20 Top Bloggers Who Paved The Way For Being Successful
Blogging is the present and the future. We spend a lot of time on the internet surfing the news, trying to find the latest trends and new gossip, and squandering our time away reading or watching something. But you should also know that blogging is not a new age trend that sprang up in the past year or two. It’s been a significant fashion since the early 2000s, and many people started to write and publish their works online.
However, significant technological advancements have made blogging and microblogging (writing and publishing photos/videos on social media platforms like Instagram) even more popular. Today, several people consider blogs to pursue their passion, have an online portfolio, create a side hustle, or become full-time bloggers. This opportunity to make more money, become an influencer, and also create chances to collaborate with many leading brands has made blogging more fun and shared today.
Whether you are a regular reader searching for a new personal blog or affiliate marketing to try your hand at blogging and are looking for inspiration, your search ends here. Read this article to learn about the top 20 bloggers, their famous blogs, niche types, and some exciting stories.
1. Perez Hilton – Celebrity News, Entertainment News, & Gossip
Perez Hilton started his blogging journey when the medium grew several decades ago. From viral news and entertainment updates to gossip and controversy, Perez has created a blog that could offer everything and anything from the Hollywood world. While the blog was founded in 2004, Perez was ranked as the number one Web Celeb for three consecutive years 2007- 2009 by Forbes magazine.
Since the blog became a hit among the US audience, there has been no turning back for Perez. The blog posts have been garnering over 300 million hits a month, and Perez has been featured in one too many magazines, including LA Times, The View, CNN, Wall Street Journal, and more. Perez has also authored books like Perez Hilton’s Red Carpet Suicide and Perez Hilton’s True Bloggywood Stories.
And what more? With time, podcasts have also become a significant trend alongside the best blogging platform, and Perez seems to leave no stone unturned. Now, he also hosts his podcast. In addition to his celebrity gossip blog, Perez also launched a fashion blog and his musical series and has become very popular as a TV personality.
Apart from his grand success, one thing that makes Perez stand out is that he has admitted his past works, some of which were mean-spirited, and has been reinventing himself, personally and professionally, becoming an advocate for anti-bullying and more.
2. Moz Blog by Rand Fishkin
Moz Blog will be helpful to you, regardless of whether you are a reader or a blogger. The Moz Blog is your one-stop destination for many blogging questions and AI-related updates. Their page is replete with blogs on how to make your blog successful. With experts in different fields authoring multiple blogs on SEO skills, marketing ideas, content creation techniques, and more, it is easier to understand how the blogging world works.
Besides the online articles, they also offer multiple level-up courses where you can learn the basics of SEO, keyword research, ranking ideas, and more. If you like their content, you can also sign up for their Moz Community, which includes over 500 thousand fellow digital marketers.
Apart from connecting with so many peers and discussing tactics with them, you can access Moz Conference, Link Explorer, and Keyword Explorer and analyze different domains. Rand Fishkin founded Moz in 2001 and led it till 2017. He also penned the book “Lost and Founder: A Painfully Honest Field Guide to the Startup World.”
3. Smart Passive Income Blog by. Pat Flynn
Every business needs an online identity today, and many of us try influencing other side hustles. For all of these, you need to build your brand online. It could be posts and reels on Instagram, short and eye-grabbing tweets on Twitter, or sleekly edited videos on YouTube. Pat Flynn’s blog “Smart Passive Income” helps you speed up this process and learn specific pathways to establish the brand.
SPI provides online community-based learning and access to a course catalog with new workshops and expert tips. You can also join their member club to connect with like-minded entrepreneurs and share ideas and the best practices to establish a business online and earn monthly income.
It is a blog founded in 2008 and has become an excellent and reliable space for entrepreneurial discussions. This blog provides in-depth guides, profiles of success stories, and interviews of many successful entrepreneurs. You can also check out their listicles, from podcast kits to different ways to impress the new audience.
4. TechCrunch by. Michael Arrington
Tech Crunch, founded by Michael Arrington, has a team of editorial experts and event handlers who put together everything and anything on the business of the tech industry for you to read. Launched in 2005, the news website provides breaking technology news and analysis on tech companies and also features expert opinion pieces.
