Blogging has become an essential part of online culture. it has given writers, a way to showcase their talent and share their thoughts with the world. Though blogging began in 1994 and was known as ‘weblog’, it wasn’t until late 1999 that the term ‘blog’ came into use. It started with people sharing their feelings and experiences in the form of online diaries, these type of blogs today are known as personal blogs.
Over the years’ blogs have become an integral part of our lives and are not just limited to personal blogs but have expanded its horizons. We now have different types of blogs and bloggers all around. Every writer is different and has a different style. Here we have discussed some common types of blogs for the blogger inside you.
So go ahead, read and find the style that suits you the best!!
Types of Blogs.
1. Personal Blogs:
One of the first type of blogging site to appear online were the personal blogs commonly the online diary bloggers. When writing a personal blog, there are no specific rules. Here, the blogger doesn’t focus on a particular theme, topic, or a specific target audience. But, they share their experiences, feelings, thoughts, interests, hobbies, beliefs, etc., attracting the audience who share the same interest and connects with them directly.
Bloggers then used to use HTML pages and word processor to publish their blogs. But now they have multiple options, either they can set up their website or can simply use platforms like Blogger, Tumblr (and other similar sites) to write a blog and start sharing their words with the world. These sites take less than 15 minutes to set up an account.
Words are a powerful tool and every writer wants to make a difference by sharing his knowledge and experience. A personal blogger can write about anything and everything. Some will write about their hobbies; some about their passion and some would share their innermost thoughts. But to become a successful personal blogger, a blogger needs to find a like-minded audience, interact and connect with them and build a community based around a common interest.
2. Corporate Blog
Corporate bloggers focus on writing about the business which, can either be owned by them or a business they work for. They write about their products and services with a single goal to gain more traffic by attracting the target audience and converting them into potential buyers. Bloggers here are more focused on writing about the business or the industry making them different from personal bloggers.
To be a successful corporate blogger, the writer has to write about the topics that would attract their target audience and convince them to either subscribe to the email list, contact forms (which sooner or later would turn the audience into potential buyers) or make a purchase then and there. Every blog post, every piece of content written should leave your target audience wanting to learn more about your products and services.
As this type of blog is run by a corporate, it is also called a business blog or enterprise blog.
3. Personal Services Blog
Personal service bloggers write about the services they offer to the local audience and turn them into potential customers. These types of blogs, provide services like repair services, dog walking, lawn care, babysitting, house and furniture cleaning, beauty services, etc.
Their main source of income is the money earned by providing the said service but they also make money by running advertisements and affiliate links on their sites.
4. Professional Blog
The key difference between personal service blog and professional blog is that professional blogs are those which make money online via blogging. These bloggers can either write on a particular niche blog or write for different niches to generate income.
As their goal is to earn a living via blogging, they also tend to use other sources like; advertising, promoting services or products that are produced by others (for a commission), creating information regarding digital products, and more.
To be a successful professional blogger, every blog written by the blogger needs to be able to produce a lot of traffic by pulling in the large target audience, simultaneously, the blog should be able to advertise or sell a product according to the niche they are working on. For Example, a professional blogger writing about skincare and beauty needs to advertise or sell products related to skincare and beauty.
5. Affiliate Blogs
Rather than selling a product or a service, affiliate blogs focus on reviewing products, services, and giving tutorials to use the same. These types of bloggers generate income by affiliate marketing commissions. Their goal is to encourage the online audience to visit and purchase these reviewed products via visiting bloggers’ affiliate links thus allowing the blogger to earn his or her commission.
To be a successful blogger; SEO (Search Engine Optimization), the use of correct keywords around the product, and even the demand of the product among the general audience are some of the important aspects for an affiliate blogger to take into account. Another important thing to remember as an affiliate blogger is to ensure that their reviews are being read by the correct audience (who are likely to purchase the product) and are ranking on the top.
Email lists are also a must to promote and inform your subscribers about the other affiliate products that are being launched. This keeps the dedicated subscribers in a loop and interested in your blog.
6. Guests Blog
Guest blogs are typically written for the website that already has a good number of audience. Instead of hiring a content writer, here the owner of the site invites guest bloggers who are experts in their fields and have a following of their own to increase the audience on the said website.
In this type of blog, the owner does not need to publish content written by him frequently. He can focus on managing and promoting the blog and simultaneously providing amazing content to their audience via these guest bloggers.
The success of these types of blogs depends on the owner’s ability to get guest bloggers who can in turn convince and bring their faithful followers to the owner’s site. This creates an increase in the traffic and also helps the owner to give the audience a variety of content to read and enjoy.
