Whether you want to establish your personal brand or share your passion for travel or cooking, a personal blog is the easiest way to get your writing out into the wild.
A personal blog can be a great way build your authority and showcase your knowledge on a particular topic. It can also help you create an additional income source.
It’s no secret that some of the most successful writers out there started out as personal bloggers. Over time, they built their brand and reputation enough to be able to monetize their passion and generate a full-time income. And many of them did it with WordPress; a platform built on blogging.
Make a Great Personal Blog With WordPress in 2019
If you want to see any kind of success in 2019, your WordPress blog needs a few crucial things:
- Engaging content
- Social sharing features
- Responsive design
- Easy to use theme
Without these features, your blog will go unnoticed and you won’t enjoy blogging if you constantly struggle with customizing your theme to make the simple changes needed to reflect your brand.
Luckily, there is no shortage of excellent WordPress themes geared for personal bloggers in 2019. Today, we share the best of them right here:
Here are a number of great personal blog WordPress themes that you can set up on any quality hosting provider that supports WordPress. Managed WordPress hosting can make a lot of sense. In this case the host takes care of security, updates, and a lot of the other behind-the-scenes stuff, leaving you to focus on producing great content and building your audience. Envato has a partnership with SiteGround that offers you up to 70% off managed WordPress hosting.
20+ Best WordPress Themes For Personal Blogs
This curated list includes the best personal blog WordPress themes that come with plenty of features to make your blog stand out in 2019. You’ll find themes with multiple layout options, stylish sliders, elegant featured images, beautiful typography.
1. Soledad – Multi-Concept Blog/Magazine/News AMP WordPress Theme
Soledad is a big one. A multipurpose WordPress theme which includes a range of different personal blog templates, such as fashion, travel blog, retro, minimalist, tech, cookery, you name it, there are literally thousands. Soledad is right up to date, supports Gutenburg blocks, and performs quicker than Usain Bolt back in his heyday.
2. CheerUp – Modern Personal WordPress Blog Theme
The CheerUp theme has a lot to offer to personal bloggers. Starting with a modern and clean design, the theme includes features that will help you build a beautiful personal brand and help your content get noticed on social media. Some of the core features are:
- Compatibility with MailChimp
- Built-in sharing buttons
- Hundreds of layout options
- Live customization
- Beautiful galleries
On top of all that, the theme has been optimized for SEO as well as to load fast, so you can rest assured your search engine rankings will not suffer. This is one of the best personal WordPress blog themes to use in 2019.
3. Amory Blog – Responsive WordPress Theme for Personal Blogs
With a five-star rating and comments like “…the best customer support and an amazing theme!” it’s easy to see why Amory Blog is one of the best-selling WordPress blog themes.
Aside from stunning design, social media integration, gorgeous sliders, and numerous customization options, the theme also has dedicated blocks for Google AdSense, making it easy to monetize your blog with ads.
4. Sprout & Spoon – Best WP Blog Theme for Food Bloggers
Food bloggers rely on images to showcase their culinary creations and this theme allows you to share recipes in a beautiful fashion. Clean lines, stunning featured images, and a recipe index are what makes this theme a perfect choice for all the foodies out there. This is one of the best WordPress blog themes for food bloggers in 2019.
5. Solstice – Multipurpose Personal Blog WP Theme Design
Solstice is a powerful multipurpose WordPress blog theme perfect for any personal blog in 2019. Core features include:
- 140 styling options
- Clean, clutter free design
- List and grid layouts
- Featured posts
- Custom ad locations
- Social media integration
If you are a fan of minimal design but still prefer to have plenty of creative freedom to customize a theme completely your way, be sure to check out the Solstice theme.
6. Gossip – Simple WordPress Theme For Personal Blog
Gossip is a wonderfully simple theme for personal blogs with plenty of whitespace to bring out your content. It’s loaded with features and unlimited styling options, 10 custom widgets, 9 custom page templates, a built-in subscribe page, custom galleries, and more. It also supports WooCommerce, which is perfect if you want to sell your own products at some point.
7. Camille – Stylish WordPress Blog Theme for Personal Blogs
The Camille theme has a unique design with a plethora of options for customizing fonts, colors, layouts, post views, and more. It features a stunning slider and creative promo boxes which allow you to showcase your content in different ways with responsive layouts optimized for all devices.
8. The Blogger – User-Friendly WP Personal Blog Theme
Try out The Blogger theme if you want a personal WordPress blog theme that’s very easy to customize and includes thorough documentation that will guide you through the setup process. On top of that, The Blogger integrates fully with MailChimp and has the ability to display featured posts along with support for all WordPress post formats.
9. Laurel – Best Elegant WordPress Blog and Shop Theme
Laurel comes packed with customization options along with support for WooCommerce and beautiful featured images. Other notable features include:
- Grid and list layout
- Customizable promo boxes
- Variety of blog and post layouts
- Translation-ready
Comments from other users who purchased this theme praise the ease of use and its beautiful design:
“Design is fresh and modern with lots of customization options available. Works great as a Photography website with woocommerce too!”
Pair that with nothing but 5-star ratings and you can’t go wrong with this theme for your personal blog. This is a one of the best WordPress themes for blogs in 2019.
10. Carrie – Customizable, Personal WordPress Blog Theme
If you want to start a personal blog that covers a variety of topics, consider the Carrie theme to use in 2019. The layout is perfect for a magazine website featuring a unique Editor’s Pick section to highlight popular stories. The theme is also fully customizable, responsive, and has all the features needed for a successful blog.
10. Onyx – Sleek Personal WordPress Blog Template
Onyx boasts fast loading times and responsive design. It also comes equipped with a ton of shortcodes that eliminate the need to install extra plugins as well as endless customization options.
