How To Get Free Hotel Stays As A Blogger...

Hey! Last blog post, I shared some blogging tips and included the fact that I have had two all-expenses paid hotel stays. A lovely blogger friend of mine commented asking if I could talk more about that and how I reached out to the hotels, so I thought today I would share all that info in a separate post. So, if you're wondering How To Get Free Hotel Stays As A Blogger, then this post is for you and contains my 7 top tips.How to get free hotel stays as a blogger.

1. KNOW. YOUR. WORTH.

This ultimately is the most important one, as it's how you sell yourself to the brand. Figure out what your blog's USP is, and how it is relevant to the hotel. For example, I am a child blogger whose audience is primarily fellow kids, and parents. So for a hotel that is really focussed on being family-friendly, a blogger who can offer a different perspective to their usual reviewer (an adult), is really valuable. As one of few kid bloggers (I was 11/12 at the time of the stays), I knew that I was worth a lot to these hotels. Ensure you make your USP really clear in the pitch.

2. Research the hotel and their ethos.

This leads on from the first one a bit. There's no good pitching yourself to a hotel as 'the top vegan blogger' (for example), if they pride themselves on their steak restaurant. To find the hotels I wanted to pitch to, I Googled the 'the best UK family-friendly hotels' to ensure they were the right type of hotel.

3. Send emails to lots of the hotels you'd like to stay at.

This is important.... most brands will reject your pitch. So it's no good finding your one dream hotel and sending them an email, because they will most likely reject you. I have probably sent emails to over 20 hotels and have 'only' stayed in 2 of those. As a percentage it's pretty low, but it's still amazing that I got to stay in 2 with my family. That being said, keep each email unique and personal. People can tell if you've just copied and pasted an email and sent it to 100 people. Comment on little things you genuinely like about the hotel, so they know you actually care and have done your research.

4. Your blog alone is not necessarily that valuable.

At the time of these stays, I was writing for Tots100 each month (a huge parenting network) and HIYA Bucks (a county magazine that distributed thousands of copies each month). I made sure to include these in my pitch, and they will have definitely helped me. Unless you are a top blogger with tens of thousands of views per month, your blog may not be as valuable. However, I understand that for most of you reading, it won't be that easy to just get a place writing for a magazine. So, submit one-off articles to publications, and then include that in your pitch. That way you can say something along the lines of.. 'I have journalism experience at X publication, so I would submit my review of your hotel to them, to try and reach a larger audience.'

5. Find the right person to email.

Emailing the general enquiries section of a company is less likely to reach the correct person. Therefore spend a few minutes trying to find whoever handles the PR requests. If you go on to most hotel websites, you will find a section called 'Media', which should list the right email address.

6. Include links to other relevant posts

The hotel will want to see examples of your blog posts or other forms of journalism that will be similar to what you would do for them. I included previous travel posts and examples of my work in other publications. If you have done any similar review posts before, make sure to include it (if you are confident it's a good example of your work).

7. CHECK THE PITCH

Before you send it, check it! Any major hotel or company will be put off if you have basic grammar or spelling errors in your email, so make sure you check. If you're a younger child, like I was, maybe just ask a parent or older sibling to help you check.

---
To summarise, identify the right person to email, identify your blog's USP and send them a clear email saying you would love to review their hotel.

SO, there you have it... my top tips on pitching to hotels for review stays. Of course, the most important thing is having an interesting blog that you are committed to! If you have any more questions regarding this post and would like more help with the emails, feel free to drop me an email at whatlexieloves@gmail.com or leave a comment down below.

Remember to check out my social medias:

Instagram: instagram.com/whatlexieloves
Twitter: twitter.com/whatlexieloves

If you liked this post, you might find these helpful.

5 Tips on How to Grow a Successful Blog: https://whatlexieloves.blogspot.com/2019/10/blogging-tips-for-newbies.html

Let's Talk Passion - An Interview With Teen Girlboss Blogger: https://whatlexieloves.blogspot.com/2019/09/girlboss-appreciation-lets-talk-passion.html

The Power Of Being INFLUENCED: https://whatlexieloves.blogspot.com/2019/04/the-power-of-being-influenced.html

Blogging Tips: A Guide On Making Your Blog Successful - Celebrating 6 Years of What Lexie Loves

Hey hey hey! Yesterday was a very special day for What Lexie Loves, because it was my blog's 6th birthday. This is absolutely craaaazy for me, and I cannot believe how long it's been since I started What Lexie Loves. So to celebrate the blogiversary, I wanted to make a little list of blogging tips that I have learnt. Now, I'm not some blogging expert, but I like to think that I have learnt a thing or two over the last 6 years.

