Ryan Robinson: a blogging-advice blog with published income reports past $50,000 a month

Ryan Robinson's site, ryrob.com, is about starting and growing a blog, and for several years he published monthly income reports with the revenue broken down by source. They are among the most detailed public reports from a single-author content site, which is why the case is here: the figures, at the peak around $30,000 to $70,000 a month in 2019 and 2020, are his own, line by line.

The property

A content site built on long, search-optimised guides ("how to start a blog", "how to make money blogging", "best business ideas") that ranked for high-volume queries and brought around half a million visitors a month at the peak. An email list captured from those guides fed the products. The audience was people who wanted to build an online business, which is a niche with generous affiliate programmes and an appetite for courses.

The revenue mix

The reports typically showed:

• Online courses as the largest line: his "Built to Blog" course sold through email launches and evergreen funnels, the classic course model where the free content proves the expertise and the course sells the system.
• Affiliate marketing on web hosting (Bluehost Affiliate Program and similar programmes paying $65-150 per sign-up), email tools such as Kit (ConvertKit) with recurring commissions, and other software mentioned in the guides. Hosting bounties from a "how to start a blog" page are one of the highest-EPC placements in affiliate marketing.
• Sponsored content and freelance/consulting work as a smaller, lumpier line.
• Display advertising as the smallest, sometimes switched off entirely because the pages converted better without it.

Why it worked

The niche pays: a reader who is about to start a blog will buy hosting (a $65+ bounty), an email tool (recurring commission) and, if convinced, a course (a few hundred dollars). One well-ranked guide can earn all three from the same visitor. Robinson also compounded the audience through the email list and through guest posts and podcast appearances that built links back to the guides.

The reports also show the fragility: the numbers swung with Google updates and with launch timing, and the display line was never the story. When search traffic fell, the course and list revenue held up better than the affiliate line.

What to take from it

For a blog in a niche with expensive products, courses and affiliate bounties dwarf display advertising: the calculator's affiliate and course lines are the ones to watch. The income reports are also a reminder to read the trend, not the peak month; the figures here are a range for a reason.