7. Fashion Blogs
Fashion blogs are one of the most popular types of blogging sites found over the internet and if successful, can easily win a large global following. Fashion being a very common subject with the masses today is just not about clothes anymore, instead, has become a large market that is further divided into a different niche like styling, makeup, hairstyling, nail art, designing, and so on.
If a person is creative with a good eye for style, trends, and fashion, they can start their blog and earn money online. These types of blogs are generally very colorful and attractive making it hard for a viewer to simply exit the site before scrolling down and taking a look.
Another perk for a fashion blogger is they are invited to several product launches, events, receive special perks, merchandise, etc., from the fashion industry.
8. Niche Blog
Niche blogs are blogs that talk about a specific topic rather than focusing on a wide-ranging topic. Bloggers here talk about topics they know inside out (positive and negative) giving a deep understanding of the subject to the audience, for example, hip hop music, pets, books, decor, etc.
Niche blog focuses on a particular niche making it difficult to have a large target audience but if the blogger is passionate and well versed with the strengths and weaknesses of the niche, they can attract more audiences and can even turn it into a small business.
As the blogger works in a specific niche the research becomes a lot easier. Some examples of popular niche blogs are:
- Health
- Sports
- Cars
- Music
- Movies
- Entertainment
- Books
- Games
- Pets
- Fitness
- Home décor
- Religion
- Sewing
- Weight loss
- Hairstyling
And much more.
9. Listicle blogs
Any blog that shares information in a form of a list is a listicle blog. They are one of the most shared and read blogs today. These types of blogs are easy to read even though they are long and give detailed information about the subject. This happens because the reader can easily skim and read the part they are looking for.
For Example:
- 5 Beauty Hacks for Glowing Skin.
- Top 10 Cat Coaching Institute in India.
- 7 Easy Steps to Reduce Weight.
- 21 Types of Content Writing to Choose from.
And so on.
10. News Blogs
People nowadays have a busy lifestyle, which, a lot of times makes it impossible for them to sit and read a newspaper or watch or watch the latest happenings on the news channel. Here, comes’ the news blogs to the rescue. As the blogs are online, they can be read anytime anywhere by the reader making them one of the most liked and read blogs by the viewers.
News blogs can further be divided into a wider range, like the latest events, politics, technology, religion, etc. The blogger has an option to pick a niche or mix them all a little. Big media outlets hire a lot of these bloggers to work on these different niches on their site. People are now more aware of what is happening around the world, so the news bloggers need to frequently keep updating the news and cover the latest news.
11.Finance Blogs
Managing one’s finances has never been an easy task. Everyone wants to save as much as they can for a better future. That’s why a lot of people like to take help and advice from on outside source who has expertise in the subject. This gives finance blogs a large varied audience from families to serious investors who wants to either manage or generate money.
Finance is another big and complex subject which is further divided into different niches. Some of these niches are:
- Saving plans
- Loans
- Investments
- Retirement plans
- Securities
- Long term planning
- Insurance
And so on.
Finance bloggers write content related to investment strategies for businesses and families, share business advice for startups, individuals and corporate, talk about savings, etc. These types of blogs are highly read by the masses and have a lot of competition online.
12. Food Blogs
Now comes one of the most fun and popular type of blog, Food Blogs. Have a craving for some Italian food or have a sweet tooth, food blogs come to the rescue. Bloggers here, start with giving out cooking tutorials, recipes, and reviews. As they gain popularity and a good viewership they move on and expand their blogs as food critics by tasting and reviewing food and promoting restaurants all around.
Once a food blogger gains a good audience they generally have a wider career and can cover other food-related topics such as:
- Healthy Food
- Baking Tutorials
- Weight Loss Diet
- Gym Diet, and so on.
13. Lifestyle Blogs
Lifestyle blogs are very popular today covering a wide range of topics from art, culture, food, events, local history, news, politics, human interest, etc., which generates an increase in the viewership.
A writer who has various interests can set up a lifestyle blog and can even have another writer to work on the site offering a variety of content to the audience thus increasing the viewership traffic. Lifestyle bloggers get a lot of opportunities to become a public figure like an influencer, speaker and can even get a chance to write for other famous publications.
14. Reverse Blogs
Reverse Blogs are the new exclusive and modern type of blogging where, the content is written by the public instead of the owner, although, from time to time the owner also posts content for the blog. The owner instead here has a team whose work is to filter the unpleasant posts or interaction among the public and promote good human interest topics and healthy interactions among the public.
To have a successful reverse blog, the owner, needs to attract popular writers (other than the general public) to either post blogs or to share the content of the website. These writers bring in their audience and fan base in the mix thus increasing the viewership. For the other bloggers, revers blogs can become a platform to attract the audience towards their blogs or site. It’s a two-way street.
