It’s great to see how many young bloggers are starting to come through the ranks now, and they’re not too shabby either. I must admit I do enjoy seeing the success of the younger bloggers a little more than the veterans, purely because they are coming from the same place I did those 4 years ago.

However the more seasoned bloggers, give you the inspiration and the motivation to achieve not only what they have already, but possibly become even bigger and better than they are. That however is not an easy task!

Then there are the veteran bloggers the die-hard big boys (and girls) that just never seem to stop and never seem to drop their continuous stream of brilliantly written content. The blogging community is thriving as always and I think it may only be the start. Want to be on the list next year? Try my FREE Blogging eCourse out! Remember to share this with your friends:

Top 50 Bloggers Making Money Online

#1 Collis Ta’eed

Why has Collis Ta’eed made the list?

The Netsetter! He had to be top of the list right? Not only is his blog one of the best, it is designed well, visually exciting and appealing and the content is most certainly king here. Collis Ta’eed Is one of those bloggers that is extraordinarily good at his writing skills. Collis Ta’eed is the CEO of Envato, and he started Netsetter in 2009, basically as an outlet for him to get rid of some of those excess thoughts. His personal blog alone has over 4,500 RSS subscribers, his twitter following has risen to over 1,400 and he still keeps going. Why is he Numero Uno in today’s list? From living in his in-laws garage to becoming the CEO of Envato in less than five year! how can he not be.

www.envato.com

www.workawesome.com

* * * * *

#2 Yaro Starak

Why has Yaro Starak made the list?

Yaro is not only a professional blogger and entrepreneur, he’s also a great teacher. From the comfort of his very own blogs and websites, Yaro has been able to teach literally thousands of ‘students’. From this stand point alone its easy to see why he is regarded as one of the most influential bloggers of 2010. Easily earning over $20,000 per month is no mean feat, but he manages to do this every single month.

www.entrepreneurs-journey.com

www.blogmastermind.com

* * * * *

#3 Darren Rowse

Why has Darren Rowse made the list?

With over 107,000 Twitter followers why wouldn’t he be! Darren is constantly gaining new subscribers, followers and fans due to his ever consistent style and posts via his three main blogs. From hobby, to profession, Darren has managed to create some great blogs and continues to excite and delight his fan-base every week. Definitely a man to look out for.

www.problogger.net

www.twitip.com

* * * * *

#4 Joost de Valk

Why has Joost de Valk made the list?

Joost de Valk is one of those bloggers that seemingly come from nowhere and all of sudden they are everywhere, but Joost is everywhere for a very good reason. He helps literally hundreds of people to create solid SEO within their own sites, allowing them to dominate their niche and get on top of their goals. Through his careful planning he has become a great blogger, consultant and above all person. If you are in desperate need of some SEO consulting, there’s not many other people better for the job than Joost.

www.yoast.com

* * * * *

#5 Pat Flynn

Why has Pat Flynn made the list?

Firstly Pat is an incredibly insightful blogger who, early on, has realised just how important interviews and podcasts are to him. Secondly Pat really is an extremely helpful, genuine and all round niice guy. His aim is to help others gain the kind of rewards he is, from his online escapades. One of the great things about Pat is that he is so up front everything, from showing his monthly income reports within his blog posts and even stating he “not a millionaire”. Well Pat you may not be a millionaire yet, but we’re sure you’re on your way.

www.smartpassiveincome.com

* * * * *

#6 David Risley

Why has David Risley made the list?

I’ll start with a quote from David himself “I show bloggers how to turn their blogging into a business” and in a nutshell that is exactly what he does. He’s to the point, genuine and tells it how it is. By reading any of his numerous blog posts its easy to see how passionate about his work and life David really is. With a wealth of knowledge and the ability to be brutally honest, David is definitely one of the best.

www.davidrisley.com

* * * * *

#7 Glen Allsopp

Why has Glen Allsopp made the list?

