Blogs That Earn
Outlandish Incomes
R.L. Adams Contributor
In an astounding feat of bits and bytes,
the internet buzzes with activity, teeming
with thousands of terabytes of digitized
information flowing every minute. It is a
spectacle of data whizzing around the
globe, invisible to the naked eye, but
conveyed in the digital algorithms and
lossless-compression systems that allow
us to instantly see, chat and discover the
world and communicate with our friends
in real-time.
It is a system of machines that stretches
across from continent to continent,
digitally snaking its way into our phones
and lives through some magical ether that
not many can digest. Yes, the internet is
an enormous, buzzing behemoth filled
with mind-boggling, vast amounts of free-
flowing data. Amongst that data is
information that many of us actively seek
on a daily basis, looking to improve our
lives by learning new skills or achieving
outlandish goals.
Those answers are found amidst the
websites that litter the internet, binding
themselves to one another through
hyperlinks that create a complex and
convoluted web, digitally spun from the
minds of billions of people across the
planet. When you stop to think about it,
the sheer amount of websites can also
confuse and perplex us. The simple fact is
that way back in September of 2014, one
billion websites were actively humming
on the web. That's Billion with a capital,
B.
Today, nearly 1000 websites are created
every single minute of every single day.
That's a vast amount of data in the
proverbial cloud. Yet with all of this
content floating about the untethered net,
the amount of quality-content sites, the
type that many people visit on a daily
basis, seem few and far between. Great
content seems to be more of the
exception rather than the norm.
That might be why, today at least, people
are acutely aware that having incredible
content is something that can't be
overlooked. High-quality content is one of
the primary drivers of relevant search
traffic, the kind that most digital
marketers salivate over. And the simple
truth and fact of the matter remains that
no website, big or small, can succeed
today without great content. Yet, people
often overlook this one simple rule.
Blogs offer an avenue for delivering
that value to a global audience. They
provide a hub for tutorials and walk-
throughs, and an avenue for crafting and
constructing resources that help
individuals that are looking for useful
information. Everyone knows that. We
are all experts at finding quality resources
on the web that deliver real value, thanks
in large part to Google.
While there are clearly an endless drove
of blogs out there being started on a daily
basis, most people who start a blog don't
actually follow through with it. Success in
the blogging field requires consistency.
And it requires the deliverance of real
value constantly. Similar to a great
magazine, a lauded newspaper or any
other types of media outlet, you have to
keep the content machine churning if you
want to thrive.
Not everyone gets it. Most that decide to
join the fray are enticed by the hype of
internet marketers, promising them the
sun, moon and the stars, with the ability
to earn thousands of dollars per day,
virtually overnight, on autopilot. Well, it
doesn't quite work that way. The harsh
reality is that most blogs fail to generate
even a few dollars in income let alone
vast sums of money.
Yet, there are people out there that are
making outlandish incomes from their
blogs. Their monthly incomes far surpass
the annual income of many executive-
level employees, leaving most to wonder
how they did it. This lucrative field is
enticing for a reason, yet it involves an
excruciatingly large amount of work for
the average person looking to go it alone,
so to speak.
However, those that have stuck to it,
pursuing their dreams no matter what the
costs, are reaping the benefits today. No
matter where you look on the internet, no
matter what niche you survey, you'll find
these wildly-successful blogs along with
the bloggers behind them. We're talking
about windfalls of profits here. Not only
do they make money online, but they
quite literally rake it in.
So what's considered an outlandish
amount of income? We're not just talking
about a few thousand or even tens of
thousands dollars per month here. What I
was curious about were those that were
soaring to astronomical heights. We're
talking the 7-figure annual earners, those
that are pulling in more than $100,000 per
month.
If you'll sit and think about that number
for a moment, you'll realize that not only
is this is an enormous figure to be earning
on a monthly basis, but you'll also realize
that much of this is actually passive
income. And while there are a number of
great passive income ideas , blogging truly
takes this to dizzying heights.
Why work once and get paid once when
you can work once and get paid
repeatedly by having a blog that
individuals across the planet are
constantly accessing? While it's not easy,
it is well worth it. Work hard now, reap
the benefits years down the line. Sound
good? Of course it does.
The following 10 wildly-successful blogs
make the cut with at least $1 million
dollars in annual revenue. Seem
impossible to do? It's not. All you need to
do is stay persistent, deliver enormous
amounts of value and build your audience
slowly over time. Not overnight. Over
time.
Please note that some of these figures are
estimated numbers based on traffic and
other publicly-available statistics. If you
have audited financial information on any
of the following sites, please contact me to
update the proceeding figures.
#10 -- Tuts+: $175,000 per month
As a software developer myself, I am
incredibly impressed with websites like
Tuts+ that can deliver such outstanding
tutorials for people that are looking to
learn coding. However, Envato's Tuts+
isn't some newly-formed site. Founded in
2006 by Collis Ta'eed, Cyan Claire, and Jun
Rundelivering, it's been delivering
outstanding tutorials and content to
designers and developers from across the
entire planet for quite some time now.
Today, they offer a hub of useful content
and a tremendous marketplace where
2,000,000 active buyers are searching for
site templates and useful paid tutorials
that they offer as part of their platform.
They earn their income primarily through
a membership area and commissions
from sales of digital goods on their
platform.
