DISCLOSURE: THIS POST MAY CONTAIN AFFILIATE LINKS,MEANING That I GET A COMMISSION IF YOU DECIDE TO MAKE A PURCHASE THROUGH MY LINKS, AT NO COST TO YOU. PLEASE READ FULL DISCLOSURE HERE
If you are thinking about starting a blog, one of the first things you should do is to go through the examples of successful blogs and get a better understanding of what to expect and what you can learn from them and implement in your own blog.
In this article, you will find a list of successful blogs in different niches that are making at least 6-figure a year (or even 7-figure for some) from their blog.
Also, I made sure that you read ONLY the best blogging examples from ordinary people like you and me who started their blog from scratch by themselves without hiring teams of writers and marketing specialists.
Blog Example In Relationship Niche:
This relationship blog called Marriage365.org was started by a couple named Casey & Meygan.
Their story was very unique.
They met in college and then got engaged and married later on.
But, by year 3 of their marriage, they were heading towards divorce.
Determined that they didn’t want to become another divorce statistic, they started to read every marriage book, went to marriage intensives, tried couple therapies and learned how to communicate and listen to each other.
And they were able to go from hating each other to falling back in love like never before.
As they knew they weren’t alone in trying to save their marriage, they decided to start this blog to help couples deal with their marital problems.
How does this blog make money?
As you can see from the screenshot above, it makes money in the following ways:
- Sell both their ebooks and physical books
- Sell their online courses
- Sell their coaching programs
- Speaking at events
Blog Example In Personal Finance Niche:
This personal finance blog, “MoneyUnder30.com” was started by a guy called David Weliver, who dug himself out of more than $80,000 in debt in just three years.
It talks about a wide range of personal finance topics like credit cards, savings account, budgeting, getting out of debt, investing advice and insurance.
Over time, it has become one of the most popular personal finance blogs for young adults with close to 3,000,000 monthly readers.
How does it make money?
It makes most of its money through affiliate marketing by recommending and reviewing financial products such as credit cards, savings accounts, trading account and mortgage providers.
As you can see from the screenshot above, there is a list of the high-yield savings accounts being recommended by MoneyUnder30.com.
If you click on its affiliate link to go to the respective bank’s website and then sign up for the saving account, it will earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
Blog Example In Photography Niche:
This photography blog called “Fstoppers” was started by two good friends, Patrick Hall and Lee Morris who are wedding photographers.
They started this blog to share behind-the-scenes videos and tutorials with photographers.
Today, this blog has grown into one of the top resources for photography tips and gear reviews.
How much traffic does it have every month?
About 1,500,000 photographers blog visitors every month.
How does it make money?
It makes money in the following ways:
- Sell photography-related products as an affiliate
- Sell its own photography courses
- Sell other people’s photography courses as an affiliate
- Google ads
Blog Example In Pets Niche:
There are a lot of different sub-niches in the pets niche such as specific dog breed blog, dog training blog, dog healthcare blog, dog food blog, specific cat breed blog, aquarium care blog and bird care blog.
For this blog example, we will look at a dog training blog.
This blog “Dog Training Secret” was started by a guy called Chet.
On this blog, dog owners will find a lot of good information on dog potty training, obedience training and socializing.
Every month, there are about 200,000 people visiting this blog.
So, how does this blog make money?
It makes most of its money in the following ways:
- Sell its own dog training online course ( last time I counted, there are a total of 18 online courses !)
- Sell physical products such as dog training tools, supplements,
Blog Example In Parenting Niche
For parenting niche, most mom blogs talk about a wide range of topics from pregnancy to infant care to parenting.
There are also a small number of mom blogs that are focused on a specific area of motherhood.
In this blog example, we will look at a mom blog called Lucie’s List which is specially about helping new parents choose their baby gears.
How much traffic does this blog have every month?
About 200,000 blog visitors every month.
How does this blog make money?
It makes most of its money from promoting baby products as an affiliate.
For example, when you buy a baby carrier through its affiliate link, it will earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
As you can see from the screenshot above, the “BUY NOW” button is an affiliate link that will bring you to the retailer’s product page.
Blog Example In Travel Niche:
Travel niche is quite popular for people who love to travel.
In fact, there are actually travel bloggers who use their travel blog to fund all their trips and become a digital nomad.
In this travel blog example, we will look at this blog called ” ExpertVagabond”.
This travel blog was started by a guy named Matthew Karsten who is a full-time adventure travel blogger.
On his blog, he shares entertaining stories, budget travel tips, fun YouTube videos, inspiring travel photography, advice on nomadic living, and plenty of outdoor adventures from his travels around the world.
How much traffic does his blog have?
About 350,000 blog visitors every month and 5 million blog visitors a year.
How does this travel blog make money?
It makes most of its money in the following ways:
- Google Adsense ( did you see the Google ads on the right hand side and also at the bottom of picture above)
- Sponsorship from brands that want to reach his audience (e.g. airline and tourism board)
Blog Example In Fitness Niche:
In this blog example, we will look at a fitness blog called “NerdFitness.com” which was started by a guy called Steve.
