How To Monetize a Lifestyle Blog (and How to Succeed With It)

Wanna start a lifestyle blog? I get it, I get it. Lifestyle blogs are always inspiring, and at the same time, the easiest niche to start.

The first-ever blog I got serious with was a lifestyle blog, too. It’s both fun and self-fulfilling! In this type of blog, our best resource is ourselves.

It mentions what worked for you, how you triumphed in life, and the hacks and strategies you picked up,

But can you make money by helping people better their lives through your experiences?

Do lifestyle blogs make money? Is it profitable to share your life stories and earn at the same time?

A-huh. We’ll tackle this shortly.

What is a lifestyle blog?

A lifestyle blog is inspired by the author’s interests, personal life, thoughts, and daily activities. It is shaped by the author’s perspective, life stages, body condition, location, culture, experiences, and challenges they have overcome.

Many bloggers start with this type of blog because our experiences are the easiest resource we can get.

We can write our experiences, self-reflection, research, and gathered facts into one compact lesson people can benefit from. 

Lifestyle blogs vary and could fall into the following niche: 

• Food and drink
• Personal Development
• Health and fitness
• Hobbies
• Fashion and style
• Travel
• Beauty
• Parenthood and family

What’s the Difference Between a Lifestyle Blog and a Personal Blog?

A lifestyle blog is reader-focused. It inspires people and draws them into a specific way of life.

Meanwhile, a personal blog is more author-focused — and diary-like — where it spotlights the sentiments, opinions, and experiences of the author.

Let’s set an example. 

The first-ever blog I created tackled introversion. (Well, because I’m an introvert!)

Most introverts are intuitive and deep thinkers. So in my lifestyle blog, I focused on the whys, the motivation, and the characters behind this social orientation.

I dug deep to understand myself and projected my views where people can draw the big picture of their introversion, too. 

You know you’re doing a good job when people heartwarmingly thank you for what you’ve written.

And that’s the knack of it.

Lifestyle blogs should help people better their lives.

They must understand where you’re coming from and how your experiences fit as solutions to their struggles, too.

On the contrary, a personal blog would rather be focused on me, eager to write down my thoughts, what I felt, saw, and heard — like writing a diary.

You can still gain readership with a personal blog — sort of.

But if the readers don’t relate enough to your experience and can’t fit your life story into theirs, then you bet your readership would hardly grow (unless you’re popular with a huge following!).

Can I monetize a lifestyle blog?

Yes, lifestyle blogs can be monetized. Just like any business, you can pull readers into your blog, provide solutions to their problems, and introduce a way of life. Once you accumulate blog traffic, you can start to indulge in monetizing strategies to earn a hefty amount from it.

You might like this: When Can I Monetize A Blog?

Is Lifestyle blogging profitable?

Yes, lifestyle blogging is profitable. According to SEM Rush, lifestyle bloggers earn about $5,000 per month on average.

More determined bloggers who publish quality content, broaden their reach, do affiliate marketing, sell their products, and provide services could earn over $100,000 a month.

You see, a blog becomes more profitable once you’re thinking of the business side.

The more you open and branch it out for monetization, the bigger you can make.

How to Monetize a Lifestyle Blog

How to make money as a lifestyle blogger? Here are 5 easy ways you can generate a money-making lifestyle blog!

1. Display Ads

One of the most common ways to monetize a lifestyle blog is through display ads.

• Ezoic

Ezoic is an ad network that sets up automatic ads on your blog.

In February 2021, they launched the Access Now Program which allows new websites to apply at a minimum of zero traffic.

Yup, zero traffic! 

So long as you comply with their policies and other requirements, your lifestyle blog would be up for ad monetization!

Well, hats off to Ezoic for increasing my ad revenue 23x more than Google AdSense on the first month I joined their network.

That’s why I’m suggesting you apply to them, too!

So, if your website receives low traffic at the moment, but you know your blog is already of quality, Ezoic is your best bet to earn through display ads.

 TRY EZOIC!

• Mediavine

Mediavine loooves lifestyle blogs!

They offer one of the highest RPMs (revenue per mille) in the blogging industry, hitting up anywhere from $10 to $23 per 1000 sessions.

Numerous professional bloggers attest to the quality services and a solid increase in their revenue after joining Mediavine.

Another benefit of this ad network is their headstrong support to publishers as they commit to helping you grow your blog.

Wanna be part of Mediavine? Here are their minimum requirements:

• 50,000 sessions on a 30-day lookback
• Have not committed any Google AdSense Policy violations
• The website contains original, engaging, and long-form content

2. Affiliate Marketing

Are you recommending books? Online courses? Planners? 

Even in a lifestyle blog, you’re surely using products that you, in one way or the other, have used or liked.

If you like the product, then why not promote it?

There’s no harm in promoting products that you genuinely believe in – whether that’s a subscription, a course, a service, or a physical product. 

But alongside that, why not earn a commission, too, when someone buys the product you recommended?

Affiliate marketing works just like that and it is one of the best ways to monetize a blog.

Simply put, affiliate marketing allows you to earn a commission when a reader clicks on your uniquely generated affiliate link and buys the product you recommended.

How to Find Affiliate Programs?

Now, what if you have a website in mind, but don’t know if they offer affiliate programs? What are the best ways to find out? 

Easy-peasy. Here are 3 ways to find out:

1. You can see an “Affiliates” link at the Footer or Primary Navigation of the brand’s website.

2. Type “[name of brand] affiliate program” and check for search results. (Ex. Amazon affiliate program)

3. Join Affiliate Networks. These are websites where you can find a pool of brands to apply for.

After confirming that your chosen product provides affiliate programs, read their terms and commission rates and sign up!

