Lifestyle Blogging is Back(ish)
a full-circle moment for loosely themed content
The year is 2015. A collection of women in their early 20’s are blogging. They write across a wide variety of topics — from their favorite books and outfits, to flower outings and baking at home — ultimately earning the moniker: lifestyle bloggers.
Fun fact: I had a lifestyle blog from 2014 to about 2018! I can assure you this post is not going to be a hit piece on lifestyle bloggers.
Now, back to 2015. There were blogs about books, blogs about fashion, travel, etc., and then there were the blogs about everything. All of it. Those blogs became categorized as lifestyle blogs. In essence, the bloggers writing them were sharing a variety posts that their ideal reader would enjoy.
I remember when I started my first blog. I chose the lifestyle category, because I simply couldn’t narrow down what I wanted to write about! Blogs were primarily interest-based, and when you’ve got a bunch of interests and a platform, it’s hard to niche. Ultimately, you end up writing about everything.
With time, Instagram grew in relevance and bloggers were able to amplify their writing. Lifestyle as a category started to get a bad rap. It’s too vague. It doesn’t mean anything. You’re just sharing your life. Well, yes, all true. Some bloggers stuck it out, and others started to niche down.
Let me be clear: it’s totally fine to niche, but think about this: when you only want to share books, if someone doesn’t need a book recommendation, they don’t need you (harsh, sorry).
We are multi-dimensional, and the lifestyle bloggers of the 2010s understood that by sharing across multiple commonalities and interests, they were able to build deeper emotional connections with readers, and inspire others to invest in their ways of day-to-day living.
Now let’s jump ahead to 2024. Some of my favorite lifestyle bloggers from back in the day that are still going strong are Julia Berolzheimer (Gal Meets Glam), Grace Atwood (The Stripe) and Emily Schuman (Cupcakes & Cashmere).
Today, the internet is saturated. Emotional connections matter more than a clean niche, and looking someone in the eye matters more than a logo. Almost a decade later, these women are fully employed by their platforms, with a caveat. In order to maintain relevancy, they began shifting the brands to be theirs — writing under their own names, connecting as an individual rather than an entity. They are prime examples of what it means to have a personal brand.
It occurred to me only recently that the personal brands I advise authors to build are in the same vein as lifestyle blogging. I emphasize using social as a way to connect with readers; not as a sales tool. They are encouraged to post as if they were catching up with their dream readers over coffee. This prompt inspires dedication, for sure, but more importantly, it inspires storytelling.
Sidenote: I have always had an issue with travel as a content category. My take here is that you find your true 1%, and regardless of location, stick to it. If coffee is part of your 1%, share your coffee at home and when you travel.
What we’ve learned from the OG lifestyle bloggers is that consistency keeps the conversation going and the community growing (← is this my new tagline?! cc:
, High Moon Studio owner, agency responsible for my WIP rebrand).The best personal brands are the ones that spark connection. The ones where readers and followers start to reach out to you, because they thought of you without incentive, which is achieved through trust, over time.
So maybe that’s the mental shift, for authors (and you!) as you overcome hurdles getting started showing up as a personal brand. Treat your platform as a mini lifestyle blog, and inspire through the story of your day. Just make sure you’re still loosely curating the conversation to align with the reasons you’re branding yourself in the first place. You don’t want your relevancy to get diluted!
It’s 2024. We’re talking about bloggers-turned-personal brands on Substack, where the writers from 2015 are starting their blog-inspired newsletters (Grace, Emily), and kind of bringing blogging back.
Full circle, baby.