My sister-in-law is a realtor in the oakville region. Talented, hardworking, knows her market inside and out. She’s been debating whether to add a blog to her business—specifically, a more personal blog that goes beyond just listing properties and market updates.
“Should I really be blogging about personal stuff on top of business content?” she recently asked me. “Like, would anyone care about my thoughts on downsizing or the best pizza spots in town? Or should I just stick to real estate market updates and new listings?”
Here’s what I told her, and what I’m telling you if you’ve ever wondered if you should I have a personal blog as a business owner?
… YES
Not because every business owner needs to become a professional blogger. But because a personal blog gives you something that listing sites, directory profiles, and generic company pages never can. It gives you a way to show up as a real person, connect with your ideal clients before they even contact you, and rank for searches your competitors aren’t even thinking about.
Let me explain exactly why this matters and how to do it without making it complicated.
Why Business Owners Question Having Their Own Website
Before we dive into the personal blog question, let’s address the elephant in the room. Why do so many business owners hesitate to build their own website in the first place?
The “I’m Already Listed Somewhere” Trap
Therapists think Psychology Today is enough. Realtors rely on their brokerage’s website. Hair stylists figure their Instagram profile works fine. Lawyers assume a profile on Avvo covers them.
And sure, these platforms have their place. They put you in front of people actively searching for your specific service. But here’s what they don’t do: they don’t help anyone get to know YOU.
When someone looks at your Psychology Today profile or your brokerage listing, they see the same template everyone else uses. Same layout. Same types of information. Nothing that tells them what you’re actually like to work with.
A potential client can’t tell if your communication style matches theirs. They can’t get a sense of your personality or your approach. They’re choosing based on location, insurance acceptance, or availability. Not because they feel a genuine connection with you as a professional.
The Content Overwhelm Problem
The other reason business owners avoid having their own site? They think they need to constantly update it with new listings, inventory, or service offerings.
My sister-in-law thought she’d need to maintain a database of available properties on her site. That sounded exhausting. Why duplicate what’s already on the MLS and her brokerage site?
But here’s the thing: your website doesn’t need to be a comprehensive database of everything you offer. It needs to be a place where potential clients can learn about YOU and decide if they want to work with you.
You don’t need the latest listings, or a complex backend system.
You need a simple site with your services, your approach, and yes, a blog where you can share insights that matter to your ideal clients.
The Two Approaches to Personal Blogging for Business Owners
So you’re convinced you need your own site and want to include personal content. Great. Now you have two options for how to structure this.
Option 1: Separate Personal Blog Website
Some business owners maintain completely separate websites. One for business. One for personal blogging.
This works if you’re building a personal brand that’s distinct from your business. Maybe you’re a business coach who also writes about parenting. Or a therapist who has a separate platform for mental health advocacy that goes beyond your practice.
The benefit is clear separation. Your business clients see only business content. Your personal blog audience gets only personal content. Nobody’s confused about what they’re getting.
The downside? You’re splitting your SEO power. You’re maintaining two separate sites. And you’re missing opportunities to show potential business clients who you really are.
Option 2: Personal Section on Your Business Website
This is the approach I recommend for most business owners. Keep everything under one roof, but create a clear section for personal content.
Your site structure might look like: Home, About, Services, Blog, Contact. Within your blog, you can have categories. Maybe “Business Tips,” “Industry Insights,” and “Personal” or “Life as a [Your Profession].”
The SEO benefits here are huge. Every piece of content you create strengthens the same domain. Personal posts about your life as a realtor or therapist or business owner still drive traffic to the same site where people can hire you.
Plus, potential clients who find your personal content get to know you before they ever contact you. That’s powerful for building trust and attracting the right people.
The Real Power of Personal Blogging: Adjacent Content
Here’s where this strategy gets interesting. The best business blogs don’t just talk about their services. They talk about topics their ideal clients are searching for that are adjacent to their services.
Let me explain what I mean using my sister-in-law’s situation as an example.
Example: Personal Blog for a Realtor Targeting Retirees
My sister-in-law wants to focus on helping retirees downsize and find their next chapter. If she only blogged about “homes for sale” or “real estate services,” she’d be competing with every other realtor for the same searches.
But what if she wrote about topics retirees are actually searching for?
“What to Consider When Downsizing from Your Family Home” “Best Senior Living Communities in [Your Area]” “How to Talk to Your Adult Children About Selling the House” “What It Really Costs to Maintain a House in Retirement” “Best Walkable Neighborhoods in [Your City] for Active Retirees”
None of these posts are directly about buying or selling a house. But every single one is read by people who are in the market for her services or will be soon.
Someone searching for senior living communities is probably also thinking about selling their house. Someone researching downsizing costs is actively considering a move. These are your ideal clients finding you through searches that have nothing to do with “realtors near me.”
Adjacent Content Works Across Industries
This strategy isn’t just for realtors. It works for every service provider.
Therapists specializing in working moms:
- “Managing Mom Guilt When You Love Your Career”
- “What Nobody Tells You About Postpartum Anxiety”
- “How to Set Boundaries with Family Without Feeling Terrible”
Financial advisors for young families:
- “How Much Should We Actually Save for Kids’ College?”
