How to Start a Lifestyle Blog That Makes Money

Deciding to start a lifestyle blog isn’t as appealing as you may think. 

More than 4 million blog posts go live each day, which means the blogging industry is very competitive if you are hoping to get rich quickly. 

I’ve been blogging since 2011 and even I’ve seen how drastically this industry can change in just one year.

Therefore, today I wanted to share some up-to-date blogging knowledge regarding how you can start a lifestyle blog and make money from it this year. 

NOTE: You will need to invest some money to make money from blogging. 

Disclosure: This post does contain affiliate links. 

Step #1: Select a Domain Name

The first step to starting a lifestyle blog is to select a domain name.

Your lifestyle blog domain name must be something that people can easily remember. If you’re serious about making money from your blog it should also be something that can easily be branded. 

The Do’s and Dont’s of Selecting a Blog Domain Name 

When selecting a domain name for your lifestyle blog keep the following things in mind. 

• Avoid using numbers and symbols
• Avoid words that have double meanings (i.e. Some words in US English mean something else in UK English)
• Avoid words that have multiple ways they can be spelled
• Make sure to register only ‘.com’ domain names

Step #2: Get a Reliable Blog Web Host

In addition to having a great domain name you also need a reliable web host to start a lifestyle blog.

You want a web host that has your site up 99.9% of the time. 

It’s not acceptable for your site to be down 3 hours or more per month. Additionally, your web host needs to have excellent customer support. 

Most importantly, you need to make sure your web host scaling plans are affordable. 

Here’s a great guide on how to choose a web hosting provider.

Why I Recommend Arvixe Web Hosting For Lifestyle Bloggers

I’ve been using Arvixe web hosting since I started this lifestyle blog in 2012. 

I recommend Arvixe web hosting to lifestyle bloggers because they have a great website uptime percentage and they are one of the most affordable web hosting providers. 

Things You Should Know About Arvixe Web Hosting

Every web hosting service has its pros and cons.

Despite having low downtime and excellent customer service before signing up for Arvixe as your web host make sure you keep the following things in mind:

• They will raise your price without notice: When I signed up in 2011 I paid $5.40 per month for a shared web hosting plan. Now I pay approximately $2.00 more and was never alerted about the price increase. 
• Live chat is actually 24/7: Blog when you want, and if you experience problems, Arvixe is there to help you. I contacted Arvixe at 9 am, 5 pm, and 12 am EST via live chat and was always connected with someone who was more than happy to help each time. 

Step #3: Set Up Two Important Web Host Features

You have to do more than click ‘Create Account’ after you sign up for a web host to start a lifestyle blog.

You want to make sure you set up WHOIS privacy to avoid people knowing your personal address. This is going to cost you $12 or more per year depending on your web host. 

Second, you want to make sure you have SSL protection. This means your site is Google compliant by using HTTPS:// versus http://. If you have an http:// domain most virus protection software is going to mark your website as unsafe. 

Step #4: Install WordPress 

WordPress is for newbie bloggers who wish to start a lifestyle blog.

WordPress is great for those who want to figure out how to start a successful lifestyle blog.

It’s easy to use, is updated frequently, doesn’t require ANY technical knowledge, doesn’t require hiring a graphic designer, and makes it easy for you to brand your site.  

Tips For Creating a Strong WordPress Password

According to Forbes, more than 30,000 websites are hacked per day, which means you have better odds of your website being hacked than hitting the Powerball. 

When you start a lifestyle blog you want to make sure that you have a strong WordPress password.

So here are some tips for limiting the risk of your lifestyle blog getting hacked: 

• Don’t use ‘admin’ or your email address as the username for your site.
• Use a strong WordPress password (i.e. a combination of random upper and lower case letters and numbers)
• Don’t save your lifestyle blog password on your computer (i.e. never save passwords in your email inbox or on word documents) (If you must share passwords with team members use a tool such as 1Password). 

Step #5: Purchase a Lifestyle Blog Theme 

Never use a free WordPress theme if you want to make money from your lifestyle blog. 

A great beginner WordPress theme for lifestyle bloggers is the Blossom Theme.

It also comes with the following features:

• The option to have access to all Blossom Themes for less than $100 per year.
• The theme, installation, and set up for a one-time fee of $148.
• 5 post page layouts.
• Self-explanatory WordPress theme setup.
• The ability to pass the Google mobile-friendly test.
• More than 600 Google fonts.
• Ad-optimized advertisement areas.
• Instagram and email subscription integrations.
• Post last updated feature
• It’s a speed-optimized WordPress theme. 

Where to Buy Affordable WordPress Themes

If you’re not a fan of the themes offered by Blossom Themes I suggest you check out one of the following blog theme stores:

• Etsy
• StudioPress
• ThemeIsle
• Pretty Darn Cute Designs

Step #6: Install Lifestyle Blogger Plugins

You can’t start a lifestyle blog that makes money without installing a few plugins. These are the ones that I recommend. 

• Akismet: This is your weapon against spam. 
• Contact Form 7: Allow readers to contact you.  
• Google Analytics for WordPress by Monster Insights: Effortlessly view your Google Analytics stats from your blog dashboard. 
• Imagify (paid plugin): Improve your images SEO and site speed. 
• Social Warfare (paid plugin): Make your content shareable. 
• Rank Math (paid plugin): Your personal SEO assistant. 
• Link Whisperer (paid plugin): Helps you interlink your posts.

Tools to Take Your Content to The Next Level

If you’re working off of Google you’ll want to download these Chrome SEO extensions now…you’ll thank me later. 