TechCrunch will be beneficial if you are interested in technology or looking forward to starting a startup. Besides their constant news updates and in-depth articles on technology-related events, they also conduct programs like TechCrunch Disrupt, where you can meet like-minded people and learn from them. They also broadly cover security, artificial intelligence, and the crypto side of the business.
5. Entrepreneurs On Fire by. John Lee Dumas
John Lee Dumas is the founder of the podcast Entrepreneurs On Fire. He interviews inspiring business owners and talks to them about their entrepreneurial journey. His interviews also help the listeners understand how to turn things around in their own journeys and become successful. In addition, John has also penned the book The Common Path to Uncommon Success, which has 17 steps that will help you achieve financial freedom and fulfillment.
In his years of podcast work, he has interviewed over 3,000 entrepreneurs, including Tony Robbins, Barbara Corcoran, and others. Besides this podcast, he offers a free Podcast course to get you started and a Podcast masterclass. Launched in 2012, he has had around 4,100 episodes, with over 152 million listens collectively recorded for his podcasts. Apart from the podcast, he also writes blogs on how to make more podcasts, tools that will help, and ways to accomplish your goals.
6. Create and Go by. Alex Nerney and Lauren McManus
Create and Go helps bloggers achieve their dreams by teaching them how to build a blogging business from scratch. Created by Alex Nerney and Lauren McManus, the blog is aimed to help you turn your favorite pastime into a full-time online business. Of course, it will take a lot of time and effort to build your blog from scratch. However, with a guide, the path becomes more accessible and safer.
Along with the founders, a team of entrepreneurs will help you craft the blog and achieve your dreams. You will be guided by founders who are professional and famous bloggers and understand how to grow businesses online. They have a 5-day boot camp for beginners.
They have a variety of blogs on blogging guidelines and software courses. Their website shows their blog income was $393,231.81 in 2022. They also offer specialized courses to launch and monetize your blogs and a few to drive traffic.
7. Just a Girl And Her Blog by. Abby Lawson
Many of us might like to stay organized, but keeping everything in place all the time could be tedious. We might have an idea but can never plan things according to it. If you are among those, Abby Lawson’s “Just a Girl and Her Blog” blog will be a game changer.
Sometimes, we only need a little guidance on organizing and maintaining things. Abby helps us understand different techniques in an organization that will aid in saving space and also keeping the place clean.
On her blog, she writes, “It’s not about perfection. Organization can help reduce stress, save time, and make us fall in love with our homes all over again.
Sometimes, all we need is a little inspiration.” Right, so check out her blog to get inspired by her ideas. For instance, she writes in detail about the KonMari book by Marie Konda, a tidying expert from Japan.
The method of KonMari details the principles of her tidying process and how to make it easier for you. Her well-researched articles are written with great insight and help you start this process. She also offers checklists that motivate others to clear all of the clutter. Her works have been featured in many magazines and websites like Forbes, NBC News, and Apartment Therapy.
8. Smart Blogger by Jon Morrow
In today’s digital world, blogging doesn’t mean just writing, and the writers at Smart Blogger understand this. Smart Blogger is not just a place where you can learn.
Here, you can also earn. Yes! You can join their website, where they pay you to write. But what exactly do they do here?
They have several blog articles that address the technical aspects of boosting your readership and conversion rates. It is a paradise for a beginner in freelance writing. From the great ways to find freelance writing jobs to earning money through blogging, they cover various topics that can help you master the craft of writing and marketing.
Before knowing about his blog, you have got to know a little about Jon Morrow. He suffers from a specific type of Spinal Muscular Atrophy. So he can only move his face.
However, he uses a microphone to become one of the top writers in the world. Today, he is one of the biggest influencers and has started multiple successful companies.
Jon launched the blog in 2012. With constant articles and marketing, the blog has been subscribed by over 300K subscribers, and they have 4 million readers constantly visiting and reading blogs at Smart Blogger. It is one of the world’s largest sites for writing, blogging, and everything. They also offer many courses and training materials, where writers and bloggers with expert knowledge and experience help you find your footing in this business.
9. Timothy Sykes – Penny StocksTrading Success Guide
But you must know how to play it in trading for maximum benefit. So what you need is the stocks trading success guide. Tim had always been interested in the stock market and soon learned and excelled at the ropes of trading.
