There are many types of blogs out there. There are no limits to the topics you can blog about – anything one chooses to write about becomes a bloggable topic, instantly. People choose to talk about all sorts of things; from sports to fashion to food. Then, of course, there are the more serious topics; religion, human rights, business, politics. Literally anything can be blogged about, and there are no limits to the number of things anyone blogger can write about.
A successful blogger isn’t defined by the topic because there will always be an audience for what you write about. The internet is funny that way. Look at what cat blogging has become and yes, I am talking about Grumpy Cat. A successful blogger needs to be passionate about what they write about, and frame the topic in a way that others cannot. That’s what will keep people coming back to your blog. Add a little humour and make it personal and voila! You are onto something good.
I thought I’d break down what I consider to be the main aspects of lifestyle blogging, because it’s what I do on my own blog here (crystalolisa.wordpress.com) and it seems to be all the rage right now. There are three main categories, whose goal is to show an all round view of a person’s life:
1. Food blogging.
This is what forces bloggers to pull out their phones and forbid touching anything on anyone’s plate before they get “the” shot. You’ve seen it before in restaurants. I am sure you have come across restaurant patrons who Instagram (that’s a blogging platform too, btw) their food before saying the grace when they are served. Some of us go to the extent of standing on restaurant chairs because the angle is everything and a blogger must have no shame.
A flat lay is the go to angle for these types of shots, in case you were wondering. That is, taken from above, camera held flat over the food. The point is to make the food look as appetizing as possible, so be sure to clean the plate and rearrange the food to make it look really yummy.
2. Travel blogging
This only works if you have a really good eye for detail. You don’t have to travel a ton or visit exotic locations – though that certainly helps. Not all of us can afford to jet off to a beach every weekend, but that’s okay because what matters is finding creative ways to show common scenes. Showing the same thing from a new angle with interesting people and all you have to do to get the shot is leave the house. Go down to a park, visit a museum, go to a farm. Anything out of ordinary daily life counts as “travel” in my books, even the scenery from a long drive. Mix it up with diversity and surprise your reader, this will keep them coming back to see what you’ve been up to.
3. Fashion blogging
I’ll start by explaining two of the most confusing acronyms. Ootd/ootn = outfit of the day/night. Mua = makeup artist. You have to learn at least some of the lingo if you want to be taken seriously and these two are expected to be common sense. Fashion blogging includes anything that has to do with fashion – daily outfit posts, detailed shots of accessories, street style blogging, beauty blogging and the like. This is the most popular one because getting dressed up is a part of everybody’s daily life so why not log onto a blog for outfit inspiration? Why not drop by instagram to see what look so-and-so put together today? It’s been scientifically proven that people respond to beautiful pictures so if you have a killer taste and great quality, your images will keep people coming back for more.
READ: 5 things you need to know if you want to blog
The only caveat though is that for any of these types of blogging to be successful, you must remember that the images have to be inspirational and within reach to a majority of your readers. It’s not enough to post a picture of your lunch – it has to be an appetizing picture, one that makes people want to go out and get the same thing you’re eating. You have to show what your doing is worth paying attention to, be it where you visit, what you wear or what you eat.
You need a unique point of view to be a blogger worth following. Be warned though – successful blogging is about inspiring people to aspire to what you have/do/wear, and not about bragging about how awesome your life is. Repeatedly showing people that your stuff is cool, expensive or better than theirs is the fastest way to turn everyone off.