Glen is a high profile blogger and viral marketeer who has an abundance of followers, fans, and subscribers. Firing off his monthly reports, stating the obvious and the not so obvious, Glen knows how to write a great post. Glen is also one of the younger bloggers on the list today, he like myself, stared online at the tender age of 15 years old, he was featured in a book aged 17 years old, by 18yrs was a social media manager for some huge brands, and by 20 years old he had sold the 10th biggest personal development blog in the world!

www.viperchill.com

* * * * *

#8 Gideon Shalwick

Why has Gideon Shalwick made the list?

Gideon is a very influential blogger that likes to use videos within his blog, but he doesn’t just use video, he shows others how to do the same successfully. With a variety of offerings such as reviews, concepts and even a few rants now and then Gideon definitely knows how to please a crowd. Again he is one of those bloggers who likes to give back to the wider community and offers his teachings to those who will read, listen to or watch his posts. With some great inspirational and genuine blog posts Gideon is very much one of few highly respected bloggers.

www.gideonshalwick.com

* * * * *

#9 Katie Freiling

Why has Katie Freiling made the list?

Katie is a great blogger, her posts are always from the heart and she offers a plethora of exciting an innovating concepts and ideas within her blog. One thing that stands out with Katie is her ability to be very serious, humorous, and simple with her writing, she is very consistent and very optimistic which is a breath of fresh air sometimes. However don’t think for a second that she isn’t a big player, Katie is very good at dominating her niche, want proof? How does over 16,000 twitter followers sound? Katie is here to stay and has huge potential, check her out.

www.katiefreiling.com

* * * * *

#10 Syed Balkhi

Why has Syed Balkhi made the list?

Syed Balkhi has very strong work ethics and beliefs, one such belief is that people often wait too long to get started in blogging and online businesses, and he’s right too! Syed is a very successful and young blogger, since 2009 his websites have pulled in over 145,000 unique visitors. Syed is very good at helping others and is currently making a good living online. He’s got tonnes of potential and I’m sure we will see a lot more of him in the near future.

www.wpbeginner.com

www.balkhis.com

* * * * *

#11 Brian Clark

Why has Brian Clark made the list?

Brian Clark is from the very well known blog Copyblogger, I’m sure all of you have heard of that site once or twice? His blog posts are always well written, informative and sensible. There is some great content surrounding how to be a better blogger, copywriter, website owner the list goes on. Over 130,000 people subscribe to the Copyblogger so it’s easy to see why Brian is so successful.

www.copyblogger.com

* * * * *

#12 Vitaly Friedman

Why has Vitaly Friedman made the list?

Vitaly Friedman is a very well known blogger who is best known for his role (Editor-in-Chief) at the highly respected website Smashing Magazine. Vitaly is also a freelance web designer, and pro-blogger where he shows all his subscribers the best places to find fonts, themes and graphics on the web. Smashing Magazine is one of the most important design blogs on the internet, and the success shows with some 209,000 magazine subscribers and 268,000 followers on Twitter. Vitaly’s posts are often in a teaching sense, educating the subscribers and readers in the dark art of web based design. If you are stuck in a rut for some design work, or just need a little inspiration to get you kick-started into gear, then check out his personal blog as well as Smashing Magazine, I’m sure you will be pleasantly surprised.

www.smashingmagazine.com

www.alvit.de/blog

* * * * *

#13 Gary Vaynerchuck

Why has Gary Vaynerchuck made the list?

Educating the online community of bloggers and website owners is the name of the game when it comes to Gary Vaynerchuck. Not only does he passion for blogging and video blogging in particular, but he loves showing others how to succeed. After finishing his first book “Crush It” in 2009 it went on to be a top seller on many well known websites, play.com and Amazon to name but two. He oozes enthusiasm and passion for the art of blogging and video blogging and as such he is now one of the most respected vloggers and bloggers around the world. Gary also has a very successful website all about wine! If you are a wine lover you will love his videos and posts, its a must see website so be sure to check it out!

www.garyvaynerchuk.com

www.tv.winelibrary.com

* * * * *

#14 Tim Ferris

Why has Tim Ferris made the list?