He became a self-made millionaire when he was a senior in college. He was named to Trader Monthly’s Top 30 under 30 way back in 2006. He also went on to appear in the docu-series “Wall Street Warriors.” His fame through the show led to several people wanting to learn the strategies to excel at trading.
It is when he becomes what we call an influencer. He began to share helpful information through newsletters and instructional DVD packages. Gradually, he created many platforms to help people find promising stocks to trade and also created communities where several investors review products and share their trades and performances. He also did a project called Trading Challenge, which helps beginners understand and learn all key patterns and use their way to reach their trading goals.
10. Neil Patel’s Digital Marketing Blog
Think of SEO (Search engine optimization) and Google Ads; think of Neil Patel. He is the most famous digital marketing expert. If you don’t believe it, you can try searching for related articles on Google, and you will find his blogs somewhere at the top on the first page.
From SEO analyzer to AI paragraph rewriter and traffic checker, he offers plenty of tools. Besides, he writes extensively about how you can drive traffic to your blog. You can also surf his YouTube channel to learn more about SEO and Website traffic generators.
He says Google’s algorithm has changed 792 times just in 2022. So, any of us who want to shine in this space must know how to develop algorithmic-proof strategies. If you’re going to learn even further or get help to customize a personal plan based on your requirements, Neil also offers private one-on-one call sessions to help you sort out the issues and develop a winning strategy.
Neil is the co-founder of NP Digital and is cited by Forbes as one of the top 10 marketers and ranked among the 100 most brilliant companies by Entrepreneur Magazine as NP Digital. He has also authored several books and was considered one of President Obama’s top 100 entrepreneurs under 30.
11. Good Financial Cents®: Your Key to Financial Freedom by. Jeff Rose
We all want to achieve financial stability, independence, and freedom. Jeff Rose, founder of Good Financial Cents, helps people by providing tips on attaining financial freedom. He launched the blog in 2008 and has been writing about finance and strategies ever since. Jeff and his works are featured in numerous magazines and digital websites, including Time, The New York Times, CNBC, Forbes, Business Insider, and more.
Having been an influencer in the finance sector, Jeff has several accolades. He was recognized among the top 10 financial advisers of 2019 by Investopedia and as one of the top 10 young advisers in 2016 by Financial Adviser. He has also won several other awards. His blogs aside, he also pens many stories for financial columns in Forbes, Business Insider, and Entrepreneur.
His blog is replete with financial advice and encouragement that will better everyone’s financial journey. Today, besides Jeff Rose, the team also includes many investors and entrepreneurs who have experience in finance and write for many other media organizations. Whether you have to pay taxes, make or manage money, invest in work, or want to apply for insurance and banking, the blog offers a lot of listicles on how to ace your financial game.
12. Engadget Technology Blog by. Peter Rojas
Engadget is one of the best blogs for all the latest technology and gadget advancements. Do you want to check the quality of a product before buying it, or do you need to stay updated with the latest gaming equipment? You can find everything about technology and innovative gadgets at Engadget Technology.
Like many news websites, Engaget Technology, founded by Peter Rojas, has an editorial or social team that constantly works to provide all recent updates in the field. The different sections you can surf on their website include reviews, gear, gaming, entertainment, the buyer’s guide, videos, podcasts, and other additional deals.
13. Copyblogger by. Brian Clark
Copy Blogger by Brian Clark is another blog for writers to shine in the creator economy. They train writers to hone their skills and help them understand the world of content marketing. Started in 2006, Copyblogger is helpful to any budding or expert content marketer and creator.
They provide articles on basic writing skills and creativity ideas to listicles on how to use Twitter effectively and ways to write winning blogs. There are three pillars in content marketing. They are text, audio, and video. Brian Clark understands the importance of mastering all three resources to take the lead in the business industry.
Although Brian started Copy Blogger only in 2006, he has worked with individuals and several businesses since 1998 and helped them create simple, effective, and profitable blogs. He also writes newsletters like Further and Unemployable, which allows freelancers and entrepreneurs. Their blogging team includes many other experts like Tim Stoddart and Stefanie Flaxman. Besides their blogging journey, they also provide agency services where you can partner to create content for your businesses and offer free content marketing education.