• MozBar: Instantly gain access to on-page elements, link metrics, and more for any site you’re visiting. 
• Awesome Screenshot: Screenshot things you need to fix or easily gain access to screenshots to use for your blog posts. 
• Grammarly
• Answer the Public
• SEMRush
• Canva

See Also: Must-Have Blogger Tools

Step #7 – Start Creating Content

Now that you have everything you need to launch your website, it’s time to start creating content.

However, before diving in to create your first blog post, make sure to spend some time setting up your main blogging pages. 

That means you need to add an ‘About’ page, ‘Contact’ page and a ‘Hire Me’ page at the very least. These are the three core pages aside from the blog posts themselves.

How to Make Your Lifestyle Blog Stand Out

The lifestyle niche is, understandably, filled with competition. You can’t just write about general lifestyle topics that have been covered thousands of times already and expect to get ahead of the competition.

So, what do you need to do if you’re going to stand out?

Strategy #1 – Video Marketing

The first step is to create different types of content. Don’t solely focus on text-based content. Remember, a lot of people are accessing content on a mobile device. They don’t have time to read a long blog post.

The solution to this is video content. Producing video content is one of the best things you can do as a blogger. 51% of marketers say video content offers the best ROI of any content.

It’s the most shareable type of content around.

Make sure you do it professionally. Considering using professional video capture software. 

Additionally, for tutorial-type posts consider making a video that showcases the steps such as this one.

Strategy #2 – Focus on a Specific Niche

While being a lifestyle blogger gives you more flexibility to cover a larger range of topics, it’s still important to have a niche. 

You don’t want to cover every topic imaginable or you’ll have a hard time creating a target audience. 

Think about what you’re a specialist in.

Do you like to spend time with your family? Then consider a lifestyle niche like family hobbies.

Tips For Getting Your First Pageviews to Your Lifestyle Blog

You can write great content, however, there’s no guarantee that anyone will see it. 

So, I recommend implementing some of the following strategies to help you get your first pageviews to your lifestyle blog. 

• Spend at least thirty minutes every day on your blog doing something other than writing. For example, you could spend some time scheduling out your social media posts, working on your onsite SEO, or taking a Facebook ads course. 
• Create multiple images for Pinterest. As a lifestyle blogger Pinterest can be one of your top traffic referrals. Just make sure to create multiple Pinterest images per post. Plus, if you want to spend even more time obtaining pageviews from Pinterest consider signing up for a tool such as Tailwind. 
• Engage in conversation on social media. Add something meaningful to the conversations. When people check out your profile, they’ll see the link to your blog.
• Create a Facebook group, where you can create a community focusing on your lifestyle niche. This is not a place to spam your posts it’s a place to post interesting things. It’s about developing relationships.
• Create an engaging ‘About’ page. Your ‘About’ page is going to be one of your most viewed pages. Make sure that it lets readers know you’re a real person and feel free to add in some of your best posts. 

How to Make Money From a Lifestyle Blog

You can make money from a lifestyle blog via sponsored posts, ads, affiliate marketing, or even selling your own product/service. 

I personally prefer to make money via sponsored posts and affiliate marketing. Ads annoy me when I visit other websites so it’s a personal preference for me not to use them, however, other lifestyle bloggers seem to make a decent amount from ads. 

Therefore, since I only have personal experience making money via sponsored posts and affiliate marketing those will be the only two blog income sources discussed under this section. 

Tips For Making Money Via Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing consists of adding product links to posts to encourage readers to purchase. I find that to generate money via affiliate marketing you need to keep the following things in mind:

• Recommend products that you’re actually using yourself: If you haven’t used something yourself it’ll be hard to convince someone else that they should. When you’ve tried something yourself and use it consistently, it’ll show in the words that you use to explain it. If readers can see you’re genuine about the items you’re recommending to them, they’ll feel more comfortable coming to you for recommendations. 
• Join reputable affiliate marketing networks: Affiliate marketing companies are popping up everywhere these days. However, it’s important to join reputable affiliate marketing networks to ensure you’ll be paid and to avoid having to chase the company for money. The companies I currently recommend are Shareasale, Brandcycle, and Impact Radius. These companies routinely pay on time and they work with companies that you’re probably already using in your home. 
• Make sure the post actually provides value: If you want to make consistent money from affiliate marketing, you have to create valuable content. Your affiliate posts shouldn’t come across as ads instead they should be informative, evergreen blog posts that will provide value to users who stumble upon it for years to come. 

Tips For Making Money Via Sponsored Posts

Sponsored posts are similar to affiliate marketing, however, instead of getting paid a commission based on sales, you’re paid a flat fee upfront. 

You can get sponsored posts via influencer networks or by cold pitching to brands. 

If you want to make money via sponsored posts keep the following things in mind:

• Only work with brands that are a good match for your site: It’s okay to say no to PR reps and brands when they reach out about a partnership. Work with companies that align with your lifestyle blog for everyone to get the max ROI. Talking about something that you never discuss or can’t even relate to is a surefire way to lose the trust of your audience. 
• Make sure to disclose: Always disclose when you’re been compensated to mention something in a post. This is something that is required by the FTC and it helps you stay honest with your readers. 
• Join reputable influencer networks: As with affiliate marketing companies, there are a ton of fraudulent influencer networks. A few that I’d recommend are Intellifluence, IZEA, and AspireIQ. 

Conclusion: You Can Start a Lifestyle Blog and Make Money From It This Year

You can start a lifestyle blog and make money from it this year. 

Yes, there’s a lot of competition, but if you’re willing to put in the work you can create a successful blog.