The Wonderlanders

Showing posts with label Wonderland Clothing. Show all posts

Measuring Success

How do you quantify success? Is it money in the bank? Is it making a difference? Is it being perceived to be a someone by others? I personally feel that it’s not one thing that makes any of us feel successful, it’s a combination of many elements.

Being excited about work

And I’m not just talking generally here. Everyday I wake up dying to get up, log on to my computer and get to work. Even on the tough days I still love what I do. Running your own business is hard but oh boy is it worth it. How do you feel every morning? Are you looking forward to what your day might hold or are you dreading it? If the latter, what small changes could you make to your day to day tasks in order to feel better about it?

Money

Obviously I’m not some kind of martyr (far from it!) but who wouldn’t feel incredibly blessed to be making a decent salary from doing a job that they love? Of course it’s not the be-all-and-end-all and I’ve always said I’d rather be poor and happy than in a high earning career that I hated, but being able to indulge in the odd extravagance, whilst similarly earning enough to live off is a very satisfying feeling indeed! Travel too is something I never really put a lot of emphasis on, however recently I’ve realised that being able to travel for work is freakin’ awesome.

Having time for yourself

The great thing about running your own business is that it’s yours to do with as you please. Sure, you have to think about things like costs and overheads and tax blah blah blah but ultimately the world is your oyster! I’ve never been one to conform and being able to do things my way, without having to answer to a ‘boss’ is the best. thing. ever. Being able to follow your own path and thrive is a sure fire way to feel successful.

Learning

No one has all the answers, not even me (I know, shock! horror! haha) but I actually never want to either. Sitting back and thinking ‘you’ve made it’ is not a way to measure success it’s a way to ensure (future) failure. Being in a career where I can constantly learn, progress and evolve is awesome. Resting on your laurels is never a good thing and jeez wouldn’t it get very very boring? All of you are in the same boat so I hope you’re all feeling pretty smug about that right now! Get out there and keep pushing yourself to improve. What skills have you wanted to sharpen? What goals have you been striving for? If you get nothing else from this article let it be this – always keep learning and always push yourself to improve!

Sometimes it’s incredibly easy to focus on how difficult running your own business is. However today I’d encourage you to look at the positives and the doors that have been opened to you and your family because of all the hard work you’ve put in. In any work you do, whether you work for yourself, are a home maker, or a multi national! You’re awesome, do you know that? What are you feeling successful about?

Advertising On Blogs: Tips For A Small Business!

As a business, especially when starting out advertising on blogs can be a perfect way to start, as budgets can be much smaller - here our tips on how to successfully advertise your small business on blogs!

Find The Right Blogs!

It’s vital that you pick the right fashion blog(s) to advertise on. (Or whichever niche your brand falls into) You need to pick ones that promote the style of clothing (and or product) that you want to work with as well as ones that reflects your own business ethos. Whether you choose to focus your advertising on one single blog or spread yourself over a few is of course up to you, however it is always vital to make sure the blogs you select can offer you the kind of potential customers you want. If you’re out of sync with what the readers of that blog are looking for you’ll be wasting everyone’s time! It goes both ways too as bloggers want to make sure they are offering their readers relevant links and content.

It does seems to me that some businesses expect that they can whack an advert on a highly trafficked blog and that enquiries will just start rolling in. Sorry but it’s a little bit more complicated than that! Be targeted with your advertising and you’ll reap the rewards. Look into your niche!

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Make Sure Your Site Suits!

This one is pretty simple! When Wonderland first started out we lacked a slight direction, so when it came to advertising it was a mixed bag. Since having the tag line 'It's always Summer somewhere' and having a more festival/boho vibe our branding changed, and therefore people came to our site knowing what to expect. If your advert doesn't reflect your product then chances are, sales will be lower.

Make Sure The Price Is Right

There is no standard pricing structure across all blogs, the all their own prices by what they judge their blog real estate to be worth. Generally the more traffic a blog receives the more expensive the adverts. However it’s not all about being the biggest. As we’ve already determined, a small targeted audience can be much more beneficial than a huge one that doesn’t necessarily identify with what you do. A newer blog might attract a very specific niche of readers, and one that you’d like to be booking. Don’t be afraid to ask for Media Packs fom a selection of bloggers and compare prices/stats/readership to make sure you can determine which is the right choice for you.

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Set Your Own Goals!

Before you start to advertise you should set yourself targets or goals in order to determine what you would like to get out of your investment. It sounds simple and obvious but only then will you be able to look at the results objectively and decide if the advertising is working for you.

Maybe you want to get 10 sales a month, or more hits, o a relationship with the blogger? Write these down and refer back to them when it comes to deciding whether to renew.

Banner Ads or Sponsored Posts

Most blogs offer a selection of banner ads (priced according to location and size) as well as sponsored posts. These articles are usually written by the blogger from information you provide them about your business. Both options will send traffic to your site but potentially in different ways. When I look at the number of clicks my banner ads get vs the sponsored posts they are not miles apart, however the traffic sent through a banner ad is usually spread out whereas the traffic from a sponsored post is condensed into one or two days.

Stand Out!

If you choose the banner advert option it’s important to make yours stand out from the competition. It sounds obvious but if all the other ads on the site are very blue in colour, for example, try making yours bright red! There are often trends in popular types of images/editing/fonts/colours so when it comes to designing your advert make sure it is as unique as possible as well as a strong representation of you and what you do. Be sure to make it very obvious what it is you do with the image that you choose. If you’re a company that specialises in prom dresses for example don’t have an image of a pair of shorts. It may be a beautiful photograph but customers who just glance at the ads may not realise what you specialise in and if they’re on the look out for a prom dres they may pass you by.

