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What are the most popular types of blog?
I’m glad you asked! The first step of starting a successful blog is to understand the different types of blogs that exist, then pick a topic that interests you and your future audience.
Today, let’s talk about the most popular types of blog you can start. We’ll look at what they focus on, how they succeed, and how to make a living out of them.
Sound good? Great!
13 Popular Types of Blog And How They Succeed
Conclusion
Let’s go.
Ok – let’s start with a quick caveat: there isn’t one single way to categorize ‘types of blog’.
The blogging industry has changed dramatically over the last few years and it’s become difficult to define what a ‘blog’ is.
However, almost every blog is focused on a particular niche. So I’ll be talking about 13 of the most popular niches.
One VERY common reason people start a blog is because they want to launch a personal brand.
These personal brand blogs focus on establishing the blogger as a thought-leader or industry expert.
The content in these types of blogs is all about building credibility for the blogger.
As for the specific niche of the blog – it could be anything! You can establish yourself as an expert on spirituality, personal development, marketing or, heck, hula hooping.
The best personal brand blogs will make their value very clear to its readers.
A common strategy used by this type of blog to attract readers is by giving away lots of free valuable content.
For example – Kevin Indig, the SEO director for Shopify, sends out a free newsletter that’s packed with useful tips.
You should focus on building a strong relationship with readers. That way – you’ll have a captive audience for any new content you make. They’ll trust your recommendations and be naturally curious about products you launch.
Some readers may even be willing to pay for access to your exclusive content.
For example, blogger Mark Manson offers bonus articles, and video courses to readers who pay a small monthly fee.
How to monetise personal blogs:
In the past, a personal blog was more of a ‘Dear Diary’ gig, kept by the blogger.
Today, these have mostly evolved to be more of a ‘lifestyle’ blog where bloggers create content based on their daily life. They may blog about their personal interests and activities.
Lifestyle blogs are usually the most successful when they have a readership that’s emotionally invested in the blogger’s life story. Again, you need to give people a reason to care.
Maybe you can entertain them with your witty storytelling. Maybe you can dazzle them with your personality. Or maybe you can inspire them to lead a life like yours.
Many lifestyle blogs will focus on a particular angle – such as ‘sustainable living’.
Focus on giving your readers value. If you’re just talking about what you had for breakfast – you’re unlikely to get much of a following unless you’re an A-list celebrity.
How to monetise lifestyle blogs:
If you own a business, it’s usually a very good idea to start some sort of blog. It’s a powerful way to give your brand some extra personality, and to deepen your relationship with customers.
A business blog is also a GREAT way to hook in and engage potential customers who are browsing around online.
You might want to blog about the start-up story of your business, or introduce your team members. Or you can create useful tutorials and answer questions that are commonly asked by your customers.
The best types of corporate blogs don’t just sing their own praises (that gets tiring real fast), but focus on creating high-quality content that’s actually, genuinely useful for customers.
They should also be SEO-optimised and packed with insights.
For example, the Grammarly team has written up an ultimate guide to essay writing. It’s clearly aimed at the student demographic – a huge potential market for their grammar checking product.
This is content marketing 101. By producing helpful content that their potential customers might naturally stumble upon, Grammarly is raising awareness of their brand in the right spaces.
How to monetise corporate blogs:
If you’ve an eye for fashion or beauty, why not share it?
Fashion blogs can cover everything from ‘outfit of the day’ posts and seasonal fashion tips, to make-up tutorials and fashion event coverage. Many fashion bloggers will share hauls, lookbooks and tips.
Many beauty blogs focus on reviewing makeup and beauty products. For example, you might blog about beauty routines, make-up tutorials and holiday looks.
Quality content and high-quality visuals matter.
For example, Organic Beauty Blogger does a great job with her gorgeous photos and a clean blog layout. Her photos have a consistent visual style and look very professional.
Successful fashion and beauty blogs also depend on a devoted following who enjoy your taste. However – maintaining readers’ trust is especially important.
