Archive for: PR

Stephanie Walton is the blogger behind Steph and the Spaniels, which was recently named in the Top 10 UK Pet Blogs. Charting the adventures Steph has with her husband and two spaniels – Severus and Lily (Always) – Steph and the Spaniels is known for its beautiful aesthetics and for showcasing the best of dog-friendly UK. We spoke to Steph about how the blog has changed, the joy of loving dogs and how lifestyle brands can become dog-friendly.

How has your blog changed from when you first started?
I started blogging around nine years ago so it has changed a lot; it’s grown and changed as I have. Now being a very dog-friendly lifestyle blog, it really is a large part of my life.

Just like our passions and hobbies change, that’s what has happened to what I’ve shared. I’m also sharing the fact I’m a 30-year-old fur mum.

What’s the best thing about being a pet blogger?
The community is lovely, as well as the ease of it. Like I mentioned, what I blog about is literally my everyday life with the dogs, our travels tips for others or what we wear. I love that it’s such a diary for me to look back over.

How conscious are you of the animal’s personality as opposed to your own when writing?
It’s not the dogs’ personality at all actually, I think it’s very important to showcase a dog’s life and that isn’t without the owner. It’s a lifestyle blog with a dog-friendly topic, so it’s all about our spaniel life, both human and hounds. Of course, I showcase what the dogs like and want to be sure my readers get to know them too.

What’s better cats or dogs?
I’ve not owned a cat, so I can’t say which is better. It’s such a personal opinion, and I’d never take that away from a cat owner – as only they know.

I know I adore my dogs, I’d do anything for them because they make me so happy and all I want to do is make them happy. They make me a better person, they get me out adventuring and exploring and they make me passionate about something.

Did you have a pet growing up?
I did, we had a lovely show cocker called Megan. She no doubt started my love for spaniels.

We also got Alfie and Tilly, our family dogs while I was still living at home. Sadly, Alfie has now passed but we love having Tilly over and inviting her on our adventures too – she loves being with Sev and Lily.

What’s the best top tip you have for pet owners?
That’s a hard one! I have so many. But I think enjoy them, let them love you and be loved. Have fun with them and get to know them, they have so much to give.

How do you work with PRs and brands?
In many ways, we really love campaigns with substance and that can really get us creating fun and interesting content. We love being able to collaborate with pet brands, as well as lifestyle brands that we can bring a dog aspect into, as it shows how important pets really are to everyone.

What are the best collaborations you’ve worked on?
Again, such a hard question because we’ve had some wonderful collaborations.

Our travel work is amazing, it gets us out and exploring and holidaying with your pets is so popular now too, so sharing that is great for my readers.

Being able to work with brands we love is so exciting and such a proud feeling.

We’ve adored working with Barbour and Haven Holidays particularly this year, but every collaboration we are thankful for and so excited we get to create content to share.

What other blogs do you read?
I love reading dog-friendly blogs, any lifestyle and travel blogs too. I’m a big blog reader and I love finding new pet blogs like mine. I enjoy reading everyday life and snippets into travelling with your dog or day to day life like walks and outfits.

The Baking Explorer is Kat Buckley’s Top 10 Baking Blog. Running since 2012, The Baking Explorer promotes achievable bakes that are both delicious and fun to make. Covering a huge variety of recipes, Kat also creates dairy-free baking and has a loyal vegan following. We caught up with Kat to find out how the blog has evolved, the best collaborations she’s worked on and what PRs need to know.

How has your blog changed from when you first started?
I’ve been running The Baking Explorer for over six years now and it’s come a long way in that time! My photos are considerably better, the recipes are clearer and better laid out, I’m vegetarian now and I make vegan recipes too occasionally – overall it’s more user friendly, veggie-friendly and easier to find delicious treats to make at home!

Why baking?
I was inspired to start my blog by The Great British Bake Off. I loved the challenge of baking new things and feeding my friends and family with my creations. I still get the same buzz from creating a new recipe and seeing people enjoy it.

How do you make your blog stand out?

I always try to be creative and come up with fun recipes for my audience to try themselves at home and showcase my style of baking.

What’s the best bake you’ve ever made?
My favourite cake of all time has to be my Chocolate Guinness Cake with Baileys Buttercream, I make it every year for my birthday.

What one thing should PRs know about you?
I’m vegetarian and I don’t drink tea! I get a lot of emails about tea as it goes so well with cake but sadly I don’t drink it.

What are the best collaborations you’ve worked on?
I really enjoyed a recent collaboration I did with Berry Gardens where they sent me some of their amazing UK grown cherries and I made a White Forest Cake with a cherry & kirsch jam – it was divine!

Do you think bloggers need their own industry association?
I think we are well regulated at the moment in terms of making it clear when we’ve been paid to advertise a product, as it’s so important for the audience to make an informed decision.

What other blogs do you read?
Mostly other food and baking blogs! I have a lot of blogger friends in the community so I’m often checking out their recipes.

Jonathan Gutteride writes The Money Shed, a leading money-making blog that was recently ranked in the Top 10 UK personal finance blogs.  A community and forum sharing and tips and tricks to make money from home, The Money Shed has grown a huge loyal audience and made them thousands of pounds. We spoke to Jonathan about how the blog has grown, why making money is better than saving and why he never has to contact PRs.