Ever heard of “The Four Hour Week”? Sure you have, it’s been all over the place, NBC, Wired Magazine, heck even USA Today and CNN! Well meet the author, Tim Ferris, not only has he created the ever successful book but he is also a top blogger! Tim’s posts are often one of three things; Serious, Humorous and inspiring, I think that is one of the best things about Tim, his ability to take complex topics and make them simple, and vice versa too. He’s also a pretty funny guy and his writing style keeps you enticed and ready for more. Intrigued? Check him out.

www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog

www.timferriss.com

* * * * *

#15 Rand Fishkin

Why has Rand Fishkin made the list?

Rand Fishkin (The Wizard of Moz) is one of the best SEO bloggers in the world. His success has been astonishing over the last few years and he has consistently been added to some of the latest, and greatest top list in recent years, the “40 under 40 List” and the “30 Best Young Entrepreneurs Under 30″ to name but a few. Rand Fishkin saw the light in 1993 when he became intrigued by the online world and started using MS Frontpage to get started, and just look at him now! He is the CEO and co-founder of the company SEOmoz, helping thousands of people to get their websites, blogs and business seen, heard and noticed. I’d highly recommend seeking out his company if you are stuck for SEO ideas.

www.seomoz.org

* * * * *

#16 Adii Rockstar

Why has Adii Rockstar made the list?

Yes folks that is his name, Rockstar by name and by nature it seems, as he’s kicking up an almighty fuss in the world of WordPress. Adii is the founder of Woo Themes, a very successful, and exciting website that basically helps you to get your blog looking the business. With a Bachelors Degree in Accounting as well as an Honors Degree in Business Management it’s plain to see why he is such a successful guy. There’s more however, not satisfied with his years of study to finally attain his Degree(s) he went on to create Woo Themes which is now one of the most successful WordPress theme publishers on the web. If you want a theme but don’t know where to turn to, or if you don’t really know if you should go for a premium WordPress theme, then go check out Woo Themes because they will definitely have you reeling for more.

www.woothemes.com

www.adiirockstar.com

* * * * *

#17 Chris Brogan

Why has Chris Brogan made the list?

Chris Brogan likes to teach, he loves learning, and wants others to learn by his example, which is great. There are far too few people in the world that want to make a genuine difference for us online bloggers and Chris is right here to help. Chris is very popular with the top Fortune 100 and 500 companies around the globe and this just goes to show how much we can learn from him ourselves. President of New Marketing Labs and Human Business Works, you would have thought that he’d have his work cut out, but not wanting to under achieve Chris gives you the chance to speak to him live via your own personal seminar (if you have the money, space and subscribers). He really does not stop and he is so passionate about what he does that it makes you want to get up and do something yourself.

www.chrisbrogan.com

* * * * *

#18 Chris Pearson

Why has Chris Pearson made the list?

Chris is one of those bloggers you need to keep up with, his funny popular blog posts are great reading fodder. Although there is a lot of humor in his writing he is often very practical and creates some great blog posts which are both extremely insightful as well as informative. He’s also the creator of one of the most widely used WordPress themes on the planet “Thesis” add to that the delightful DIYthemes website which offers many other themes in it’s arsenal Chris sure knows how to pack a punch in the online business world. To say he is successful is an understatement, and I think Chris has long deserved to be on this list so here’s to you Chris.

www.pearsonified.com

www.christopherpearson.com

* * * * *

#19 Seth Godin

Why has Seth Godin made the list?

Seth Godin has a very minimalistic approach to his blog layouts and it is great to see, I think you can tell a lot about a blogger by the way they have things designed as well as their writing style and there content, its all part of the package and Seth Godin does all these things very well. Seth is very successful in the offline world of publishing too, with no fewer than twelve books under his belt (every one of which has been a best seller). He also does a lot of public speaking in seminars as well as online interviews. I love that he offers everything from free content to seminars, he really is a man of many talents.

www.sethgodin.typepad.com

* * * * *

#20 Jeremy Schoemaker

Why has Jeremy Schoemaker made the list?

