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It’s a bit shocking how much some of the most successful blogs on the internet make today. Let’s dive into who the highest-paid bloggers on the internet are and why they’re so successful.
Did you know that the median salary for a CEO is about $250,000 + bonuses?
Yes, the median for the top 100 is around 15.7 million dollars, but that’s because this is the group of insane outliers. The truer average is around $250,000 – $350,000.
What’s more insane is that some of these CEOs are making less than some people blogging on the internet.
So if you never thought you’d make it to a CEO salary, think again.
This list of famous bloggers was created to inspire you. All bloggers dream of reaching this level of success.
At Create and Go, we endeavor to always be honest and transparent in what we do. We’ve created this list to help you see which bloggers have risen to the top and how they have achieved their success.
Throughout this article, we’ll be sharing our insights and opinions with you. Our hope is that we can help you become one of the next successful blogs on our list.
The good news is that you don’t have to become the CEO of some massive company to reach these levels of success.
When you’re reading through the list of successful blogs, remember that these are just ordinary people doing mostly ordinary things.
Most of them don’t have anything special or any “IT” factor to make them successful. They just had the drive and motivation to make their dreams of earning an income online true.
How We Chose the Successful Blogs
Our list of successful blogs includes some of the highest-paid bloggers on the internet in a variety of niches, including:
One key factor I want to mention here is that no media publishers were included in this list of successful blogs. While the Huffington Post, the Wall Street Journal, and Healthline are technically blogs, we’re classifying them into a different category: companies.
Media publishers have a large staff with coffee machines and board meetings. Aka, not your typical blogger working from home in his PJs (me).
These are companies that compete on a completely different level.
I’m also sure that I missed some successful blogs. I will endeavor to keep this list updated but new successful bloggers pop up all the time.
There are a lot of famous bloggers that don’t publish their income, so we have no way of knowing how much they earn to include them on this list.
Obviously, levels of blogging income can also change from year to year or based on the seasons of the year and a lot of other factors.
How Do Most Famous Bloggers Make Money?
There are some patterns you may notice in the earnings from our successful blogs on this list. Most successful bloggers are making their money from a combination of these four strategies.
- Affiliate Marketing – Where you send your readers to other people’s products and get a percentage of the sale. Higher-priced products mean higher commissions.
- Ad Networks – Ads placed on your blog
- Sponsored Posts – Where companies pay you to post something specific on your blog
- Selling Information Products – Mostly information products such as eBooks, courses, programs, coaching, and printables
We also discuss all of these in much greater length in our post on how to make money blogging.
22 Successful Blogs and Famous Bloggers
Okay, let’s look at the list of successful blogs and their obnoxious blogging incomes!
1. Yaro Starak: $40,000+/month
Yaro Starak runs Entrepreneurs Journey, a blog designed to help fellow entrepreneurs succeed online.
Method of Monetization:
His main source of income comes from selling his own digital products while other income includes affiliate marketing and some advertising.
What Sets Him Apart:
Yaro set up his first website about a card game called Magic the Gathering and started earning over $1,000/month with it. He then started an online blog about that success.
You’ll also notice the blog is very Yaro-focused, in a good way. He’s on every thumbnail and every post includes an original photo from him.
Biggest Takeaway:
Put yourself on your blog and don’t hide behind your content!
2. Abby Lawson: $41,000+/month
Abby and Donnie Lawson run the blog, Just a Girl and Her Blog, which is a popular lifestyle, organization, and productivity blog.
Method of Monetization:
65% of their income is from affiliate marketing and promoting products like ConvertKit (email marketing). 35% is from their own products and services (some digital training and printables).
What sets her apart:
This blog is much more focused on lifestyle than a lot of other successful blogs. You see, a lot of “lifestyle” bloggers don’t end up making money because they are providing more entertainment content than educational.
What’s impressive about Abby is that she has managed to make her lifestyle blog produce income by educating as well as entertaining.
Biggest Takeaway:
A lifestyle blog can make money too, as long as you produce the right content.
3. Darren Rowse: $40,000+/month
Darren Rowse runs the popular blogging authority site, Pro Blogger, where he teaches people how to blog like the pros.
Method of Monetization:
Advertising is the main source of income, but he also sells a course on how to build a better blog in 31 days and runs a small conference called Success Incubator.
What sets him apart:
Pro blogger has the style of a polished authority blog. On the home page, Darren is wearing a suit jacket, and everything is presented in a clean and professional manner. This sort of approach along with the domain name naturally inclines people to trust the messages he delivers.