14. Mashable by. Pete Cashmore
Mashable by Pete Cashmore is focused on providing entertainment, culture, tech, and science articles. The blog aims to provide news and stories for all those obsessed with culture and tech and want to know about intelligent advancements in the digital field and the impact of culture in each of your lives. There are many editions of Mashable, like Mashable India. It is known for its coverage of trending news.
Pete founded the organization in 2004, and it is now available in French, Dutch, Italian, and Hindi apart from English. Time magazine noted Mashable as one of the top blogs in 2008, which had generated more followers on social media accounts by 2015. With different editions today, their viewer base has vastly increased and is spread wide across the globe.
For instance, the Instagram followers of the Mashable India account have over 200K followers, while the official main handle is going to hit 1 million in some time. Mashable has nine editions and five languages and is available in 20 countries. Mashable receives 69 million unique visitors on-site every month.
15. ProBlogger by Darren Rowse
Some of Problogger’s top articles include how to start a blog, how to create great blog content, how to find readers for your blog, seven strategies to build community on your blog, and how to make money blogging, among others. This is a clear-cut testament to what and why ProBlogger is famous.
Darren Rowse founded a blog in 2002 when he took to blogging and slowly became a full-time blogger. Today, he is also an author and speaker. In his blog, which he created after learning about the growing field of blogging one day, he writes about many issues of pop culture, spirituality, and more.
The popularity of his blog has mainly grown, and he also founded ProBlogger in 2004, where he began to write a lot more about how to become a blogger and tips and strategies to be a good one at it. He has added thousands of articles and case studies to the blog for beginners to understand and also started a podcast.
He has also penned many books about copywriting, blogging, and more. If you aspire to become a blogger and create income streams through that process, you should follow ProBlogger. Several events, training, and courses are conducted by Darren Rowse for bloggers.
16. Gizmodo by. Peter Rojas
Welcome to one of the very first tech blogs in the world. Founded in 2002, Peter Rojas seemed to have realized the power of the internet much earlier than his peers. While Gizmodo is known for its independent reporting, the blog offers much insight into internet culture and technological advancements that one should not miss out on. As for their sections, they cover various news and in-depth stories on climate change, entertainment, space exploration, the latest news updates, and more.
Besides its English blog, Gizmodo is also available in the Spanish language. They have close to 2.7 million followers on Twitter. It is known for some of its best coverages, like the International Consumer Electronics Show in 2007, where Gizmodo captured the first photos and also covered the live keynote speech of Steve Jobs. The landscape of blogging has been rapidly changing, and owners of Gizmodo have constantly updated the design and use of the blog, which is now available to access across several regions.
17. Huffington Post by. Arianna Huffington
HuffPost by Ariana Huffington is a digital organization focused on delivering quality news. Every story matters is the belief at Huffington, and everything and anything from news, political coverage, lifestyle, sports, and entertainment is reported here. It is easy to check HuffPost regularly to stay updated with world trends and happenings.
The best part about the organization is its commitment to inclusivity in the newsroom. With diversity in the authors’ reporting and writing, their aim to tell stories with empathy is achieved, and diverse voices are given space to be listened to. It was known as the Huffington Post until 2017.
Founded in 2005, the online magazine is available in several languages, including English, Japanese, French, Greek and Spanish. It was founded by Andrew Breitbart, Arianna Huffington, Kenneth Lerer, and Jonah Peretti. It is one of the most successful blogs in the United States. HuffPost also became the US’s first commercially run digital media enterprise to win a Pulitzer Prize.
Several of its articles have won critical acclaim and awards. In 2006 and 2007, for instance, the blog won the Webby Awards for Best Politics Blog and was named second among Time’s 25 Best Blogs of 2009. In addition, The Observer ranked HuffPost the most influential blog in the world in 2008.
18. LifeHacker by. Ziff Davis
Life Hacker by Ziff Davis is another famous blog focusing on lifestyle and feature articles. The editorial team writes on food, tech, entertainment, health, money, gardening, and more. They have close to 4 million followers on Twitter.
Besides their extensive in-depth stories, the online magazine features many reported news pieces. Launched in 2005, the weblog is known for its fast-paced content release.