Why did he decide to choose Nerd Fitness niche?
First, he has found success in getting healthy and fit himself as a nerd. (that is knowledge)
Second, he is interested in helping people like himself (i.e. nerds) get fit. (that is interest and passion)
Lastly, it solves a real burning problem (weight loss) faced by people like himself.
On his blog, you will find a lot of useful information on weight loss, strength training, workout routine, how to bulk up, diets and etc.
So, how does this blog make money?
It makes most of its money in the following ways:
- Sell online courses
- Private coaching
Blog Example In Music Niche:
When it comes to music niche, there are also many sub-niches.
Basically, each specific music instrument is a sub-niche by itself.
In this blog example, we will look at a piano blog called “Piano In 21 Days”.
When you first saw this website “Piano In 21 Days”, you might think that a pianist or a piano teacher started it.
Actually, it’s NOT.
The blog owner, Jaques, has a hobby – playing piano.
He started to learn how to play piano at a young age as hobby and later went on to pursue an engineering career which is totally unrelated to piano.
Out of his passion for piano, he started his piano blog on the side, to share his knowledge about piano playing and help beginners learn how to play in a short period of time.
What is his result?
So far, he has had more than 3,500 paying students for his online course teaching people how to play piano in 21 days.
And this has become his full-time business.
Blog Example In Sports Niche:
When it comes to sports niche, there are also many different sub-niches.
Each specific sport can be a sub-niche by itself, and you can start a blog just around this particular sport.
In this blog example, we will look at a golf blog ” Adam Young Golf” which was started by Adam Young who is golf coach himself.
On this blog, you can find a lot of good information on how to improve your golf game, ranging from psychology to strategy to training.
How does this blog make money?
It makes most of its money through online coaching and also online courses.
Blog Example In Food Niche:
When it comes to food blogging, it’s mostly centered around recipes.
In this blog example, we will look at a food blog called “Sally’s Baking Addiction” which was started by Sally who is a blogger, mom and baker.
She started Sally’s Baking Addiction in 2011 as a personal blog and an easy way to share her baking recipes with her friends and family.
Soon, her small hobby blog ignited a passion for teaching others how to bake, not just what to bake.
How much traffic does her blog have every month?
About 6,000,000 blog visitors every month. ( wow, super impressive!)
How does her blog make money?
It makes most of its money in the following ways:
- Display advertising on her blog ( e.g. the ads at the bottom of the picture above)
- Sell her own cookbooks ( a total 3 of them)
- Sponsorship from brands
- Offer food photography & videos service
Recommended Blogging Tools:
To get started blogging, you need to register a domain name and also get web hosting for your blog.
Here’s what I recommend.
Below is the web hosting plan that I am personally using:
Bluehost is the BEST web hosting for beginner bloggers for a few reasons:
- FREE domain name
- FREE SSL for your blog
- 99% server uptime (i.e. your blog is up 99% of the time)
- Fast website load time
Register Your FREE Domain Name with BlueHost Now
Once you have bought your web hosting, the next thing you need for your new website is a fast and responsive WordPress theme.
A WordPress theme is like the interior design of the new empty house you just bought.
When it comes to choosing the right theme, there are three things that are super important:
- Speed
- Responsive design
- Conversion focused
Ideally, you want a WordPress theme that is light and fast, so your website will load quickly for your website visitors. A fast website gives them a better user experience as well.
For website themes, I recommend Thrive Themes because it has EVERYTHING you need to not only grow your audience but also monetize your blog.
When it comes monetizing your blog, I recommend that you start with affiliate marketing first because it’s the quickest way to make money from your blog.
Right now, more than half of my blog revenue comes from affiliate marketing.
The best part about affiliate marketing is that it’s completely passive.
So, you could be earning an affiliate commission even while you are sleeping or spending time with your family.
That’s also one of the reasons I chose affiliate marketing because it gives me a lot of flexibility to spend more time with my son.
Here’s an example of me promoting investment books on my website.
Basically, what I did was that I signed up to be an Amazon affiliate.
As an Amazon affiliate, I can promote any product that is being sold on Amazon using my unique affiliate link ( yes, that is how they know the sale is referred by you)
The investment books above are shown at the end of one of my investing blog posts because I felt that it was relevant and it might even be helpful to some readers who want to read more on the topic.
If my readers think that the book is good and decides to buy, then I will be paid a small commission by Amazon at no additional cost to him or her.
So, I highly recommend affiliate marketing to anyone who wants to start blogging for the first time.
But, to succeed in affiliate marketing, you need to learn how to get started the right way.
Here’s a FREE affiliate training that you can sign up to get yourself started.
Summary
In all the blog examples mentioned above, I can see they all share one thing in common which is consistently generate good content that can help their audience. Once you can do that, it’s just a matter of time that your blog will become another successful example here.
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