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The Pros & Cons of Writing a Shoe Blog

The Pros & Cons of Writing a Shoe Blog

The Pros & Cons of Writing a Shoe Blog

This upcoming August I'll be clocking in 6 years of writing a shoe blog. This shoe blog, of course! Man, just writing those words: 6 years. That's a long time, people. Considering most give up blogging after 3 months, that kinda makes ShoeTease ancient in the fashion blogosphere.

I've learned a lot during this time. But don't get me wrong: I'm still learning new things everyday & putting up with experiencing highly irritated & amazing stuff. Many specific to shoe blogging in particular.

Writing a Shoe Blog: 6 Things I Love/Hate

Writing a shoe blog - ShoeTease

Aside from being asked why I started a shoe blog in the first place, people often wonder what makes writing about shoes, well, different. And different it is. I'm often considered a fashion blogger & I get that: I blog about shoes & shoes are fashion after all! But aside from the odd shoe styling/outfit post here & there, shoe blogging is not the same. There is no “lifestyle” involved, no recipe sharing, no travel lusting. Unless, of course, you consider shoe hoarding a lifestyle. I know I do!

As with all niche blogging, there are many perks & certain disadvantages that come with focusing on one particular topic. Especially with respect to women's shoes. Here are a few for me:

Pro: It's Not About Me

Thank goodness! I don't have to showcase every pore as do beauty bloggers, or bare my soul like the mommy bloggers. Or subject people to my usual frumpy OOTDs. True fact: I don't buy many clothes. I know, SHOCKING.

But best part of all, I rarely need to show my face. It's freaking fantastic! I don’t have a particular problem with my face (well, maybe I’m having a little trouble adjusting to ageing – but aren't we all?), but doing my makeup is a drag & my hair's always messy. I'm also particularly guarded when it comes to personal matters & I have a tendency of eating my food, not Instagramming it.

But I'll happily share my shoes (not literally though!).

And luckily with shoe blogging, I get to stick to a topic where I may voice my loud opinions & views on shoes, but it doesn't revolve around me on a personal level. I'm not from the selfie generation, what can I say?

Although I do realize I must bite the bullet now & again and show the face behind the heels (also not to be permanently coined the “faceless blogger”!), I prefer to stick with showing skin from the knees down. Shoefies before selfies. It's truly a motto to live by!

Which actually brings me to a major con of writing a shoe blog….

Con: The Shoe Perverts

writing a shoe blog 3

Yep, I just said shoe perverts.

Someone's gotta talk about it & it might as well be me. Many men (and women) adore feet & shoes in a…now how shall I put this delicately? In an unsavoury way? And there are so many in fact, that if truth be told, I’ve actually considered taking my shoe blog in “another” direction. It would be a solid business decision, really, seeing how there's a HUGE market for it. I mean, no one’s gonna even see my face right? Yeah, but NO.

Let me interject here that I’m not passing judgement on any of these folks. OK, well, maybe a little with my use of the heavily loaded term “pervert”! But, really, whatever floats your boat; I don't care. As long as you keep my shoe blog & I out of it. There are just some things that I do not want to read, little less see at 7am on a weekday morning. Even if it is #TuesdayShoesday.

And it's not just a matter that my blog's called ShoeTease (you can read how I came up with that name here). Many a fashion loving friend on Twitter have stopped taking shoefies solely for this reason.

I have some amazingly engaged & supportive followers on Twitter that possibly sway towards a quasi-unwholesome shoe loving direction. But they know where to draw the line when it comes to my PG-13 rated shoe blog talking about shoes within the context of fashion, not fetish. The others, get blocked.

#SorrynotSorry

As someone based in Toronto, Canada (read: conservative & uptight) whose audience mainly consists of fashion bloggers, controversy-free brands & everyday fashionistas, you just can't be associated with certain X-rated profiles, ya know!?

Pro: I Get Lots of Shoes

writing a shoe blog lots of shoes

Fashion bloggers get lots of stuff. I get lots of shoes. Which makes sense, cause that's what I'm blogging about! Obvs. I truly love shoes: wearing them, designing them, reviewing them. There's nothing quite as thrilling as opening up newly shipped shoe parcels. And to be able to test out so many types of footwear & shoe accessories for my readers is rewarding & fun.

I get asked how many shoes I own. I'm not really sure, but I think I'll write a post on that subject very soon! But I can say that I receive armfuls per month. You do the math. I repeat: 6 years.

Con: Lack of Shoe Storage

With great shoes comes great responsibility. Like, where do I put them all!? I'm living proof that a gal can have too many shoes. Seriously. I live downtown so spacial constraints are an issue. And I don't live alone.

Do you have any idea how much room a kid takes up? Too many potential shoe closets, that's what!

I can't very well kick out my family to create more room for shoes, but I literally need an extra room for all of them. They're currently scattered throughout my home, lining my shelves, countertops & floors. And that's just the overflow from my closets!

Not that I'm really complaining about it. Truly. But yeah, complete & utter #shoebloggerproblems!