How has your blog changed over time?
Its tone has grown a lot. At the start I wanted it to be about how to improve your life by saving money or doing online work for pennies but it is very much a site that tells people those things are a waste of time and instead you can make your life easier by doing well-paid work online!

How much do you plan your posts in advance?
Not at all. Maybe five days or so! I’ll think of an idea on Monday and write the content on Friday! I don’t make blogging the long drawn out, overthought job that I see a lot of bloggers seem to relish.

What’s the biggest takeaway from the Autumn Budget for our personal finances?
Do you know I’ve not even watched the budget! I think at 37 I’m just immune to it all now and just wait until one of the budget changes impacts me directly!

Is it more important to save money or find new ways to make money?
Make money without a doubt! Why scrimp and save and cut corners on your lifestyle when you can instead just earn extra money and live a better life.

How do you work with PRs for the blog?
They contact me, we agree a price and the content goes up. I can’t even think of the last time I reached out directly to a PR as I guess after five years, The Money Shed has enough clout and authority that they want their content/backlinks on there.

What campaigns have you collaborated on that were really good?
I’ve done one for Universal in Orlando that was a good look at if the costs of theme parks are really worth it. I’ve worked with everyone from HSBC and Aviva to Quidco and Risk Free Matched Betting Firms. They all want to tap into the loyal Money Shed readership!

What’s best practice for working with PRs?
Set your budget expectations from the start! If you charge £250 for a pre-written post then make that clear at the beginning as if they can’t pay that then you are just going to waste your time going back and forth with them.

Do you think bloggers should have their own industry association?
Hell no! Blogging is far too varied for some kind of ‘bloggers union’. Every niche works so differently we wouldn’t be able to agree on anything!

What other blogs do you read?
None specifically but if I see your content come up on tweetdeck and it’s around blogging/money/starting a business etc. I will more than likely give it a click. I find 99% of my new content through social media.

Alfie’s Diary is written by Rosemary Kind on behalf of three of her dogs, all diarists and founding members of the Pet Dogs Democratic Party. Sharing their view of the world, the blog has also led to a range of merchandise, four books and been ranked in the Top 10 Pet Blogs. We caught up with Rosemary to find out how the blog has grown into an international phenomenon, writing for different personalities and working with brands and PRs.

How has your blog changed from when you first started?
When we started the blog thirteen years ago, we were living in Belgium and had just got the puppy of my dreams. We only intended to write it for a short time for family and friends to know about all the funny things going on, living abroad and trying to work out what was going on around us.

We never thought then that it would be used to teach English in schools and would start being read by people all over the world! Complete strangers would meet us and know all about our life. Alfie became a celebrity and we just had to keep going. Now we review products, provide advice as well as continuing all the fun things that a life of international travel with a dog entails. Now our commute is between England and Switzerland, but still includes as many amusing situations.

What’s the best thing about being a pet blogger?
We love it when one or other of the dogs receive emails and notes from other dogs around the world. It is great hearing about our readers from the dogs themselves.

How conscious are you of the animal’s personality as opposed to your own when writing?
Very – I write from the point of view of three of my different dogs. I’ve even been asked if different people write it as they can tell the different characters. Funnily enough if you analyse the language it shows up differently too. I’m very in tune with my dogs so if I’m thinking about how one of them would see things, their voice comes quite naturally.

What’s better (and WHY) cats or dogs?
For me it’s dogs. Cats are way too independent, whereas the lives of the dogs and mine are totally intertwined. Where I go, they go… even to the bathroom!

Do you dress up your pets for Halloween?
We’ve struggled to find costumes that fit. As a breed, an Entlebucher is not a standard shape. They are much broader chested than many dogs of their size and longer in the back. Whatever costumes we’ve tried in the past end up looking ridiculous… for all the wrong reasons! Maybe Wilma needs to learn to sew.

Did you have a pet growing up?
It is my only childhood regret that I was not allowed to have a pet. I’m still working on making up for it now. My teddy bears were my substitute, that and every other dog in the neighbourhood that I could get up close to.

What’s the best top tip you have for pet owners?
Do your research to find the right pet that fits your lifestyle. Don’t base your decision just on how the animal looks. Getting the right fit will bring years of happiness and it’s worth the effort it takes to do that.

How do you work with PRs and brands?
It has to be a relationship of mutual respect. Both we and they need to achieve our goals out of it. When it’s a good fit then everyone wins. I always try to reply where I am sent things that are relevant to us, but I don’t always say yes. If I’m going to partner with a brand, even for a short time, I need to make sure we can do them justice and that we can give an honest opinion.

What are the best collaborations you’ve worked on?
Recently the best has to have been First Impressions with their bronze resin casting of Alfie’s paw. The end result is amazing, and they were a real pleasure to work with.

Do bloggers need their own industry association?
That’s an interesting question. Yes, it would probably be useful. While some people set out to do this as their profession, many come to it by accidental success and probably are the ones most in need of a support network and advice.

What other blogs do you read?
We dip into all sorts. Whenever we have research to do, both for writing and life in general, blogs can be the perfect place to find information. The internet age is great for finding that whatever you are facing for the first time, someone has been there before you. I do look through the Vuelio lists too as in every category there are some really interesting blogs to read.