Creating a blog is typically easy, but making an income off it can be challenging. However, it is easier than you think when you are willing to commit.
Patience, dedication, and the right tools can take your blog from a recreational hobby to a money-making machine. These 21 real women making six figures from blogging right now are living proof that it is possible for female bloggers.
1. Michelle Gardner – Making Sense of Cents
To help teach others about the importance of saving money and managing finances, Michelle Gardner created her blog, Making Sense of Cents.
The Blog
The blog is centered around making smart spending choices while saving for a more comfortable life. Michelle writes well-informed articles explaining to readers how they can earn more money with a side job and thrifty ways to save money.
Michelle originally started Making Sense of Cents to better her finances, including $38,000 of student loan debt. Within seven months, she was able to pay off her debt while recording her progress and ideas on her blog to help her readers with money struggles.
Income
Michelle eventually quit her day job to focus more on her blog, which currently brings her over $100,000 a month. Here’s how she earns her revenue:
- The majority of her income comes from affiliate marketing, where she generates about $50,000 a month.
- Michelle offers marketing courses to teach people how to make money online. These courses provide her with about $40,000-$50,000 a month.
- Both sponsored and display advertising (posting ads on her site) earns her anywhere from $12,000-$23,000 monthly.
2. Lisa Irby – 2 Create a Website
One of the most experienced online entrepreneurs out there, Lisa Derby, has been making a profit online since 1998. From that comes a lot of experience: Lisa is more than willing to share tips, tricks, and information.
The Blog
Lisa is a full time affiliate marketer who makes a lot of money by selling products, and she is also very active on podcasts and video marketing. She’s the one you should follow if you are looking for simple yet the most effective strategies to make money from your blogging efforts.
Her websites include:
- 2 Create a Website: A tutorial on how to build a website
- 2 Create a Website Blog: Gives you updated tips on Internet Marketing
- Passive Shirt Profits: Teaches you how to earn a passive income via print sites
Lisa also provides online courses on a plethora of topics such as: “Creating and Uploading T-Shirt Designs with Photoshop/Paint and Earn…”, “Master Photoshop CS6 or CC Quickly…”, and “Drive Thousands of Visitors to your Website with Pinterest.”
Income
There are a few different ways that Lisa generates a monthly income of about $15,000 to $20,000 from her blog.
AdSense, consulting services, and affiliate marketing are just a few ways of how she makes money off of her websites.
3. Lindsay Ostrom – Pinch of Yum
If you’re looking for amazing female bloggers, Lindsay Ostrom is one of them. After years of travel, and a horrible loss, Lindsay started her blog in 2013 to teach people everything she and her husband learned in the industry.
The Blog
Lindsay Ostrom’s mega-popular food blog site, Pinch of Yum, has garnered significant followers on Pinterest as well as over 500,000 Instagram followers.
The secret to her success is that she creates recipes and then takes beautiful pictures of the food she makes.
Income
Lindsay earns her income in various ways: affiliate marketing, advertising, and products & services.
By advertising-sponsored content, Pinch Of Yum brings in $82,483.02 due to affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketing is when a person earns a commission from marketing other people’s products. Of that amount, Lindsay earns about $22,500 from sponsored content.
.Lindsay gets $2,456.80 from selling products and services, such as her book. Tasty Food Photography teaches readers how to take professional-looking pictures of food.
4. Gina Horkey – Horkey Handbook
Gina Horkey is a freelance writer who has been selling her services since 2014. Her top income source is selling the Virtual Assistant, a skilled professional that can remotely handle most administrative duties. These jobs include maintaining a website, scheduling appointments, creating advertising content, and more.
The Blog
Gina’s blog, Horkey Handbook, shows people how to start and flourish their freelance writing and virtual assistant businesses. Blog posts include “How to Become a Social Media Manager,” “The 5 Best Ways To Make Money Online,” and “How I Started My Podcast VA Business.”
Income
Selling the virtual assistant is Gina’s mainstream of income and supplements it by writing for some renowned publishers. In her first year alone in her freelancing, Gina was able to earn $6,500 a month.
Gina does not do any advertising and only earns around 5% from slinging affiliate products. Most of her income (about 95%) is from selling her services and products.
5. Rose Atwater – Rose Atwater and Rosebakes
Rose Atwater lives in southern Mississippi with her husband, Ritchie. When she’s not busy raising and homeschooling their six children, Rosie makes her living by working as a female blogger.
