How to Start a Lifestyle Blog in 2022

Starting a lifestyle blog just based on research and information isn’t enough for success. You need a life story, an inspiring experience, an interest, and a hobby to share. All these come only with real-life experience.

If any of the elements are missing you won’t be able to express the feeling and the message will look shallow.

For example, unless you have travel experience, you will not be able to express effectively on your blog post. This applies equally to any type of experience, including luxury and glamor.

So, make sure you have one such inspiring experience, hobby, attitude, a way of life to start a lifestyle blog.

Next, you need to know that lifestyle blogs can be personal at some point. But every personal blog is not a lifestyle blog.

Lifestyle blogs show a way or style of living. They focus on users and have stories to showcase interest, hobbies, and activities.

Lifestyle bloggers have an eye for beautiful things in the world. They share and inspire audiences on a wide range of topics. The common topics include beauty, fashion, home, travel and food.

4 Steps to Start Lifestyle Blog in 2022

Step 1 – Micro Niches To Choose From For Starting A Lifestyle Blog

#1. Beauty Based Micro Niche

Beauty and style niche come at the top spot for any lifestyle blog. You can pick your beauty interest area from the list below;

• Fashion
• Health & Fitness
• Beauty Tips
• Hairstyles
• Self Care

#2. Home Based Micro Niche

Tons of simple and inspiring stories, activities and interests can be found at home. A few of them that you can use as micro-niche are as under;

• Motherhood
• Family & Kids
• Home Decor
• Interior Designing
• Finances & Money
• Living Green

#3. Activity-Based Micro Niche

Activities connect people and inspire you to share your experiences. Activities ideas for lifestyle blogs can be;

• Travel
• Gardening
• Art and Craft Activities
• Any Hobby (Like Photography)

#4. Food-Based Micro Niche

Food is closely related to lifestyle and is a great segment for lifestyle blogging. Food-based lifestyle niches can be;

• Vegan Food
• Cooking
• Eating Right
• Family Meals

Check out – How to start a food blog

#5. Combination Lifestyle Micro Niche

The above sub-niches can be combined to get a new micro lifestyle niche. For example;

• Healthy Vegan Family Meals
• Traveling with Kids
• Budget Beauty Hacks
• Face Packs from Kitchen Garden

Step 2 – Choose Domain Name For Your Lifestyle Blog

We have analyzed the best lifestyle blogs to study the domain names they are using. But alas! There is no common domain name usage pattern.

A majority of the blogs use personal names as the domain name. The remaining half of the blogs hardly use the word fashion, style or even the word lifestyle as part of the domain name.

Certain blogs have domain names closely related to the blogger’s lifestyle activity, the message which he is trying to bring out. For example, fitmencook.com, sixtyandme.com.

Try domain names related to your style, activity or interest. Use domain name finding tool Leandomainsearch.com to get a domain name idea.

For example, the tool returned the following domain name suggestion for the word “Image style”.

Try to find a word relatable to your sub-niche.

If you are still not able to find a suitable domain name then you can start with any domain name.

I too started my blog with the domain name “wisebaniya”, then I changed it to “moneysparkle” but still I was missing the connection.

Finally, I got the right combination in the domain name “CashOverflow”.

The other things which you should keep in mind before finalizing the domain name are:

• To pick up a .com extension – in case if it is already taken then go for any other extension.
• For a country-specific audience – go for that country’s extension. For example, for blog audiences in India go for .in extension and likewise for a US-based audience you should choose a .us extension.
• Avoid domain names with hyphens and special characters that your audiences may find it difficult to spell and remember.
• Avoid words that are difficult to spell and hard to remember.

Step 3- Buy A Hosting Hosting

You should avoid free hosting because in free hosting you do not own the site.

You are given a subdomain. Which will look like “mysite.yourlifestyleblog.com” – which looks totally unprofessional.

In free hosting space, you do not have access to the control panel. On top of that, the server speed slows down with an increasing number of blogs getting hosted.

There will be NO help and support options. To make things worse, free hosting does not give you the flexibility to design your website and has restricted functions.

A good idea is to buy hosting space from the safe and reliable hosting service provider having quality customer care.

I would suggest you to buy hosting from Siteground

Siteground gives you a safe hosting space on their high-speed servers. Your website loads faster on their solid-state drives (SSD) and free content delivery networks (CDN).

All the shared hosting plans from Siteground are protected from hackers and brute force attacks using HTTP/2 tech and AI security bots.

You get a free SSL “Lets Encrypt” certificate. Above all, you have access to the quality customer support team.