#9 -- Smashing Magazine: $215,000 per month
Smashing Magazine AG is a company that
was also formed in 2006 by Sven Lennartz
and Vitaly Friedman, dedicated to
educating those in the web design and
web development fields by offering
incredibly useful content to those that are
looking to prosper and learn any of these
lucrative skills.
The site also has begun hosting web
development conferences since 2012,
which take place in cities across the
world and are sponsored by some of the
biggest names in the tech industry. The
site earns its income primarily from a
membership area where users can sign up
to consume a vast number of tutorials
from its palette of educational content.
#8 -- Gizmodo: $325,000 per month
Launched in 2002, Gizmodo is a blog
focused on subjects like design and
technology, while also paying tribute to
numerous areas of science and even
politics. Originally started by Peter Rojas,
Gizmodo gained in popularity quickly.
Through partnerships with a variety of
international firms, the blog quickly
launched translated versions of its content
across Europe in languages like French,
German, Spanish and even Portuguese.
Gizmodo makes the majority of its
earnings through advertisements. On its
home page, which is its most valuable
digital real estate, you won't find an
abundance of ads, but you will find ads
that often repeat. For example, a large ad
on the top will be parlayed along with ads
for the same company on the side as you
scroll, often repeating with each scroll
and capped off with a large ad on the
bottom of the home page. Subsequent
pages often feature a variety of differing
ads, likely based on historical traffic.
#7 -- Perez Hilton: $575,000 per month
PerezHilton is a controversial gossip
website run by Mario Armando
Lavanderia Jr. The site was formerly
known as PageSixSixSix.com. Lavanderia
graduated from NYU on a scholarship,
and later had dreams to become an actor.
Around the same time that he began his
career in acting, he started his blog.
Lavanderia's acting career didn't flourish,
but his blogging did. Today, he earns his
income primarily through advertisements
from a variety of sponsors that appear
across the site and Lavanderia himself
continues to make appearances on
television as a celebrity gossip
commentator and has reached a certain
level of notoriety and fame on his own.
#6 -- CopyBlogger: $1,000,000 per month
CopyBlogger was started by Brian Clark,
who's been immersed in the online
marketing field since 1998. He was
content marketing before the term
content marketing was even coined. In
2006, with just $1,000 in seed cash, he
launched CopyBlogger, a site that
provides some of the most useful online
marketing advice in the world.
Today, CopyBlogger's parent company is
known as Rainmaker Digital, with over
200,000 customers, the company is
constantly releasing useful online tools for
digital marketers and perpetually
educating the public on ways they can
expand their reach through things like
social media, blogging and search engine
optimization.
#5 -- TechCrunch: $2,500,000 per month
TechCrunch is a massively successful blog
that primarily covers news in the
technology industry. Originally founded in
2005 by Michael Arrington and Keith
Teare, the site was subsequently acquired
by AOL in 2010. Today, many notable
columnists for the blog feature
heavyweights in the startup and venture
capitalist fields.
Today, TechCrunch is also known for its
Disrupt conferences that it has started
hosting around the world in numerous
locations with founders competing for a
prize check to help get their companies
off the ground. Its TechCrucnh Disrupt
conference was also recently featured in
the hit television series, Silicon Valley.
#4 -- Mashable: $2,000,000 per month
Pete Cashmore started Mashable in 2005
from his home in Scotland. The site grew
with Cashmore's dedication to producing
excellent content on a consistent basis. He
wrote fortuitously in those early years,
and in 2009, Time Magazine called
Mashable one of the 25 best blogs in the
world.
Since then, the blog has ballooned in size
and reach, with a significant focus on
social media, the company continues to
reach droves of viewers through a variety
of platforms such as Facebook and
Twitter. It primarily garners its income
through advertisements in various
different formats.
#3 -- Moz: $4,250,000 per month
Rand Fishkin is the purveyor of the
world's most successful blog about search
engine optimization. The company, which
originally started out as a family-run
design business, eventually morphed into
a search engine optimization shop. But it
was the blog that helped gain them a
massive audience and international
appeal.
Today, Moz (formerly known as
SEOMoz) generates an impressive amount
of income and has been funded with
several injections of venture capital. The
site makes its money from a membership
area that features professional tools and
services for the avid search engine
marketer looking to gain saturation, reach
and visibility in the online space.
#2 -- Engadget: $5,500,000 per month
Engadget is another wildly-popular blog
with humble roots that was also founded,
originally, by Peter Rojas of Gizmodo
around the same time the other site was
started. The site conveys advice and
reviews on technology and consumer
electronics. It was acquired and has been
operated by AOL since 2005.
The company makes a vast fortune from
advertising and employs a number of
writers and editors that are constantly
providing sound advice on every type of
gadget possible.
#1 -- Huffington Post: $14,000,000 per month
Arriana Huffington's wildly popular
Huffington Post is the stuff of legends. The
site was launched way back in 2005 by
Huffington, providing a very liberal view
on life and politics. In 2011, Huffington,
who is of Greek descent, sold the blog by
her namesake to AOL for $315 million,
while being kept on as Editor in Chief.
She has since stepped down from that
role.
HuffPost or HuffPo, as it is now referred
to, makes it money from sponsored
advertising revenue through banners and
other digital ads across its variety of
channels. It is by far the most successful
blog of its kind, likely valued today at
well over $1 billion, making it a clever
investment for AOL.
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