Besides its local edition, the magazine has been around for the past 18 years and is also available in international editions like Lifehacker Australia, Lifehacker Japan, and Lifehacker UK. In 2005, it was branded as one of the 50 most excellent websites and one among the 25 sites we can’t live without by TIME. It was also featured in PC Magazine’s Our Favorite 100 Blogs in 2007 and received several other accolades.
19. Cup of Jo | Cup of Jo by. Joanna Goddard
Joanna Goddard found the Cup of Jo blog in January 2007. Focused on women’s lifestyles, the site covers several topics, including styling, design, motherhood, relationships, parenting, and more. Over the past decade, the blog has become quite famous and received over 4 million monthly page views, attracting almost 1 million unique viewers monthly. The best part of Cup of Jo is how it engages the readers with deeply personal and relatable pieces.
Joanna has always loved magazines and decided to start her blog when she moved to New York. Today, they have many contributing writers and editors, including Jenny Rosenstratch and Thao Thai. Goddard has also contributed stories for Glamor, New York Magazine, and The New York Times.
While she has long-form essays explaining many well-researched pieces, she also does beauty tutorials, house tours, and conducts career interviews. Joanna collaborates with brands like Outdoor Voices and Nordstrom to earn money besides the advertisement revenue.
20. Social Media Examiner | Your Guide to the Social Media Jungle by. Michael Stelzner
Social media is the most organized, chaotic place you can find. It is a maze, but nothing is like it for those who know their way out. The social media guidelines keep changing, too, and the algorithms are unpredictable. All these conversations can make you think that playing the social media game might not be your cup of tea.
But don’t fret; numerous sources and websites will help you identify the strategies and offer many tips. For instance, Michael Stelzner offers free Instagram marketing tutorials that you can use to improve your marketing and branding strategies.
Aimed at helping small business marketers, Michale Stelzner’s Social Media Examiner provides tips and strategies to help navigate the constantly changing marketing market. It was in 2009 that the Social Media Examiner was founded. But Michale also knows that social media keeps evolving and changes in just a few months. So they always stay updated and help you stay updated.
Currently, over 93 million marketers have benefited in marketing their brands and pages with the help of Social Media Examiner. You can find a lot of original content and plans on their blogs. But if you want to delve deeper, you can listen to their social media marketing podcast and understand how successful marketers use social media to get ahead of their competitors. You can watch their social media marketing live talk show and podcast that helps you stay updated with changes across many social platforms.
The Power of Consistency in Blogging Success
In the ever-evolving world of blogging, consistency has proven to be a critical factor in achieving success. The journey to becoming a top blogger is marked by dedication and unwavering commitment to producing valuable content regularly. As a result, some of the most renowned bloggers have harnessed the power of consistency to pave their way to success.
Consistency in blogging goes beyond simply adhering to a regular posting schedule. It involves delivering content that aligns with your niche, style, and audience’s expectations. Hence, consistently providing relevant and engaging content builds trust with your readers, encouraging them to return for more.
One shining example of this is Darren Rowse, the founder of ProBlogger. Darren’s consistent focus on delivering high-quality content about blogging and monetization strategies has earned him a loyal following over the years. His commitment to providing value has positioned him as a thought leader and generated substantial income through various revenue streams.
Similarly, other top bloggers like Neil Patel and Rand Fishkin have utilized consistency in content creation and promotion to establish themselves as industry authorities. Their relentless dedication to producing informative articles, videos, and podcasts has allowed them to attract a broad and engaged audience.
Conclusion
If you take a close look at the successful bloggers we have discussed here, many of them started their blogs much earlier in the 2000s when blogging was just being introduced and learned about. While some succeeded instantly, many had to wait years to become famous and gain a more extensive reader base. However, you must also understand that consistency and a narrowed niche is the key here. If you are going to write about anything and everything under the sun, you might not find a target audience.
If you publish one day and take three more months to publish your next blog, your reader will shift to a different website that consistently offers content. With a burning passion for sharing stories, starting your blog is never too late.
Therefore, even though blogging has become a passion project, a passive income-generating medium, or a mandatory branding exercise for many today and the competition is more than ever, constant hard work paired with SEO and marketing skills and creative, strong content can help you also become a successful blogger.
