42 Stories & Case Studies of Successful Bloggers [2022]
In recent years, blogging has become a highly sought-after & lucrative Business. This is location-independent business is a creative outlet to reach a broader audience. According to Optinmonster's list of blogging statistics and facts:
- Blogs have been rated as the 5th most trustworthy source of gathering online information.
- 77% of internet users read blogs.
- Each month, approximately 409 million people view more than 20 billion pages.
Originally blogging started as an online journal, but today it is a highly profitable career option. Many people are choosing blogging as their full-time career and are earning their bread and butter from this profession.
If you want to start blogging as a side hustle or as a full-time profession, first choose a niche you will enjoy writing about and have a content strategy ready. Then, create a mailing list, and decide on a good blog posting routine to keep your audience engaged.
Here are some real life success stories of starting a blog:
1. ryrob.com ($420K/year)
Ryan Robinson (from Los Angeles) started ryrob.com over 10 years ago.
Thank you so much for having me! My name is Ryan Robinson, and I blog over at ryrob.com where I (now) mostly cover blogging & marketing related topics. I started taking my blog seriously back in 2014 (after it was originally born during a marketing class in college a few years prior), sharing my journey in building a freelance business—and it remained a side project for several years before I began working on it full-time in 2018.
That kind of side-by-side work was instrumental in allowing my blog to really reach its full potential, where I now see around 500,000 monthly readers and generate anywhere from $25,000 to $55,000 in revenue each month through a combination of affiliate partnerships, sponsorships, and the sale of my own digital products like courses and books.
2. Mrs Daaku Studio ($60K/year)
Chhavi Agarwal (from New Delhi, Delhi, India) started Mrs Daaku Studio about 4 years ago.
I am Chhavi, the founder and owner of the blog and YouTube channel Mrs Daaku Studio along with my husband Amit.
Our blog, YouTube channel, and products are designed to help you achieve what we have (...and, more).
3. Let's Reach Success ($60K/year)
Lidiya Kesarovska (from The Netherlands) started Let's Reach Success over 9 years ago.
I’m Lidiya, a full-time blogger, course creator, and the founder of Let’s Reach Success. With the content I publish on the blog and the courses I create, I help people start a side hustle and earn passive income so they can pay off debt, quit their job and live their best life.
My signature program - Financial Freedom Through Blogging - is the formula for starting a blog, growing it to 100K page views and $5,000/month, and living life on your terms. Inside it, you’ll find answers to all your questions about becoming a full-time blogger, behind-the-scenes content, real ways to make money and build blog traffic, a ton of video tutorials, how-to guides, and bonuses.
4. Tracie Fobes ($120K/year)
Tracie Fobes (from Raymore) started Tracie Fobes about 6 years ago.
My name is Tracie Fobes and I run a blogging education and coaching business.
There is no greater joy than doing what you love and seeing the money roll in.
5. Ghana Talks Business ($60K/year)
AMMA ANTWI (from ACCRA) started Ghana Talks Business over 7 years ago.
My name is Amma Antwi. I am the owner and Managing Editor of a business content platform; Ghana Talks Business.
Before our introduction, there was no local platform publishing knowledge-based content in Business. With a steady increase in audience, Ghana Talks Business is gradually filling the vacuum in knowledge on business management and Personal finance in Ghana’s local settings and internationally.
6. The Customize Windows ($30K/year)
Abhishek Ghosh (from Kolkata, West Bengal, India) started The Customize Windows over 11 years ago.
My name is Abhishek Ghosh and I am the founder of the blog called The Customize Windows. Presently, the blog provides information to help the readers around software and electronics-related How-to guides and Do it Yourself projects.
The websites have been in existence for over a decade now and currently make 30 thousand dollars per year.
7. Ask Holly Hall ($72K/year)
Holly (from Toronto, ON, Canada) started Ask Holly Hall about 3 years ago.
I am an Author, LifeCoach Astropsychologist, Clairvoyant, Spiritual Therapist, Astrologer, and Teacher at Ask Holly Hall. At a young age, I recognized my relationship with The Universe.
