If you have been following my blog for a while you will already know that the reason I started blogging is because of a blogger and YouTuber named Zoe Sugg. Zoe, also known as Zoella, was so relatable and inspiration to me back then as a thirteen year old but also to me now. She's authentic, she's personable and she is not afraid to talk about the difficult stuff (like anxiety). As a teenager just trying to figure it all out it was reassuring that someone else "famous" understood how I felt. She now has over 11 million subscribers on YouTube, 10.5 million followers on her personal Instagram account and 1.5 million on her brand Instagram account. Today I will be analyzing her website/blog in the areas of design and navigation, content, and interactivity.
Zoella said in a tweet that her main demographic is 18-25. I would say that her demographic would be more focused on 15-25 because she does have a lot of very active, younger fans. These are girls who are interested in lifestyle and beauty tips. Her audience is looking for a "big sister" or someone to encourage them. With that in mind let's jump into the quantitative content analysis.
Design and Navigation
Something that stands out to me about the Zoella website is how elegantly designed it is. Everything is slick, loads quickly and pairs so well with the image Zoella has created online. The drop down menu bar displays images along with blog post titles in a way that doesn't distract, but rather enhances the website. The mobile version (on my iPhone 6) displays well, my only complaint is that it only shows three blog posts. If you wanted to see anything else you'd have to toggle with the search bar to find what you're looking for.
Content
Zoella's content is original, creative and aesthetic. You can hear her voice come through in her writing and you can tell that she loves what she does. My only critique is that she has been pursuing her merchandise lines a lot more and hasn't focused on writing content in recent years. This surprises me because her original fan base began because of her blog so you would think she'd continue updating it, but realistically her income comes from YouTube and her product lines (look under the "shop" button on her website to view her products).
Interactivity
Zoe's social media icons are prominently featured across the top of her blog, the style of the icons fits seamlessly with the rest of her website. The search bar is also very user-friendly. The design and navigation really helps enhance the interactivity between Zoe as the content creator and her audience. All of her blog posts are sorted into the appropriate categories.
Zoe Sugg's success comes from her authenticity and girl-boss attitude to get things done. Even though she is one of the biggest (and one of the original) influencers in the YouTube community she does not change herself for others. I have loved being able to grow with her over the years and so have many of her audience members.
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