- “Making Financial Decisions When Partners Have Different Money Styles”
- “What to Do with Your Finances After Having a Baby”
Interior designers for busy professionals:
- “How to Make Your Home Feel Organized When You’re Never There”
- “Creating a Home Office That Doesn’t Take Over Your Living Room”
- “What to Do When You Hate Your Home But Can’t Move Yet”
See what’s happening here? These aren’t service descriptions. They’re not sales pitches. They’re genuinely helpful content about problems your ideal clients are actively experiencing and searching for solutions to.
When someone finds your blog post about managing mom guilt, reads it, connects with it, and then sees you’re a therapist who specializes in working with working mothers, that’s not a hard sell. That’s a natural next step.
Personal Content Helps People Know the Real You
Beyond the SEO strategy, personal blogging serves another crucial purpose. It helps potential clients understand who you are as a person, not just a service provider.
Remember that blog I wrote about standing out from competitors? The one about authenticity and originality? This is where it all connects.
When everyone in your industry sounds the same, personal content is what makes you memorable. It’s what helps ideal clients feel like they already know you before the first consultation call.
What Makes Content “Personal” Without Being Too Personal
I know what you’re thinking. “But what should I share? How personal is too personal?”
Here’s my rule: share experiences and perspectives that your ideal clients can relate to, that show your personality, and that don’t compromise anyone’s privacy or professionalism.
Personal content might include:
- Your observations about your industry or city
- Lessons you’ve learned in business or life
- Stories about why you do what you do
- Your take on trends affecting your clients
- Behind-the-scenes of your work (within appropriate boundaries)
- Challenges you’ve navigated that your clients might face too
Personal content is NOT:
- Complaints about clients or colleagues
- Details about other people’s private situations
- Anything you wouldn’t want clients or professional contacts reading
- Drama for the sake of engagement
- Oversharing about topics unrelated to your professional world
The key is this: what you experience as a business owner, your clients are likely experiencing in their own lives. Your perspective on navigating those experiences is valuable.
so if:
- you’re a realtor who recently helped your own parents downsize, that experience gives you insights your clients need
- you’re a therapist who’s dealt with burnout, that lived experience connects with clients facing similar struggles
- you’re a business coach who’s rebuilt your business model, that journey resonates with entrepreneurs going through transitions.
Your personal experiences, when shared thoughtfully, become powerful connection points with the exact people you want to work with.
Personal Blog Content Ideas by Industry
Let’s get specific about what personal blogging might look like in different industries.
For Therapists and Mental Health Professionals
Personal blog content for therapists isn’t about sharing your own therapy journey or diagnosing yourself publicly. It’s about sharing perspectives on mental health, observations about our world, and insights that help people feel less alone.
“What I’ve Noticed About Anxiety in High Achievers” “Why I Think We Need to Talk About Mental Health Differently” “The Question Every New Therapy Client Asks (And Why It Matters)” “Books That Changed How I Think About Healing” “What I Wish More People Understood About Therapy”
These posts show your approach, your values, and your personality. They help potential clients understand if your style resonates with them before they ever book a session.
For Service Providers (Coaches, Consultants, Designers)
Service providers have tons of room for personal content because your lived experience is directly relevant to your work.
“What Working from Home for 5 Years Taught Me About Productivity” “The Business Advice I Ignored (And Now Regret)” “How I Actually Structure My Work Week” “What I’ve Learned from My Most Challenging Client Projects” “Why I Changed My Service Model This Year”
This content demonstrates your expertise while showing potential clients what it’s actually like to work with you. It positions you as someone who practices what they preach.
For Local Service Businesses
Local business owners have a huge advantage with personal blogging. You can create content about your community that brings in local traffic.
Going back to the realtor example: “Best Family-Friendly Restaurants in [Your City]” “Hidden Gems in [Your Neighborhood] That Locals Love” “What I Love About Living and Working in [Your Area]” “Changes I’ve Seen in [Your City] Over the Past Decade” “Weekend Activities in [Your Area] That Don’t Cost a Fortune”
This content attracts local traffic, positions you as a community expert, and gives you natural opportunities to mention your services when relevant. Someone searching for family-friendly activities in your city is probably a family. Families move. They need realtors.
Addressing the Common Objections
Let me tackle the concerns I hear most often when business owners consider adding personal content to their sites.
“I Don’t Have Time to Blog”
You don’t need to publish daily. You don’t even need to publish weekly. One thoughtful blog post per month makes a difference.
And here’s the secret: personal content is often easier and faster to write than purely business content. You’re not researching industry trends or crafting perfect SEO-optimized service descriptions. You’re sharing observations, experiences, and perspectives you already have.
A personal blog post about what you’ve learned this year in business can be written in an hour. A listicle about your favorite local spots takes minimal time. These don’t have to be 3000-word masterpieces. They just have to be genuine and useful.
“What If Clients Think I’m Unprofessional?”
Let me flip this question: what if the right clients actually appreciate knowing who you are as a person?
The business owners who successfully blend personal and professional content aren’t losing credibility. They’re building deeper connections with ideal clients while naturally filtering out people who wouldn’t be a good fit anyway.
