“Do not get caught up in what viewers want to see, but to focus on what you want to post and there will be an audience for it.”

You want to start a lifestyle blog. That’s what brought you here, right? Well, you may think, “Everyone seems to be doing that so I’ll do the same, too.” 

If this sounds true to you, hold your horses, my friend. 

I know how excited you are today to launch your first lifestyle blog and succeed in it. Perhaps, you already have chosen your preferred and chic domain name and purchased your first web hosting package. 

But there are things you need to know aside from owning your domain and access to your cPanel. The big challenge here is to know how to launch it without digging your own grave, okay? 

Our goal in this post is to know what lifestyle blog is all about, as well as, the 5 amazing shortcuts to building a successful lifestyle blog this year (or whenever you decide). 

Being aware of the basics plays a vital role as you go along the process of building your website and writing great content for your audience around the world. 

If this is what interests you, take Jennifer Coral’s tips and tricks on how you can build your lifestyle blog and get hooked with it. She revealed her strategies, personal experiences, and recommendations during our interview months ago. 

Her statements were uplifting not to be heard. So, this is why I wrote a post about her thoughts for you to get motivated to take action today. 

Are you ready? Let’s dive into it. Shall we? 

What Is A Lifestyle Blog?

From the word “lifestyle,” the content pertains to the style of living life. In other words, anything that relates to your life stage and experience comprises a lifestyle blog.

Whatever you eat, drink, travel, everything you do during your normal days, your vacation break, etc. are all included in a lifestyle blog niche. 

If you take a look at the YouTube vloggers, although, in video format, it is a great example of how a lifestyle blog would look like. You take part in certain activities and then, recommend your favorite brands, for instance. 

Among the famous topics, most lifestyle bloggers tackle their traveling adventure showing their raw expectations and experiences with the place they’re staying.

It can also be about clothing haul and their favorite brands for you to check out and try. Anything you think is related to a concern that affects someone’s lifestyle by showing—er, someone’s lifestyle. Does that make sense to you? 

The format is simple and it’s allowing you to personalize your content aligned to your lifestyle. From there, you create followers, subscribers, and loyal fans. 

Given, it is worth noting that this is a big niche. The Hosting Tribunal revealed that today, there are more than 500 million blogs published around the world. And in each blog, the number of published posts per day reaches as much as 2 million, if not, more. 

Within the total number of blogs out there, only less than 10% of them profited from their websites and generated income. Why is this so? 

Not all blogs can be successful. You may already know why. Especially if you have no intention to plan and follow the 5 amazing shortcuts we’re about to learn today. 

Anyway, lifestyle blogs, on the other hand, take the top spot as a prime category among the blog niches. Why? The reason is obvious. It’s the top choice of every blogger. 

And I’ll tell you why in a second. 

Unlike my blog, which is more of a professional blog, you focus on various topics that are close to you.

In my case, I am not writing about fashion, food, travel, music, fitness, or even DIY (though I can because I’m a craftsman. If you want to see my handmade works, you can visit my Etsy shop here). 

This blog is solely for sharing my knowledge in content writing that connects with your audience. From that, the overall vibe of the site tends towards the “serious” rather than the “fun” side of blogging. I guess you already notice it.

Do you get me?  

This reason makes lifestyle blogs a bit more competitive than the rest of the blog niches. Now, I know that you’re excited to know the 5 amazing shortcuts to build a successful lifestyle blog. 

And here they are:

5 Amazing Shortcuts To Build A Successful Lifestyle Blog

As I mentioned before, getting into building a successful lifestyle blog can be tougher than you thought. 

Given the billions of award-winning lifestyle blogs out there, it’d be worse if you rather skip these shortcuts and expect to succeed in this industry. You will not. For real.

To ensure 100% success from the beginning of your blogging journey, you need to understand the importance of each of the following:

1. Be prepared to be vulnerable.
2. Utilize social media.
3. Become a fan of content planning
4. Master blog technicalities.
5. Learn how to build connections (other bloggers & your audience)

1. Be Prepared To Be Vulnerable.

Jennifer Coral, one of the inspiring bloggers I interviewed a few months ago, shared her story behind her blog.

