Types of Blogs that Make Money in 2021

 Blogging is an attractive activity because it can be a creative outlet for sharing your unique perspective with the world. Best of all, the opportunities are endless.

At the same time, you want to add value for your readers (and maybe even turn your passion into income). 

In this post, we lay out how to monetize a blog and provide examples of the most popular (and lucrative) types of blogs, all with the goal of helping you find inspiration as you get started with your own blog.

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How Do Blogs Make Money?

Line any labor of love, blogging is still labor. Good news is that there are a number of ways to make money from that labor, including: 

Advertising - Advertising networks such as Google AdSense will pay to show ads to your visitors. You get paid a commission for the clicks you earn. 

Affiliate Marketing - You can get paid to promote products to your audience by joining an affiliate program such as Amazon Associates. You earn a commission from sales generated by your blog. 

Lead/Demand Generation - You can always use your blog to promote your own business whether you provide a service, run an ecommerce store, sell digital products such as online courses, or run a subscription/ content model for exclusive content. 

Keep in mind, though, that none of these can work if you don't first create valuable content that attracts an audience. The last thing you need is to make your blog a billboard in the middle of a desert. 

With that said, there are some popular niches that do really well with blog monetization when implemented effectively.

Types of Blogs That Make Money

Fashion

Food

Sports

Travel

Lifestyle

Parenting

Gaming

B2B/Marketing

Health and Fitness

1. Fashion

In this category, readers can find posts like fashion obsessions, back to school looks, makeup tutorials, and more. A common practice is to include sponsorships, like the one shown below with Vooray. The two brands collaborated on a gym bag, releasing it on the LSF blog and website:

Fitness blog monetization example - gym bag as promoted product

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With brand partnerships, companies usually seek out heavy hitters in their industry and offer the brand the ability to design a product exclusively for base pay and a percentage of the profits. And, while this happens a lot in the beauty industry, it's definitely not an industry-specific idea.

2. Food

As a self-proclaimed foodie, food blogs are my favorite types of blog. They usually follow a similar content format of categorically-organized recipes. Some have videos to pair with those recipes, as well as social media channels that all connect to the blog in some way.

Minimalist Baker recipe card

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Above is an example of one of my favorite food blogs, Minimalist Baker. Note how the title of the post contains information that might pull a foodie in — "5 minutes," and "plant-based". This recipe will appeal to anyone who searches for easy, no-fuss cooking.

Minimalist Baker provides this value to attract readers, and they use affiliate links to monetize their blog.

3. Sports

Sports blogs exist for every type of sport imaginable — even squash. If you have a passion for athletics and love writing, this may be the perfect intersection for you. From covering games to giving player insights, sports blogs are an important source for fans to catch up on what they missed.

Sports blog example

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Like this screengrab from ESPN, sports blogs also report on news going on in the industry — these two stories are about the Super Bowl. So if you're thinking about doing a sports blog, you have options. You can either focus on a specific sport, or take a more holistic approach, like ESPN.

ESPN uses their website and blog as a companion for their media presence, to attract and retain viewers, but other sports blogs use banner advertising to monetize the traffic they earn.

4. Travel

If you love to go on trips and capture the moments, a travel blog might be right up your alley. There's something about travel blogs that are so relaxing, in my opinion — seeing pictures of gorgeous destinations is always a treat. That's why, if you're thinking of launching a travel blog, you might want to invest in a nice camera.

Travel blog example

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For instance, look at this vibrant, colorful photo of the Charles River. (I'm probably a little biased, considering I live in Boston and commute over this river daily). To rank highly on the SERPs, you'll want to have high-quality images so travel enthusiasts are compelled to view your posts.

Travel blogs can use a number of avenues to generate income. Most commonly seen are banner ads, native ads, sponsored posts, and affiliate links for products such as suitcases or airline tickets.

5. Lifestyle

Lifestyle blogs are probably the most versatile of blog types. Aptly named, lifestyle blogs are about a person's life. What they like to do, where they like to eat and shop … think of a lifestyle blog as a website for influencers. Check out this lifestyle blog, Love Taza, as an example:

Lifestyle blog example

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A number of influencers use blogs as a way to market themselves and build a more solid following. Oftentimes, businesses will look for an influencers' blog or website to find out more information on them (as well as contact information) if they're interested in cultivating a partnership. If you're interested in becoming an influencer or simply want to share more of your life with friends and family, this might be the right blog for you.

You can monetize a lifestyle blog with affiliate links, native ads, and sponsored posts. Banner ads for ad networks also work well here.