Change it up!

If you feel your advert isn’t working, or it’s been the same for a while and your clicks are going down, ask the blogger if its OK to change the graphic. I would assume that this wouldn’t be too much of a problem as long as you’re not asking to change it ever other day of course! If this is something you think you might like to try, ask if this is possible before you book the ad just to make sure it’s an option.

Give It Time!

Generally blogs will give you options to book ads monthly but for longer periods of time they will incentivise you with a discount for paying for it all up front. Often one month alone is not really enough time to make a judement on if something is working or not. Readers will rarely click on an ad the first time they see it, but if the graphic piques their interest, they are more likely to click it the third, fourth or fifth time they notice it. If this doesn’t happen for you then try changing the graphic or rebook with a different advert option.

I hope this gives you some food for thought!

Wonderland Muse: Kataragura

As a brand, we often take inspiration from the girls we use for our clothing photos. We try to use 'real' girls where possible, and always in true lighting and outdoors! One of our favourites is Kataragura who always takes wonderful photos, but is full of love and laughter is a joy to work with. So make sure you catch up with her on her instagram, in the mean time here are some of our favourite photos.

Be sure to follow her on instagram!

Keeping Your Eyebrows In Check!

Oh eyebrows! how strong is your eyebrow game? Now to be honest I always get mine threaded, I would be deadly if I had to do them myself. However here are our tips on keeping them in check in the interim!

Eyebrows can make your face, as they frame and enlarge your eye. A bit of shaping can change the way you look. They can hide your flaws, and enhance your beauty spots.

The beginning of the eyebrow should be in line with the inner corner of the eye, and should end just beyond the eye. A perfect arch. The greater the distance between the two eyebrows the wider your nose will look.

Tweeze hairs on nose bridge (if any) immediately, too unsightly.

Remove hairs that are obviously outside the natural shape.

When tweezing, remove a few hairs from one eye, then alternate to other brow. Yo Yo back and forth. This eliminates over-tweezing and helps achieve a more balanced look.

Pluck from under arch up. Never destroy top natural arch of brow, as this will cause chaotic regrowth. If a few hairs are missing, draw in each hair using a light feather touch stroke. Begin at bottom and draw upward following hair direction.

To keep brow hairs swept up, deposit damp soap on eyebrow brush or spray hairspray on eyebrow brush and brush through eyebrows. If no eyebrow brush is to hand a toothbrush (sans toothpaste) is equally effective. The finishing touch: coat eyebrows with clear mascara which holds it all in place.

What are your eyebrow tips?

OOTD - See Ya Summer!

I found this photo of before when my hair was pink, the sun was shining, it was super warm and I wore this dress all the time!

Dress by Reverse at Wonderland Clothing, Shoes by ASOS

Fashion Friday - Get Your Creep On!

Firstly I asked the owner of The Creep Store to give me a written piece about herself and oh my god I love this clothing company even more after reading this!

"Started in February 2014, but it's the product of two years of planning!

The collective is based on the idea of making really fun, different cult fashion pieces. The whole basis of it's name comes from the fact that I was the weird creepy girl at school who obsessed over really obscure art, cut up all my clothes and pinned them together with safety pins and thought that stacked eyeshadows upto my eyebrows was totally fine.

And to an extent, I totally believe that everyone has a little bit of weird, we all go through that phase, so this is a celebration of that!

At the moment, the whole thing is run by myself and my cat. Although its slowly expanding to include a bunch of amazing creatives from local stylists to photographers, to really help further the whole brand and maintain it's "independent collective" spirit. I work with an amazing friend who helps me design the pattern pieces and from there I cut, sew, embroider, package and send everything from my little studio. The whole handmade aspect is really integral to the company, so 99% of the things you can buy have been handmade, from the labels to the appliqués.

A lot of inspiration for collections are drawn from past experiences whether that's from spending time in Japan with Lolita's, to being a total punk in Camden. I'm a huge supporter of women empowering other women, especially in this industry. So I think the fashion inspo's for TCS range from artists such as Bei Badgirl and Aya Takano to riot grrrl icons such as Kathleen Hanna.We listen to A LOT of music in the studio, basically anyone from Mos Def to Goat. So that inspires a lot of what we do too. Plus we're kind of obsessed with movie girl gangs, so obviously we we've watched Clueless and Mean Girls til the DVD has broken, but we've got framed photos of Winona Ryder in Heathers, Momoko & Ichiko from Kamikaze Girls, and Fairuza Balk in The Craft, all hanging on the wall!”

What I LOVE about TCS is there’s no holding back. I’m a strong believer in self expression. To hear anyone say ‘Oh I’d love to wear that but it wouldn’t suit me’ is a real shame. NO! I never ever say that, I see something I like I wear it. If people stare at you embrace it! Embrace individuality, embrace your own style, and don’t pay attention to those who give you negative vibes because I bet they’re secretly thinking “I wish I had the balls to wear that”.

This clothing company do what they like and follow no rules. These clothes are so diverse the options on how to style them can be as basic or fun as you like and you’ll still be turning heads however you like mix and match!

This Cult Gal battle jacket is definitely one of my most favourite items on TCS site!

I had a little play about styling it with clothes I already owned and pretty much 80% of my wardrobe went with this jacket, but I just put the three outfits together for now. Any others I put together in the future will be posted on all of mine and wonderland clothing social media for you!

I styled each outfit with my white platform trainers as a lot of you have been asking me what to wear them with. I personally think you can wear them with pretty much anything!