1. Having friends within the blogging community is so valuable.

You have to be so careful when making friends online, particularly if you're a child. However, if you go about it carefully, do not underestimate how valuable having blogger friends is. Firstly, it genuinely makes it more enjoyable. I have made some amazing friends, and although most have now quit blogging, they are people I truly treasure. Huge shoutout to Noor who was a close friend of mine for the longest time, and who I really do miss on this platform. Also, having your own personal cheerleader to read all your posts, share them and give you advice is really beneficial. Finally, guest posting on someone else's blog is a great way to gain genuine new readers.

2. Writing 'tongue-in-cheek' is a good thing, not a bad thing.

A lot of bloggers write really formally, as if it's an essay for school. Now if this is your writing style, go for it, but don't be afraid to make your blog more chatty and informal. Some of my favourite blogs are the ones where the writing feels more natural, so in my opinion, writing tongue-in-cheek is a positive thing.

3. Grammar is important.

That being said, I think grammar is important - particularly if you want to monetize your blog one day. We all make the odd spelling error on our blogs, and there's nothing wrong with that. However, in my experience, any blog that has consistent spelling errors, and is missing punctuation, is a blog I don't want to read. Of course everyone's different and it's your blog, so write it how you want, but my advice is please do check your posts and remember the importance of good grammar.

4. Hustle. Hustle. Hustle.

A lot of bloggers will talk about companies emailing them and sending them free stuff out of the blue. Now as your blog grows, this will happen, but don't be afraid to hustle yourself. My best opportunities have come out of emailing companies myself, instead of waiting for them to approach me. I'm not going to list every blogging opportunity I have had, but I will be blunt with you all and say that I have had two all-expenses paid stays at luxury hotels, and I emailed them. There is nothing wrong with recognizing your worth as a blogger, and writing a pitch to a business - 9 times out of 10 you'll get shot down, but it's all worth it in the end.

5. Social media takes time but can be your best friend if used well.

Having social media accounts for your blog can be so beneficial to growing your following. I have an Instagram which I love to work on, and most other bloggers I know also run Instagram accounts. These do help grow a following, but they take a lot of time for it to be worthwhile. From my experience I actually believe Twitter is the most beneficial social media. I rarely use Twitter these days, but when I do, I often find that lots of people will click through to my blog. Take part in Twitter chats that accounts such as @BloggerLS run weekly - these are fab ways to find new bloggers. Twitter is also great for finding brands to work with. Go on Twitter and scroll through the hashtags #prrequest #bloggerrequest and #bloggersrequired - you'll find loads of businesses who are looking for bloggers who can promote their products.

Those are my 5 top tips for bloggers. Once again, I'm not trying to say I am the queen of blogging or anything, I just wanted to share a few things that I've learnt. If you are a new blogger and want any more advice, feel free to drop me an email at whatlexieloves@gmail.com, or leave a comment below! Cannot believe I've been committed to What Lexie Loves for 6 years - thank you to all of you for supporting WLL, this blog truly has changed my life and I couldn't be more grateful.


RECENT POSTS:

Celebrating Girlbosses - An Interview With Nabila: https://whatlexieloves.blogspot.com/2019/09/girlboss-appreciation-lets-talk-passion.html

Remembrance - A Photo Diary from Belgium: https://whatlexieloves.blogspot.com/2019/07/remembrance-belgium-battlefields-photo.html

Dear 10 Year Old Me...: https://whatlexieloves.blogspot.com/2019/05/dear-10-year-old-me.html

SOCIAL MEDIA:
Instagram: instagram.com/whatlexieloves
Twitter: twitter.com/whatlexieloves

The Power Of Being 'Influenced', ft. a super cool jacket!

The other day, I was INFLUENCED. We hear this word all over the media, especially social media at the moment... but what does it really mean? Social media influencers are becoming a crucial part to brand marketing, especially for fashion and beauty brands. Influencers are people who share their opinions and thoughts on stuff on any platform, the most common ones are Instagram, YouTube or a blog. I would consider myself an influencer, as I’m a blogger and Instagrammer, and I do sometimes talk about brands and products I’m loving. But I hate the word ‘influence’ - ‘to have an effect on someone’. A lot of the time, having a voice or a platform is AMAZING and I love being able to have an effect on people, but other times I connote ‘influencing’ with pressuring. Do influencers, pressure us in to buying stuff? Make us feel like we NEED something that we don’t? As an influencer myself, I find these questions really interesting, particularly after I was influenced a couple of weeks ago.