She’s currently a Pittsburgh college student with a fond interest in sharing her creative ideas in fashion, gift ideas, positivity tips, DIY, etc.

Though she shares much of her personal experiences with these above-mentioned interests, her passion for the lifestyle niche is undying. 

“It seems like the perfect way to reach and inspire other people to spend time doing things they love,” she added, “I always feel so happy and motivated to try ideas I see online.” 

When you choose to begin your lifestyle blog, you have to be personal with it as it involves your, well, lifestyle to your audience. Whatever it is you want to talk about, you have to be prepared to open up to the world. 

That also means being prepared for what’s coming i.e. criticisms from other online users and hectic collaborative efforts with other lifestyle bloggers out there. 

2. Utilize Social Media.

Coral utilizes her Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest as her sources for web traffic. At the same time, social media became her partner to rely on for inspiration from other creators around the world. 

If you want to build a successful lifestyle blog, though you just get started, you have to gain followers making it easier for you to reach out to your audience and generate income from it in the future.

Becoming an influencer is easier when you manage to increase your following. Hence, you need to be outstanding from the beginning. You must have an edge against other lifestyle bloggers to get the people’s attention towards you and you—as a brand. 

When you do, whenever you market something i.e. a new product, a new program⁠ you created—whatever you want to offer to them can be directly sent out and make the sales. 

This is why effective social media marketing plays a big role in a successful online business. Especially in this niche.

In Coral’s blog, it’s more of a “Chicken Soup For The Soul” but chic kind of thing. Though she’s supposed to share the typical lifestyle blog⁠—clothing haul and such stuff⁠—she prefers sharing the inspirational and motivational side of it.

“If you find a picture that brings back happiness but you are not sure how it relates to a blog post, think about specific aspects of that event that made you happy. Find a way to recommend something that goes along with it or even a life lesson that came out of this event,” she revealed.

3. Become A Fan Of Content Planning.

Coral explained her process in content planning in which she starts with a general idea and determines its specifics. This is the easiest way if you feel overwhelmed with knowing the next topic to write about. 

For beginner bloggers, it’s tough to make a list of topics or at least a general idea of what you have to write first. You know, the first 5 epic, cornerstone posts to introduce yourself to your first website users (your audience) and Google. 

If you want to know how to make an irresistible first blog post, click here to get started. 

“For example, I may have a lot of new cute outfits to post about, but I specifically write about trendy ways to style sweatpants. I, then, plan out the organization of the post. I often do this in a list format like ‘5 Unique Ways To…’ and go through my ideas that way. This is an easy way for viewers to look through the post and get the main ideas before reading further,” she told me during the interview. 

In that sense, it’s easier to build a calendar of a wide range of topics based on the niche. As I mentioned earlier, lifestyle blogs follow a wide range of topics in comparison to business blogs like mine. 

However, it’s also important to keep in mind that, though you can write almost anything, you still have to be strategic with your content to ensure your blog’s success. 

If you’re confused about the direction of your blog, you may go back to your past experiences or something close to your heart. 

At times, when you simply stay put and reflect, you will eventually hear your writing voice. If you have published a few posts, you will notice the subjects, themes, points of view discussing the same thing. In that way, at least, you will get an idea of the direction of your site and its contents. 

The turning point for Coral to realize her niche is when she wrote the post “A Unique Way To Deal With Sadness” on her blog. 

It contains the effects of writing letters to your future self psychologically. “I realized how much it could help someone reading it because it aided me in my fight against depression,” she said. 

She also shared her excitement with me when she knew someone (also a fellow blogger) who would try the same content strategy to bring joy for herself and her audience. 

In my case, I started this site with some historical Korean drama series sharing my thoughts about anything related to Korean drama, to Japanese movies, and eventually, I ended up focusing on effective content writing that converts and sells. 

Usually, you find yourself thinking to the extent you’ll be creatively paralyzed. It happened to me and everyone. 