One Mintel study found that 70% of Americans check online reviews before they buy. If you’re writing a lot of paid product reviews, it’s important to be transparent and only choose products that align with your brand.
Lastly – showcasing your personality is a very effective way to stand out in this niche. More and more beauty and fashion bloggers are turning to YouTube since it can be an easier way to express yourself.
How to monetise fashion or beauty blogs:
Who doesn’t love food blogs?
Food blogs are typically filled with beautiful visuals that make readers’ mouths water. Example blog posts can include seasonal recipes, reviews of restaurants or long write-ups on specific ingredients. Many food blogs have expanded into social media and video content.
Strong visuals are really important to this type of blog.
Many people scroll through food blogs for inspiration for what to cook for their next meal. If your images can get them drooling, then you’ve won half the battle.
Given it’s visual nature, a lot of food bloggers have expanded into producing video content too – for example, opening a YouTube channel that shows step-by-step recipes.
How to monetise food blogs:
Love talking money? Then maybe a finance blog is right up your alley.
Finance blogs often focus on sharing useful content related to the financial industry. They might share news and info, stock analysis and explain technical principles.
Or – they can be focused on the personal financial journeys of the bloggers themselves. Example posts can include money-saving tips, budgeting templates, reviews of investment apps, and guides to investing personal finance.
Most of us tend to be very sceptical when it comes to listening to a stranger’s advice on money, since the stakes are high.
Since finance blogs need to prove their expert knowledge, it’s important for the blogger to make themself seem credible. Tell readers who you are. Do you have qualifications in finance? Are you just passionate about investment?
Some bloggers have a compelling financial success story. For example, Mr Money Mustache uses his own personal story of how he ‘retired’ in his 30s as part of his blog’s brand.
Many great finance blogs also produce in-depth guides. For example, The Motley Fool produces a lot of beginner guides – like their ‘Stock Market 101’ and ‘Investing 101’, seen below.
How to monetise finance blogs:
Fans of sport often rely on sports blogs to read up on game coverage and get sports news.
If you’re passionate about a particular sport, this type of blog might be the perfect outlet for you. Example blog posts might focus on highlights of key matches, athletes, cover major leagues and review sports equipment.
A great sports blog gives fans the indepth sports coverage that they crave. This could be through opinion pieces, video content and informative content.
There are blogs like ESPN’s that cover multiple sports. However if you’re a blogger who’s just starting out, I recommend you to pick one sport to focus on.
Lastly (and obviously) sports content should be timely. There’s little point blogging about a game a week after the final whistle is blown.
How to monetise sports blogs:
You can also create a ‘members-only’ section on your blog to give your paying followers access to exclusive content.
If you’ve been bitten by the travel bug, why not start a travel blog?
Travel blogs are the ultimate form of online escapism. The best travel blogs are filled with beautiful photos, immersive travel stories and exciting new destinations. Many travel blogs will give readers tips on how they can visit the same locations.
Common examples of travel blog content can include multi-day itineraries, country guides, and packing lists.
The travel industry also relies on strong visuals, so it’s very helpful to have high-quality images to share a destination or an experience. Travel bloggers should definitely invest in a nice camera.
On top of that – always try and be as specifically helpful as possible. Most people who are planning to travel will spend some time online just researching the nitty-gritty details of a trip – like which bus routes to take, and which restaurants to eat in.
Many smart travel blogs will produce detailed content to address this need. For example, The Poor Traveller churns out useful guides that get very specific – such as visa application and travel document guides.
How to monetise travel blogs:
If you like geeking out over the latest gadgets or tech developments, you might want to start your own tech blog.
Since tech is such a huge topic, it’s a good idea to narrow down your niche to something specific. For example, if you’re interested in smartphones, why not blog exclusively about that?
Common types of blog posts include publishing the latest tech news or reviewing the latest up-and-coming software and gadgets.