I recently started watching Dance Moms and I became obsessed with some of the girls in it! I thought they were supa cool, so I went to follow them on Insta. My faves are Kalani, Mackenzie, Maddie and Brynn, and I think they’re all really cool and fun. If I’m being completely honest, I became slightly jealous of what appears to be a ‘perfect’ lifestyle - living in the sun, having loads of famous friends, so many fans, beautiful feeds, the best fashion and they’re literally all stunning! So when I saw this post on Kalani’s gram, I fell in love with the jacket and trousers, so I went straight to the comment section and did some digging to find the brand.... I AM GIA. I’d heard of this brand before, again via Insta, so I assumed it was a good brand, and I found a couple of bits on sale. I decided I really liked the reflective panelling and I wanted something like that for myself. Then I came back to the website a few days latwe and this jacket (the one she’s wearing in the pics), was half price. Without even properly thinking or researching the brand and what their quality, sizing, customs policy etc is like, I just went for it and bought it. I would never normally spend over £60 on something without doing that researched...... but I was influenced.

:
 

As an influencer myself, this is really really weird, as I actually get the behind the scenes, and I understand Kalani’s life won’t actually be ‘perfect’. I understand that, like me, she probably takes hundreds of pictures per shoot before picking one, and spends a while editing them. I understand that, like me, she isn’t always happy. I have breakdowns and arguments.... I’m not afraid to share that - but I don’t exactly reflect the negativity in my life through my feed, the same way I’m sure Kalani has bad days and mental breakdowns. And I’m sure most people (influencer or not) can recognise that, but I would expect me to understand that even more. That’s why I find the fact I still felt jealous of her and her feed weird........ I was influenced even though I know the realities of Insta!!

Anyway, this post isn’t just about influencing, it’s also about my jacket hehe!! With customs it totalled around £80 which is RIDICULOUS. If I could go back in time, would I decide not to buy it? Hmmm, maybe. It certainly is very expensive, and I maybe should have done some research before hand to find out how much customs would be. Howeverrrrrr, is it a badass jacket that I feel supa cool and edgy wearing? Yep! I just got back from a short break in Spain where I took loads of pics!! So here are my faves:



 



 

This doesn't show it great - but look at the reflective panelling!! It's so cool for parties and festivals.

 

 

So those are the pics of my jacket!! Follow my Insta: instagram.com/whatlexieloves to see other pictures from my holiday in Spain which I'll be posting over the next couple of weeks.

Are you an influencer? Have you ever been influenced? What do you think about the word ‘influence’?

Lex xxx

My Top 5 Favourite Teen Bloggers

Hey!! So lately, I've been discovering lots more amazing blogs which are written by teens. In the past, particularly when I was first starting What Lexie Loves up, I struggled to find other teens and kids with blogs, so for today's post I thought I would share a roundup of some of my favourite lifestyle, fashion and review blogs written by teens. These are some of the top blogs by under 18 year olds, that I think all teens should follow. Do you know any other awesome Gen-Z bloggers that you would recommend? Let me know, as I'm always on the look out for cool, new child bloggers:) Anyway - let's just get into the post; here are my Top 5 Favourite Teen Bloggers...

Taiya Maddison | http://www.taiyamaddison.com/

Taiya Maddison is one of my all-time favourite teen bloggers, even though I only came across her blog a couple months ago. Her blog is so well-thought out; it has a super cute design, she publishes high-quality and interesting posts really often (I don't know how she does it!!) and her Instagram is ACTUAL GOALS! Taiya's blog is based around lifestyle and fashion, so she writes lots of posts like fashion tips, her early 2000s playlist which she is currently obsessed with (sidenote - SAME, I'm obsessed with my throwback playlist too at the moment, our playlists are literally identical!!) and fashion trends she can't wait to try.

how gorgeous is her feed?!! instagram.com/taiyamaddison

Nabila Eve | http://nabilaeve.blogspot.com/

Hot Town Cool Girl is this awesome blog by Nabila, a 13 year old from Texas. Nabila is just so lovely ahh and one of my best blogger friends<333 Her blog is, similar to my blog, a mix of everything and anything, it doesn't really specialise in one niche, but branches out to lots - Nabila does reviews, writes a little poetry, shares all the cool things she's been up to, gives advice and so much more! If you're looking for a new blog to check out (or are parent wanting to give your children a blog to read), I would definitely recommend Nabila Eve!