To prevent that, create your plan and see the potential of your blog idea. If it’s still a bit raw and needs more thinking time, take your time. Don’t push it. Relax and spend time on research and on knowing your audience better. 

Do you get me? Are you getting the picture? 

If yes, let’s move on.

4. Master Blog Technicalities.

Although this isn’t as easy as it sounds, knowing the potential of your blog is a must if you intend to succeed in it.

Imagine this. You own one of the fastest cars in the world, yet, you don’t know how to maneuver it to its fullest speed and capabilities.

It’s the same principle to mastering your blog. You have to know its fullest potential. That means, you study how your WordPress works; determine and invest for the best theme fit for your niche; install the necessary plugins to support your content creation; and, above all, master how to optimize your content, as well as, your site. 

Like you, Coral continued to learn how to increase her site potential by recently discovering the power of pop-outs to increase email sign-ups. Though she’s been blogging earlier, she never realized the importance of integrating this system in her online presence. 

Though pop-outs help a lot, it’s worthless if you have crappy content. If you want to learn how to optimize your content to increase your chances to get higher traffic, you can read my separate post about fixing it. 

In addition to your resources, see my recommended tools to bolster your content and your blog performance. (Disclaimer: The list contains affiliate links.)

5. Learn How To Build Connections.

Building connections is multi-dimensional. To begin with, you need to be connected with yourself if you opt to start a lifestyle blog. 

The next thing is being connected with your audience; and the last thing is having your audience relate to you. 

If you take a look at the diagram below, this is what you have to achieve to succeed in this industry primarily because lifestyle niches tend to be personal. 

Therefore, if you fail to connect with any of these dimensions, it won’t work. Seriously. You want to build a lifestyle blog but you aren’t prepared to be open and vulnerable with your audience. How does that work, then? 

For instance, yeah, you’re an open book. But you tend to talk about yourself and fail to recognize that your audience listens, and wants to relate with what you’re saying. After talking so much, you realized you only have assumptions about your audience. 

My last example would be your inability to invite your audience to join the ride with you. This is somehow relatable to my previous point, however, this emphasizes on your capability to convince them to take action seamlessly. 

Why is this included? 

If let’s say, you tried your best to write epic content for your audience, but, they failed to understand the overall message you intend to tell them. You didn’t speak their language. You just went on your way. So they aren’t on board with you. 

Given these varied circumstances, it’s always necessary to have three areas connected to guarantee your success as a lifestyle blogger. 

As a blogger, it’s not an alone ride. You connect with other bloggers, too, and build friendships, if you can. The same thing with your potential clients, collaborators, companies you’ll work with.  

Do you understand what I’m saying? 

Conclusion – Take Action!

Now, it’s your turn. 

What will be your first step? 

If you’re confused, go back to the 5 points we just tackled and make yourself a plan. A big plan. 

Starting a lifestyle blog, like any niches out there, will take a lot of work. A lot of thinking, planning, and, of course, writing. Yet, you choose to do this. So, gear yourself up for a tough but rewarding endeavor. 

Build your lifestyle blog today and start from mastering how to write an insanely good, optimized content by getting your FREE book. It contains the basics of what a good post contains that converts and drives traffic. 

As Coral said during our interview, “My advice is to not get caught up in what viewers want to see but to focus on what you want to post and there will be an audience for it. If you are posting about things you do not enjoy, you will not have fun blogging experience.”

Do you understand what she meant? If yes, take a step to achieve your first goal towards a successful lifestyle blog. It will take a lot of time and effort but it’s all worth it. That’s exactly how I earned $5,000 as a writer. 

If you want to achieve that as a lifestyle blogger, go back to your desk and make a strategic plan. Do it now. 

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If you like this post, bookmark this page so you can return here whenever you need a reference. Don’t forget to take action if success is your ultimate goal. 

Also don’t forget to share this with your friends and family, especially those who want to build their lifestyle blogs. 

If you have more thoughts to share with me, feel free to leave them in the comment section below. I’ll be grateful enough to hear them, especially your success stories. 🙂

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