The Blog
Rose Atwater has two websites to attract readers: roseatwater.com and rosebakes.com. Roseatwater.com focuses mainly on family, managing money, and faith, while Rosebakes is a blog to inspire women to cook, bake, and decorate cakes.
Roses’ creations were on the cover of American Cake Decorating Magazine and have been in various features such as Cakes Decor, Pretty Witty Cakes Magazine, Huffington Post, and more.
Income
By covering different niches such as budgeting, recipes, and blogging about her personal life, Rose can bring in a steady stream of income.
Rose is an affiliate with Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an advertising system where sites can earn additional income by advertising products and linking back to Amazon.com.
Rose receives most of her income from marketing and advertising. She earns $2,190 a month through affiliate links and $7,225 from placing ads on her site.
Additional revenue comes from Rose selling wedding cakes on rosebakes.com.
6. Paula Dennholdt – Easy Baby Life
Paula Dennholdt is a mother of two who shares her experiences as a mom while providing new parents tips. She even seeks out medical advice from professional doctors.
The Blog
Paula founded Easy Baby Life in 2006 to provide free, factual information and tips covering topics based on baby care and pregnancy.
With 15 years of experience, Easy Baby Life is one of the go-to blogs for new parents, receiving more than 500,000 site views a month.
Income
Paula receives around $500 a month from affiliate marketing, with Amazon being her biggest affiliate. Most of her income comes from advertising Mediavine Ad Network, which earns her roughly $3,800.
7. Kristin Larsen – Believe in a Budget
About six years ago, Kristin decided to focus on blogging full-time. She quit her job as an interior architect & designer only ten months after making her first $60 online.
Kristin is a blogger, business owner, and marketing expert.
The Blog
Kristin is the founder of Believe in a Budget and the co-creator of PinterestVA.com.
Believe in a Budget was started in January 2015. Here she shares her journey with finances and describes the various side jobs she has tested throughout the years.
PinterestVA is a service that shows you how to create a side business as a Pinterest Virtual Assistant. According to Kristin’s site, this side job could earn you an additional $1,000-$2,000 per month.
Income
When Kristin first created her blog, she was able to grow her fan base dramatically through Pinterest. Other bloggers and businesses then started to hire Kristin to help them grow their Pinterest accounts, allowing her to net a little under $100,000 during her first year.
Kristin’s secret is to have several different ways of bringing in revenue consistently. Her explanation for this strategy is simple: she has backup plans in case one income stream is lower that month.
Most of her salary comes from selling her products and courses and from affiliate marketing, client work, and posting advertisements.
8. Bola Sokunbi – Clever Girl Finance
Bola Sokunbi became involved in blogging after graduating college. After creating Clever Girl Finance, Bola started blogging in late 2015 and still writes an occasional blog post.
The Blog
Clever Girl Finance is full of helpful advice on managing expenses. Articles range in topics such as recipes on a budget, top frugal living resources, and how to make crafts that earn you money.
Income
Approximately two years after starting her blog, Bola went full-time and covered expenses with a leftover profit in her first year. She considers her blog as the main income generator as it brings in money via various ways such as content creation, partnerships, and affiliates.
She now makes over $10,000 a month via her various projects, such as CNBC, her podcast, book series, courses, and more.
9. Abby Lawson – Just a Girl and Her Blog
Abby and her husband Donnie write for their site, Just a Girl and Her Blog. This well-known blog touches on subjects such as lifestyle, productivity, and organizational skills.
The Blog
Abby created Just a Girl and Her Blog in January of 2013 to express her creativity. It has now become a family business where she and her husband work on the blog full-time.
Besides blogging about her personal life, she also blogs about how to be organized, decorating tips, renovating ideas, and more.
Income
Making over $41,000 a month, 65% of Abby and Donnie’s salary comes from affiliate marketing and advertising products such as ConvertKit. 35% of their profit derives from their services and products such as digital training and printables.
10. Jennifer Depth – Show Me The Yummy
Show Me The Yummy is a popular food blog run by Jennifer Depth and her husband, Trevor. Their photography and filmography skills are what attract their viewers.