Biggest Takeaway:
The look and feel of your website have the ability to build immediate trust with your reader.
4. Trevor and Jennifer Debth: $46,000+/month
Next up on our list of famous bloggers is Trevor and Jennifer, who own the popular recipe blog, Show Me The Yummy.
Method of Monetization:
55% of their income is from advertising, sponsored posts, and freelancing. 40% is from their own video workouts (programs). The remaining 5% is from affiliate programs.
What sets them apart:
They have some amazing video content on their Facebook page which is worth a watch. I think it’s a combination of these and amazing photography that sets them apart.
Biggest Takeaway:
Video content is the present and the future of marketing… just saying.
5. Ryan Robinson: $50,000+/month
Ryan Robinson, of ryrob.com, is the owner of a blog in the personal finance niche. He discusses making money online and starting a profitable side hustle.
Method of Monetization:
The majority of it comes from affiliate earnings—around 90% of his total income. The other 10% comes from his online course sales.
What sets him apart:
Ryan Robinson does not pretend to be a person he is not. From the start, he explains he is “not a “business” expert or an all-knowing guru.”
He is good at three things and focuses on those three things he refers to as his superpowers to grow his income.
Biggest Takeaway:
Find your strengths and capitalize on them. Don’t be a jack of ALL trades. Be a master of a FEW.
6. Amira Law: $75,000+/month
Amira Law, of A Self Guru, is a special mention because she started from zero as one of our students. As a full-time lawyer, she started taking our Pro Blogger Bundle of courses and launched her own blog in just one month.
She made her first $1,000 in her first 2 months of blogging.
Method of Monetization:
Amira monetizes her blog mostly with the sale of her products: legal templates for bloggers, freelancers, and other small business owners.
She also recommends affiliate products for online business-related tools and services.
What sets her apart:
Amira took a slightly less traditional route to launching her business. Rather than taking months to create content and build an audience, she networked with the right people and launched her legal templates as an affiliate product.
She let other fellow bloggers with established audiences promote her templates and answered a lot of questions about her products within online communities.
Biggest Takeaway:
You don’t need your own audience to start earning your first bit of income and testimonials for your blog.
7. Steve and Jennifer Chou: $80,000+/month
Steve and Jennifer run the successful blog, My Wife Quit Her Job, where they show readers how to make money online with an eCommerce store and other methods.
Method of Monetization:
Most of it comes from selling their own digital product on starting a successful eCommerce store. They make the rest from advertising, sponsorships, and affiliate marketing.
What sets them apart:
A powerful and relatable story.
The whole basis for starting their business was that they wanted to have kids and Jennifer wanted to quit her job to take care of them. Thus, they started the eCommerce store and blog.
Now, they are both able to work from home and raise their kids exactly how they want.
Biggest Takeaway:
The story is everything when it comes to sales. Your unique story is what makes people interested in you and is something nobody can take from you.
8. Rosemarie Groner: $86,000+/month
Rosemarie Groner is the busy mom at Busy Budgeter, where she posts about money, dinner ideas, budgets, and everything mom-related.
How she makes her money:
She makes around 40% through a mix of sponsored content, affiliates, and ads. The lion’s share comes at around 60% from her own products
What sets her apart:
I think Rosemarie has a VERY deep understanding of her audience. You can tell from her website that her target audience is female and mostly moms.
She also obviously understands the insane power of Pinterest for bloggers as she has acquired over 95,000 fans at the time of this posting.
Biggest Takeaway:
Know your lane and your audience. And stick to them!
9. Lindsay and Bjork: $90,000+/month
Lindsay and Bjork run two successful blogs, Pinch of Yum and Food Blogger Pro, where they make recipes and show people how to create their own recipe blogs.
How they make their money:
They make 50% of their income from advertising, 20% from sponsored posts and affiliate marketing, and I would guess another 30%+ from Food Blogger Pro (they don’t report on its income).
What sets them apart:
I think they were some of the first food bloggers to reveal their income and this built up a loyal following. People who followed them for their recipes now also wanted to learn how to make a food blog themselves.
Biggest Takeaway:
Beautiful content attracts followers and can help you rise above the rest of the mediocre content out there. Photography is one to get there and they’re doing it right!
10. The Savvy Couple: $100,000+/month
Kelan and Brittany Kline are the super down-to-earth husband-and-wife duo behind The Savvy Couple, where they teach others about freelancing and how to make money online.