Understand the importance of your presence as a fundamental part of this continuous existence, called life. One reading will do just that! Co-Create your future with a higher vibration.
8. TechJury ($360K/year)
Deyan Georgiev (from Sofia, Bulgaria) started TechJury over 2 years ago.
Hi there! I’m Deyan Georgiev and I’m one of the founders of Techjury.net. If you haven’t heard of it, this means I have more work to do.
Although this strategy led to a (very) slow start, we are now making $30,000/month in revenue. This was achieved by a very small team that today consists of 13 people. We help over 200,000 people a month find the best software and products for them, their families, and their business.
9. Visualmodo ($360K/year)
Visualmodo (from São Paulo, State of São Paulo, Brazil) started Visualmodo over 12 years ago.
I’m Claudio Pires, co-founder of Visualmodo. With Jared Dias, we started an internet business to sell quality codes and share useful content to let everybody create their online space. Visualmodo started as a WordPress theme development company, but now we do media, content, plugins and are still doing WordPress themes.
We have a 360k business selling themes, plugins, and services and the market is growing, but at the start, we did 1 or 2 sales (of 49USD each) per week and things did take a lot of time to show some results.
10. Blogging for Devs: Free Email Course & Newsletter ($120K/year)
Monica started Blogging for Devs, an email course, newsletter, and paid community that helps developers grow their blogs. It surpassed $2K MRR and 7.5k subs.
11. Information Guide Africa ($60K/year)
Igbo Clifford (from Owerri, Imo State) started Information Guide Africa almost 5 years ago.
My name is Igbo Clifford Chimaizuobi, and I launched Information Guide Africa with my twin, Igbo Stanford Onyemaizuchi.
On the sponsored posts, make your contact page very accessible and people will be able to reach out to you through them for sponsored posts offers.
12. CarSpiritPK ($4.8K/year)
Usman Ansari (from Karachi, Pakistan) started CarSpiritPK about 6 years ago.
I am Usman Ansari, the founder of CarSpiritPK — a dedicated automobile blog. I am a Computer Animation professional with over 21 years of industry experience in Pakistan but always had a strong affection towards automobiles.
Currently, the website attracts 65-85k visitors each month and generates ad revenues of around $250-400 USD a month, including the ‘promotional content’ which is approved strictly based on the quality.
13. Finsavvy Panda ($216K/year)
Ling Thich (from Toronto, ON, Canada) started Finsavvy Panda over 4 years ago.
With both my blogs, I earn anywhere between $13,000 to $25,000 per month in net profit depending on the season, traffic, and how much or little time I choose to work on them.
14. Ethos Copywriting ($144K/year)
Matthew Flowers (from Erie, PA, USA) started Ethos Copywriting almost 6 years ago.
My name is Matt Flowers. I'm the Founder of Ethos Copywriting, a content marketing agency specializing in premium writing services, SEO, and marketing consulting.
Today, because of the power of the written word, Ethos pulls in about $130,000 annually. Not bad for starting a business from a laptop I bought with birthday gift cards.
15. Adam Enfroy ($500K/year)
Hi, I'm Adam Enfroy from AdamEnfroy.com and this is my story. I hope it gives you an idea of who I really am.
16. My Curly Adventures ($48K/year)
Jessica Serna (from Texas, USA) started My Curly Adventures over 5 years ago.
Hello! My name is Jessica and I am the Content Creator, Blogger, and Influencer of MyCurlyAdventures which inspires people to travel more through finding exciting adventures close to home!
Through Instagram advertising, sponsorships, and affiliate income I’m able to make a living wage. Plus since I’m traveling so much many of my major expenses have been eliminated such as rent, food, clothing, beauty products, and obviously travel! So with everything I also get for trade that I don’t have to directly pay for, my income would be even higher.
17. Making Sense of Cents ($1.2M/year)
Michelle Schroeder (from ) started Making Sense of Cents almost 11 years ago.
