It’s no secret that the blogging world is full of a ton of different niches.
Blogs can be made up of financial information, family adventure, lifestyle tips and hacks, and really anything and everything that the blogger wants to write about.
One question that I constantly hear over and over again is, “What is a Lifestyle Blog?”
Great questions, with an overall simple answer.
The Definition Of A Lifestyle Blog
Lifestyle blogs are different than any other type of blog out there. They tend to focus on being a bit more visual and make certain that they are using high-quality images to showcase their activities and interests.
If you actually look up the word “lifestyle” in the dictionary, it literally means that it’s the way a person or a group lives.
Will there be stories told? Yes.
Will there be experiences discussed and talked about? Yes.
Will there be emotions and stories that may get sprinkled in here and there? Maybe…
BUT, what differentiates a lifestyle blog from any other type of blog is that it focuses on interests and activities, and less on “storytelling” or trying to make a personal connection with words and emotions to the reader.
While there can be similarities between a lifestyle blog vs a personal blog, the two are actually quite different.
Before we go on, I wanted to give you a quick reminder that once you’re ready to start your blog, I have a step by step tutorial.
You can impact the lives of thousands of people while making a living working from home, and it starts at under $5 a month. Wait, what? It’s that cheap to start a blog? 🙂
Bookmark this post so you can remember to come back to it!
Okay, let’s continue…
Lifestyle Blog Vs Personal Blog – What’s The Difference?
First and foremost, understand 100% and hear me loud and clear – a lifestyle blog is not a personal blog or a place to showcase a diary of your life.
When a blog crosses over into personal stories and emotions, it’s now entered into the realm of a personal blog. While there are plenty of popular personal blogs, it’s imperative to understand that they are completely different from a lifestyle blog.
Whew! Now that we’ve got that understood…
Don’t get me wrong here. These two blogs are both super successful in the blogging industry. However, if you look at the followers and the engagement from the audience, it’s plain and simple to see that they attract a totally different audience and set of followers for each one.
As stated above, lifestyle focuses on interests and activities and finds fun ways to pull you in, while a personal blog finds ways to open up themselves, their stories and their lives with you through their writing.
Think about the last time that you read a blog article that really pulled at those heartstrings. More than likely, it was from a personal blog where the blogger was opening up and sharing something “intimate” about their life while pouring out their heart and soul. Your first clue that it’s from a personal blog is that it’s “oozing” emotion. (and that’s not a bad thing at all, it’s just not what a lifestyle blogger typically does!)
Note: Many bloggers use little bits of personal life throughout their blog to incorporate storytelling into any type of blog (food, lifestyle, fashion, crafts, or business). Storytelling is a powerful tool to help build a connection with your audience, but only in a personal blog is it the main focus.
Another way that you can typically tell that you’ve ventured onto a lifestyle blog is that it’s, for the most part, laid out in an easy to read fashion, with a lot of light colors used as the background.
Having a lifestyle blog means that your pictures need to “pop” and catch the eye, and one way to have that happen is to have them light and bright located randomly all over the blog.
Following so far? Good!
And if you still feel like the difference between a lifestyle blog and a personal blog is about as clear as mud…here are some examples of successful lifestyle blogs so that you can see the difference with your own two eyes!
How Do Lifestyle Blogs Make Money?
Lifestyle blogs actually make money like any other type of blog does. There tend to be a few main ways that lifestyle blogs make money that is the most lucrative for the blogger:
- SPONSORED POSTS
With all the products about health and beauty that the majority of lifestyle blogs write about, sponsored posts are one of the top ways that lifestyle bloggers can really start to earn some good money from their content. Some sponsor companies give you free products to review, this can help you save money and grow your blog at the same time!
- AFFILIATE PRODUCTS
What good would it be to review all those beauty items and fashion trends if you couldn’t sell them yourself on your site to earn a bit of extra money? Affiliate products are a great way to start earning some quick cash fast when you’re a lifestyle blogger.
