10 Bloggers Making Money Online Who Don’t Disclose Their Monthly Income (But I Love Them Anyway)

by Adam on November 21, 2011

Just because someone is on my blogger leaderboard doesn’t mean I regularly visit their site.

Looking at my list, some of the blogs are fun, easy to read, and actionable.

Others — though inspiring — don’t necessarily empower you to achieve the same success on your own. So might be unimpressed if you visit their site.

At the recent suggestion of Justin from AdSense Flippers, I’m working on another ranking of the online money-making blogs that have the most practical and actionable advice on their blogs.

Obviously this will be more subjective than the current blogger leaderboard, but I suspect we’ll see a few new folks emerge as leaders in that space.

In the meantime, I wanted to share a few other blogs worth reading

So below you’ll find 10 of my favorite bloggers who currently aren’t on the blogger leaderboard.

Why am I mentioning them?

Because all of them make a decent living (if not a full-time income) by running an online business.

Although they don’t disclose their monthly income like those on the blogger leaderboard, you can still learn from their design, how they build and interact with their audience, how compelling their content is, and how they ultimately convert readers into customers (putting cash in their pocket).

A few are professional writers who use their blog to continue a relationship with those who bought their book. Others began as hobbyists and eventually developed a large enough following to make it a full-time lifestyle. Still others operate in the online money-making niche I typically cover here.

So if you’re looking for some more sources of inspiration, I’d recommend bookmarking these sites, or adding them to your RSS feed.

The Awesome Writers

Ashley Ambirge of The Middle Finger Project

Ash describes her website as “An online haven helping the sassy, rebellious + semi-zany start doing work that they’re proud to call their own, while leveraging the web to build online businesses that kick ass and have more personality than your grandma.”

See why I’m a fan?

She curses like a sailor, is very motivational, and is not afraid to let her strong personality show.

Her posts are always easy and fun to read, and full of motivational insight. She’s currently traveling through Latin America, making money consulting and copywriting, while running her online empire.

Here are some of my favorite posts of hers:

Steven Pressfield of Steven Pressfield Online

A former Marine turned author, Steven Pressfield wrote such famous books as The Legend of Baggar Vance and Gates of Fire: An Epic Novel of the Battle of Thermopylae.

He also wrote The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battle, a groundbreaking book teaching you how to break through artistic resistance.

On his blog, he has a series of post categories, including “War Storeis” and “Do the Work Wednesdays” and “The Warrior Ethos” — all of which will inspire you to get off your ass and put pen to paper.

Plus, experts say your writing improves by reading good writing. Steven’s writing is as good as it gets.

Here are some of my favorite posts of his:

James Altucher of The Altucher Confidential

Altucher started as a hedge fund manager, and still frequently writes for financial publications. He also founded StockPickr, which TheStreet.com bought in 2007.

More recently, he’s made a name for himself in the book world by writing about how to “follow your passion.”

He’s definitely someone who tells it like it is, often saying what others are afraid to.

Here are some of my favorite posts of his:

The Niche Masters

Brett and Kate McKay of The Art of Manliness

The husband and wife duo behind this niche blog got the idea looking at men’s magazines in a bookstore. They noticed that all they seemed to “sell” were abs and sex — and remarked that there’s much more to being a man than these magazines would have you believe.

So they began writing about manly advice, skills, and forgotten wisdom.

The idea has been extremely successful. They have over 100,000 subscribers, several books, products, etc. In fact, the blog became so successful that Brett wasn’t forced to spend his life slaving away as a lawyer as he was planning on doing.

Here are some of my favorite posts of theirs:

Hank Shaw of  Hunter Angler Gardener Cook

Hank is one of my personal faves. He’s a former reporter who ultimately turned his passion (foraging, fishing, hunting, and cooking) into a full-time lifestyle.

He blogs about his outdoor adventures and supports himself with ads on his blogs and as an author (he writes for several outdoorsman and cooking publications), and recently published the book Hunt, Gather, Cook: Finding the Forgotten Feast.

I consider Hank to be a friend and role model. His website is a great example of how to turn your passion into an authority niche site (in the truest sense of the word).

Here are some of my favorite posts from Hank’s blog:

Tim Ferriss of the Four Hour Workweek Blog

Tim, whose book I wrote about here, doesn’t post frequently, but when he does it’s usually something to take note of.

It often relates to making money from an online business or making your life more efficient.

Here are some of my favorite posts:

The Money-Making Gurus

Corbett Barr from Think Traffic and Expert Enough

Corbett started off by founding a Silicon Valley startup. He and his wife took a trip and met a group of “alternative lifestyle” folks who lived abroad while making money online.

He started writing about them, and built a following. So he eventually took his expertise and started Think Traffic, where he blogs first-class tips on how to get visitors to your site.

He now earns a living online through consulting, product selling, and affiliate marketing. More recently, he started Expert Enough, a blog dedicated to transforming readers into Renaissance men and women.

Here are some of my favorite posts from Think Traffic:

Darren Rowse of ProBlogger

Darren read an article about blogging, and within 24 hours had created his own.

It wasn’t successful (whose first site ever is?), but it got him hooked. Since then, he’s built several successful online properties and is now a full-time blogger (and an author, as mentioned here).

He started this site to help other aspiring professional bloggers reach their dreams. The site is chock-full of articles, tutorials, and advice you can implement to be more successful online.

Here are some of his top posts:

Brian Clark of Copyblogger

Brian founded Copyblogger in 2006 to provide advice and answers to people in order to grow their blogs with social media and online marketing best practices.

His site is now consistently ranked as one of the top in the business by all sorts of authorities — business execs, advertising magazines, newspapers, etc. This is, quite simply, a blog everyone is reading.

Now only will the stuff his staff of writers produces give you useful tips on writing strong copy, better headlines, and how to sell, but the site as a whole is a good example how how a clean authority site should look.

Here are some of his top posts:

Derek Halpern of Social Triggers

Derek began building niche sites, mastered the skill, and ultimately came back around to realizing that he most enjoyed starting and growing companies.

He’s dug deep into the numbers behind what works online and what doesn’t, and shares that advice on this blog. He gives practical, actionable advice that bloggers can use to make their site more successful.

It’s easily one of the quickest but most useful reads you’ll find every week.

Here are some of the best ideas he’s produced so far:

So there you have it, some of my favorite reads. Are there any other bloggers you think I should be following? If so, share ‘em in the comments.

If you’d like to be notified when I do complete the rankings of top blogs based on their “actionability,” as I mentioned I’d be doing above, drop your email address in the box below and I’ll email you when it’s complete.

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