Hello! My name is Michelle Schroeder-Gardner, and I run Making Sense of Cents, a personal finance and lifestyle website that helps readers earn more, save more, and live more.
I earn around $100,000 a month from Making Sense of Cents and have made over $5,000,000 from it over the years. Much of it is profit, as my expenses are extremely low. I am the only full-time employee of my business, but I do outsource some work. I have a virtual assistant, an editor, and a technical manager.
18. Prosmartrepreneur ($114K/year)
Sayan Neogie (from Adra) started Prosmartrepreneur over 4 years ago.
Hi everyone, my name is Sayan Neogie and I am the founder and owner of a personal finance & entrepreneurship blog Prosmartrepreneur. I started this blog in 2018 while still being in college as a way to make money on the side.
Me being a full-time blogger was anything but obvious in my intended career path. I didn't even know what a blogger was until I was in college.
19. Create and Go ($1.2M/year)
Alex Nerney (from Texas, USA) started Create and Go over 5 years ago.
My name is Alex Nerney. My business partner Lauren McManus and I started an online blog, two of them actually, that we were able to make a full time income from. We started out with building a health and fitness blog Avocadu. It seemed like a reasonable first niche to start in as I was a personal trainer at the time. After growing that blog to six figures a year Lauren and I decided to start Create and Go to teach others exactly how we did it and share our journey as professional bloggers with them.
The freedom we have experienced is indescribable, Lauren has been full time traveling for over a year, fulfilling her desires to travel the world. While I have been living my best life, marking things off my bucket list one by one. Including getting a motorcycle license, traveling to every state in the U S of A, and finally being able to eat strictly organic food and watch all the football games I can in a single weekend. We have had adventures and experiences we never imagined we would have.
20. Millennial Money Man ($1.06M/year)
Bobby Hoyt (from Houston, Texas, USA) started Millennial Money Man ago.
I’m Bobby Hoyt, former band director turned personal finance blogger and course creator. I teach millennials how to make more money, save more money, and pay off debt. I started my site, Millennial Money Man, while I was still teaching and paying off my student loan debt.
Last year we broke the seven-figure revenue mark through course sales, monthly recurring subscriptions from our coaching group, and affiliate sales.
21. Leader Connecting Leaders ($60K/year)
Jodi Carlson (from Cleveland, Ohio, USA) started Leader Connecting Leaders over 8 years ago.
My name is Jodi Carlson, I am a professional web designer, wife, and mom. I also run a successful profitable blog that all started from a hobby that started when I was 6 years old and said yes I want to join Girl Scouts.
Summertime is much slower for both traffic and sales, but I am working on new camping booklets that would be great for Summer Camp and hope to release in the next few months.
22. Frugal and Frills ($30K/year)
Asia Crawford (from Vancouver, BC, Canada) started Frugal and Frills almost 4 years ago.
My name is Asia Crawford and I am a Motherhood, Life, and Travel blogger that resides in Vancouver, Canada. I am a wife and mother to two sweet little girls aged 4 and 2!
I started with no community, 0 followers on any media page I had and in just two years have grown to 18.5K followers on Instagram, 1.2 MILLION monthly viewers on my Pinterest, 12.5K Pageviews a month on my blog website and have been nominated for 3 blogging awards.
23. FITnancials ($90K/year)
Alexis Schroeder (from Colorado, USA) started FITnancials over 9 years ago.
Hey! My name’s Alexis and I run a personal finance blog called Fitnancials. I teach millennial women how to manage their money, save & invest more, and earn extra money with side hustles.
I currently have one product called Making Sense of Sponsored Posts in partnership with my sister Michelle, from Making Sense of Cents. I’ve created several free online products for women who want to pay off debt or make more money.
24. The Crafty Gentleman ($14.4K/year)
Mike Aspinall (from Nottingham) started The Crafty Gentleman over 8 years ago.
Hi there! I’m Mike – also known as The Crafty Gentleman. I run a DIY and craft blog from my home in the UK. Through my blog, I share simple craft tutorials you can make yourself at home – ranging from sewing to woodwork, and everything in between! My simple goal is to make crafting accessible to everyone.