- DISPLAY ADVERTISEMENTS
Everyone loves a good ad, right? Advertising networks will pay good money to have their ads on a heavily visited lifestyle blog.
- SETTING UP THEIR OWN PERSONAL “SHOP” TO SELL ITEMS
Lifestyle bloggers are also known to be quite creative, so it’s not rare to see a blog with their own “shop” tab as well. From shirts to coffee mugs to even fun weekly planners, lifestyle bloggers see no limit to the products that they can create to earn money.
- BOOKS/MAGAZINE PUBLICATIONS
It isn’t unheard of for a lifestyle blogger to write books or branch out into the magazine world. All of those products are great ways to link back up to their blog to monetize quickly and efficiently.
- EVENTS AND GUEST APPEARANCES
And if your lifestyle blog gets really big, and starts to draw a lot of attention, people will start to pay you to come and see them! Isn’t that an amazing goal to reach for?
Honestly, the steps to start monetizing a lifestyle blog are the same steps that any type of blog would take. What a blog needs to start earning money is traffic, good content, and a knowledge for marketing. If you can get those three aspects down, you’re well on your way to start earning some money from your lifestyle blog (or any type of blog, honestly).
What Type of Blogger are You?
Now that you know what a lifestyle blog is, and you’ve seen some stellar examples of ones to follow and learn from, it’s time to look deep inside yourself and ask yourself the simple question.
Is Your Blog a Lifestyle Blog?
If the answer is yes, then keep it up. Lifestyle blogs are super popular and don’t seem to be losing steam anytime soon.
If your answer is no, follow up and ask yourself if having a lifestyle blog is what you truly want. While you may have started out your blog as a personal blog, you can make the switch and start becoming more lifestyle-focused. Remember, it’s all about what you create and put out there for your readers.
And if you haven’t yet even started a blog, welcome! Before we get into the examples of successful life style bloggers, how do you actually start a lifestyle blog, and what are the best free blog sites to use?
How To Start Your Lifestyle Blog
At this site, you’re among friends. No questions are too big or small, and I’m here to lend a helping hand. If you’re ready to start your own blog, here are a few simple tips to help get you started.
Figure Out Your Niche
If you can zone in on what you really want to focus and blog about before you get started, you’re way ahead of the game and you’ll end up saving yourself a ton of time down the road.
Create a Fantastic Blog Name
There are lots of blogs out there that you’re competing with once you decide to start a blog. Your blog name needs to stand out and make people want to hang out with you and your ideas. Embrace your unique qualities and be different. If you’re too cookie-cutter, you won’t stand out.
Maybe a Lifestyle Blog is Not for You
Some people have the lifestyle thing down, they are pros at holding that fancy cup of coffee and taking amazing pictures…others don’t. If you don’t have the experience in travel, adventure, beauty, and health, then a lifestyle blog may not be what you’re looking for…and that’s okay! Allow yourself to explore everything else out there in the blogging world. From mom blogs to finance blogs, there is room for everyone to run a successful blog in the online world. This can help you discover what type of blog you should start!
Overcome Writers Block
Do you know why people will come to your blog, day in and day out? To read your content. They care about your thoughts, your opinions, and value what you feel is the latest and greatest “thing”. But one day, that feeling of writer’s block may hit you. (It happens to the best of us.) And when that happens, you need to have a few hidden gems in your pocket to help see you through. My advice? Always have a pen and paper handy to jot down post ideas as they come to you. I constantly have my bullet journal by my side for quick notes and ideas.
You never know when inspiration will strike, right? You could be in traffic or at the movies waiting for the previews to be done. If you have an idea about a great blog title or content, write. it. down. The more ideas that you have, the better chance that you’ll have a nice stockpile to use later on down the road!
Keep in mind that even though now everyone knows and understands what a lifestyle blog is, the examples above should be a great basis to show you how niched down it really can be. While it may seem like the lifestyle blogging world is over saturated, that just simply isn’t the truth.