Buy Siteground hosting at a disocunted price

Steps To Buy Hosting From Siteground

Step 1 – Go to Siteground website and select ‘Web Hosting’

By purchasing web hosting you get hosting services for your blog on the Siteground’s shared servers.

Step 2 – Select GrowBig Plan

GrowBig plan is for new but growing websites. You get enough resources for starting a growing blog, like;

• Hosting more than one website
• Having 20GB of webspace
• The plan can handle up to 25K visitors

On the other hand, you can host only one website on the “StartUp Plan” that has limited resources.

The “GoGeek Plan” has higher resources and is best suited to high traffic websites or to support the portfolio of growing websites.

Step 3 – Register or Enter Domain Name

You should not get a domain name registered from your hosting service provider for the following reason:

• In the case of website transfer, you may want to shift the domain registrar also, which can be confusing.
• For a portfolio of websites, managing domain at the registrar is better.
• For added security.

Name Cheap is a good option for registering a domain name.

Step 4 – Select Plan Period and Complete Purchase

Here, you can select the hosting plan period from 12, 24 or 36 months. Siteground GrowBig plan has a fixed transparent price of $5.95 per month irrespective of the plan period.

Next, you will require a WordPress setup to see your blog live on the internet.

Step 4 – Technical Steps To Setup Your Lifestyle Blog

Installing WordPress, Themes and essential Plugins makes your lifestyle blog live and functional.

Install WordPress

You can create beautiful websites by installing WordPress’s free content management system. You just need to go to the control panel and click on “Install WordPress” in order to create a blog.

Some hosting services provide a pre-installed WordPress, but that entirely depends upon your hosting provider.

WordPress is used to create web pages, posts and add images. Further, WordPress lets you install themes & plugins, to help you customize and change the appearance of your blog.

Setting Themes

Themes include layout, style elements and color schemes. They provide the overall look and feel of the website. A few examples of themes for lifestyle blogs are Marni, Hawthorn and Shasta. You can check the best SEO wordpress themes 

While starting a blog you should not waste precious time in finalizing the theme.

Instead, you should pick up a free theme or any reasonably priced theme and focus more on other important things like content & growing your blog.

Make sure that whatever theme you choose, the website should

• Have a responsive design
• Open with the help of any browser
• Be easy to navigate
• Give a professional look and have a proper structure

Steps to Install a Free Theme

You need to go to the Dashboard> “Appearance” menu and select the option theme.

Next, you can select one from the list of themes and click on “Add New” to install the theme.

Steps to Install a Paid Theme

1. Download the theme file from the theme website
2. Click on upload theme
3. Choose the theme file
4. Click on install

In both cases (free or paid theme) after the installation, click on the “Activate” button to make the theme functional.

Installing Necessary Plugins

Plugins give you the much needed additional features. They are helpful for having extended functionality like protection against spamming, incorporating SEO features, creating an e-store and many more.

Further, as you grow you may require advanced plugins like email marketing or affiliate marketing plugins.

In the initial phase, you can start by installing only necessary plugins, the list of which is as under;

• Akismet
• JetPack
• Rankmath
• TinyMCE Advanced
• WP Smush
• Shortcodes Ultimate

10 Different Ways To Make Money After Starting Your Lifestyle Blog

Our study of lifestyle blogs revealed three major ways in which the blogs are making money;

• Affiliate marketing
• Brand collaborations
• Sponsored content

You should look to explore multiple ways of monetizing your blog. Some of the other ways of monetization for lifestyle blogs are;

• E-commerce
• Product Reviews
• Lifestyle Coach
• Courses (design, cooking, photography)
• Advertising
• Selling Book & Guides
• Consulting to start a lifestyle blog

#1. Advertising

The empty website spaces on the right side and bottom of web pages can be used to display ads. Google pays $0.5 to $10 for your allotted space through the AdSense program.

Below is an example of Google display ads;

But I do not recommend you to use Google AdSense for monetization because you do not have any control over the type of ads getting displayed.

Like the one below; the Rakez and OTIS does not even relate to the blog topic.

Display Ads divert the blog traffic and give an unprofessional look. Further, they are also responsible for making your website load slow.

#2. Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is promoting other’s products to earn passive income. You do not need to worry about creating your own product.

When you make a sale, you earn in the form of commissions that you get from the merchant.

Lifestyle niche has tons of products to promote right from beauty items, denim, watches, make-up kits to accessories.

Take a look at “Bright Bazaar”, the blog monetizes using affiliate marketing;

Some of the affiliate networks which you can use are;

• Amazon Associates
• CJ Affiliate
• Flex Offers
• ShareASale

#3. Brand Collaborations

Brand collaboration is a long-time engagement with new businesses. They are done to help create awareness and launch new products.

