartwright how Catwalk Queen maintained its leading position and what advice she would give to up and coming bloggers.

Michele Obi of My Life Media, also gives her reasons why the website she founded, My Fashion Life, remains one of the UK’s leading style blogs.

Gemma Cartwright on maintaining Catwalk Queen’s position...

“The site’s been running for a very long time and we have quite a legacy behind us, which I think helps.

We also benefit from having contributors on the other side of the world which means we can break big stories first.
Immediacy is very important to us! I think the fact we’re not scared to target the everywoman is also important.

We’re not trying to compete with the fab fashion blogs written by model-like waifs who dress better than Kate Moss; they do it so well I don’t think there’s any point!

We aim to appeal to a broad range of ‘normal’ shoppers who like fashion and want to know more about it.”

Michele Obi on maintaining My Fashion Life’s position...

“I always try to ensure that we deliver quality content and when possible that we engage with our readers.

With blogging and the internet being so fast paced the focus can often be on churning out posts quickly, however our main priority at MFL is to deliver entertaining and informative posts.”

Gemma’s tip for new bloggers...
“Write what you know! If you shop in New Look and Primark then don’t try to pretend you wear vintage all the time.

If you make all your own clothes and hate the high street, don’t suddenly fill your blog with stuff from Topshop.
You’ll soon get bored and stop updating. You need to write about what you’re passionate about!”

Michele’s tip for new bloggers...
“Read, read and read some more! Your RSS reader should be your best friend.

Most importantly have fun with your blog. At times blogging can be quite stressful especially if you’re always on the hunt for new and fresh content but really blogging should be an enjoyable experience.”

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...At some of the blog posts from the past few months.

Drapers Etail Awards the party and the photos
Lunch with My-Wardrobe’s Andrew and Sarah Curran
Stitsh: Making money from street style
Revenue from Fashion TV
London Fashion Week Pink Drinks at the Met Bar
Rebekah Roy likes Paris Hilton
MyMall/TheMall.tv spamming?
Alesha Dixon

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Gemma Cartwright, founder of Catwalk Queen, is one of Britain’s most popular fasion bloggers. I asked Gemma about Catwalk Queen’s editorial process, the influence of fashion blogs and what items, available online, she’s coveting.

Who is the Catwalk Queen reader?
She’s a young woman interested in fashion, shopping and celebrities who wants mainstream fashion news in an easily accessible way.

She shops on the high street but aspires to buy designer, and she probably loves a bit of quirky vintage too.

How do you decide day to day which stories to cover?
We have a calendar of big events; award shows, fashion weeks, big movie premieres, album releases and so on, and tailor content to fit that.

We also look at seasonal trends, so we’ll cover swimwear in the run-up to Summer, coats in Autumn etc. But a lot of it comes from what happens on a daily basis. What we see on the news wires, picture agencies and our RSS feeds each day.

I’d say about 60% of the content is unplanned, and is a reaction to what’s happening at the time.

What’s your take on email press releases sent to multiple editors using the BCC field?
Not a problem at all, so long as it’s well-targeted. I understand that no PR has the time to personalise every single email.

But you’d be amazed at the amount of useless press releases I get because people haven’t read the site before adding me to their mailing list.

Also, if they forget to blind copy, that’s another matter!

Do you think retailers understand the growing influence of fashion blogs?
Most of them. The shift is still happening, but it’s so much better now than it was a few years ago.

I remember one particular high street store once told one of my writers flat out “We don’t do online” when she called for information. A year later, they were schmoozing me with lunches, freebies and competition prizes, and to credit them, they were very open about the fact they didn’t ‘get it’ in the past.

The important thing to remember is that it’s not just the PR you need to persuade, it’s their client!

What is your top tip for brands that want to feature on Catwalk Queen?
Read the site and understand what it is we write about (for example, we don’t cover accessories or shoes outside of our outfit picks because we have other blogs devoted to them on our network). And then give us something interesting to write about!

And finally, which fashion items, available online, are you coveting this season?
Firstly I’d love an Esther Williams bikini. She used to star in films in the golden era of Hollywood, and her swimwear range is made to vintage patterns like the ones she wore. The photos on the site are awful but the bikinis themselves are perfect for that pin-up girl look!

Secondly, Kurt Geiger Fashionistas ‘Mayfair’ shoes, which have hat netting on the vamp. They’re gorgeous!

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Before you invest in marketing you need to have clarity on your website’s propositions.

Discover places: TrustedPlaces.com has a clear proposition

The proposition needs to feed in to the marketing campaign, in terms of who is targeted, and appear on the website, to affirm the marketing message.

With clear propositions any consultative help you employ, and marketing budget you spend, will be maximised.

Start with the focus on the user/customer – how does the website help their life offline, why should they buy from your store and why should they consume your content?

When coming up with your proposition remember your target audience has managed without you up until now, so you need something that’s better, quirkier, useful, exclusive or different, from the alternative.

Better – Amazon (more convenient than ordering a book from a high street store)

Quirkier – Net-A-Porter (delivers items in non-branded packaging, reacting to consumer moods)

Useful – BBC iPlayer (allows TV viewing around users lifestyles)

Exclusive – RightMove.co.uk (more properties listed than any other property website)

Different – Google Street View (offers 360 views)

It’s your job to offer something better to entice them away – whatever it is, it has to be true to the values of the company and something that can be committed to.

When you’ve got it, then go get someone to market it.

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If you’re a designer, artist or creative type waiting to get noticed, use the web to showcase your talent.