There may be lots of lifestyle bloggers in the niche you want to pursue, but none of them have your life, your ideas and your advice. You are unique, so don’t be afraid to show it!
Lifestyle Blog Categories
Here is a quick list of top lifestyle blog categories you can write about when you’re starting your lifestyle blog.
- Fashion
- Food
- Health & Fitness
- Hobbies (think visual: Photography, Woodworking, Crafts)
- Travel
- Finances
- Home Decor
- Gardening
- Motherhood
- Beauty
- Self Care
- Family
And of course, you can have slight overlap if you blog about multiple categories – just try to keep them related to each other. Such as fitness and healthy meals or motherhood and family. You can take multiple topics and find the overlap. Here’s a simple method to find tons of ideas of what topics to write about.
Ah, and just to make it more fun, here is one more example! Take a few categories and make your own unique recipe for your blog topic!
See, it’s easy! You can niche down to exactly the topic that you’re super passionate about. And then you can incorporate your life to tell the story around your passion.
Now let’s get in and see how other successful lifestyle bloggers are growing their blogs!
Top Lifestyle Blogs that are Super Successful
Barefoot Blonde
Barefoot Blonde is a lifestyle blog that talks hair, beauty, and fashion. You may find a bit of story or personality sprinkled in here and there, but her overall focus tends to be on hair.
Sandy A La Mode
Sandy A La Mode talks life, fashion, and motherhood on her super popular lifestyle blog. (Her fashion tips and outfits are on point and that is what the majority of her blog talks about as well)
A Cup of Jo
A Cup of Jo lays it out there for you. Topics revolve around design, travel, and relationships. She’s one of the best lifestyle bloggers out there and spends a lot of time talking about life and motherhood.
The Mother Chic
The Mother Chic is a lifestyle blog that covers topics such as motherhood, parenting, fashion, food, beauty and travel. Pretty much all amazing lifestyle topics! Lindsey, the mom of four, who runs the blog, does monthly yoga challenges and posts her looks of the day. A blog like this monetizes very well through sponsored posts, affiliates and advertisements.
Sincerely Jules
From fashion to accessories, Sincerely Jules has you covered. You won’t have to search hard on her site to see the latest trends.
Design Mom
Gabrielle Blair runs this beautiful blog focused on motherhood and design. It’s wonderfully laid out and has a wide array of blog posts. This is a great example of combining two broad categories into one beautiful blog.
Wit & Delight
Wit & Delight talks health, relationships and focuses on teaching and telling others to live their best life.
The Blonde Salad
If you want to learn all about fashion and beauty, The Blonde Salad is the perfect lifestyle blog to start with. It’s recently gone all Italian though, so I can understand a few words from my two years of Italian back in college. Hmmm… still a fantastic example!
HBFIT
HBFIT keeps it real with a focus on health, beauty, and fitness. (hence the name!)
The Blonde Abroad
The Blonde Abroad talks about female travel, destinations and super fun points of interest. So jelly of all her awesome travels,… but I get to play Legos with my kids everyday, so that’s pretty amazing too!
Deliciously Ella
If you love food, you’ll love following along with Deliciously Ella. She showcases a ton of healthy food options that anyone can enjoy.
What the Chung
What the Chung talks beauty, travel and even a little bit of karma sprinkled in here and there.
The 12 lifestyle bloggers listed above had made quite a name for themselves in the blogging world. Can you be right behind them and find your own success shortly?
Be True to Yourself as a Lifestyle Blogger
As with any niche in the blogging world, there is always room for more. And while it’s true that you’ll be competing with other blogs, you can do things to keep your blog different from the others. Remember the circle graphs above?
Be true to who you are, write about what excites you and what you’re knowledgeable about, and understand that the blogging world is a slow and steady race, not a sprint. The magic of becoming successful with whatever type of blog you have won’t happen overnight, but with enough patience, persistence and determination, it will happen!
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