Blogger’s Corner featuring Gail from Is This Mutton

The Blogger’s Corner series is an interview series featuring advice and experience from bloggers whose blogs are older than six months.

If you would like to take part, you can find all of the details here.

This week, we have the lovely Gail from Is This Mutton.

1 Introduce yourself

I’m Gail, a 50-something living in London. I work for a tech company in Cambridge in digital marketing, and in my spare time I run a fashion and beauty blog, Is This Mutton?

2 Tell us a little bit about your blog

It’s aimed at women over the age of 45 who don’t want to be invisible. It’s strange how, in the UK and USA, women seem to be become invisible as soon as we’re this age, whereas in more enlightened countries, like France, mature women are still admired and respected. I try to keep on top of fashion trends with magazines like Grazia and then I try out the trends on the blog.

3 What can your readers learn from your blog?

I’ve become more courageous with fashion since I’ve been blogging, and hopefully readers will see that trends can be adapted to show a nod to fashion, without making us look like mutton dressed as lamb.

Often the clothes I wear come from places like Asos and Topshop, and I want to encourage women of my age to buy from retailers like these. I’ve always been obsessed with beauty, since about the age of 12, so I write about new products and what hasn’t worked very well, as well as those that have.

4 What’s your favourite thing about blogging?

It’s highly personal, sharing facets about my life and style, very immediate. There’s a wonderful community of women over the age of 45 who have become like friends on Instagram and through blogging.

5 And your least favourite thing about blogging?

It’s very time consuming, particularly the fashion posts (assembling the items, making sure my hair and makeup looks good, finding a location, photography and editing, writing the post, promoting it). Not to mention the back-end work to make sure broken links are dealt with and comments moderated.

6 Tell us one random fact about you

I get obsessed with certain topics and I’m a bit of an expert on the minor European royals and the Eurovision song contest. Both were very handy in a previous role where I was often at dinner with people from different countries and we didn’t know each other.

7 If you could only blog about one thing for the rest of your life, what would it be and why?

It would probably be history, which sounds bizarre when you think I run a fashion and beauty blog. But I find history fascinating and am always reading history books, particularly on the Tudor period.

8 What was the hardest part of starting your blog and why?

Finding an audience. The over 45s –aside from other bloggers, who are VERY savvy – are often a bit dismissive about blogs and don’t seek them out.  I started a Facebook page and ran a few promotions, and also made use of Pinterest with a business account and rich pins to try to reach the right women.

9 If you could give new bloggers one piece of advice, what would it be?

Get your own domain. It’s easy to do and you can still use platforms like Blogger and WordPress, but it means brands can see how your blog performs to decide if they want to work with you. It’s also easier for you to promote your own blog.

10 Is there anything you know now that you wish you’d known in the beginning?

It really helps if you have a big following on Instagram. Many brands are less interested in working with bloggers than people with big Instagram followings. I was late to the Instagram party and building a following takes a long time.

11 Do you have any long term goals for your blog?

Not really. I regard it as a wonderful hobby which will become a bigger focus when I retire in a few years’ time.

12 Who’s your blogging hero?

I love reading Midlife Chic, “the thinking women’s style blog,” from Nikki Garnett. She is very stylish and writes beautifully, and has influenced me to try many things: cropped trousers, Hush jeans, Mango earrings…..She has also been working with key retailers to try to influence them in what we want to see in stores.

13 What’s your favourite social media network and why?

Instagram. It’s such a friendly, supportive community.

14 Anything else you want to share with us?

I launched my first blog in 2006 – and with hardly any social media at that time, or even smartphones, it was really tough to find an audience! But I’m quite proud of that little blog where I covered random topics like the woodpigeons in my garden, stench pipes, whether or not John Torode wears a wig, and reviews of TV shows.

15 Where can we find you? (blog link and links to any social media)

My blog, Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter and Facebook