Types of Blogs: Practical Use of Blogging on the Internet

Today, we’re talking about types of blogs, their classification, and criteria… Does that sound like dusty textbooks and academic boredom? No, it’s the scent of a remedy for common mistakes and wasted advertising budgets.

Types of Blogs and Their Use in Advertising Campaigns

Matching the type of blog-contractor (and its specific features) with the goals of an advertising campaign allows you to predict both the results and the budget. Experience shows that advertisers often face a generous helping of disappointment in blogging simply because they draw the wrong conclusions from typology — or ignore it altogether.

Let’s look at types of blogs by top thematic areas:

• Business and Startups.
• Hobbies and Entertainment.
• Art, Music, and Fashion.
• Technology and AI Tools (a powerful new trend).
• Travel, Food, and Healthy Living.

It is generally assumed that information about a product or service should be placed where people discuss that topic. For example, promoting a network of foreign language schools through a polyglot blogger who teaches English using their own method. This is the first thought that comes to an unprepared advertiser — to look for a blog in the same niche as the advertised business. But in this situation, the blog is a competitor!

A blogger doesn’t necessarily have to match your business niche 100%. They might talk about travel, parenting, or self-development, but a placement in that blog will be effective if their followers are your target audience (in terms of demographics, interests, income level, and other characteristics).

Scale Matters: Nano, Micro, or Celebrity?

The same “reverse” effect can occur if you draw the wrong conclusions from a blog’s typology by scale (nano, micro, macro…). It would seem that the more “stellar” the blogger and the more followers they have, the greater the effect you can expect. Not necessarily. Here are the facts:

1. Price increases proportionally to audience size. Sometimes it’s more profitable to purchase several placements with micro-bloggers than one with a celebrity. Furthermore, the trust level of a micro-blogger’s audience is often higher.
2. Nano-bloggers are at the beginning of their journey, so their level of professionalism might not be high yet: they may take a long time to respond, misunderstand a task, or miss a deadline.
3. Celebrities usually have an agent who controls all stages of the agreement. However, every extra step (iteration, photo, mention) will cost extra.
4. The smaller the audience, the higher the engagement. Nano-bloggers have a significant portion of followers who are friends and acquaintances, making audience trust and activity maximum.

Even an account with 2,000 real followers can generate sales on a budget of, for example, $1,000 to $2,000 per month. Even in regional markets. This applies whether you run a blog to promote your own business or act as a contractor. For instance, one interesting individual with an Instagram audience of 2,966 people successfully develops a network of linguistic centers in a specific city. What helps her achieve results?

1. Running the account on behalf of the founder (not the company!). Her photo is on the avatar: people follow more willingly, trust more, and therefore buy more.
2. Useful content: new words and phrases, selections of movies, series, and books in a foreign language.
3. Interesting content and “behind the scenes” in Stories: the learning process, preparation for new events, meeting the team.
4. Consistency: daily publication of high-quality content keeps the audience engaged.
5. Active engagement: periodic targeted advertising campaigns are conducted to increase followers (success here largely depends on the clarity of the target audience profile).

Modern Trend: AI-Assisted and Niche Blogs

In today’s world, it is impossible to ignore AI (Artificial Intelligence). A new subtype has emerged — blogs specializing in neural networks or authors who use AI for data analysis and content personalization. But remember: AI is just a tool. Authenticity and personal experience remain the only things that cannot be copied.

Sometimes it’s better to find lifestyle nano-bloggers in regions of interest to the advertiser. You need to study their pages or blogs and audience metrics. Perhaps even if a blogger simply talks about their life — reviews a cafe, shows a workout, demonstrates daily life, or shares vacation impressions — and has no relation to the niche, such a collaboration will be more effective. The audience is not spoiled by advertising and trusts it.

Blog types can be classified by positioning, and these features should also be considered when planning an advertising campaign.

