What is a lifestyle blog? Or can you have a life and be a blogger? Maybe it is adventure and enjoyment beyond boundaries. Let's take a journey.
What does blogging mean to you?
You can blog about anything and you will have readers. The main motive is to build a following so that you can monetise the business.
Celebrities may muse about the day's general activities and gather a following. There is always someone who wants to know the most mundane trivia, especially about someone we idolise.
Travel writers take you on adventures in places we can only dream of going to and we see things through new eyes. Filled with glorious photos and descriptive prose, we are transported out of our mundane lives.
Food bloggers create plates that defy eating, designed only to showcase how the home cook is entirely inadequate. Photos and descriptions that make your mouth water as you dream of copying the recipe the next time you enter a kitchen.
Car enthusiasts can take you for a ride on open roads meandering around mountain sides with the top down and an attractive partner in the passenger seat hair blowing in a gentle breeze at 200 kms hour.
Mummy bloggers are everywhere
Talk about a cult group and mummy bloggers is the first to come to mind. How to cope with three infants demanding attention while creating a worklife that is astounding and holding a glass of wine at five to celebrate the day.
They have work groups and social groups while keeping up with all the latest styles. Furthermore, they still manage helicoptor hovering over the sacred herd at all times of the day.
What about the enthusiasts?
It might be old cars or sailing boats, sewing machines or dolls, it is the collector's assembly. They live with a passion and willingly share with their enlightened followers. They are prone to wide-ranging travel going to meets and fairs in an area where they can talk for hours on end.
Wine snobs can be bloggers as well
The cork sniffers stand above them all as they debate the flavours of their favourite bottle of Pinot. A wine that is grown from 100-year-old vines and represents true value at only $180 a bottle. An absolute must-have in any collection. What is a lifestyle blog without a glass of red?
Lifestyle blogging is wide-ranging
You can dream up your own lifestyle and start a trend that will find readers with similar views. The subject does not really matter, the readers will follow the messiah and share experiences in any niche or subject.
Over the years we have had match box collectors, teaspoon addicts, beer coaster bandits, not to mention knives, guns, swords and bows all with a following.
Your lifestyle may revolve around business
I write about business and make no excuses. It is my hobby and my passion and sometimes I consider it a calling. Many decades of experience covering so many changing environments makes my view somewhat unique.
I was marketing pre-internet, before mobile phones and it fact way back to the humble beeper. However, I stayed on the journey and now live in the everchanging techno world of opportunity. Therefore my lifestyle is business blogging.
Life is interesting and mainly changes with access or availability to that which is currently of interest. Let me explain;
For many years I played golf at a high level. I could not walk past a magazine stand that displayed all sorts of books on Golf.
Later I had boats, big boats, sailing boats and my library changed to a marine fixation.
For many years I was a long-distance runner. My reading habits changed again to replace my prior interests as I followed the true professionals at legging the miles.
Magazines are now a rare commodity as they become less in volume because your computer access is much easier. In fact, on a recent flight, I decided I needed a good Mag to fill in a couple of mindless hours travelling the skies.
I bought a book, albeit a business style reading because I could not find a decent magazine. Not a Penthouse in sight said he laughing to himself.
Blogging is the new magazine rack
In this area I use Blogging as a very wide term, eBooks, audio books and YouTube join this company as informational marketing and add to our selection.
Many are still packed with advertising and wonderful opportunities that lie at the click of a link. No need to fill out a coupon, we will send it to your email now, money may change hands, not cash or a cheque, but a flash of your card satisfies the world.
Are all bloggers successful?
The answer to the number of successful bloggers is probably not that many.
- There were over 600 million active blogs globally in 2020. (Growth Badger)
- 53% of bloggers are 21 to 35 years old. (Daily Infographic)
- Blogging talent is growing. Roughly 32 million people in the U.S. are bloggers — up by 10 million since 2014. (Statista)
- In 2018, Huffington Post's blog earned $14 million in monthly revenue. (Daily Infographic)
- 80% of internet users interact with both social media sites and blogs. (Demand Metric)
- Companies with blogs produce an average of 67% more leads monthly than companies that don't blog. (Demand Metric)
Now that's a lot of bloggers out there in the big world pedalling their wares so does it take a lot of time or effort?
- In 2019, bloggers spent 65% more time writing blog posts, with the average post taking three hours and 57 minutes to write. (Orbit Media)
- 40% of content marketers say original visuals, such as infographics, perform best in their articles. (Venngage)
- The average blog post is 1,236 words. (Orbit Media)
However, it is getting harder
52% of bloggers say it's getting harder to engage with readers through their content. (Orbit Media)
How do you start a blogging career?
To start a blogging career you must understand a few rules. The market is so big you must take every advantage to be read or you just waste time.
Yes, you can be read and often, even in this market, but you must understand the concepts involved or you will be heading for the ignored bin.
What is a lifestyle blog without a Keyword?
Furthermore what is the best web hosting provider?
SEO and Keywords
SEO and Keywords are the two main ingredients that will make a difference. If you do not have a great understanding of these concepts you will be dead in the water, unread and miserable thinking no one likes you.
However, it can be very different if your journey starts the right way and you structure your writing in a way it can not be ignored.
Keywords or search terms are what readers type in to find an article. However, they are heavily influenced by both traffic and competition and if you are on page 20 of a search term you won't be read.
SEO includes headlines and layouts that grab a reader's attention in the seconds they pass by your post, all this can be learned before you start the journey.
Take some basic training and learn a few fundamentals before you write a single word. It will save you countless times and even more so avoid the depressing attitude to low reader engagement.
The University can be entered and used for free for as long as you wish. They have an extensive training course and an upgrade if you wish to start building websites and blog posts.
This also includes an extensive forum for similar people all learning the skills to blog properly and ensure success.
Conclusion
Don't get me wrong, I love being a blogger and it fulfils so many of my creative wishes that I can never give it up.
However, I can not teach you the art of blogging in a short 1500 word article that is really just a toe in the water.
Learn to drive before you take this onto the road to ensure that you achieve the results you expect.
I can share many articles that will help your pilgrimage but only you can do the hard yards that set you up for life.
You now have a token of understanding so take that and launch into a career that is built with time.
It is not a get rich quick scheme even if you are an influence, you need monthly traffic above 50,000 views to be considered worthy of receiving even a modest amount of payment.
Blogging takes time and consistency to become recognised in your field as the expert.
Finally, it is worthwhile so don't hesitate to make a start to a wonderful adventure.
What is a Lifestyle blog by Peter Hanley
PS. Blogging is for everyone and can be done by anyone of any age. We have spell checking, structural advice, keyword tools and SEO analysis as we write.
This helps with everything on the journey and holds your hand as you plod the pathways of blogging.
I have not mentioned money, something we all long for and that comes to those with patience. It may be Affiliate income, advertising or clickbait but the opportunities really do exist.
About
Peter H
