I've been writing about SEO since I was 15 years old, and a decade later I'm fortunate to have consulted for companies I love like Ahrefs, Kinsta, Buffer, ConvertKit and multi-billion dollar brands.
The basics can be incredibly effective, but hundreds of sites cover them well and I want to focus on unique, creative ways to achieve better rankings.
Instead, here's my promise: I will put my absolute all into guides like this one to give original insights that help you get an edge over your competition.
That's it. That's my pitch for you to stick around (or perhaps let you know this isn't the site for you).
This is already too much text for a 'click-to-read-more-fade-thing' but there's more if you like.
Thank you for being here!
This report has received 19 updates. The last was made on March 28th, 2024
– Started to update revenue numbers for 2024
– Added a service review blog, Tooltester, to the list at #5
– Added new revenue numbers for DailyMash which were just released. đź’°
– Fixed a broken link for AtlasObscura
This in-depth report is not just a list of sites that I randomly chose. I went all out to find the internet’s most successful blogs based on their latest, most accurate revenue numbers.
There are numbers here that I haven’t found in any other similar list.
The idea behind this post is to help motivate you to see what is possible online with your own content efforts, or at least show you success stories in similar niches to your own that can serve as a basis for further research.
I don’t say this lightly, but there are some numbers in here that will blow your mind. I say this even as someone who has been tracking online success stories for more than 7 years.
Blogs I thought were maybe six figures a year are doing $40M+. That one is #15 on the list below.
Speaking of which…
Here’s the 20 Successful Blogs and the Niches They’re In (Revenue Numbers Below)
- Zenmaster Wellness (Mental Health)
- GiftLab (Gift Ideas)
- WellKeptWallet (Financial Advice)
- EveryDayCarry (Gadget Recommendations
- Connect CRE (Commercial Real Estate News)
- Tooltester (Website Builder & Hosting Reviews)
- DailyMash (Satire Blog)
- EpicGardening (Gardening Insights
- FitSmallBusiness (Small Business Advice
- Blockworks (Crypto News)
- StatNews (Medical Industry Analysis)
- AtlasObscura (Unique Travel Blog)
- MarketBeat (Stock Market News)
- Investors Business Daily (Investment Blog)
- Amy Myers MD (Medical Advice)
- PureWow (Women’s Lifestyle Blog)
- Dr. Axe (Medical Advice)
- The Penny Hoarder (Financial Advice)
- Food52 (Food & Recipes Blog)
- NerdWallet (Financial Advice)
#1
ZenMaster Wellness: $180,000 /Year (Two Years Old)
Most recent revenue update: September, 2022
I was hesitant to include this site in the list as it’s newer and revenue numbers aren’t that consistent, but then I realised it’s likely inspiring because it’s a newer site.
That and it’s likely more relatable than some sites further down the list (e.g. Food52 pulling in $120M) that just seem impossible targets.
Founder Matt Oney shared that “Zenmaster generates around 80k monthly visits (almost purely through SEO)” and “over the past 6 months, I’ve generated average monthly revenue of about $40,000.”
The reason my headline says $180,000 per year instead of $480,000 ($40,000×12) is because he followed up by adding, “Although lately, I’m looking more at the $15,000 range, due to Google algorithm updates and market conditions.”
I’m being more conservative with the numbers, and annual revenue is likely higher.
I’ve seen a few sites like Zenmaster Wellness on my travels. They’re essentially niche sites focused on reviewing a rise in Direct-to-Consumer brands for things like fitness (Tonal) and apps for anxiety (Cerebral).
There’s a huge market for advice in the space, and it’s also the kind of health-related content that huge health brands like Healthline and Amy Myers aren’t likely to cover.
#2
GiftLab.co: $1,000,000+ In the Last 24 Months
Most recent revenue update: October, 2022
The revenue numbers here for GiftLab were a little trickier to figure out, so I have to give credit to Niall for crunching the numbers on this one.
Founder Andrew Fiebert revealed on an October 2022 podcast that GiftLab has generated around $1.2M in total affiliate commissions.
He went on to state that the first three years of the site brought in around $49,000 in commissions. Now in its fifth year, it means the site must have generated over $1M in the last 48 months.
As there’s so much room for improvement across their design and branding (though they’ve done a great job so far) I think this will be one of the most inspiring examples on the list.
#3
WellKeptWallet: $600,000/year
Most recent revenue update: October, 2021
As recently as last year, WellKeptWallet is reported by its founder as doing $50,000/m in revenue.
The owner has been sharing blog financials for years so no part of me doubts these numbers. Especially when they’re open about their revenue declining, as a 2020 interview stated the site was doing over $100,000/m.
In the interview Deacon talks about how most of the traffic to the website is from Google, where Ahrefs estimates the site is pulling in around 280,000 visitors per month at the moment.
He also reveals that the majority of his revenue comes in the form of affiliate commissions, and the next highest source is from advertising revenue.
The latest revenue numbers we have were revealed in this teardown of the site by Matt Giovanisci.
#4
EveryDayCarry – ~$840,000 per Year
Most recent revenue update: October, 2022
I’ve already mentioned EveryDayCarry in a tweet that picked up more likes than I expected (150+), but it’s absolutely worth sharing again.
The site was acquired in 2022 by the 9-figure eCommerce brand Ridge, who you may know from their popular product, Ridge Wallet.
Ridge co-founder Sean Frank is one of my new favourite follows on Twitter, and he happily went into the details of how much EveryDayCarry was making before the acquisition. Here’s the numbers:
- $1K daily in affiliate commissions (mostly Amazon)
- $400,000 EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization)
- Two contractors running the site
- $1M cash purchase price
As Sean commented that the site makes more money from advertising than it does from affiliate commissions, we can assume the site is bringing in somewhere around $840,000 per year.
#5
Connect CRE: Millions Per Year, “2021 is our best year ever”
Most recent revenue update: September, 2021
ConnectCRE (the CRE stands for Commercial Real Estate) in the most basic terms is a niche news site.
They aren’t focused on listicles like you might expect on other blogs, but rather they might tell you what the building currently trading as a Walgreens sold for, or recent building purchases by Goldman Sachs.
It’s not the kind of content I’m interested in (and you probably aren’t interested either), but there are people in this space who no doubt love their website.
They’ve been on the Inc 5000 list of the fastest growing private companies in America twice, most recently in 2021.
To get on the Inc 5000 you need to be doing millions in revenue, and your three-year growth rate generally needs to be above 50%. This is a growing brand.
CEO & Founder Daniel Ceniceros said in an interview about how well things are going,
“The pandemic knocked us off our axis in 2020, but our team was resilient, and 2021 is our best year ever.”
My understanding of their business is that a good portion of their revenue comes from offering marketing services, including SEO & web development, to their audience. They also have an events arm, but successes here just wouldn’t be possible without their main news brand pulling in a highly-targeted audience.
#6
Tooltester: $3.8M in Annual Revenue
Most recent revenue update: January 2023
Launched over a decade ago, Tooltester has gone from strength to strength in recent years.
So much so that the service review affiliate was listed on the Financial Times’ fastest-growing companies in Europe for 2022.
It was this accolade that led me to reach out to the founder and conduct this in-depth interview for Detailed readers.
There’s more I could say about this one but I really recommend checking out the interview for the full story.
#7
DailyMash: $4.3M in Revenue and $1M Profit
Most recent revenue update: January 2022