How to Make Money Blogging

How to Make Money Blogging – Updated 2026 Strategy Guide

Blogging has evolved from a simple online diary into a sophisticated Content Entrepreneurship model. In 2026, it is not just about writing; it is about building a media ecosystem. Not only does it let you flex your creative muscles, but it also gives you an opportunity to generate substantial passive revenue on the side (or full-time).

The best part: A TON of people earn a living from their blogs already. That means you can use their proven strategies to turn your blog into a cash-generating machine. With so many bloggers out there, it’s hard to figure out how they did it. Luckily, we’ve created this list of bloggers who run profitable blogs—and how you can too.

Steal These Strategies from Famous Bloggers Making Critical Cash

I have a major disclaimer before we start: I’ve worked with a few people on this list. In fact, I was personally responsible for setting annual revenue targets and hitting those targets while I was the Senior Director of Growth and Product at I Will Teach You To Be Rich.

In that case, specifically, I’m extremely familiar with revenue totals and what drove that revenue. Not to mention the affiliate commissions paid out to some of the people on this list, numbers that were shared in confidence after a few too many drinks, and second-hand rumors that I picked up along the way.

There are some common rules of thumb for determining revenue, though. They’re not perfect rules but they do tend to get the right number of digits. And after a while, you get a general sense of people’s income based on the size of their audience, email list hygiene, and high-ticket offer conversion rates.

Marie Forleo — marieforleo.com

Revenue = Estimated Multi-8-Figures per Year

Marie has been writing online for nearly two decades. She also put a lot of work into her YouTube channel (MarieTV). Her content has an incredible reputation and her copy is world-class.

I assume most of her revenue comes from high-ticket information products, particularly her flagship program B-School, which is sold out every time I check on it. She utilizes a “Launch Model” strategy, creating scarcity and high demand during specific windows of the year.

She’s an amazing person to study if you want to find ways to produce high-quality positive content material. She’s also excellent at balancing valuable free content with going for the sale in an authentic way, often referred to as “permission marketing.”

Steve Kamb — Nerd Fitness

Revenue = Over $2 Million per Year (Estimated)

According to previous reports from Forbes, Steve makes more than seven figures from Nerd Fitness. The business offers info-products, 1-on-1 coaching, and bootcamps. Steve also wrote a book called Level Up Your Life.

The fitness space is crazy competitive but by branding his entire business around fitness for nerds, he clearly separates himself from that competition. Even in the most competitive categories, there are still opportunities to target a niche with your blog and make real money with it.

Ramit Sethi — I Will Teach You To Be Rich

Revenue = Private (Estimated $20M+ annually)

Ramit Sethi is the author of NYT best seller I Will Teach You to Be Rich and the star of his own Netflix series. His website of the same name delivers info-products (ebooks, online courses, webinars) about personal finance, entrepreneurship, and personal development. Ramit is absolutely at the top of his game when it comes to copywriting and psychological sales triggers.

This is a great site to watch and research if you’re contemplating monetizing your own blog with info-products. Make sure to sign up for his email list—you’ll start getting the launch funnels and you’ll be able to see how it all works. Products are available for purchase from the products page. That’s a great source for inspiration to see what a great info-product sales page looks like.

Amy Porterfield — amyporterfield.com

Revenue = $10M+ per year

Amy’s about page states that she’s built a multi-million dollar business. That’s not hard to believe with more than 250,000 loyal email subscribers and a top-rated business podcast, Online Marketing Made Easy.

I’m assuming that the vast majority of her revenue is from her info-products like Digital Course Academy, but it looks like she does some affiliate promotion too. Her affiliate page is pretty elegant and well done. It’s a great example of how to promote products in an authentic and non-pushy way.

Jon Morrow — Smart Blogger

Revenue = Over $4 Million per Year

In this post, Jon states that he’s doing over $100K a month in affiliate revenue alone, which is pretty impressive. He also has a number of info-products in the form of courses, ebooks, and videos available for purchase on his website.

Smart Blogger has evolved into a training ground for Content Marketing Certification. I’m not sure what Jon’s email funnels look like currently, but if he’s pushing launch funnels aggressively, he could easily have another few million in revenue from info-products on top of his affiliate revenue.

Darren Rowse — Problogger

Revenue = Estimated $5M – $10M per Year

Problogger has been around since 2004. That’s an eternity in online marketing. It’s one of the original “how to blog” blogs. Darren also owns Digital Photography School which has 8X as much traffic and revenue as Problogger.