1. Personal Blogs, centered around one person or family. It is easier to retain people in such blogs because they follow primarily due to an affinity for the blogger, so audience loyalty is at its peak. People are attracted by charisma, “behind the scenes” (personal topics), shared interests, values, and sincerity.
2. Expert Blogs, which can be run by a single specialist or an entire staff (corporate blogs fall into this category). Expert blogs are easier to promote because there is a specific theme with a clear target audience. Users are attracted by the opportunity to “level up” — to gain knowledge, technologies, and techniques applicable to real life. Communication with like-minded people and networking are also of interest.

Blog Types Combine Perfectly

For example, professionals often run personal blogs, bringing a share of expert content into them. Indeed, it is much more interesting to tell followers about what interests you personally.

In a company, a leader’s personal blog and a corporate blog can easily coexist. Their goal is the same — to broadcast the brand’s expert level and form its image — but the methods differ. The company appears as a team of professionals and a source of expert information, while also featuring the specific opinion of a leader with certain character traits and a personal position.

Some entrepreneurs build businesses on a personal brand, where the owner’s personality is not just one of the business’s foundations. It is also a “prevention” against hostile takeovers, because without their charisma, the company would turn into nothing.

How Information is Perceived in the Blogosphere

We all perceive information differently:

• Auditory learners find it easier to process audio and video;
• Visual learners prefer text, photos, and videos;
• Kinesthetic learners (used to feeling) prefer photos and videos;
• Digital learners (discretes) (who like to organize everything) prefer good old-fashioned text.

Blogs, like people, differ in the predominant type of content:

• Text-based;
• Photo-based;
• Video-based;
• Podcasts, etc.

Naturally, the resources where such blogs are hosted correspond to these types: video and audio hosting, platforms for graphic content (Instagram), or text-based (Standalone — an autonomous blog on its own domain and hosting).

In addition to the priority type of perception, there are different situations of content consumption. It is important for the audience to have the choice of how to consume information depending on the situation. Therefore, try to use different types of content, experiment: repackage webinars into podcasts, podcasts into articles, articles into cards, and cards into games in Stories.

Fashion for different types of content changes with the development of technology. When internet speeds didn’t allow for video, text blogs were hugely popular. But times change, and on TikTok, for example, you rarely see a clip where you need to read more than a dozen words. What will definitely always be in trend is an understanding of the target audience’s needs.

These are the attractive types of blogs: because they offer high-quality perception of information and focus on the needs of the target audience.

I love reading foreign blogs and take a lot of useful things from them. I wish the same for my fellow bloggers. This is the modern blogosphere: learn from others, but don’t abandon your own.

Blogging is a Demonstration of Your Skills

And like any other skill, it requires time, practice, and understanding to create your best posts that will engage the audience.

Si Quan Ong from Ahrefs doesn’t spare time… and he recently shared incredibly useful ideas based on his experience of writing over 100 posts (https://ahrefs.com/blog/100-blog-posts/) for a blog.

Here is a short summary of the post.

Think of Yourself as a Mentor

A mentor’s job is to solve problems. And that’s exactly what you should be doing in your blog.

Point out specific problems your audience might face and offer some wise advice to help.

Listing all possible solutions can be overwhelming for some readers, so it’s important to highlight only the best advice in language accessible to the reader.

There is No Correlation Between Results and Effort

If you work hard on an article, it doesn’t mean it will become your best content. Sometimes it just happens that way.

Of course, don’t stop putting effort into your content. Но don’t exhaust yourself with predictions that it will bring success.

If Something Works, Keep Doing It

For example, updating content is not only important but also easy.

Si Quan updated most of his content at least twice, receiving new surges of traffic each time.

But remember, it’s not just about SEO. It’s about your audience. If you possess new key information, it is your duty to give readers the best advice regarding it.

Blog Authors Must Be Practitioners

Writing based on experience will always surpass theoretical advice.

Pointing out obstacles and problems immediately lets your audience know you are familiar with the topic you’re writing about.

The persuasiveness of your blog text will increase its value, as it will include nuances and features that others might have missed.

Dear readers! As the author of this blog, I would be interested to know: which types of blogs interest you the most? Do you have anything to add to this post in the comments? I am always ready for a constructive dialogue.