14 December,2009      Denimology, The Purseblog and Hypebeast have been named as the three most influential fashion blogs. This is according to Konector's latest report, the Top 50 Fashion Blogs and Bloggers, which is designed for fashion companies who are using, or thinking of using, blogs and social networks to promote their brands.

Using blogs for brand promotion is extremely powerful. The total combined audience for the top 50 fashion blogs is over 14 million visitors a month. “That is a huge number, and what’s more these are decided views,” says senior Konector analyst, Brett Norval. “The majority of people accessing these sites have made an active decision to view the page. Not curiosity, not advertising, just genuine interest in the content. Fashion companies can get their brands in front of those targeted consumers from day one, they can then monitor the conversations on a regular basis and gather all the feedback.”

Although the number of visitors is important, it is not the only requirement to make it onto the Konector Top 50 list. “When ranking the blogs we focus on three main criteria - reach, frequency and interaction,” says Kingsley Maunder, a director at Konector. “We therefore use our proprietary Online Impact Factor to measure how many people visit a blog, how often they visit that blog and how active they are once they get there.”

So what separates the top fashion blogs from the others?

Many of the leading fashion blogs focus on a particular topic or target market. Denimology and the DenimBlog.com for denim, The Hypebeast and Highsnobiety for streetwear, and The Purseblog for designer handbags. The Fashionable Housewife, ranked in the top 10, has set itself up as the fashion site for moms and housewives, while College Fashion is aimed specifically at college girls.

“Due to fashion’s visual nature, many of the leading blogs rely more on quality photos than content,” says Norval. “Sites like The Sartorialist, Stil in Berlin and Style/Clicker use photos of everyday people, while Denimology includes celebrity photos to great effect. However the blogs with the most devoted following are those where the bloggers model their own style. Good examples of this are Jane Aldridge from Sea of Shoes, Karla Deras from Karla’s Closet and Jessica Schroeder from What I Wore.”

“This personal touch leads to a stronger relationship between the blogger and the visitor,” says Maunder. “This strong relationship is also seen on sites that rely on engaging content. For example Go Fug Yourself uses a witty conversational style to convert visitors into regular readers. Regular readers are key as they denote people who are truly interested and interactive – people who are themselves more likely to be influencers and continue to spread the word.”

Another factor that differentiates the leading blogs from the rest is that the top bloggers use all possible means to promote their sites. The majority of them use Twitter, while some, like The Fashionable Housewife and Michelle Madhok from SheFinds.com, also use Facebook and YouTube.

A detailed overview of the report, including sample pages can be found at http://konector.com/topblogsoverview/topblogsinfashion

About Konector:

Konector links digital marketers with leading bloggers to help promote brands to highly targeted audiences.

Konector uses the Online Impact Factor to find the top independent publishers who attract millions of regular and interactive readers. These publishers are seen as experts within their field of interest, and hence have a significant influence on their audience – an influence which marketers are now using to promote their brands.