Today's Blog Spotlight is brought to you by food, fashion and the odd glass of champagne. The London Luxe is a London lifestyle blog that extolls the virtues of living in the capital and editor Louise Hooton explains what inspired her to start blogging about what the city has to offer.
Tell us about your blog, how did you get started? Why did you choose your subject?
The blog was started about 18 months ago with the simple purpose of sharing with like-minded people, news and thoughts on all things style and food related. To this day the rule of thumb as to whether a product or service is featured is this: would I be interested in reading about this?
How do you source content for your blog?
Much of the content actually comes through our great network of PRs. We’re very blog friendly and always keen to hear ideas. That said, we will also write about things we like which we have happened to stumble upon, be that a new bar or restaurant, or beauty product.
Do you write reviews? How many people read your reviews?
The team at The London Luxe comprises me (who set it up and edits the site), Ali and Victoria. We actually prefer to write lengthier reviews than shorter news-led pieces, meaning that the things we do cover needn’t necessarily be ‘news’.
How did you build a following for your blog?
Word-of-mouth remains an important vehicle for making sure we attract the right following. We also tweet (although probably not frequently enough!) and share content on our Facebook fan page. The team all work full-time so we always encourage any brands we work with to help promote our articles on their social networks too. This not only makes our lives easier but generally increases traffic to the site. Win win!
Are you a PR friendly blog? Do you accept contributions and content for your blog?
Yes absolutely. We aren’t advertisers though, so if a product or service really isn’t great, then we will say so!
How best do you like to be approached by PRs?
Email is best in the first instance.
You can find Louise tweeting @TheLondonLuxe.