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"When Leandra Medine started kidding around with friends about her \"man repelling\" way of dressing\u2014which included droopy harem pants and clunky clogs\u2014she had no idea that her signature style would soon become a bona fide brand. \"Blogging full-time was never a goal for me,\" says the 23-year-old, now known as The Man Repeller. \"I began the blog because I wanted to write unedited. After college, I thought I was going to be a fact-checker at a fashion magazine. That seemed lucrative\u2014until I saw the opportunities in digital.\"\n\nToday, it's not far-fetched to think that an uberstylish girl who uploads photos of her daily outfits and sartorial inspirations could eventually go on to attract global attention and become a fashion star, following in the footsteps of now-famous bloggers like Medine, Hanneli Mustaparta, Bryan Grey-Yambao (Bryanboy), Jane Aldridge (Sea of Shoes), Tavi Gevinson (The Style Rookie), Susanna Lau (Style Bubble), and Rumi Neely (Fashiontoast).\n\nOf course, major blog success stories that lead to book deals, design collaborations, and television segments are the exception, not the rule. It can take years for a website to catch on, if at all, and often only after the blogger has dedicated serious time and effort to social media and outreach\u2014in other words, branding. Says Medine, \"Monetizing on content is really hard. Bloggers have to be building brands if they want to construct something meaningful in this space.\" Kelly Framel, aka The Glamourai, adds, \"You have to take it seriously. It's a real job\u2014not a get-rich-quick scheme.\"\n\nIronically, one of the best things about blogging\u2014that anyone with a computer, a point-and-shoot, and an internet connection can do it\u2014also poses the greatest challenge: how to stand out from the crowd. While creating a blog is easy, garnering a solid following isn't as simple. So, how do you go about building your brand? Nicole Loher, the nineteen-year-old New Yorker behind The Style Student, says you must first have a genuine passion for the topic you're writing about: \"The girls who started blogging solely because they wanted to make a career out of it aren't nearly as successful.\" Aimee Song, of Song of Style, agrees, saying, \"It doesn't matter how well your blog is designed or how fancy it is; if the content isn't good, people won't have a reason to visit it. Your voice and content have to be original and authentic.\"\n\nEighteen-year-old budding style star Natalie, from Los Angeles, has had success building a following by posting her outfits on niche personal-style sites. \"I gain readers when I actively participate in online fashion communities, such as Lookbook.nu and Chictopia. Sites like these usually generate quite a bit of traffic depending on how much you post,\" she explains. Another potential style guru, Lindsay, seventeen, from New York, suggests leaving a digital trail behind: \"I comment on all my favorite blogs with a link at the end so that other readers can find my blog,\" she says.\n\nTumblr is a popular blogging platform in and of itself, but many bloggers use it as an important supplement to their actual sites. \"My Tumblr is another extension of my brand as a blogger, and I like that it allows readers to experience my blog in a different medium,\" Lindsay says. Catherine, a nineteen-year-old from Philadelphia, is also a fan of Tumblr, saying, \"There's a preexisting community of fashion-interested individuals.\"\n\nUnfortunately, putting yourself out there on the internet often comes with a downside: being on the receiving end of hurtful words or cyberbullying from classmates or commenters. Some of Medine's posts receive hundreds of comments, and a handful of them can be from detractors. \"Success in any field of work will induce judgmental comments. I ignore them\u2014most of them are rude,\" she says. \"The only comment that truly bothers me is 'But what do you do full-time?' Just because I don't work at a bank doesn't mean I'm not working hard.\" Sixteen-year-old Bethany, whose how-to tutorials and makeup hauls under the web handle Macbarbie07 have amassed millions of views, says bullying can feel like it comes with the job. \"I was thirteen when I started making videos, and it was very hard for me to deal with negative comments from people,\" says the California native. \"Sometimes I felt like giving up, but I kept going\u2014I'm glad I did.\"\n\nOverall, the positives of blogging outweigh the negatives, according to Loher. \"I like having a place to talk about my life. It can get a little overwhelming, but it's worth it,\" she notes. Similarly, Medine says she wouldn't change a thing about her career choice, adding, \"I feel blessed. There are times I'll spend hours on Net-a-Porter, dragging outfits onto my desktop for my blog only to realize that the day has gone by, and I'll just think, Thank God this is my job.\""^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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