The Blog
Jennifer works on researching and perfecting recipes, experimenting and taste-testing them, and taking beautiful photographs of her finished products. Trevor quit his job in June of 2015 to work on the website and other aspects, including marketing, shooting videos, budgeting, etc.
Income
Though it hasn’t been updated in five years, Jennifer publishes an income report. Per her last report dated December 2016, she made $46,367 that month, which was up more than 50% from the previous month. The number of page views in December 2016 was 704,868.
Jennifer and her husband generated over $45,000 in December via:
- Digital Food Video Workshop (The Blog Village) – $19,380
- AdThrive – $14,311.27
- Swoop – $443.33
- YouTube – $69.89
Over half of their income (55%) comes from freelance writing, sponsored posts, and advertisements. 40% of their profit comes from workshops teaching you how to set-up, edit, and shoot fast-paced videos. The last 5% comes from affiliate programs.
11. Rosemarie Groner – Busy Budgeter
Rosemarie is the creator behind Busy Budgeter, a blog about recipes, budgeting, and managing finances.
The Blog
Rosemarie speaks personally to her over 95,000 readers about various topics. These topics include What to Put on “Your Charcuterie Board,” “How to Get Your Reluctant Spouse to Help,” and more. Her Pinterest skills helped her to acquire even more fans.
Income
The majority of Rosemarie’s profits (60%) come from selling her products such as workbooks, binders, and planners. The remaining 40% is through a combination of affiliates, sponsored content, and ads.
12. Lauren Mcmanus – Create and Go
Partners Lauren and Alex Nerney launched Create and Go, a blog that teaches you how to build a blogging business.
The Blog
Originally started as a health and wellness website, it quickly started earning over $10,000 a month, and this was even before they started focusing on teaching.
Together they have built a blogging empire based on all the aspects of starting your blog: building, designing, making money, and more.
Income
Lauren and Alex post their monthly earnings right on their website. As of January 2021, they made an earning of $135,985.02.
Last month they made $56,231.13 via affiliate marketing on their blogs. They made $1,00 a month off of blogging by selling other people’s products and courses. They also offer classes on launching your blog, with Launch Your Blog Biz blog, which helps them bring in revenue.
13. Elisa Larson and Emma Chapman – A Beautiful Mess
While most blogs have a specific niche, A Beautiful Mess lives up to its name in a playful way. Elisa and Emma are sisters who blog about a range of topics, proving that you can cover a few categories and still be a successful blog.
The Blog
For twelve years, Emma and Elisa have been posting recipes, tutorials, crafts, and more. Besides running their blog, they also host a weekly podcast from Springfield, Missouri, and Nashville, Tennessee.
They are the founders of several top-selling photo editing apps such as A Color Story, Template, Filmm, and more.
Income
Elisa and Emma do not divulge specific details about their income. However, they have admitted it’s a combination of advertising, brand sponsorships, digital courses & training, and selling products.
14. Heather Reese – It’s A Lovely Life
In 2014, It’s A Lovely Life went from a blog featuring only her to a family affair. They began traveling that same year for over 150 days while simultaneously making a six-seven-figure income from blogging.
The Blog
It was through traveling that they realized others wanted to travel as well. Finding their niche, they began to travel even more to seek out the best family destinations and resorts.
Heather and her husband Pete show others how they can work remotely while traveling, proving that you can mix business with pleasure. They also blog about Disney, recipes, life advice, and more.
Income
60% of their income comes from affiliate marketing and sponsored content. The remaining 40% is from Heather and Pete selling their products and courses.
15. Sarah Titus – Sarah Titus
Sarah Titus’s namesake website covers all the bases, including the mom life, making money remotely, providing encouraging articles, and more.
The Blog
After losing her husband to an affair, Sarah Titus was left homeless and in charge of supporting her children. Determined to be a stay-at-home mom to take care of her kids while earning a salary, Sarah created a blog to write about her trials and tribulations.
Income
Sarah went from being homeless to now making over $200,000 a month. She now makes eight figures as a single mom.
She makes a large chunk of her money from selling printable templates on her online store and affiliate marketing.
16. Melyssa Griffin – Melyssa Griffin
Melyssa Griffin is a former teacher who ultimately became a blogger and pro marketer. Within three years of blogging, Melyssa was able to turn her recreational hobby into a multi-million dollar business.
