TOP EARNING BLOGS 2017

1. The Huffington Post

Owner: Arianna Huffington
Income: about $30,000/day
At roughly double the income of the number two blog, The Huffington Post made a name for itself as a decidedly left-leaning political aggregate site in the vein of Drudge Report – but with a healthy, Internet-friendly sprinkling of cat videos and other Internet oddities driving clicks.

2. Mashable

Owner: Pete Cashmore
Income: about $15,000/day
Mashable’s focus is on social media news with a dash of tech here and there, but like so other top earning blogs, over time it has adapted to include viewer-friendly content like viral videos and feel-good opinion pieces.
3. Techcrunch

Owner: Michael Arrington
Income: about $14,000/day
One of the more focused blogs in the top ten, Techcrunch does an admirable job monetizing with just its hard tech industry focus by being bar none the best in the industry. A wide variety of tech and science news is covered, along with profiles of startup companies and new gadgets that give avid readers an edge on all but the most informed members of the tech industry.

4. Engadget

Owner: Peter Rojas
Income: about $10,000/day
Yet another high-earning tech blog, this time with a focus on gadgets (as the name suggests), Edgadget does especially well with a more magazine-like editorial format as well as substantially more international and multilingual support than comparable sites.

5. Smashing Magazine

Owner: Vitaly Friedman
Income: about $6,000/day
Smashing is a blogger’s blog – or to be more precise, a resource for any web developer and website designer. Featuring examinations of typography, graphic design, layout, and more, Smashing is a rare example of a site with limited appeal to the layman that still managed to foster a huge audience and large paydays.

6. Tuts+

Owner: Collis Taeed
Income: about $5,000/day
Unlike most blogs, Tuts+ doesn’t make its money from advertising. Instead, it offers a premium membership to gain access to a huge array of courses and educational materials on website design and development. Their blog features posts in this same vein that help funnel readers to the premium section.

7. Lifehacker

Owner: Nick Denton
Income: about $5,000/day
Lifehacker’s published content, oddly enough, centers on “life hacks,” or small shortcuts and productivity tricks that encompass all walks of life. It also regularly features software or gadgets that accomplish a similar end, such as a program to de-blur a blurry photo.

8. Gizmodo

Owner: Attila Talos
Income: about $4,000/day
Gizmodo is a blog that focuses on technology and design. Seeing a pattern here? It, too, also includes the occasional internet-pandering or interesting article only tangentially related to the main focus of the blog, but with updates roughly every hour, it keeps readers satisfied with plenty of content.
9. Perez Hilton

Owner: Mario Lavanderia
Income: about $3,600/day
After a string of seven blogs related to the internet or tech in some way comes Perez Hilton, the infamous gossip who makes his living revealing the dirty details of celebrities’ private lives. Whether you agree with what he does or not, that people want to read what he writes – and the success it brings him – is undeniable.
10. Joystiq

Owner: AOL
Income: about $1,700/day
Joystiq is AOL’s general gaming blog. Video gaming has many straight-up media news sites and a couple more gossip-type blogs, but Joystiq carves its niche directly between the two, offering a more casual and editorial take on what happens in the industry while keeping it more professional than some of its competitors.
11. Problogger

Owner: Darren Rowse
Income: about $1,600/day
Similar to Smashing Magazine, Problogger is a resource for people who already have their own blogs, except with a focus on generating traffic, monetizing, and improving blog content. It’s slightly ironic that one of the top earning blogs is dedicated to helping other blogs become strong earners, but hey, if it draws traffic!
12. Kotaku

Owner: Nick Denton
Income: about $1,600/day
Kotaku is somewhat like Joystiq with just a dash of Perez Hilton. While it features mostly more video game news, the editorials tend be a little more scandalous and the hard content-to-fluff ratio leaning a little bit more to the fluffy side.
13. Six Revisions

Owner: Jacob Gube
Income: about $1,600/day
Six Revisions is another blog focused on website design and development, with a bit more focus toward ease-of-use regarding the information presented. Information on topics like WordPress, HTML5, and discussions on subjects like web accessibility are common.
14. Noupe

Owner: Noupe
Income: about $1,400/day
Noupe, too, has a focus on web development and design, but it combines its technical articles on HTML5 and mobile app development with pieces on photography or unique art pieces. The site has a hipster-like tone to it that helps differentiate it for its target audience.
15. Venture Beat

Ownwer; Matt Marshall
Income: about $1,250/day
Venture Beat takes the technology blog and puts a focus on showing readers why the news matters and how it will ultimately impact their lives. They also tend to prefer highlighting technology that could be disruptive to the current status quo.
16. CopyBlogger

Owner: Brian Clark
Income: about $1,200/day
CopyBlogger is similar to Tuts+ in that they offer premium content that complements and is supported by the actual blog. Their focus is online marketing in all its forms.
17. Abduzeedo

Owner: Fabio Sasso
Income: about $1,000/day
An extremely artistic blog for those with an artistic eye, Abduzeedo shows “inspiration” in visually interesting things, from wallpapers to furniture to modern art to photography. There are also some artistic tutorials for programs like Photoshop.
18. Talking Points Memo

Owner: Joshua Marshall
Income: about $900/day
TPM is similar to Huffington Post in that it’s a left-leaning political blog, though it’s a good bit more serious in its delivery than HuffPo. TPM rose to prominence during the George W. Bush era through its constant and strong criticism of that administration.
19. WPBeginner