The best way to stand out as a tech blog is to make sure that you truly do your research – and do it well.
If you’re reviewing a tech product, make sure you understand the technicalities of it, through and through. Read reviews, put it through tests, and check credible 3rd-party sources to better understand the topic. The goal is to build authority and build trust.
For example, whenever Bitcatcha writes reviews on the fastest web hosts, we always run things through very detailed tests first.
Lastly – the tech industry moves particularly fast, so make sure you stay on top of the latest industry trends. You need your finger on the pulse!
How to monetise tech blogs:
Are you raising tiny humans? A parenting blog usually shares advice, tips and relatable stories about the journey of raising kids. Many of them have their own niche too, such as ‘waste-free parenting’ or ‘homeschooling’.
Parenting blogs can work as really useful resources to other parents. So, the best parenting blogs usually share tons of actionable advice and useful resources.
Many of these are given away for free, whilst the best are saved for paying readers.
How to monetise parenting blogs:
If you’re a gaming fan, you might be interested in this type of blog.
Even though platforms like Twitch and YouTube are still dominating, there’s still plenty of room for unique gaming blogs to exist.
Many gamers will look for game reviews before they purchase the latest game. Other blog post examples can include game announcements, walkthroughs, cheat codes, sponsored posts, and more.
The gaming community is one that’s really active online.
And so, successful gaming blogs tend to be really great at fostering a strong sense of community. For example, by encouraging readers to interact with each other in the blog comments section.
On top of that – the most successful gaming blogs are written by fans, for fans.
Just look at the PC gaming blog Rock Paper Shotgun. It’s maintained by Britain’s top games critics, and it shows. Their content is well-written and full of personality. The titles are attention-grabbing in all the right ways.
Whilst most of their blogs posts get a decent amount of comments, they also publish posts that are clearly intended to get user-input.
For example their ‘What are we all playing this weekend?’ series is all about getting readers to share whatever games they’re currently into.
How to monetise gaming blogs:
I’m using the term ‘design’ loosely here because there are a lot of different types of design blog – from interior design, to brand design. These sorts of blogs often highlight talented designers and awesome examples of design.
They’re the Pinterest equivalent of blogs: people often browse them for inspiration.
The obvious criterion is that a design blog needs a GREAT blog design. Otherwise, no one’s going to take you seriously!
The best design blogs have a strong and distinct blog layout and unique branding. And, since many people are using these blogs for inspiration, your visuals should be high-quality.
How to monetise design blogs:
The journey to wellness can be tough, which is why many people turn to health and fitness blogs.
These types of blogs are usually packed with friendly advice that make getting healthy easier and more fun.
Common content can include tips, healthy recipes, workout plans and inspiring personal stories. Some blogs will focus on a certain activity, such as weightbuilding. Others may take a more holistic approach to health.
Health and fitness blogs need to be both motivational and convincing.
That’s why content that can ‘prove’ the effectiveness of the blogger’s techniques is very helpful. Readers love things like before/after transformations and hearing success stories.
That’s why many fitness bloggers try to prove their worth by sharing their own fitness journey and their rippling abs.
You can just work on building some sort of relatable rapport with readers. For example – fitness blog Nerd Fitness has built its brand on being a fitness blog for nerds, by nerds.
How to monetise health & fitness blogs:
We’ve shared 13 types of blogs and how they can succeed and earn money.
Having some sort of niche focus will help your readers know what to expect from you, and help you build a community of dedicated readers.
Whatever type of blog you choose, remember that the key successful indicator is that you produce regular, high-quality content. So make sure it’s a niche you’re passionate about!
When you’ve chosen what type of blog you want to start – the real work begins! Make sure to read our full guide on how to start a blog, and start working towards posting your very first blog post.
Dani is an editor and writer based between KL and Mexico City. Sprung from the advertising and travel industries, she’s also spent the last 10+ years freelancing for a slew of creative online businesses around the world. Connect with her via LinkedIn.
