196: Blogger Spotlight – Nikki Parkinson from Styling You, Shares How She Built a Business Around Her Blog

Blogger Nikki Parkinson Shares How She Built a Business Around Her Blog In today’s episode, I have recorded an interview with one of Australia’s better known bloggers - Nikki Parkinson from the style and fashion blog - Styling You. I first met Nikki at one of our first ever ProBlogger events. While a newish blogger at that time she stood out to me as a blogger to watch - partly because of her journalistic background (she was one of the first journalists I’d seen make the switch) but also because she was someone who was blogging ‘smart’. Most bloggers, back then, were blogging from the heart - blogging just because they had something to say - but Nikki even back then was not just interested and passionate about her topic - she was being smart and strategic with her blogging (at least, that was the impression I got). Nikki started Styling You in July 2008 and today - 9 years later - she’s not only grown her audience, but she’s built a pretty amazing business around her blog. Nikki has written a book, launched her own shop, is an ambassador to numerous brands and has her own paid membership program for readers. In this chat, we go right back to the beginning to talk about how she got started, the mistakes she made and the things she did early that paid off. We talk about her approach to writing, where she gets her ideas for content from and her approach to planning content. I found this fascinating because her approach to planning was very different to what many bloggers teach. We talk about how Nikki built her audience and how to stand out in a competitive niche. Nikki talks about how she’s not just built a large audience - but how she’s built such an engaging community. We talk about her private Facebook group and a strategy she’s using not just to build her group but one that simultaneously builds her email list - really smart. We also talk about how Nikki monetizes - how she made her first dollar, how she works with brands, how she built her membership program and a little about her ‘shop’ where she sells the products she writes about. Nikki also talks a little about the ‘free stuff’ that brands often send bloggers and how she’s turned some of those approaches into paid partnerships. Lastly we talk about productivity and scaling her business by hiring a team to help her. If it sounds like we cover a lot of ground in this interview - you’re right - we do. The cool thing is that while Nikki’s blog is a styling blog for women, I think most of what we cover is really relevant for most niches. So grab a cup of your favorite beverage and settle down with a blanket in your favorite bean bag, or get your hiking shoes on and get ready for a long walk or get that massive pile of ironing that you’ve been ignoring ready… let’s spend the next hour or so with Nikki Parkinson from Styling you Oh - and her dog decides to join us at the end :-) Links and Resources Mentioned on Today’s Show Styling You Sign Up for Nikki’s Facebook Group CoSchedule Listen to our episode on CoSchedule in episode 195 ProBlogger Facebook Group Join the video challenge in our Facebook group Full Transcript Expand to view full transcript Compress to smaller transcript view Darren: Hi there. My name is Darren Rowse. I’m the blogger behind problogger.com, a blog, podcast, event, and a job board as well as a series of ebooks, all designed to help you as a blogger to start an amazing blog, to grow your audience, to create some great content for the audience and to build some profit out of that blog. You can learn more about ProBlogger at problogger.com.                     In today’s episode, I have recorded an interview with one of Australia’s better-known bloggers, Nikki Parkinson from The Style Blog and Fashion Blogs Styling You. I first met Nikki at one of our early ProBlogger events. It must have been 2011,