Capturing Life On Camera | http://www.capturinglifeoncamera.com/

Natalie, who writes Capturing Life On Camera, is just such a #GIRLBOSS! Her blog and Instagram are literal goals (her design is so cute - minimalistic and aesthetic, and all her posts are well-written and so relevant and useful to me.) And, like Taiya, she posts so regularly, and with gorgeous photos, HOW DO THEY DO IT hahahah?!1!1? Also, Natalie is from NYC, which is just one of the coolest places to live (in my opinion) - I want to visit NY so badly!!

Absolutely Olivia | https://absolutelyolivia.com/

I love Olivia and her blog so much! Firstly, her style is just the coolest!! She's so bold and unique with her fashion, in such a confident way - she inspires me to go out and rock quirky outfits that I wouldn't normally. Obviously I don't know her in real life, but she just seems like such a sweet and genuine gal! She's also so empowering, particularly when it comes to girl power - she recently did a small project about feminism, which I took part in, and you can check out here. I love her fashion and lifestyle blog so much too, her latest post is a 'How To Find Your (Girl) Squad' and it's got loads of useful friendship tips, which I recommend you checking out, if you're in a toxic friendship right now, or just want to make some new friends.

February Fairy | http://www.februaryfairy.com/

Ok first of all, I just wanted to say I love the name 'February Fairy'; I think it's so cute haha!! February Fairy, written by Ella Marie, is an advice and lifestyle blog "helping girls learn to live fully and embrace their inward beauty". If you're looking for a motivating lifestyle blog, written by a lovely person, then February Fairy is the place to go! Alsooo, Ella's a writer - she completed her goal of 40,000 words for Camp NaNo this month ON HER FIRST TRY (!!) - so she has some posts on writing, with tips and tricks, like this one.

So those were my Top 5 Under-18 bloggers that I recommend. Of course, if you're new to my blog - then I'm also a teenage lifestyle blogger haha, so stick around (haha I couldn't do a post on teen bloggers, and not mention myself!!) If you liked this post, I know of loads of other amazing teenage bloggers so I could do a part 2?? Who are your favourite teens to read?

Xx
(IGNORE TAGS: kids who blog, KID BLOGGERS, TEEN BLOG, TAIYA MADDISON< GEN Z, LIFESTYLE BLOGGERS< THE BEST TEENS, INFLUENCIAL TEENS< TEENS ONLINE< UNDER 18 BLOGGERS, TEENAGE BLOGGERS, KIDS BLOG CLUB, BLOGS by kids 

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

You can follow my Instagram here: instagram.com/whatlexieloves

The Truth Behind Blogging

Blogging isn't all fun and games.
Red carpets and glamour.
Celebrities and popstars.

Whenever I tell people I blog, the majority of them react with the following conversation:

THEM: OMG that is SO cool, how many followers do you have?
ME: Well, I don't really count by followers, but I've just under 50,000 views.
THEM: OMG!!!!!!! That is like amazing. Do you go on red carpets and interview celebrities.
ME: Um, well not quite.

That is a generalisation, however it does annoy me quite a bit how little people know about the Truth Behind Blogging. It isn't just with that click of Create Blog that you get millions of views, interviews with Taylor Swift, invitations to exclusive events. That could take years and years of blogging, I've been doing it for 2 and a bit years and have had just under 50,000 views.

not mine

Sometimes I can sit down and write a post with the quick of my finger, however most of the time it takes a lot more thinking and re-writing to get something post-worthy. Often I can have sat down for half an hour and not get any inspiration because posts that have some level of quality don't just come to you, however skilled at writing you may be (although that may just be me?!)

Anyway can start a blog, pressing a few buttons is pretty easy. Even writing your first few posts is easy. However, the dedication that goes on after that - spreading the word, posting regularly, managing to come up with good posts often, getting a good design etc. isn't easy. It's enjoyable, and fun, don't get me wrong, but it isn't easy. It takes commitment, effort, dedication, patience and time.

Also, we don't always blog about the bad times, which is an argument people can use to call bloggers fake. My blog is somewhere to go to cheer myself up from the bad times, and I wouldn't want to sit here talking about my problems - I want to share with you positive things to cheer both myself, and hopefully some of you up. So yes, I rarely blog about bad times but only because I feel that would just make my blog feel more negative which I don't want it to.

Do you relate to this at all? Do you disagree? What's your opinion on the Truth Behind Blogging - I'd love to hear? xxx

Spring Blog Post Ideas

Hola Lexicans! A lot of my blogger friends are down on blog post ideas at the moment, including myself, so today I decided to share with you all some blog post ideas. Something super important for content creators, is creating conten which is relevant and timely, which is why all of these ideas are spring-related. *Edit: If you're here from Pinterest... welcome to my blog! This is a very old post (I was only 11 when I wrote it haha, but the ideas are still relevant and useful, so I thought I'd re-share this post)*

1. Put together a spring-y outfit. Florals and pastels are always a great spring look; you can never have too much of them. You can either make your own with your own clothes, or using great apps (I really recommend Polyvore) create your own outfit.