The Blog
Melyssa’s blog teaches entrepreneurs all over how to build a successful company. She blogs about topics such as: “5 Steps to Build Your Email List,” “3 Reasons You’re Not Making More Money,” and “11 Surefire Ways to Grow Your Instagram Followers.”
Income
Melyssa makes over $200,000 a month by selling courses of her own and others as well. She is also involved in the podcast scene, with her own show, Pursuit of Purpose.
17. Laura Vitale – Laura in the Kitchen
Laura Vitale is an Italian-American home chef who grew her business as a female blogger sharing her delicious recipes.
The Blog
Originally an interactive cooking show host, this self-taught home-cook began sharing her love of food after the restaurants shut down due to the pandemic. Laura provides delicious recipes, including croissants, Nutella popsicles, eclairs, and more.
Income
Already having a fan base due to her being a successful chef, Laura has become a reputable online chef. She has boosted her fame and popularity by appearing on shows with celebrities such as:
- Wendy Williams
- Rachel Ray
- Steve Harvey
Laura earns approximately $35,000 a month by various means, such as her cooking show, recipe postings, and sponsorships with several popular brands.
18. Kristi Hines – Kristi Hines
Kristi defines a hustler as she freelance writes, blogs full-time, and is a certified content marketer. Her niche is creating high-quality content for several online businesses and blogs.
The Blog
Kristi is a marketing certified expert writing articles about business and marketing. She aims to help those without the knowledge of using content marketing to grow their online businesses.
Income
Being a content marketing strategist and full-time writer, Kristi makes money by writing for others competitively. She also receives a profit by recommending affiliate products backed by her own experience.
Kristi earns approximately $10,000 – $15,000 a month.
19. Ariana Huffington – HuffPost
Likely the most recognizable on this list, Ariana Huffington originally founded the current affairs commentary blog in 2005, then called the Huffington Post.
The Blog
After AOL bought out the Huffington Post for $315 million in 2011, it became Huffpost in 2017.
Ariana held her position as Editor-in-Chief at The Huffington Post until 2016. She then went to become founder and CEO of Thrive Global, a blog dedicated to corporate wellness.
Income
HuffPost now has an annual estimate of $500 million, making it one of the most successful news outlets/blogs out there. One of the contributing factors to HuffPost’s accomplishments has been its ability to post 600-1,000 articles a day. With so many articles being posted, this gives the blog a chance of having 10-100 articles going viral.
20. Holly Johnson – Club Thrifty
Holly Johnson loves to travel while writing about her expertise: credit card travel hacks. On her blog, Club Thrifty, Holly advises how to create your ideal life while traveling without breaking the bank.
The Blog
Holly discovered that paying full price for a vacation isn’t always the best idea. She soon began researching credit cards to find the best hacks. She learned how to use credit card rewards to pay for many of her travel costs.
She began sharing her money-saving tips on Club Thrifty, building her following and ultimately leading to her husband Greg quitting his job to help with the blog.
Income
Starting in 2011, Holly didn’t surpass the six-figure mark until 2017, making a little less than the previous year.
Most of her financial success comes from advertising and affiliate marketing. Holly makes more than $200,000 a year freelance writing for several online publications.
21. Mila Clarke Buckley – The Hangry Woman
After being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in 2016, Mila Clarke was 26 years old and devastated. She lost 30 pounds by incorporating diet and exercise, eventually creating her now-famous blog The Hangry Woman.
The Blog
Mila created The Hangry Woman as an outlet to show others that they could live a happy and healthy life with diabetes; free of the shame and stigmas associated with the disease,
After learning in 2020 that she was misdiagnosed and had LADA (Latent Autoimmune Diabetes in Adults), she remains a strong advocate for diabetes.
Mila’s blog has been in publications such as:
- The New York Times
- Yahoo Life
- The L.A. Times
- Diabetic Living
Income
In 2020, Mila made six figures with profits from The Hangry Woman. Mila’s original goal was to replace her job as a social media specialist, and she went above and beyond. Here’s how she did it:
- Pitched month-long projects instead of one time jobs
- Increasing rates slightly when going full-time
- Learned as much as she could so that she didn’t have to hire outside parties
Final Say
What all of these women have in common is that they had no boundaries. Teach yourself as much as you can, learn from your mistakes, and push yourself to be your best every day. If you do that, you may just be able to become a 6-figure female blogger. Document your journey, and you, too, might be the next successful blogger.
