{"id":54017,"date":"2014-01-23T10:59:30","date_gmt":"2014-01-23T10:59:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/?p=54017"},"modified":"2017-02-06T16:19:38","modified_gmt":"2017-02-06T16:19:38","slug":"speedy-spotlight-the-mum-blog-liz-jarvis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/blog\/speedy-spotlight-the-mum-blog-liz-jarvis\/","title":{"rendered":"Speedy Spotlight: The Mum Blog\u2019s Liz Jarvis"},"content":{"rendered":"

An interview with<\/span> Liz Jarvis<\/a>, author of<\/span> The Mum Blog<\/a>. Liz spoke to us about blogging to her own beat, how to start a new blog and the rise of the vlog in 2014.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Why should people read your blog?<\/strong> <\/span>
\nThe Mum Blog is one of the UK’s most popular travel, parenting and lifestyle blogs, but one big difference is\u00a0I\u00a0never follow the crowd.\u00a0I\u00a0always do my own thing, or as\u00a0I\u00a0like to say, blog to my own beat.\u00a0So it always offers great content, but it’s never predictable.\u00a0It’s a quality blog!<\/p>\n

What makes your blog different?\u00a0<\/strong><\/span>
\nI\u00a0think because\u00a0I\u00a0have been a journalist for over 20 years,\u00a0I\u00a0bring all my editorial expertise to my blog.\u00a0The Mum Blog has been established for three years and\u00a0I\u00a0was blogging for two years in various guises before launching it, so\u00a0I\u00a0know what works but I\u00a0am also not afraid to take risks. For example, in among my cuddlier posts about beautiful destinations<\/a>\u00a0and gorgeous things, I\u00a0will blog about the Blackfish controversy<\/a>\u00a0or FGM and people really respond to that as well.\u00a0I\u00a0have a very strong, authentic voice, whether I’m blogging about travel\u00a0or shopping or anything else, and my readers and twitter followers trust me, which is hugely important when you’re a blogger.<\/p>\n

What’s your favourite blog and why?\u00a0<\/strong><\/span>
\nI\u00a0love English Mum<\/a>\u00a0because Becky mixes posts about food and travel and they’re always beautifully written with great photography.\u00a0I\u00a0also really love Katy Hill’s blog<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u2013 although she’s fairly high profile she’s not afraid to take risks or be controversial if it’s something she feels strongly about and I absolutely applaud that. And Tara Cain’s Sticky Fingers<\/a> blog\u00a0\u2013 Tara was one of the first British bloggers to introduce a weekly crowd-sourced blogging idea with her photography gallery and actually, as a direct result of that, my own blog photography has really improved.<\/p>\n

What advice would you give to someone who wants to start a blog?<\/strong> <\/span>
\nBe sure about the reasons why you want\u00a0to\u00a0write a blog, otherwise you just won’t commit to it. Blogging takes time\u00a0\u2013\u00a0I\u00a0blog in the mornings before work or after work, for example, and\u00a0I\u00a0work full-time;\u00a0I\u00a0don’t blog every day but you do have to be disciplined. You have to do it because you really love writing or taking photos and being part of a massive community. Don’t EVER start a blog thinking you’re going to make money from it, because first and foremost the content has to be there, and if it isn’t, the rewards (and there are lots of these) definitely won’t\u00a0follow.<\/p>\n

How does a good PR work with you?<\/strong> <\/span>
\nApproach me with something tangible that will make a good blog post.\u00a0I\u00a0never, ever blog from press releases. The pitches that work best for me and The Mum Blog are those that will give me fodder for a great post\u00a0\u2013\u00a0for example, being invited to an event that’s a good fit with the blog, to meet and interview someone who is a good fit with the blog, or to get involved with a campaign that resonates. It’s all about synergy.<\/p>\n

What do PRs do that’s bad?<\/span> <\/strong>
\nSend me press releases that aren’t remotely relevant, or listings information. The Mum Blog is not a listings site. It’s a BLOG.<\/p>\n

What was your blogging highlight of 2013?<\/span> <\/strong>
\nSo many! Being chosen to be a Royal Mum for Royal Caribbean and taken on a cruise round the Caribbean with some of the best British parent bloggers around; becoming a finalist in the BritMums awards in\u00a0the\u00a0‘travel’ category; being named one of the top 20 travel tweeters by mytravelmoney.co.uk.\u00a0I\u00a0am so grateful for all the opportunities blogging has given me both personally and professionally.<\/p>\n

What will be big in your blogosphere in 2014?\u00a0<\/strong><\/span>
\nI\u00a0think (I\u00a0hope) that we’re going\u00a0to see more bloggers (from every sector) getting back to what’s really important about blogging in 2014, focusing on content a lot more.\u00a0Personally\u00a0I\u00a0enjoy really crafting a post, as with the one about a visit to Kids Company<\/a>. I\u00a0also think vlogging is going to really explode this\u00a0year\u00a0\u2013\u00a0for me as a travel blogger that’s a hugely important area<\/a>. And\u00a0I\u00a0am a big fan of\u00a0vlog reviews, and roping in members of my family to help out. For example, this vlog review<\/a> of a phone by my niece has had nearly 10,000 views, not bad going!<\/p>\n

Editorial information on Liz Jarvis, The Mum Blog and thousands of other media contacts and outlets, can be found in the<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0CisionPoint<\/a>\u00a0Media Database<\/a><\/strong>.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An interview with Liz Jarvis, author of The Mum Blog. Liz spoke to us about blogging to her own beat, how to start a new blog and the rise of the vlog in 2014. Why …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":322,"featured_media":54018,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[248,7272,4038,5084,5741],"tags":[4727,5705,5706,125,7300],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54017"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/322"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54017"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54017\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":99812,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54017\/revisions\/99812"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54017"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54017"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54017"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}