For Lauren Luke, a rising celebrity thanks to her popular YouTube make-up tutorials, being spotted online has lead to a newspaper column and her own make-up range.

Lauren was brought to my attention last week when she appeared on Natalie Cassidy’s BBC Three series Natalie Cassidy’s Real Lives.

She is better known by her YouTube username panacea81 and can be seen on the video website offering tutorials on how to recreate beauty looks seen on celebrities, film and television.

She started making the videos to help sell make-up on eBay.

Little did she know a couple of years later that she would be formulating her own make-up range and writing a beauty column for The Guardian.

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With online fashion retail seeing traffic growth of 31% it’s easy to see why there has been a growth in fashion content websites. They’re all vying for a share of the affiliate and advertising revenue that comes from having a successful online magazine.

But if these websites are serious about generating revenue in this climate, they’re going to have to throw brand awareness out of the window and create solutions that help retailers directly drive sales.

The larger retailers that have the budget for brand awareness campaigns will stick to the established high traffic websites and blogs that have been around for some time, as they deliver the mass reach they’re after.

Neutrogena runs advertising campaigns on established fashion website OSOYOU.com

Newer publishers have an opportunity to serve the many online fashion retailers with smaller budgets and niche product ranges.

It’s these retailers that will be more creative with their marketing approaches, looking to publishers for inspiration, as the publisher knows – or at least should know – their users best.

Sticking to a niche, to be more relevant to retailers and visitors, will be the key to success of the many upcoming online fashion magazines; it’s all about standing out from the crowd.

Visitors and page views are important metrics, but marketers will pay more if they are convinced your audience is engaged in a subject applicable to their product selection – something you demonstrate over time with consistent quality content on that subject.

It’s all about taking the user from your website to a retailer. If you’re known for having content on one subject, your visitor will be coming to you for that one thing – you know what they want and you can lead them into buying it.

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I recently received a 50% off voucher for The Avalon, a restaurant in Clapham, which led me to think about how restaurants could use local content to market themselves online.

Many are using 2 for 1 offers and 50% discounts to encourage people to visit their restaurants, with the main advantage of such promotions being to capture data, primarily email addresses, for future communication.

It can also be an opportunity for restaurateurs to find out where their diners are coming from – just by asking customers for their home town they can find out how far people travel to get to their eatery. It all helps to build up a profile of the customer.

Restaurateurs may rely on regulars and people who happen to be passing, but that’s not true of other local attractions which people research before visiting.

That’s why it’s important for restaurant websites to include local content, particularly landmarks and attractions of interest, which people may search for in Google.

To get that local content seen and rated by the search engines, restaurants will need to attract links to their websites from websites and blogs.

One way to do this would be to invite bloggers to the restaurant to review it – they may have smaller audiences but they would be more likely to get an SEO friendly link from a blog than a larger website.

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Aiming to connect brands with the top 10% of bloggers in the web’s most lucrative sectors Tailsweep is on a mission to change the online advertising landscape in the UK.

By offering advertisers more insight into the buzz their online campaigns have created, the company’s UK Sales Director Dan Britcher and Operations Manager Duncan Chamberlain are optimistic Tailsweep can emulate its Swedish success in Britain.

I recently interviewed Dan to find out just how they differentiate themselves from Glam and how they can ensure advertisers appear next to quality content.

Glam has been adopted by many fashion and lifestyle publishers in the UK, is this a market Tailsweep is after too?
Dan: Yes. Our experience from Sweden tells us that this is an area that fashion and luxury brands have to engage with.

We differ to Glam in our business model and the fact that we are not an ad network in its traditional sense.

We are experts in blogs and there is a need to educate fashion brands about how to engage with consumers in this area. If brands understand this area it will reap significant returns.

To ensure quality for your advertisers, your publishers must be creating quality content. How do you make sure this happens?

Tailsweep only represents bloggers who are publishing high quality content in the first place.

We make a qualitative and quantitative assessment of their sites – strong editorial, site architecture, content structure, in/ outbound links, RSS, Page Views and Unique Users and then we invite them to join our platform on a non-exclusive basis.

A brand safe environment is obviously important for advertisers but at the same time they have to appreciate that editorial integrity is sacrosanct and not something to be influenced.

There is still a perception that the blogosphere is somewhat like the Wild West which is far from the reality. Our blog partners are publishing platforms of equal/greater influence than many of the major media publishers and we need to work to preserve that integrity and our role is to educate brands about this space.

Tailsweep would never even try to influence content. If a brand has a compelling product, service or marketing initiative and it is newsworthy our bloggers will pick up on it anyway.

Is Tailsweep only after independent bloggers and networks, or would you partner with a large media title?

We are looking for partnerships with independent bloggers and networks with strong blog platforms.

If we seek the scale of ad networks then we dilute our entire proposition.

We don’t have the ambition to work with as many fashion bloggers as we can, just the best ones.

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I recently had dinner with Lily And Lionel founder Alice Stone at Soho House.

Alice is an entrepreneur, designer and website manager all in one, having launched her own range and an online shop just a few months ago.

We were brainstorming where Lily And Lionel could go in the future with her parents, Charles and Angela, who have both spent years in fashion retail, and our friend James Colclough.

It’s a really exciting time for Alice who has many business challenges to look forward to.

If you’ve ever wanted to know what it’s like to create a collection and retail online the wait is over.

Alice is about to launch the first version of her blog which will chronicle everything from her design inspirations to challenges in the retail world.

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