How they make their money:
The Klines have successfully monetized their business through a combination of affiliate marketing, creating and selling digital products like planners and printables, and partnering with brands they trust and genuinely recommend to their audience.
What sets them apart:
We love their unique approach to their business as a married couple. Kelan and Brittany balance each other out well and pick up the slack whenever needed for the other so that they can be present in their personal lives as partners and parents, but also not burn out on the business.
Biggest Takeaway:
One of the biggest takeaways from Kelan and Brittany’s success is the power of systems and working together.
By staying true to themselves, providing valuable content, and being consistent and efficient with constantly improving systems they have maximized their success and reached impressive heights.
11. Jon Morrow: $100,000+/month
Jon Morrow is the founder of Smart Blogger, where he teaches other successful bloggers how to grow their businesses.
How he makes his money:
The blog makes most of its money through affiliate marketing products that help bloggers succeed and through selling its own digital courses and products.
What sets him apart:
Jon Morrow, the owner, is bound to a wheelchair and can only feel his face. Despite facing challenges, he has become a millionaire and traveled the world with his blogging career.
I also suggest checking out his other website, Unstoppable, well where he talks more about this stuff. Inspirational AF.
Biggest Takeaway:
We all feel like we have limitations. We should never let it stop us from achieving anything we set our hearts or minds on.
12. Lauren McManus and Noah Riggs: $100,000+/month
Oh, hey there. We’re up! Create and Go was originally founded by Lauren McManus and Alex Nerney. Together, they started two highly successful blogs and various other ventures.
After working as an SEO consultant for Create and Go for years, Noah Riggs bought out Alex and now owns half of the business with Lauren.
How they make their money:
Most of our income comes from selling digital products and another big chunk comes from high-paying affiliate marketing programs. We also earn some money for ads on our YouTube channel.
What sets them apart:
They didn’t just start out blogging about blogging.
They first started a health and wellness blog, that they have since sold, and started earning over $20,000/month with that blog before starting Create and Go. It’s this experience that gives them the ability to guide others while knowing exactly what they are up against.
Biggest Takeaway:
You don’t have to be anything special to do this – just hustle like crazy and have the right plan of action.
13. Michelle Schroeder-Gardner: $100,000+/month
Michelle Schroeder-Gardner of Making Sense of Cents is a top blogger in the finance niche known for helping people earn more and save more.
How she makes her money:
Most of her income comes from selling her own courses and affiliate marketing programs like Bluehost. The remaining comes from sponsorships and advertisements placed on her blogs. She has made quite a lot from sponsored posts and has a sponsored posts course if you want to learn more about how she does it.
What sets her apart:
I like to call her “the natural” in blogging. Michelle is not a marketer. Not at all. You’ll find most of the successful bloggers on this list are amazing marketers masking around as bloggers.
The truth is that Michelle is an outstanding blogger. Her audience loves her so much that she makes more money than most marketers without seeming like she’s trying. It’s very impressive!
Biggest Takeaway:
Be the best at what you do and the money will follow.
14. Elisa Larson and Emma Chapman: $125,000+/month
Elisa Larson and Emma Chapman are the famous bloggers behind A Beautiful Mess, where they blog about everything from DIY to Instagram tips.
How they make their money:
While there are no clear indicators on where the majority of their income comes from, they have said it’s a mix of…
- Advertising
- Sponsorships with brands
- Digital Courses and Training (Photoshop, Blogging, and Instagram Strategy)
- Physical Products (Books, Planners, Scrapbook Materials, Ect)
What sets them apart:
I don’t know them well, but their social presence is INSANE. They are on top of Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, Pinterest, and even Twitter. As someone who runs a couple of blogs with a partner, we can barely do two of those well. It’s impressive.
Biggest Takeaway:
Your blog can have a ton of different focal points and still succeed.
15. Jeff Rose: $138,000+/month
Next up on our list of successful blogs is Jeff Rose’s blog, Good Financial Cents — a financial blog teaching people how to obtain financial freedom by being smarter with their money.
How he makes his money:
33% of his income comes from a financial planning practice he manages. Another 33% comes from affiliate marketing products and services like Insurance Plans. 20% comes from selling online courses and digital products. The final 14% comes from sponsorships and advertising.
What sets him apart:
I think it’s the fact that Jeff actually runs his own financial planning practice that cements his blog as truly expert advice. I mean, if you were learning from a personal trainer online and they had a very successful practice or owned a gym, you’d probably trust them more as well.
Biggest Takeaway:
You can take an existing business you have and use it as leverage for your blog’s success.
