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FAQ

When did you start blogging?

I created EJ Style in October 2008 so now it’s now over 10 years old despite having recently been rebranded to Emma Hill.

What did you do before you were a blogger?

I worked as a retail manager, and I continued to work full time alongside writing the blog for 5 years before leaving my job to take the blog to the next level.

What advice would you give anyone starting a blog now?

Well these days it’s pretty tough because now there are millions of blogs for people to choose from so you need to stand out from the crowd. The only way to do that, as cliche as it sounds, it to be yourself and think outside the box, don’t do what everyone else is doing. Running a blog is about being creative as much as it is about knowing what topic you’ll be talking about, so use that as a strength and let your creative juices flow to create content which is unique. Personality really is the key these days because there are plenty of people with great style, or amazing beauty tutorials, but it’s your personality that will draw people in and keep them there. For more tips you can watch my Blogging Tips video series here.

How do you earn money from blogging?

There are a few ways we earn revenue from blogging/online content creating. Firstly affiliate links. These are specially generated links which we use within blog posts or on social media which allow us to make a small percentage of commission (this varies depending on the retailer) when a purchase is made via that link. Brand partnerships or collaborations are also a big part of earning revenue in this industry. A brand might approach us with an idea, or vice versa and from there discussions continue until a brief is created and terms are agreed upon. We personally don’t work with any brands that we don’t spend our own money on so you’ll never see us working with random brands that you’ve never heard us mention before. Lastly advertising. You’ll notice that here on the blog we have no ad banners or pop up ads, that’s just a personal choice however if you head over to YouTube you’ll notice that before you watch a video there might be an advert, sometimes even an advert in the middle of a video and/of advertising around the video. This is called Google Adsense and for every ad you watch in one of our videos, we get a very small amount of money.

What photography/videography equipment do you use?

Over the years I’ve had a fair few cameras, from the point and shoot kind in my early blogging days to the vast kit that Simon and I have today. We have 2 main cameras for blog photography, a Canon 5D MKIII and a Sony A7R III. The Canon, a hefty DSLR, is great piece of kit and by far the best investment I ever made as a blogger. The Sony is a mirrorless camera so it’s smaller which makes it more practical to take out and about or use whilst travelling. It’s also what we use for filming video on because the autofocus is insane, but as a secondary video camera for additional angles we also have a Sony A6500. We have a collection of lenses for each of these cameras but my favourites for the Canon are the 50mm f1.2 and the 24-70mm f2.8. For the Sony my favourite lenses are the 28mm f.2 and the 35mm f1.8. For vlogging I use a Canon G7X MKII, it has it’s flaws but it is by far the best portable and easy to use vlogging camera out there currently. We also have two drones for when we travel, a DJI Mavick Air (aka. Ernie) and DJI Phantom Pro (aka. Bert) along with a Hero 5 Black GoPro and an entire box of accessories which allows us to film and shoot different things, including underwater. And lastly our phones, I have an iPhone X and a Google Pixel 3 and Simon has a Sony Xperia, we like to have all bases covered when it comes to our tech.

What software does Simon use to edit videos?

He uses Adobe Premier Pro for the videos and Adobe After Effects for any graphics or special fx.

Where do you get your hair done?

I’ve been going to Sassoon on the Kings Road in Chelsea for 4 years, Natasha does my cut and Matt does my colour. I call them my hair angels and I wouldn’t trust anyone else with my hair.

How old are you?

I’m 33.

How tall are you and what size in clothes?

I’m 5’9 but it’s all legs. I wear a size 28 in jeans (usually with a 34” inseam), a UK size 10 in tops, dresses, trousers etc and European size 40.5 in shoes.

How do you stay in shape?

I wish I could tell you that I have some magic method of staying in shape but I don’t. If truth be told it’s all down to genetics. I’ve always had a fast metabolism which does allow me to eat whatever I like although with age I’ve noticed it is slowing down a little bit. I’m quite a fussy eater and there are a lot of things I can’t eat like fish/seafood, avocado and red meat because they don’t agree with me. Over the last few years I have cut down on the meat that I eat for no other reason than it makes me ill so I tend to stick to chicken if I’m eating meat. I love food, I wouldn’t want to live without my Ben & Jerrys, KFC, McDonalds, chocolate biscuits, donuts etc but I do eat some of the green stuff as well. As for exercise, having 5 dogs does mean that I’m relatively active but I don’t go to the gym or any exercise classes because I just don’t get enjoyment from that.

Do you and Simon not get on each others nerves working together and being a couple?

Sometimes yes, we’re only human after all, but we’ve got a really good system in place and we always make sure that we have our downtime as a married couple. I tend to work downstairs in the house and Simon works upstairs so although we’re in the same house, we do have our separate work spaces, but we can easily find each other if we need to discuss something or if we just fancy a quick snog.

What is life like with 5 dogs?

Well for us it’s magical. There’s not a day that goes by where they don’t make us laugh by doing something really cute or just plain stupid. It can be a mad house at times, especially after they’ve had a bath or if it’s what we call ‘Crazy O’Clock’, where they randomly just have a crazy 5 minutes running all over the house. The house is constantly covered in hair, some people assume that Chihuahuas don’t shed but that assumption is so far from the truth. They’re worse than cats for shedding hair so we have to hoover on a daily basis to stop it all piling up and creating giant tumble weeds of hair. When it comes to wearing dark clothes we have to wait until we’re just about to go out to get changed otherwise we’d be beige by the time we left the house, this is why all our loungewear is grey or beige so we can snuggle with our babies but we don’t look like we’ve got a layer of fur. It’s a house full of unconditional love and nothing beats the sight of those 5 little wagging tails.

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