Looking for popular personal blogs to inspire you in your blogging journey?
Personal blogging gives you the freedom and flexibility you need to share yourself online… as you are not confined to the strict editorial guidelines as in corporate blogs.
However, making money from a personal blog isn’t quite as easy. So, if you are planning to start a personal blog around a few given topics, take time to analyze some of the personal blogs in these spaces, and how they are monetizing their traffic.
Well, if others have done it, why re-invent the wheel? In this article, I discuss some of the personal bloggers who are earning a full-time income from their personal blogs…
But first,
What is a Personal Blog?
A personal blog is a type of blog that is run by an individual, rather than a team. The articles published are written by the author and are rarely outsourced. Personal blogs employ a conversational tone, where the author directly speaks to the reader.
A personal blogger shares tips, ideas, and opinions on select topics, with a touch of personal experience. Frequent readers tend to relate to the blogger’s big ideas, hopes, and dreams, as these are often shared throughout the articles.
Benefits of Personal Blogging
There are several reasons why people choose to start a personal blog rather than a corporate or brand blog. These include:
- Writer’s freedom: Personal blogs allow you to express yourself, and share your thoughts and personal experiences with your audience, helping you connect with them in a more personal way.
- Digital Journaling: If you love writing, then your personal blog can be your little journal that you get to share with others online.
- Brand yourself online: With a personal blog, your name and your face are at the front and center. This helps you define and develop your personal brand and start offering services such as training and speaking engagements.
- Make money: Personal blogs make money too. You just need a long-term strategy that you get to execute to the letter.
The 7 Most Popular Personal Blogs (Examples)
Here are some of the best personal blogs that I’ve handpicked for you:
1) Seth Godin
Seth Godin is a popular name and authority in the Marketing industry. His personal blog attracts thousands of readers every month, and no, not because of SEO.
Seth has managed to build a reputable personal brand through his books, thoughtful content, and speaking engagements.
Seth’s writing style is pretty conversational (See this post on permission marketing) and the content is usually short snackable nuggets that can be as short as just 100 words. He demonstrates that when it comes to content, you just need to communicate your idea the best way possible, without worrying about the number of words you’ve got to hit.
How Seth Godin’s blog makes money:
Seth uses his personal blog as a tool for promoting his programs and online courses, including:
- His best-loved Udemy courses,
- altMBA
- Seth’s Books on Amazon
- Akimbo Workshops, etc.
2) BySophiaLee
This campus-focus blog by Sophia Lee serves over 100,000 subscribers and over a million monthly visitors who are interested in everything college.
Topics covered include:
- College life
- Dorm essentials and decor ideas
- Apartments
- Decor
- Organization
- Cleaning
- Gifting
- Recipes
- Blogging, etc.
BySophiaLee’s blog takes personal blogging to another level with openness, personal experiences, and use of humor throughout the website pages.
This blog makes the majority of its income through digital products such as online courses, planners, and printables.
Other ways that this blog makes money include Affiliate marketing, the Amazon associates program, and Display Advertising through Mediavine.
3) Amber Fillerup Clark
On Amber Fillerup, Amber shares document her lifestyles and choices, at least that was the initial goal. Her own personal diary. Today, what was once a tiny blog has grown into one of the most read lifestyle blogs, garnering hundreds of thousands of visitors every month.
Here are some of the categories covered on the blog:
- Motherhood
- Personal Lifestyle
- Home Lifestyle
- Hairstyles, Hairdos, Hair accessories, and Tutorials
- Skincare, Makeup, DIY Beauty, and Beauty products
- Travel topics
How Amber Fillerup Makes Money:
Unlike most lifestyle blogs, Amber Fillerup Clark doesn’t make money from Display Advertising, but rather from selling physical products on the website, and through her own brands:
- Hair Care Line, Dae Hair
- Hair Extensions Line, Bfb Hair
4) Zen Habits
Another great personal blog that makes money is Zen Habits. This blog is all about Mindfulness, something we can all use. This blog helps its readers find peace and tranquility amidst life’s chaos.
Some mindfulness topics covered include:
- Mental decluttering
- Mindset shift
- Curbing compulsive habits
- Mind training
- Minimalism
- Productivity
- Life Advice
- Creating resilience
- Stillness and Curiosity
Written by Leo Babauta, Zen habits has over 2,000,000 email subscribers who are choosing simplicity and mindfulness over anything else. This personal development blog focuses on providing its readers with actionable tips, rather than hunting down SEO traffic.
How Zen Habits make money:
Zen Habits blog makes the majority of its earnings through the sale of online programs such as:
- Fearless Living Academy
- Fearless Purpose
- Fearless Impact
- Fearless Mastery
- Mindful Focus.
Apart from training courses, Zen Habits also make money from books sold directly on the website or through Amazon.
While Zen Habits used to run ads, this monetization method is no longer supported. This means readers enjoy an ad-free experience on the blog.
5) Riskology
Riskology is a personal blog that offers leadership advice for introverts. It’s run by Tyler Tervooren,
The topics covered fall under these categories:
- Habits
- Leadership
- Productivity
- Personal Finance
- Psychology
- Business and
- Relationships
The topics covered in each category are all geared towards making you a better leader.
Like many personal blogs in this list, Riskology employs the use of a direct and conversational approach to writing, making the content full of snackable ideas and void of fluff and rhetorics.
Riskology makes money through affiliate marketing, the Systems training program, and the Mediavine Display Ads program.
6) My Wife Quit Her Job
This personal blog with the obvious name focuses on being your own boss, working from home, and making money online.
My Wife Quit Her Job is run by Steve Chou, an eCommerce authority figure. The topics covered include:
- Starting and growing an online store business
- Selling products online
- Online store tutorials
- Amazon store tutorials
- Making money online
- Quitting your job, etc.
On the monetization part, Steve’s blog makes money through training programs, display ads, live coaching, online courses, and affiliate marketing.
7) Gala Darling
Read by millions of people, Gala Darling is a popular personal blog that focuses on self-help and beauty topics.
The author of the blog is Gala Darling, a renowned author, and speaker who has been featured in big-name publications like The Cosmopolitan, New York Times, Teen Vogue, Girlboss, etc.
Gala Darling blog makes the majority of its income through the selling of its online programs such as:
- High Vibe Honey
- Cash Money Honey
- Radical Self-Love Book
Final thoughts on popular personal blogs
Starting a personal blog is easy and may be the right path for you to rekindle that spark within you. To get started, simply grab web hosting at 66%off here and set up a blog you are proud of.
I hope these personal blogs have given you a glimpse of what you can achieve if you decide to become a personal blogger.