15. DIY Blogs
DIY (Do It Yourself) are the new super-hit blogs with the audience. They are very interesting and captivating and are famous for a large audience who are looking for new ideas and hacks. These blogs can range from crafts, woodwork, metalwork, hacks to use and reuse old stuff, fashion DIY, etc. These blogs are very much in demand thereby creating high competition among the blog writers online.
If as you love constructing new items from old at home or love creating something new can start a DIY blog and share your talent with the world. These type of blogs involve the blogger to encourage the viewer to try these hacks and share it with them which, also increase a lot of communication between the blogger and his audience.
16. Parenting
Parenting is just not the same as it was just a few years ago. New parents today worry a lot about their kids and are not shy to take outside help to improve their parenting skills. Parenting blogs are generally written by parents who want to share their journey, good and bad experiences, and everything with the new parents to make their journey a little less worrisome.
These types of blogs have a huge and highly engaged audience. You have your blogs from the eyes of a Mom or Dad or both. They might have a different style of writing but they all involve writing about kids, parental guidance for new babies and kids, activities, food, tips for early-stage home education, etc.
17. Freelance Blogs
Freelance bloggers are the bloggers who are paid by the clients for providing writing services for their business. If a writer has experience as a blogger or in any other type of content writing then they can become a freelance writer and write for other companies and business to earn money. Topics here are provided by the clients.
A freelance writer can be an expert in a particular industry or niche or can be open to the option of general writing (which requires a lot of research). These type of bloggers can use their other work such as work done for other clients, their online presence as a content writer to get more clients. Expert writers can charge more for their services than a general writer.
18. Political Blogs
Generally, people who love politics are very passionate about it. They are extremely engaged and want to know all about the political events, latest news, government plans, etc. With smartphones and the availability of 4G internet, the online world is blooming. It has become very common for political parties to have their blogging team.
These bloggers here write about political agendas of the party and everything and anything related to the party and the world of politics. These types of blogs are very popular with adults and have active and serious participation from the audience.
19. Case Study Blogs
Experiments are always fun! Case study blogs, also known as experimental or test blogs try out things to see what works and what not by using different strategies, tools, and techniques. They then report back their finding and results to their audience providing an insight to their viewers.
They also create a step-by-step guide for their audience to give them a better understanding of how the experiment was done and how they reached a certain conclusion. Bloggers here share their work with all the necessary details.
20. Travel Blogs
Who doesn’t love to travel? With cheap air travel, more and more people are traveling around the world and are enjoying what the world has to offer. Travel blogs cover topics such, travel tips, advice, guides and maps, information about the local hotels, restaurants, places to visit, etc., making them very popular among the viewers.
Types type of blogs helps other travelers to learn more about their destination, making it all the more fun and easy. These blogs use beautiful pictures, colors and have festive look all around that can even encourage viewers to travel and a lot of time they can find some really beautiful off-beat place, which is yet to be discovered by the masses.
21. Current Event Blogs
In today’s world, everyone should have at least the basic knowledge about what is happening around us and the world. Current events or current affairs blogs discuss and share the current happening around the world. This includes a variety of topics such as news, share market, latest fashion trends, movies to watch out for, news from entertainment and intellectual world, news about the latest technological advancement, product launch, new types of services to look out for, etc.
These types of blogs are high in demand by the people of all generations and have high viewer traffic. To have a successful current event blog, the blogger needs to offer a variety of current content and they should themselves be updated with all the current happenings around the world.
22. Inspirational Blogs
Inspirational blogs are the type of blogs, that share stories, and poems that inspire people. These blogs are for the people who are looking to be inspired, encouraged, or are simply looking for hope. The blogger here publishes stories of their success and their failures, how they reacted to the problems, and eventually how they handled them. These blogs give hope to people that there is always light at the end of a dark tunnel.
23. Artists Blogs
Artist blogs are generally owned by the artists who what to showcase their work to the world. These type of blogs focus on the art created by the artist like drawing, paintings, music, photography, writing, sculptures, murals, etc.
They also include information regarding galleries and shops where the viewer can purchase the artist’s work and even provide tutorials, podcasts, and articles related to their work or art in general.
These blogs are successful when an artist can gather a following for his art, they might not be a large audience but good enough to support and acknowledge the artist.
To Conclude:
These were some of the most common types of blogs we go through online regularly. The types might be different but what they all have in common is the fact the if a blog needs to survive the competition, then the bloggers need to publish high-quality blogs regularly, keeping in mind to write about the things that matter to the viewers.