Darren monetizes through a diversified mix: Job Board listings (a huge passive earner), eBooks, courses, and affiliate marketing. At last report, 46% of his income from both sites came from affiliates, 31% came from info-products, and the rest from a smattering of different categories.

Neil Patel — neilpatel.com

Revenue = 9 Figures (via NP Digital)

I worked for Neil when he was a co-founder of KISSmetrics. I also worked with him on a few other projects after that. I’m not going to even hazard a revenue guess here since I don’t want to reveal anything that Neil would prefer to keep private.

That said, there are a few things you could look to to figure it out. He has stated publicly that his main site, neilpatel.com, generates over 5 million visitors per month. He has transitioned from simple blogging to a massive agency model (NP Digital) and SaaS tools (Ubersuggest).

Sam Dogen — Financial Samurai

Revenue = Estimated $1.5 Million+ per Year

Sam provides a fascinating case study in High-Ticket Affiliate Marketing for financial products. First, he does give the revenue of his info-product book which is $36,000 per year. Funny enough, he chooses not to include his Adsense income or affiliate income as “passive” revenue inside any of his passive income reports.

Brian Dean — Backlinko (Acquired by Semrush)

Revenue = Acquired for Multi-Millions

Brian Dean is the master of “Skyscraper Content.” He provides info-products to his newsletter subscribers. He also has a course on search engine optimization and one on YouTube. He gets a lot of traffic. So each launch must be doing somewhere in the upper six figures.

This is a great example of a business that is focused really heavily on generating traffic, turning that traffic into email subscribers, then monetizing via a few info-product launches per year. In 2022, Backlinko was acquired by Semrush, proving that a high-authority blog is a tradable asset.

Tim Ferriss — tim.blog

Revenue = Estimated $15 Million+ per Year

Tim has a huge and incredibly popular blog that’s been around for ages. He started it before he even launched his first book, The 4 Hour Workweek. Currently, I assume that the majority of Tim’s income comes from his podcast sponsorships.

According to industry data, his podcast sponsorships go for premium CPMs due to his loyal audience. At 4–5 slots per episode, that’s hundreds of thousands per episode. By combining his blog, podcast, and books, he’s created a three-part engine to drive his revenue — a very smart and intentional move.

Josh Axe — Dr. Axe

Revenue = $100 Million+ (Ancient Nutrition)

Dr. Axe is a massive site with a huge audience. According to reports, it has millions of visitors per month. They also push products pretty hard through their email list. It’s obvious that they know what they’re doing. Their revenue is a mix of info-products, affiliates, and physical supplements.

I consider Dr. Axe to be a great example of what a health and fitness blog looks like when taken to its absolute peak.

Pat Flynn — Smart Passive Income

Revenue = $2M – $3M per Year

Pat Flynn used to post all his income reports here. He has since pivoted to creating the SPI Pro community, a membership-based model.

The majority of Pat’s revenue comes from affiliate offers (software hosting, email tools) and his own info-products/courses. He effectively targets the “Creator Economy” vertical, helping others launch podcasts and blogs.

John Lee Dumas — Entrepreneur on Fire

Revenue = Consistently ~$2 Million per Year

No one really needs to guess at John Lee Dumas’ revenue, he posts monthly income reports directly to his site.

He also put together a nifty revenue breakdown by source. Sponsorships are slightly larger than everything else. Otherwise, it’s a pretty even split between info-products, affiliates, and his physical journals (The Freedom Journal, etc). To get a sense of how blogs actually earn money, I highly recommend you read through the monthly revenue reports from the last year for Entrepreneur on Fire.

Comparison of Monetization Models

The bloggers listed above utilize different “stacks” of income. Here is a breakdown of how they compare:

FAQ – How to Make Money Blogging in 2026

Here are answers to frequently asked questions about how to make money as a blogger in the modern era.

Ready to Build a Blog That Makes Cash?

I know the list above is filled with people making serious money. Here’s the crazy part. For every blogger making a million dollars, there are thousands that make enough money to quit their job and work on their blog full time.

The list is simply too long to keep track of — I wouldn’t be able to put it together. It is completely reasonable to start a blog with the goal of quitting your job and being your own boss. So many people have already done it you’d be walking a well-traveled path at this point.

I also believe that there’s still a ton of opportunity to be made blogging. I see new up-and-coming bloggers every year. It’s still possible to start a blog today and have it support you.