Lifestyle influencers and bloggers can do collaborations with companies by;

• Creating blog articles
• Posting on their social channels
• Simply wearing/showcasing products on the blog

Like what Julie is doing on her lifestyle blog “Sincerely Jules”;

Before you collaborate, make sure that the products are in line with your lifestyle niche. Do not promote totally unrelated products and services that will annoy your audience and make you look cheap.

#4. Selling Book & Guides

Writing a book or guide to share your thoughts will require substantial time and effort. But books do help in building authority.

For example, you can check the e-books listed by the blog “Kayla Itsines”;

By selling books you can create a long term passive income source. But that has to be the best lifestyle advice, a top resource for the people to buy your book/guide.

#5. Sponsored Post

Unlike brand collaboration, a sponsored post is a one-time activity. Where companies look to reach a larger or fresh set of audiences through sponsored content.

For businesses, sponsored posts spread brand awareness, help launch new products and find new buyers.

An example of a sponsored post is as under;

Here also, before doing sponsored posts you need to check that the products are in line with your lifestyle niche.

#6. E-commerce

E-shops and stores can be easily integrated into the WordPress blog using the WooCommerce plugin.

Create a list of your favorite products and then display them on the e-shop. Remember to post your pictures along with the product to show that you use them. Which will also look authentic.

Take a look at the e-shop of the “Cupcakes and Cashmere” lifestyle blog;

Make sure that you are not selling every beauty product or unrelated products.

The next step is to create your own handcrafted products or clothing line and sell them. Which will also help create your brand.

#7. Product Reviews

Quality product reviews help audiences improve their lifestyle. They solve the pain points of product selection and can bring a positive change.

“Huda Beauty is an example of a lifestyle blog that monetizes by doing product reviews.

Get such quality products for your audience. Make a product review post and help them better their lifestyle. A few examples are – beauty products, home decor, craft and activity products.

#8. Lifestyle Coach

Your experience of handling an event, a life situation or working experience makes you an expert. For example dating advice, relationship coach or an image coach.

Like what Jan and Jillian are offering;

As a lifestyle coach, you can offer all the coaching in which you are an expert.

#9. Courses (design, cooking, photography)

Your expertise and experience in design, cooking, art, photography, writing an e-book and blogging can be converted into a course.

Like what Emma and Elsie are doing at their blog “A Beautiful Mess”

You too can start such courses through your blog that are helpful to your readers.

#10. Consulting to Start a Lifestyle Blog

You have gained experience in starting a blog, design, photography, SEO, attracting traffic, creating content. All of these experiences can be used to help fellow or new bloggers.

Like what Megan is doing through her lifestyle blog “Lush to Blush”;

Use your blog to pitch for the services. Do quality work to help them out. They will be grateful and in turn, you will earn money.

Get First 1000 Visitors In 30 Days On Your Lifestyle Blog

You can pull traffic to your lifestyle blog in two different ways – Social media and Google.

Lifestyle blogs or rather any website takes time to rank on Google. You can use this time in enriching your blog and popularise it using social networks.

#1. Get Visitors Through Social Media

You should explore various social groups and forums to find initial audiences. In the beginning, you need to provide value to the group by helping people and solving their problems. Then only you can expect things in return.

Your primary aim should be to build relationships and not spamming the group with your blog promotion.

For example, you can use Facebook to get visitors to your lifestyle blog. For that, you need to search for lifestyle groups.

After login to Facebook, you can type “beauty & lifestyle” in the search bar and click on groups.

You will get a list of the lifestyle groups on FB. Scroll down to find more groups. Choose the group that is relevant to your lifestyle blog.

 

For example, when you click the “Mom’s Lifestyle” group, you will find the FB group page with a tab to join the group, description of the group with a set of rules and member details.

You can join the group using the “+Join Group” tab and start helping people/ participating in the group.

#2. Using Email Marketing

The email Ids are very helpful in finding engaging audiences. Use it to reach out to fashion, style loving people.

Deliver useful personalized content. In return, politely ask them to share information about your blog with others.

#3. Publish Regularly

While you are promoting on social channels, do not forget to post content regularly. You should be creative in writing and publishing content regularly.

With time your blog will have content depth and maturity to get a better ranking on Google. Once you are there you will start receiving organic traffic.

Conclusion

Fashion and style trends are evolving. Which makes lifestyle an evergreen topic for blogs. The best part of starting a lifestyle blog is that the niche is closely related to people, places and life events.

You just need an eye to spot the trends. Have first-hand experience and be creative to share with the world.

Learning Resources/ Further Readings

Find Profitable Keywords for SEO to rank higher in Google