2. Write a poem about spring. It doesn't have to be long, or rhyme and you could even do free verse if you wanted to.

3. Go out and take some photos of flowers blooming, and if you have a near-by farm, it's always nice to go and take photos of the newborn babies.

4. Create a spring playlist and then share it. Upbeat songs that are full of life, like Happy by Pharrell Williams are always great.

5. This is a little like the 1st, but create a make-up look based on spring. Pastel pinks and blues are great for spring.

6. What are your Spring Favourites - maybe a certain hair accessory, song etc.

7. Make a spring-y DIY, fake flowers are usually really good, and they'll probably have some in you near DIY store, so you could make your own flower garland (like Amy's)

8. Favourite spring purchase.

9. Create a spring-themed Pinterest board and share it with us!

10. Make a spring bucket list.

I'll soon be sharing with you my own bucket list, plus photos from my skiing holiday. Hope this helped!

xxx

43 blog post ideas

This is a blog post I have been building up in my notebook for a long time now. We all have days when we want to publish a blog post, but we're feeling uninspired. So, I have been building up a list of 43 different post ideas for the uninspired!

1. Write a list of facts you've never told your readers before.
2. Teach a tutorial of a recent arts or crafts.
3. Write a letter to your older self.
4. Write a letter to your younger self.
5. Tell us your blogging story - why you started blogging etc.
6. Give a roundup of your own favourite blog posts.
7. Feature a few of your favourite bloggers.
8. Review the last thing you bought (a meal, clothes, a book, even paper!)
9. Give 5 good things about something you hate.
10. Your view on a current popular topic (political or not).
11. Write about your hero, heroine.
12. A roundup of your favourite quotes.
13. A roundup of your favourite photos.
14. Go outside and find beauty in normal things - take a photo and blog it.
15. Complete a tag.
16. Get an interview with someone: a blogger, a friend, family, an author, or even a role model!
17. 100 Things That Make You Happy.
18. Start a letter as if you're writing to someone to persuade them to begin blogging.
19. A Blogger tutorial for dummies.
20. Share your 'favourites'.
21. Do a roundup of your favourite clothes.
22. Give the other opinion to something you feel strongly about.
23. A mini tour of your room.
24. Go on your favourite shop website and pick out their 3 best things.
25. Make a wish list for your bedroom.
26. Give an insight to your notebook/diary/scrapbook
27. Give a review of your favourite restaurant
28. I'm Currently...
29. Video yourself doing a popular challenge: (cinnamon challenge, smoothie challenge etc.)
30. Explain that 'Million Pound Idea'
31. Review your favourite TV show.
32. Give your top tips to new blogger.
33. What you hope you'll be doing in 5 years.
34. Behind the screens: Your Stats
35. A collection of tweets.
36. Search the Internet for some cool memes!
37. Try the #MakeItHappy Internet Positivity challenge: http://ameliebarham.com/internetpositivity/
38. Roundup your Summer wear.
39. Review a popular thing which you hate.
40. Comment on a controversial topic.
41. Share a song or poem.
42. Write a story to share on your blog.
43. Put together clothes and accessories to make a complete outfit for each season.

Hope this helped! Let me know if you want to see more of this, and if you use one of my ideas!

Calling all kid bloggers! #KidsBlogs

Here ye! Here ye! Calling all kid bloggers! I am very pleased to announce that Tots100 (the UK's biggest blog network) is going to be creating a monthly linky for kid bloggers, with the help from 10 year old ME! This means I am very excited, and can't wait to get started with the facts!

What is this all about?

Every month, I will write a blog post for Tots100, highlighting what going on in the world of kids that month! At the end of each of my posts on Tots100, will be a linky, where you can sign up your blog for other kid writers to find.

What's a linky?

Now some of you might be wondering what a 'linky' actually is. It's a place where you can add the link to your blog, and it will show up on the bottom of the post, for other bloggers to see and read. It's a great way to find out other kids who are blogging all over the world.

What will my blog post consist of?

The article will contain my pick of the top blogs and vlogs that month, along with some of the best clothes, books, films, theatre and anything else cool going on in the World Of Children each month. It is a great way for adults to find out more about kids, and for children to discover other cool blogs and products.

So, I can't wait to see you each month over at Tots100, and don't worry - I'll still be here. My first post for them is up here now.