Pro: Great for SEO

You know all those blogging conferences & blogging bloggers telling you to keep focused on one area of interest? Well, there's a reason for that & it has less to do with simply standing out from the crowd. It's a matter of SEO. Yes: Search Engine Optimization. I could nerd out on the subject for hours, but here are my 2 cents:

If you're writing about everything relating to fashion, food, travel & more, search engines won't know what to make of you exactly, especially if your blog is relatively new. Start writing a lot about specific things such as, oh, I dunno, women's shoes and Google will start showing you the love. Like ending-up-on-the-first-page-of-search-results kinda love. Especially if you're trying to establish your blog as a go-to resource. And trust me, there's no love quite like Google love!

Of course, you have to know how to harness that SEO potential, but once you do, it's blogging gold & a great way to expand your reach far beyond your current audience. Or a way to gain one at the very start 🙂

Con: Highly Restrictive

writing a shoe blog 6

There are a lot of things you can write on the subject of shoes & high heels. Some of them have nothing to do with the physical product itself: like shoe accessories & shoe care. But although restricting oneself to 1 topic is great for SEO, it can be a bit of a pain in the butt. I'm not going to lie: I sometimes get shoe'd out.

Yes, I can get sick of talking about shoes, tired of figuring out new ways to chat about & photograph them. It's much harder to keep things fresh & especially difficult to create original content for Instagram. So to sway a bit from my ordinary shoe blog centred content, you might start seeing a post or two on my experiences with shoe blogging. You know, like this current one you're reading & my most recently ranty post about why I want to quit Instagram! Because it's still about shoes, right?

Do you blog? If so, is there anything you find particularly fabulous or tedious about it?

 Writing a Shoe Blog - Pros and Cons

xo Cristina

This post may contain affiliate links. ShoeTease may earn a small commission if you click through and/or make a purchase. Thanks for your support!

Dadie Bradshaw

Tuesday 8th of March 2016

LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! This post is perfect!

DadieB. ~ dadiebradshaw.altervista.org

ShoeTease

Tuesday 8th of March 2016

Too sweet thanks Dadie!!

jay

Monday 7th of March 2016

I'm a shoe addict, freak, fanatic, whatever word best describes a hopeless shoe craze like me...lol. I'm African , Nigerian to be specific and I've followed your blog since forever. I love your writing style and look to you for inspiration. I totally agree with your pros and cons except i'm not getting enough shoes just yet... lol! thankfully not experienced any perverts yet, not so many shoefies BTW.

I love shoe tease and gthanks for being an inspiration to new bloggers like me.

ShoeTease

Monday 7th of March 2016

Thanks so much for the support! So many shoes is a great "problem" to have :) Yes, watch out for posting those shoefies on Twitter! You never know the DMs and odd comments you're going to get...yikes! xo Cristina

L Λ F O T K Λ (@LAFOTKA)

Monday 7th of March 2016

Love the images and love the honesty of the post! My readers mainly want to see what I wear, but I have a "health" and "had to share" sections for all my other passions, but I realise that these topics are really there just for me! haha.... If I had to blog every day about fashion like full-time bloggers I would probably get quickly bored and have a serious issue with my bank account (and my other half), but I love your shoe posts and shoe accessory posts - I know I'll get great insight and new trend updates from you always! And I want to see more outfits with that beautiful face of yours please...

Perverts! That's sick... I've never (phew) had any major instanced like that, but for some strange reason my Linkedin attracts all sorts of weirdos to my profile and I often receive dodgy messages. The most "professional" network out there, eh?

Great post!

Tatyana x

LAFOTKA www.lafotka.com

ShoeTease

Monday 7th of March 2016

No way, on LinkedIn? That's insane!! Twitter is mostly the problem and the tripleX content that pops out at me every so often is really not a great thing to deal with!! Yes, I don't know how full time fashion bloggers do it with the huge wardrobe (aside from bank account probs, how where does one put it all lol!?).

Thanks so much for the love Tatyana!!xoxo

dustbury.com » Down at the heels

Saturday 5th of March 2016

[…] There are, inevitably, people with more prurient interests in that realm, and Cristina, who writes a shoe blog, is weary of them: […]

CGHill

Friday 4th of March 2016

On the subject of pervs, I sympathize: in at least some of the circles in which I operate, the mere fact that I can distinguish between styles invites suspicion. ("Why would you even know that?")

And I admit that if I had to write on one subject day after day, I'd probably start gnawing through the straps by the end of the week. In #blogchat the other day someone was wondering how the heck a blogger could have a couple of dozen tags, and I was sitting there debating whether I should mention my own tag count, which is way over 10,000.

ShoeTease

Monday 7th of March 2016

Yes, it's hard to keep at it on one subject, but thank goodness shoes have so many underlying categories! Those shoe bloggers that just post one shoe after another? I'd die of boredom!! So much fun to talk about how to care for shoes & make them fit a little better. Helps people love their shoes even more too :) Thanks for the perv support! Love a man who has great taste in shoes and keeps it at that haha xoxoCristina