Someone who reads your post about balancing business ownership with family life and thinks “too personal, seems unprofessional” probably wasn’t your ideal client to begin with. Meanwhile, someone who reads that same post and thinks “finally, someone who gets it” is exactly who you want to work with.
“I Don’t Know What to Write About”
Start with questions your clients ask you repeatedly. Observations you make about your industry are goldmine material. Experiences you’ve had that relate to the work you do make excellent content.
Every conversation you have with clients contains potential blog topics. Frustrations you experience in your industry? Others are probably experiencing them too. Lessons you learn the hard way become valuable insights for someone else.
You don’t need to reinvent the wheel. You just need to share your unique perspective on topics that matter to your audience.
How to Structure Your Site with Personal Content
Let’s get practical about implementation. How do you actually set this up?
Simple Site Structure That Works
Keep it straightforward:
- Home
- About
- Services
- Blog
- Contact
That’s it. You don’t need complicated menu structures or dozens of pages. Within your blog, you can have categories if you want to organize content, but even that’s optional.
Your homepage should clearly state what you do and who you help. About page should feel personal and genuine (not a corporate bio). Services page should be clear and action-oriented. Blog is where you share insights, experiences, and valuable content.
Blog Categories That Make Sense
If you want to organize your blog into categories, keep them simple and intuitive:
Realtor example:
- Home Buying Tips
- Local Community
- Life as a Realtor
Therapist:
- Mental Health Insights
- Therapy FAQs
- Personal Reflections
Business coach:
- Business Strategy
- Behind the Scenes
- Lessons Learned
These categories help readers find what they’re looking for while giving you clear buckets for different types of content.
SEO Benefits of This Approach
Here’s why combining personal and business content on one site is so powerful for SEO.
Every blog post you publish strengthens your domain authority. Search engines see an active, regularly updated website with diverse content. That signals credibility.
When you write about adjacent topics (like senior living communities if you’re a realtor), you start ranking for searches your competitors aren’t targeting. You’re capturing traffic at different stages of the buyer journey.
Internal linking between your personal content and your service pages creates a natural web of connections that helps search engines understand your site and helps visitors explore more of your content.
And perhaps most importantly, personal content tends to get shared more often. People share relatable stories, helpful local guides, and genuine perspectives. Every share builds backlinks and brings new traffic to your site.
Real Examples of Personal Blogging Done Right
Let me show you what this looks like in practice with some examples across industries.
The Therapist Who Shares Mental Health Perspectives
Instead of just listing credentials and services, this therapist writes monthly posts about mental health topics from their professional perspective.
Posts like “What I Want My Clients to Know About Healing” or “The Myth of Closure” show their approach and values. Potential clients can read these posts and immediately know if this therapist’s philosophy resonates with them.
The result? Their consultation calls are more aligned. People reach out already feeling connected to their approach.
The Realtor Who Became the Local Expert
One realtor I know started blogging about their city. Not just real estate trends, but the actual experience of living there. Best parks for kids. Changes in the downtown area. New restaurants worth trying.
Within a year, “best neighborhoods in [city]” searches were leading to their blog. People looking for community information were discovering them as a local expert. When those same people were ready to buy or sell, guess who they thought of first?
The Business Coach Who Shares Behind the Scenes
A business coach started sharing behind-the-scenes posts about running their own business. What worked. What flopped. How they structure their days. Honest reflections on growth and challenges.
Their audience grew because people appreciated the authenticity. More importantly, the right clients started reaching out. People who valued honest, practical guidance over flashy promises.
Bringing Your Personality Back Into Business
This all connects back to something bigger. The shift away from corporate, polished, everyone-sounds-the-same business communication toward authentic, personality-driven marketing.
A personal blog as a business owner isn’t just an SEO strategy. It’s a way to stand out from competitors who are still hiding behind professional facades.
It’s how you show potential clients who you really are before they ever contact you. OR How you attract people who vibe with your approach and naturally filter out those who don’t.
Most importantly, it’s how you make your business feel like yours again. Not a carbon copy of every other business in your industry. Not a persona you have to put on. Just you, doing what you do best, and letting the right people find you.
Should You Have a Personal Blog as a Business Owner?
So, should I have a personal blog as a business owner?
Yes. Whether you create a separate website or add a personal section to your business site (I recommend the latter for SEO), personal content helps you connect with ideal clients, rank for valuable searches, and stand out in a crowded market.
You don’t need to share your entire life story, or post every day. You just need to show up as a real person with perspectives, experiences, and insights that resonate with the people you want to work with.
Start simple. Write one post about something you’ve learned in your business. Share a perspective on your industry. Talk about why you love your city or your work or your approach.
The right people will find you. And when they do, they’ll already feel like they know you.
That’s the power of a personal blog for business owners.
Ready to Stop Stressing About Your Blog?
Tired of trying to figure out the perfect blogging schedule while juggling everything else in your business? I get it. That’s exactly why I offer done-for-you monthly blogging retainer services. I handle the research, writing, optimization, and publishing so you can focus on what you do best – running your business.
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