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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.
We all want to reach this level of success. At Create and Go, we personally have. We know what it’s like to go from zero to 100 pretty quickly. 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.
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.
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 Did You Choose the Successful Blogs?
Our list of successful blogs includes some of the highest-paid bloggers on the internet in a variety of niches.
One key factor I want to mention here is that no media publishers were included in this list of successful blogs. While Huffington Post 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 successful 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 Successful Blogs 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.
What are the most successful blogs?
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/m with it. He then started a website blogging 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
Trevor and Jennifer own the blog, Show Me The Yummy, which is a popular recipe blog.
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. 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.
7. 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!
8. 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!
9. 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.
10. Alex Nerney and Lauren McManus: $100,000+/month
Oh, hey there. It’s Create and Go. Lauren and Alex have started two successful blogs and have earned over six figures with both of them. They also love to talk about themselves in the third person.
How they make their money:
Most of their income comes from selling digital products on both blogs. Another big chunk comes from high-paying affiliate marketing programs and a much smaller portion comes from advertising.
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.
11. Michelle Schroeder-Gardner: $100,000+/month
Michelle Schroeder-Gardner of Making Sense of Cents is the legendary finance blogger 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.
12. Alborz Fallah: $125,000+/month
Alborz is the creator of Car Expert, where he turned his passion for cars into a successful blog and money-making business.
How they make their money:
Mainly through advertising and sponsorships with brands.
What sets them apart:
Alborz has leveraged his personal blog project into a massive branded website and one of the most trusted car advice websites in Australia. They now have a team of over 30 people and publish content like crazy.
Biggest Takeaway:
Your blog can take your passions to cool places. Alborz gets to test drive amazing cars and gets all sorts of perks from his blog.
13. Elisa Larson and Emma Chapman: $125,000+/month
Elisa Larson and Emma Chapman are the creators of 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.
14. 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.
15. 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
16. 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.
17. 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.
I actually met him a while back at a conference and he’s a solid dude.
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:
The first mover. The OG.
He’s been crushing the game 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 marketer you can trust.
Biggest Takeaway:
In a time when you don’t know who you can trust, authenticity is very valuable.
18. Chiara Ferragni: $200,000+/month (likely much more)
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.
19. Sarah Titus: $200,000+/month
Sarah Titus’s blog is focused on 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.
20. Melyssa Griffin: $200,000+/month
Melyssa Griffin is a teacher turned blogger/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 her new jam: Pursuit of Purpose
What sets her apart:
Melyssa is the queen bee of hustle. She launches products to her email list very frequently. The girl is ON IT. Sign up for her email list and you will know what I am talking about. She’s not playing games.
Big takeaway:
Find your audience and hustle like looney toons to help them.
21. 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!