12. The Essence – Elegant Feminine WordPress Blog Theme
The Essence is a beautiful WordPress theme perfect for female bloggers. Be on the lookout for features such as:
- Featured Slider
- Instagram photos
- Custom MeridianStyler
- Custom widgets
It’s versatile enough to be used for any type of blog and comes with 17+ different homepage layouts and front-end customizer.
13. Soigne – Minimal & Functional WordPress Blog Theme/
Consider the Soigne WordPress blog template if you want to convert your readers into email subscribers or even potential clients. The theme comes with a plugin that shows your popular posts in the sidebar, as well as a view count in the Posts section. Widget areas can easily be customized, allowing you to create a unique layout for your blog.
14. Noemi – Powerful Lifestyle and Fashion WP Blog Theme
The Noemi personal WordPress blog theme has plenty of white space to put emphasis on your content and highlight your imagery. It comes with a custom slider, featured categories, and a customizable design. This is one of the best WordPress themes for blogs that need to feature great style against a clean design.
15. New York – Modern Personal Theme for WordPress Bloggers
A clean and minimal design paired with an easy setup and plenty of customization options are just some of the reasons the New York theme belongs in the best-selling category of personal WordPress blog themes. Buyers have nothing but glorious reviews for this theme:
“With it’s easy to read / follow along documentation and minimal but gorgeous design you can’t go wrong with this if you’re into blogging or sharing stories for a simple look..”
Here are some of the features found in this theme:
- Three different blog styles
- WooCommerce integration
- Live theme design and edits
- Masonry grid layout
To top it all off, the theme also includes security precautions and is completely translation-ready. Make use of it in 2019 to build your personal blog.
16. Writsy – Vintage WordPress Theme for Personal Blogs/
The Writsy WordPress blog template has a vintage faded look and comes with multiple homepage variations, support for all the post formats, blog, and post sharing buttons, and more. It’s a great choice for any fashion, style, or DIY blogger who loves vintage design.
17. Writer – Personal Blog Theme for Writers and Journalists
Give the Writer theme a try if you want to establish yourself as a professional blogger or writer. Aside from a modern and functional design, the theme comes with its own bookstore so you can make your dreams of being a published author a reality. This is one of the best WordPress blog themes for writers, bloggers and authors in 2019.
18. Escher – Feature-Rich WP Theme for Personal Bloggers
If you’re on the lookout for a theme that is loaded with features, be sure to check out the Escher theme. You’ll find features like:
- Multiple homepage and inner page layouts
- Support for custom post formats
- Parallax effects
- Custom Edge slider
Along with responsive design and a powerful theme options panel, the Escher WordPress theme certainly will satisfy even the most demanding bloggers in 2019.
19. Hearthstone – Best Classic WordPress Blog Theme
The Hearthstone personal WordPress blog template puts a high focus on imagery, making it a great choice for photography, travel, or food bloggers. It’s also translation-ready and includes a number of layout variations as well as numerous customization options.
20. Setwood – Lightweight Blog Theme for Creatives & Bloggers
Check out the Setwood theme if you want a personal WordPress theme that will load fast and still have plenty of styling options to satisfy your creative blogging needs. It also includes custom widgets which will help you setup your blog quickly.
21. Storyteller – Content-Centric WordPress Blog Theme
The Storyteller theme is another excellent choice for personal bloggers, thanks to its content-centric design and a strong focus on typography. It’s customizable and comes with several layout options and strong social media integration. It’s a great, modern WordPress theme to use to build your personal blog in 2019.
How to Optimize Your Personal Blog in 2019
Once you’ve chosen a personal WordPress theme for your blog, it’s time to optimize it so you can start building a community and establish yourself as the authority on your chosen topic.
1. Use Awesome Visuals That Tell a Story
Visuals are a great asset to any blog post. They add to the story and make it even easier to understand what you’re aiming to convey with your blog post. Use photos or graphics in your posts and get creative with different ways of displaying images. Use a slider like the one in the Escher theme or consider creating custom galleries similar to the ones in the Gossip theme.
2. Make it Easy to Share Your Posts
One of the easiest ways to get traffic to your blog is to share your content on social media. Whether you’re just starting out or a veteran blogger, adding social sharing buttons below each post or using a WordPress theme with social media integration like Storyteller will allow your readers to share your posts through their social media profiles which can lead to more traffic and help you gain new readers.
3. Reply to Blog Comments and Build Your Community
Foster a community around your blog by encouraging readers to leave a comment on your post and replying to their comments. You can conclude a post with a call to action or a question that prompts readers to share their thoughts. Participating in the comments will show your readers that you care about them and they will be more inclined to keep coming back to your blog. Learn more ways to build the community around your blog:
4. Customize Your WordPress Blog Theme
No matter which theme caught your eye from our collection, they all have plenty of customization options which will help you brand your blog and give it a unique style. Extend the same colors to your social media profiles and stay consistent with the colors and fonts on custom graphics you make, too.
5. Practice Writing Compelling Headlines
Your content may be great but without a compelling headline, chances are nobody will click through to read it. Spend some time crafting the best possible headline for your post and then take it a step further by using beautiful typography featured in the Hearthstone theme.
6. Make Use of Various Blog Content Types
You can generate more interest for your blog if you mix up content types and include video or audio posts. By doing this, you will give your readers a chance to easily consume your content, even if they are on the go and don’t have time to sit down, relax, and read your blog posts. A theme like The Blogger will come in handy in those situations.
Build Your Blog With a Personal WordPress Theme
Whether you want to breathe new life into your personal blog or start one from scratch in 2019, check out more of our personal WordPress blog themes on ThemeForest to find the one that best suits your brand and your blogging needs.
Also, if you’re on a budget, you can still get a premium website design with one of our free WordPress themes.