As well as running my website, I also make regular appearances on national television, and at craft events across the UK and internationally. I was recently named the 5th most popular DIY blogger in the UK, and my work has been featured across The BBC, Channel 4, The Guardian, The Telegraph, NBC, and more. Despite these successes, it’s still a ‘pinch me’ feeling that I get to make money from my hobby!
25. Stray Curls ($54K/year)
Angela Mary Vaz (from Bengaluru, Karnataka, India) started Stray Curls ago.
Heya! My name is Angela and I’m the Creator, Illustrator, and Writer behind the blog Stray Curls. I help bright, young women build creative online businesses that stand out from the norm. My blog is unique because I use humor and hand-drawn illustrations to effectively communicate with my readers.
Currently, my favorite product is The Complete Roadmap to Building a Profitable Side Hustle. This eBook teaches people to set up an Online Business in which they can integrate their products, services and a little bit of themselves to create a profitable side hustle that brings in money on autopilot.
26. Crowd Work News ($156K/year)
Sireesha Narumanchi (from Victoria, Australia) started Crowd Work News almost 6 years ago.
Hi, I am Sireesha Narumanchi, founder of Crowdworknews.com. I help work from home enthusiasts in finding legit online jobs, side hustles and other extra income options.
What started as a side hustle has grown into a thriving business now generating 5 figures a month. But in true terms what feels more surreal or a measure of success for me is being able to reach so many people like me and help them break out of the ‘9-5’ race.
27. The Savvy Couple ($240K/year)
Kelan Kline (from Rochester, New York, USA) started The Savvy Couple almost 6 years ago.
Hey! We are Kelan and Brittany Kline the founders and co-owners of the popular personal finance blog The Savvy Couple.
We are currently on pace to make over $250,000 this year alone with our personal finance blog!
28. Mommy On Purpose ($120K/year)
Carly Campbell (from ) started Mommy On Purpose over 83 years ago.
I’m Carly, a full time stay at home mom, full-time blogger. I run two semi-related businesses - Mommy on Purpose, a mom lifestyle blog focusing on new motherhood and home life (monetized only through traffic), and Blogging Like You Mean It, which supports new bloggers in their journey to monetize their blogs (monetized only through product sales and email marketing).
But more important to me than any of that, I will never have to leave my kids in daycare to go out and work - my mom blog alone makes 8-10,000 Canadian dollars per month, both when I work hard on it AND when I take a month off.
29. Food Truck Empire ($64.8K/year)
Brett Lindenberg (from California, USA) started Food Truck Empire over 8 years ago.
My name is Brett Lindenberg and I started the mobile food entrepreneurship blog FoodTruckEmpire.com out of my one-bedroom apartment in St. Paul, Minnesota back in 2014. The first ever podcast recorded for the blog was with a hot dog vendor I found on YouTube. Fast forward to 2019 and I’ve now done over 100 interviews with food entrepreneurs.
In 2018, the website averaged $5,400 monthly. The website now gets over 300,000 page views monthly, has an email subscriber list of over 35,000 and continues to grow. We’ve been quoted in Entrepreneur Magazine, CNBC, and other media outlets over the years.
30. Kinda Healthy Recipes ($420K/year)
Mason Woodruff (from Austin, Texas, USA) started Kinda Healthy Recipes over 5 years ago.
My name is Mason Woodruff, and I run Kinda Healthy Recipes, a food blog with around half a million sessions per month. We create recipes, guides, and resources for food-loving fitness enthusiasts.
31. Katie Goes Platinum ($72K/year)
Katie Emery (from Montrose, CA) started Katie Goes Platinum almost 4 years ago.
My name’s Katie Emery and I’m the founder of KatieGoesPlatinum.com, a website that advises women on how to joyfully transition from dyed hair to their natural gray hair.
But, two years later, my site consistently averages $6,000 per month in revenue (sometimes reaching as high as $10,000/month). It has grown much more than I ever anticipated!