Owner: Syed Balkhi
Income: about $700/day
WPBeginner is, appropriately, a beginner’s guide to WordPress. WordPress is a powerful platform for quickly creating an attractive website, but the nuances and modularity of the platform can be complicated despite its ease of use. Given its popularity, it is little surprise a site dedicated to it is so successful.
20. Matt Cutts

Owner: Matt Cutts
Income: about $500,000/year
Matt Cutts is a Google employee and software designer who runs a widely-read blog discussing technology and gadgetry issues. Technically Matt does not make any money from the blog itself; instead, he uses his persona to acquire Twitter followers, and uses that Twitter account to promote products and services to them. Since his continued fame stems from the blog, this is included as a way to show other ways to creatively generate income.
21. Steve Pavlina

Owner: Steve Pavlina
Income: about $650/day
Finally, something different! Steve Pavlina is a motivational speaker and self-help author. His website serves as an extension of his speaking and book writing efforts and serves as a way to stay in touch with his followers.
22. Slash Gear

Owner: Ewdison T hen
Income: about $600/day
Another tech blog, Slash Gear has a focus on consumer electronics and publishes not only in English but in Japanese, a somewhat unconventional second language that gives the site special insight into the very techy Japanese landscape.
23. Smart Passive Income

Owner: Pat Flynn
Income: about $600/day
Appropriately enough given the name of the blog, Pat Flynn’s goal is to show his readers ways to create income streams with methods that are essentially put into motion once and then require only occasional maintenance afterward.
24. John Chow

Owner: John Chow
Income: about $550/day
Similar to Pat Flynn’s website above, John Chow found himself running one of the top earning blogs by telling people how he earns money with his blog (well, in addition to other ways to earn money online).
25. Freelance Switch

Owner: Collis Ta’eed
Income: about $500/day
Freelance Switch is in the same family as Tuts+, offering a blog with tips on freelancing and making the jump from a typical job to being a freelancer, as well as a membership area with additional content and resources to that end.
26. Shoemoney

Owner: Jeremy Schoemaker
Income: about $500/day
Shoemoney again is dedicated to helping people make money online, keeping up with search engine, social media, and online marketing news.
27. Gothamist

Owner: Jake Dobkin
Income: about $450/day
The first local blog on the list, it is perhaps expected that the locality being profiled is New York City. Still, Gothamist caters to a very large audience showcasing news, crime reports, events, and cultural happenings of interest to New Yorkers (and those who wish they were).
28. Entrepreneurs Journey

Owner: Yaro Starak
Income: about $400/day
Yaro Starak operates another Internet entrepreneurial blog using both advertising and premium products such as business plans and conference recordings for those seeking to make their living online.
29. Income Diary

Owner: Michael Dunlop
Income: about $400/day
The income being discussed in the blog title, of course, is income made online, and visitors to the blog are hoping to make some of that income themselves. Tips on increasing traffic and improving your work-at-home space are common topics.
30. Chris Brogan

Owner: Chris Brogan
Income: about $370/day
A more artistic and intangible take on the business blog, Chris Brogan encourages stories of inspiration and unconventional situations and ties them to strategies and tips for improving your professional life.
31. Matt’s Marketing Blog

Owner: Matt Carter
Income: about $300/day
Matt Carter made the bulk of his money with Internet marketing, and his blog consists of passing along tips from his own experience to his readers – with a healthy number of premium resources available, of course.
32. ClickNewz

Owner: Lynn Terry
Income: about $240/day
Lynn Terry made her money early on the Internet by acting as an affiliate for other products, receiving a cut every time she made a sale. Her blog focuses on tips for this particular brand of Internet marketing and income generation, though she’s branched out as trends have changed over time.
33. Dooce

Owner: Heather B Armstrong
Income: about $230/day
The most unique blog on this list yet, Dooce is like many, many other personal blogs on the Internet: Heather Armstrong writes about her life and her feelings and her opinions. She’s been doing it for over a decade and has amassed such an audience that it became her full time job.
34. Coolest Gadgets

Owner: Allan Carlton
Income: about $220/day
Coolest Gadgets, refreshingly enough, is not a standard tech blog! Their purview is gadgets and gadgets alone, and while that does include the newest in cell phones and tablets, it also includes specialized flashlights, photo printers for your smartphone, dedicated dryers for your bra, and self-balancing unicycles.
35. Tony Robbins

Owner: Tony Robbins
Income: about $200/day
Tony Robbins is a celebrated life coach and therapist, and his blog is dedicated to the same type of work he has been doing for over thirty years.

As you scanned the list of my top earning blogs, you may have noticed a theme. At the end of the day, those who find blogs are usually those who already have a pretty dedicated interest in tech; while the occasional layman will stumble across some of the bigger blogs, many still get their daily fill of the ‘Net from Google and Facebook. For that reason, tech blogs, web development blogs, and those with a focus on making money online are consistently popular options.

That said, there is nothing stopping a well made and even relatively niche blog from becoming extraordinarily successful. Huffington Post and Talking Points Memoaggregate political news from other sources for their own audiences; LifeHacker takes a topic that would be interesting to the engineering-skewed minds of those already interested in tech without directly focusing on tech itself; Perez Hilton appeals to the base nature of man to examine others; and Heather Armstrong at Dooce makes a living doing nothing more than writing about her own life. In the end, the options for what your blog should be about and ultimately monetizing that are limitless.