The most common Affiliate Networks you can apply for are:

• Amazon (you know it, it’s a popular go-to shopping website for physical items)
• eBay (similar to Amazon)
• Shareasale (pool for high-ticket affiliate products with high commission rates)
• Awin (Affiliate Network for popular websites such as Etsy, etc.)
• CJ Affiliates (similar to Shareasale)

3. Selling Your Products

• Physical Products

Lifestyle Blogs? Most of these blogs manufacture products such as journals, planners, and motivational books.

They also open online shops through Etsy and Gumroad and sell merchandise such as t-shirts, bags, keychains, etc. 

• Digital Products

Digital Products can be any form of a downloadable piece of media that consumers buy online.

What’s amazing about digital products is that it sells repeatedly in the form of e-books, online courses, templates, plug-ins, printables, and more.

Compared to physical products, digital products has low overhead costs.

You don’t need spacious storage for your items, don’t need to hold inventory, nor incur shipping costs.

It’s just there, existing, and gathering sales for as long as your blog exists!

As long as you provide valuable information, service, and help in your digital products, it will be a profitable source, and a passive way, to monetize your blog.

4. Sponsored Posts

Sooner or later, your blog would catch the eyes of brands.

If their products relate to your niche, of course, they would want to market to YOUR audience.

Are sponsored posts basically ads?

Well, yes and no. Sponsored posts aim to drive traffic or sales back to the company. But it’s not just a display ad, but a more engaging and informative content-type advertisement.

It’s a content or blog post shaped to promote a brand.

But because it’s written to blend in your niche, some readers may not even notice they’re reading a sponsored post!

In exchange, sponsored posts average $300 per post. But with larger traffic and reach, you could also be earning thousands from it.

Social media, attached to your blog, is a great platform for a sponsored post, too. You can find marketing websites where you just have to publish a social media post!

You can either pitch to a brand as to how your blog can benefit them or write quality blog posts until brands find and reach out to you.

Another way is to sign up for these marketing services to help you connect with companies:

• Izea
• Linqia
• Pollinate
• TapInfluence
• Weave Made Media

Tip: The sponsored posts you accept must not deviate from your blog niche. 

If your audience comes to your website for relationship advice, then, stick to the topic. Make sure you’re not hurting the reader’s experience and the effectiveness of the advertorial.

5. Offer your Services

Your blog surely is a great portfolio for your clients to see your quality of work.

Create a “Work With Me”, “Hire Me”, or “Coaching 1:1” page and show all your qualifications and accomplishments.

You can also offer services such as:

• Content Writing
• Consultation
• 1:1 Coaching
• Training and Webinars

Elements of a Successful Lifestyle Blog

1. Inspiring life story along with a mission

People come to your blog to ponder on your self-reflections, what you figured out that improved your life, or how you did “IT”.

That means in lifestyle blogging, YOU are the brand of the blog. You gotta have a unique story to tell.

What’s your story? Who’s your target audience?

Are you a 40-year-old woman who tried the keto diet for 3 years? A college dropout who built his own business from scratch?

An employee who quit a high-paying job and followed her passion? An attorney who changed careers despite society’s pressure?

Your backstory is a great foundation to share your mission.

A successful lifestyle blog gains the readers’ trust and would think that “if this person got out of the same rut, then I can do, too, if I follow his way”. 

The mission is always to improve your readers’ lives.

So before you teach your lifestyle to others, you must first have a solid story to tell and it must be true to the ground.

Because from all the years of writing and reading blogs, it’s the authenticity, credibility, and how people relate to you that makes them come back for more.

You might also like: 9 Reasons Why Bloggers Fail (And What to Do About It!)

2. Social following

Lifestyle bloggers extend their reach with social media. Why? Because in the digital age, social media is where life is!

Readers don’t randomly search, “how to have a productive week and be the best I can be.”

But you bet many scrolling readers would click on it if it hangs around their feed. (I would!)

Social media is a fantastic way to increase visibility for lifestyle bloggers. Your goal is to make readers click on a blog post they never thought they needed, but they do.

That said, create 1-2 socials and focus on growing them until they gain traction. Don’t make too many socials at once.

Extend your reach using Instagram, Tiktok, and Pinterest. Do strategy tests, and evaluate what works and doesn’t work for you. Build a following. 

The better news is, companies collaborate not only with blogs, but also with creators with a considerable amount of followers on their social media.

3. Authenticity and Transparency

Lifestyle blogging means you’re ready to show authenticity and reveal the secrets that helped you overcome struggles.

Be real and transparent. Share your highs and lows. How you develop yourself through problems and all.

Most readers today are engaged with emotional writing rather than empty advice that is repeated over and over again on the Internet.

That means, “authenticity and uniqueness” is your brand.

If you notice, most lifestyle blogs are image-heavy. Bloggers put visuals of themselves to let readers learn who they’re reading from.

Again, with a lifestyle blog, YOU are YOUR BRAND.

WRAP UP

Do lifestyle blogs make money?

They sure do! As long as you provide an effective strategy to generate traffic and extend your reach, your blog could earn you both passive and active income.

I hope this post gave you insights.

God bless you on your blogging journey!

Grammarly – Detects misspelled words and grammatical errors. It gives your piece an overall performance score based on correctness, clarity, engagement, and the delivery of your blog. All free!

Ezoic – Aside from ad monetization, Ezoic also offers SEO, Analytics, and Site Speed tools. With Ezoic, my ad revenue increased 23x more than Google Adsense. Thankfully, they now offer an Access Now Program that accepts new blog websites with a minimum of zero – again – zero traffic!