32. Mommy Enlightened ($36K/year)
Audrey Marshall (from Utah, USA) started Mommy Enlightened about 4 years ago.
My name is Audrey and I am a blogger at Mommy Enlightened. This site is focused on giving new mothers advice on pregnancy, babies, toddlerhood, and motherhood in general. I started Mommy Enlightened with the intention of making money, but I genuinely wanted to give moms like me a place to find good information. A year after I started it, I realized the mother’s I wanted to reach were the ones who were struggling with their self-confidence, so this is who I write to now (when I write - I have a writer who I pay to write most of the content).
Since then, I’ve dropped back down to about 6k a month, but I have also minimized my virtual assistant work so I’m only working around 20 hours a week. Keep in mind, this amount is before taxes and expenses. Take home is probably closer to sixty percent of that. I only started my blog a year and a half ago, so I am a strong believer that you can succeed in an online business venture despite a lack of experience.
33. Crowded Kitchen ($204K/year)
Lexi Harrison (from West Bloomfield Township, MI, USA) started Crowded Kitchen over 4 years ago.
I’m Lexi Harrison, 26-year old co-founder, and CEO of Crowded Kitchen. Crowded Kitchen is a plant-based recipe website and a photography and creative content business, with an organic audience of nearly 200k on Instagram.
We’ve grown our website views to several hundred thousand monthly and continue to grow our social media following by several thousand every month by focusing on creating extremely high-quality, engaging content. Today, we’re a 3-person full-time team and continue to grow month over month.
34. Money Tamer ($84K/year)
Steffa Mantilla (from Houston) started Money Tamer over 4 years ago.
Hi, I’m Steffa Mantilla! I’m a Certified Financial Education Instructor (CFEI) and the founder of Money Tamer, a personal finance blog.
Even though I’ve been building this business from home part-time, I’m already earning $7,000/month gross income.
35. ShoutMeLoud ($550K/year)
On the 1st of December 2019, ShoutMeLoud had its 11th anniversary and I wanted to write my blogging journey which could help others to take up blogging as a serious career.
36. The Flooring Girl ($240K/year)
Debbie Gartner figured out how to use her talents from flooring business to create a super successful blog in a very creative niche. Find out how inside!
37. Recording Revolution ($1.92M/year)
After losing his full-time job as an audio engineer, Graham Cochrane started a music blog. Now, the 38-year-old father makes $160,000 a month working just five hours per week — and spends most of his time with his family.
38. CopySmiths ($480K/year)
Katrina McKinnon (from Sydney) started CopySmiths over 2 years ago.
It wouldn’t have been possible if I hadn’t read a particular book that utterly changed my business life.
39. Our captions ($12K/year)
Siddharth Malhotra (from Delhi, India) started Our captions over 3 years ago.
Hello, my name is Siddharth Malhotra, and I am the founder of OurCaptions.
Presently, we are having approx 200k visitors per month to our website.
40. TechySex ($60K/year)
Martin Moore (from New York, NY, USA) started TechySex over 2 years ago.
Hey everyone, my name is Martin Moore and I’m the founder of TechySex. This website is all about sexual wellness and sex toy reviews. My goal is to help people find answers to questions about their sexuality they may have been too shy to ask.
Currently, we’re making around $5K per month on average. It’s a young business with a lot of growth potential, so the fun is just getting started.
41. Jennifer Maker ($102K/year)
Are you struggling to get traction with your blog? Are you concerned your niche is too competitive or you’re starting too late? If so, you’re going to come away from this episode with loads of actionable tips to put those questions to the side. “I have learned, it is never literally too late to e…
Jennifer Marx (from Skårup, Denmark) started Jennifer Maker ago.
42. The Dozy Owl ($30K/year)
“Everyone needs it, people tend not to get enough of it – so that’s how the site came about,” said Kieran. Kieran MacRae is talking about sleep. The site he started is called TheDozyOwl.co.uk, a UK-based site that Kieran has taken from $0 to $2.5k a month in revenue in its first 12 months. Note:…
Kieran MacRae (from Remote) started The Dozy Owl ago.
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