16. Heather and Pete Reese: $170,000+/month
The Reese family runs the blog, It’s A Lovely Life, which is really a large family lifestyle and travel blog.
How they make their money:
60% comes from sponsored content and affiliate marketing. The other 40% comes from selling their own products and courses.
What sets them apart:
Another great example of the effectiveness of combining a lifestyle blog with educating your readers on various topics. This combination seems to be quite powerful for both endearing readers to you and making money online.
Biggest Takeaway:
Lifestyle + Education Content = Blog Profits
17. John Lee Dumas: $195,000+/month
John Lee Dumas and his wife run a podcast that has now done over 1,900 interviews with successful entrepreneurs like Tony Robbins, Gary Vee, and more.
How they make their money:
35% of their income comes from affiliate marketing – affiliate courses and products like Clickfunnels (landing page software). 35% comes from selling sponsorships on this podcast. The last 30% comes from selling his own digital products and journals on Amazon.
What sets them apart:
They publish podcasts 7 days a week! You heard that right. Every day, there’s a new podcast with someone else.
Obviously, there is a downside to this schedule, which would be grueling, but you can record podcasts in bulk to save time and have a normal life.
Biggest Takeaway:
Showing up consistently endears other people to you.
I actually have a buddy who does YouTube videos 7 days a week and it works VERY well for him. His audience feels really connected to him because they hear from him every single day. It’s a strategy that can be used in almost any business.
18. Pat Flynn: $200,000+/month
Pat Flynn is the crash test dummy of making passive income online over at Smart Passive Income. He actually runs a few successful blogs, but that one is the most noteworthy.
He is one of the most influential bloggers in the finance niche.
How he makes his money:
40% of his income historically comes from affiliate marketing different products and services like ConvertKit, Bluehost, and other high prices courses. The other 50% comes from selling his own products and courses. 10% comes from various other places.
What sets him apart:
Pat has been crushing his blogging journey since 2008, and I think every blogger remembers seeing his income reports as kind of a mind-blowing thing. Now, EVERYONE in the biz does them.
I think the other big factor is his authentic nature. When Pat talks, he just seems like a guy who wouldn’t hurt a fly, much less try to sell you some crap you don’t need. I think that’s very helpful when talking about a subject riddled with scammers at every turn.
He’s the online marketer you can trust.
Biggest Takeaway:
In a time when you don’t know who you can trust, authenticity is very valuable.
19. Chiara Ferragni: $200,000+/month
Next up on our list of successful blogs is the girl that’s living every girl’s dream. Chiara started a personal blog back in 2009 and leveraged that blog into a massive fashion brand at The Blonde Salad.
What sets her apart:
I’m honestly not sure what sets her style apart from others, but I really love her story. Homegirl started a website that drew in half a million monthly visitors per month. She then leveraged that into a brand generating over 15 million in yearly revenue.
There are all sorts of ladies calling themselves bossbabes these days, but Chiara is actually one. What. A. Badass.
Big takeaway:
Once you have readers and fans, your blog can continue to evolve into something even better.
20. Sarah Titus: $200,000+/month
Sarah Titus’s blog covers everything about mom life and helping mothers to make money from home.
How she makes her money:
She makes most of her money selling printables on her online store and also makes some money from affiliate marketing.
What sets her apart:
You will notice that she talks about God and her family’s struggles in almost every one of her posts. Her bio says, “He left me HOMELESS…” in the opening tagline. Talk about a great hook to draw in your readers.
My mom asked me the other day about starting a blog and I told her if she did, whatever she was blogging about, she should talk about Jesus a lot and be open about her religious beliefs. I was half-joking, half-dead serious.
By sharing her religion and personal life, Sarah creates a deep and intimate connection with her readers. That connection makes them naturally want to support her blog and feel comfortable spending money there.
Big Takeaway:
Share your story. Connect with people and they will trust you.
21. Melyssa Griffin: $200,000+/month
Melyssa Griffin is a teacher turned blogger and pro marketer who was one of the first successful bloggers that we looked up to when we first started.
How she makes her money:
Most of it comes from selling her own courses as well as other people’s high-priced courses, but she’s also now CRUSHING the podcast game with the Pursuit of Purpose.
What sets her apart:
Melyssa started out as the queen bee of the hustle but over time, her content strategy changed to a more sustainable approach.
As she built her business larger, she started blogging less in the traditional sense with constant blog posts and focused more on her podcast and connecting with her audience – an important lesson.
Big takeaway:
Find your audience and hustle like looney toons to help them.
