Starting a personal blog can be a pretty tempting idea. It’s also not that hard in reality – what is hard is making it succeed. We’ve got a collection of eight of the best personal blog examples to give you some inspiration in the blogging scene.
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What Counts As a Personal Blog?
Technically, a personal blog is used for non-commercial purposes, and it’s a space to share personal feelings or experiences around particular hobbies and interests. However, the line is a bit gray when it comes to non-commercial purposes.
Many personal blogs don’t make any money at the start, but the good ones get so popular that they end up becoming financially viable. Many of the best bloggers have personal blogs that make money through various means – either through methods like advertising or affiliate marketing.
If you’re looking for inspiration to get started with your own personal blog, we recommend checking out our curated collection of the best personal blog examples. There’s a bit of variety in the niches featured, with some focused on travel, parenthood, or wellness, but they all have something you can learn from.
Best Personal Blogs to Read
Young Adventuress
As far as personal blog examples go, Young Adventuress is a favorite of mine. Liz Carlson did the travel blogging thing before it was cool. Initially, the blog began as an outlet to express her feelings whilst living as an expat in Spain and managing a long-distance relationship. She then expanded into travel blogging and worked hard to make that her profession.
Her blog has a distinctly solo female travel focus, and she’s strictly unfiltered in what she writes. It’s safe to say her process has paid off, and she now has a following that is somewhere in the millions across various platforms. Her witty and very real style of writing is certainly a drawcard, not to mention she provides great practical advice for female travelers.
Backpacker Banter
Another great personal blog with a travel focus is Backpacker Banter. You could say Chris was much like many other English backpackers who spent a year living in a van traveling Australia, except that he started blogging about it.
He writes about his adventures around the globe as a primarily solo traveler. He has a collection of travel tips, budgeting advice, and a huge collection of travel guides by country. I particularly like the “General Banter” category, which is a collection of his thoughts and highlights of his years living out of a backpack.
A Cup of Jo
A Cup of Jo was started by Joanna Goddard in 2007 as a hobby on the side of her professional editing job. This daily lifestyle blog written by women for women now has a huge following and covers everything from style, culture, food, parenting, and relationships.
A sidebar on the right-hand side of the page displays the five most popular articles, and recent posts are stacked on the left-hand side. While Jo herself doesn't write all the posts anymore, she has a bevy of high-quality writers to keep the flow of interesting posts coming. One of her regular authors develops content in the form of cartoons, which is always a light-hearted read.
Pretty Handy Girl
Pretty Handy Girl is for all those women out there with a can-do attitude who just love a DIY challenge. Brittany is the founder of Pretty Handy Girl and loves breaking stereotypes around women taking on home renovations. The blog has expanded and now involves a long list of contributing writers, but the focus of the blog hasn’t changed.
You can find your way around her blog by typing in a keyword for the topic you want information on or by searching through the blog categories. Articles are split into categories like plumbing, decorating, tool tutorials, and even sewing. There’s really nothing Brittany won’t make. That said, the blog is loaded with advertising, albeit smartly placed to not be intrusive, which is one of the ways the site generates an income these days.
Dad or Alive
There are plenty of mommy bloggers out there, but this one is for the men. Dad or Alive is a blog started by Adrian, a full-time stay-at-home dad whose wife brings home the bacon – also known as an executive job.
He blogs about different aspects of fatherhood, as well as the unique aspects of being a stay-at-home dad – all with a decent helping of humor. While this is purely a personal blog with no contributing authors involved, Adrian does use it as a way of marketing his books. He also has some helpful affiliate marketing partnerships. His blog was even optioned for a TV series, so you know it must include some pretty entertaining content.
Zen Habits
Zen Habits is a mindfulness blog started by Leo Babauta way back in 2007. Over the years, it’s really taken off in popularity and has over two million readers. Leo really hit the jackpot by writing content that appeals to readers looking to declutter their headspace and find peace in simplicity.
Obviously, the blog has come a long way from being a small personal blog, and Leo now uses it to sell his educational self-help programs and books. He also hosts a podcast, which is also featured on his blog, so he’s really covered all his bases.
The layout of the blog certainly says something about Leo’s approach towards simplicity, in line with the mindfulness theme, as it’s very minimalistic. He doesn’t have all his blogs categorized by topic, but you can scroll through the archives organized by date.
Mamamia
Mamamia is one of Australia’s largest blogs, but it actually began in a lounge room. Mia Freedman is the founder and current editor of the blog that now covers a seemingly never-ending list of topics like entertainment, relationships, lifestyle, and finance. The backbone of the blog was to make navigating daily life easier for women and girls.
The content is candid, helpful, and always engaging. Mamamia is now a media icon in Australia, with millions of monthly readers and even a successful podcast. You wouldn’t consider it a personal blog today, but it definitely began as one and is a prime example of how big things can get.
The Pioneer Woman
As far as blogs go, The Pioneer Woman is pretty wholesome. You’ll find homestyle recipes, gardening tips, beauty guides, and plenty of life lessons from Ree Drummond, the blogger herself. What’s interesting and quite sweet is that the whole family’s in on the blogging game now. Ree’s daughter, Alex, adds her own contributions, which resonate more with younger women, for instance.
What began as a blog for this rancher's wife has now become a published magazine. Ree has also created several cookbooks and featured in her own cooking show on the Food Network. Despite the heights the blog has reached, it remains an authentic example of rural life in the U.S.
Start Your Own Personal Blog with DropInBlog
Now that you’re suitably motivated, we’re going to bring you back to reality with some practical considerations. Building a successful blog is only as great as the platform you build it on. You must use a blogging platform that’s going to give you the ability to adequately optimize for search engines. You also need to be able to easily manage your blog posts, and DropInBlog can do both.
DropInBlog is a simple platform loaded with professional features to help your content rank highly in SERPs. It integrates with a wide range of website builders, and it’s super easy to use. It even adopts your website CSS, so you won’t waste any time reformatting each blog post every time you publish new content.
You can rest assured that your content will always be optimized perfectly thanks to the built-in SEO Analyzer tool. This tool scans your content even as you’re writing to give it an overall SEO score. Any issues will be flagged, and recommendations will be offered for improvement.
FAQs
What is a personal blog?
A personal blog is one that is started by an individual and covers topics of interest to them. That may be one specific topic or several topics. Personal blogs are not linked to the sale of goods and services like an e-commerce blog, but to add some confusion, they can generate an income.
How can a personal blog make money?
Often, personal blogs will make money through the placement of advertisements, subscription-only content, offering consulting services, or more commonly, affiliate marketing.
Why start a personal blog?
Many bloggers start a personal blog as a way to stay connected with friends and family from abroad or as an outlet to share their thoughts and feelings. They very commonly begin as just a hobby.
Are personal blogs still relevant?
It may seem like personal blogs have had their day and are no longer the trendy thing, but in reality, they remain as relevant as ever. They still generate traffic effectively and can be easily shared across different platforms. Many people will combine their written blog with a YouTube channel or a podcast, but a blog that can be found online is still a valuable resource.
Final Thoughts
It’s evident that while a personal blog may start small, it can grow to be quite something else. Of course, this isn’t always the case, and you need to have a good blogging strategy, a platform that gives you the functionality you need, and a little bit of elbow grease.
With DropInBlog, you can take your personal blog as far as you want. It has the ability to flex and grow with your needs, irrespective of the website builder you choose to use. As always, happy blogging!