22. Tim Sykes: $1,000,000+/month
Penny stock trader turned successful blogger and Instagramer, Tim Skyes takes our #1 spot.
How he makes his money:
He makes most of his money by selling DVD courses that teach people how to sell penny stocks and trade.
What sets him apart from others:
From my personal experience in Internet marketing, I suspect the majority of his income is produced through his work on social media (his Instagram has over 1.2 million followers and he’s crazy active on there).
It’s estimated that his personal blog earns him around $15-20 million per year, so to be on the safe side, we estimated his income at 1 million per month.
Big takeaway:
Sell the lifestyle to sell the product.
If Tim posted photos of him crunching numbers all day selling penny stocks, it probably wouldn’t work. Instead, he sells an online lifestyle by using his plan (penny stocks) and he is KILLING it.
Read Next: How to Make Money Blogging [From $1 to $100,000 Per Month]
If you enjoyed this article on successful blogs or have any questions for us, please leave them in the comment section below! We’d love to hear from you!
8 Best Tips to Become a Successful Blogger
These influential bloggers didn’t just become famous overnight – it takes hard work, dedication, and a good strategy.
Here are a few key components that I guarantee you that nearly all of these bloggers have in common:
- Create Quality Content – Don’t waste your time with content that doesn’t resonate with your audience. Create content that drives engagement and sales.
- Create Content Consistently – Every algorithm on every platform favors a regular and consistent posting schedule. Find what works for you and try to stick with it.
- Build Relationships With Your Audience – As any good marketer will tell you, sales come from relationships. Invest in them and they will invest in you.
- Build a Team – There is always a lot of work to be done at any given point in time and there always will be. Invest back into your business when you can and get help to continue growing.
- Diversify Your Revenue Stream – Every single successful blogger on this list has multiple revenue streams working for them. This is vital for six-figure status.
- Don’t Neglect SEO – Understanding SEO and optimizing for it early on will help build a buffer against the eternal rat race that is social media. It’s important.
- Invest in Courses – I guarantee you every single blogger on this list has also bought several courses along their blogging journey. We certainly did. Check out our blogging courses or find someone else’s courses that speak to you.
- Embrace the Journey and Believe in the End Goal – Some days will be dark. We had several months of net negatives before we hit the green, but when we finally did, we soared.
FAQs About Highest-Paid Bloggers
Who is the most famous blogger?
That’s a tough one! Some of the most famous bloggers include lifestyle blogger Chiara Ferragni, fashion and beauty blogger Aimee Song, and travel blogging couple Jack Morris and Lauren Bullen. All four have built successful businesses around their blogs and have become Internet sensations with millions of followers. They’re not only famous for their content but also for being some of the highest-paid bloggers in the world.
How much do top bloggers earn?
It depends on the niche, audience size, and how much time they dedicate to blogging. Many top bloggers make six figures and even seven-figure incomes depending on their success. It can be a bit harder for the average blogger to make money, but there are tons of bloggers making anywhere from $1,000 to $10,000 per month or more. It takes commitment, dedication, an engaging personality, and a lot of hard work!
Which blog makes the most money?
It’s impossible to say which blog makes the most money since there are many factors that go into monetizing a blog, including traffic, content quality, and advertising opportunities. However, some of the world’s highest-earning blogs have been known to earn millions of dollars every year! These include Huffington Post, TechCrunch, Mashable, Lifehacker, Perez Hilton, and Business Insider. It’s also worth mentioning that many successful bloggers supplement their income with products such as books, courses, merchandising, and advertising partnerships. So if you’re looking to make big bucks from blogging, there are many options available.
How much do bloggers make per 1,000 views?
It all depends on the blogger! Some bloggers might make a few cents per 1,000 views while others may make several dollars. It also depends on how they monetize their blog – through sponsorships, affiliate marketing, selling products, or other forms of advertising.
Key Takeaways About Famous Bloggers
No matter what industry or niche you’re in, starting a blog can be an incredibly rewarding experience. From sharing stories about your life to creating helpful content for others, blogging has the power to give back in so many ways.
With so much potential for success out there for bloggers of all kinds, don’t underestimate the impact of your words – use them wisely and you could end up on a list of the most influential bloggers!
Although there are many successful bloggers out there, it’s important to remember that building a successful blog takes a lot of hard work and dedication.
From Chiara Ferragni to Sarah Titus, each of these well-known bloggers have their own unique stories and strategies when it comes to monetizing their blogs.
Whether you want to make money blogging or just create content for fun – just know that the sky is the limit.