Jeremy Schoemaker is a very tough-skinned individual, bullied in his younger years he put his strength and energy into being successful, and guess what? He now is, and very successful at that. Creator and co-founder of AuctionAds which is an ebay affiliate marketing service that basically puts your ebay ads onto whatever website you need, or the product needs to be advertised upon, great thinking! His success was really brought home when he and business partner David Dellanave won multiole awards in less than six months, a truly flying start to say the least. Now he shares his secrets, thoughts, information and techniques in his online blog. Catch up with him to see what you may have missed.

www.shoemoney.com

* * * * *

#21 Neil Patel

Why has Neil Patel made the list?

Have you ever heard of Crazy Egg? How about KISSmetrics? Well if you haven’t where have you been? Neil Patel is the co-founder of both companies and boy has he done well, he has become one of the go-to guys for some very high profile brands and companies, helping them to make a lot more money. Neil has some great insights into the world of online entrepreneurship so if you are thinking about becoming one, or have already started on your quest to become the next big thing, then check out his blog. His posts are often inspirational and thought-provoking but he has an uncanny ability to give those hard to find answers. So if you have been googling the heck out of “How to become an online Entrepreneur” then be sure to take a glance at his posts.

www.quicksprout.com

www.neilpatel.com

* * * * *

#22 Andy Beard

Why has Andy Beard made the list?

With tonnes of informative writing it was hard not to put Andy on the list, always informative, highly addictive and often very humorous Andy is a must for all bloggers. Andy enjoys blogging about SEO, and marketing strategies more than most, which is a good job really because he is great at it. He writes concisely and appropriately for the title of all his posts and he is one of the rare people who likes to give back to the online community. He can teach you anything and everything you need to know about the online marketing world if you are ready to learn.

www.andybeard.eu

* * * * *

#23 Matthew Mullenweg

Why has Matthew Mullenweg made the list?

Well…Unless you have been living under a rock for the past few years , or unless you are completely new to blogging (in which case you are excused), Matthew Mullenweg is the founding developer of a little thing we like to call WordPress. That’s right, Matt’s our man, he created the amazingly versatile WordPress which many of us love and use daily. You can imagine the scale of his success just by the statement that he is the founding father of WordPress, neat right? Not only is he an expert developer but he also puts aside time to go and speak publicly so we can all hear what his thoughts are on various topics, but if you can’t get to any of his seminars, or to any seminars in which he is a guest to, then you are till on luck because Matt has a couple of nifty blogs where you can find out just what Matt is all about.

www.mullenweg.com

www.ma.tt

www.matt.wordpress.org

* * * * *

#24 Jack Humphrey

Why has Jack Humphrey made the list?

Blog Marketing is the game and Jack Humphrey is definitely the name, Jack is one of the foremost experts of blog marketing and traffic funneling in the world. He is a very serious but humorous sounding individual and all of his posts have some value to offer. In other words it’s pretty much all killer and no filler in Jack’s blog. Back in 2002 Jack wrote one of the most widely downloaded books on link building – “Power Linking”. This was a game changer for Jack who went on to great success, in 2005 he started ContentDesk.com, and BlogSuccess.com, both of which were highly successful businesses aimed at helping others to gain the marketing audience they couldn’t quite grasp alone. If you would like to know more about Jack then I’d definitely recommend you go visit his blog it’s very much worthy of reading.

www.fridaytrafficreport.com

* * * * *

#25 Daniel Scocco

Why has Daniel Scocco made the list?

Daniel Scocco is an entrepreneur, a teacher, and a scholar, armed with his Degree in International Economics, Daniel pureued a career within a multinational business, however he was not there long. Fast forward to the present day and Daniel is now a respected blogger, who has been online since 2005 creating and developing websites and blogs for himself and others. In 2007 his blog was nominated for “Best Web Development Blog” at the weblog awards. On a near regular basis Daniel posts about all manner of things from how to make money to how not to lose it, from the best plugins for your site, to what to write in your own blog. Daniel really does give back to his subscribers, he’s one to watch out for.

www.dailyblogtips.com

* * * * *

#26 Skellie Wag

Why has Skellie Wag made the list?

Ever thought to yourself… I’d quite like to be a freelancer. Or maybe you want to know how to run an online business? Well Skellie Wag is a great place to find that sort of information. Skellie Wag is a blog which is made up of, essentially lots and lots of essays from blogging to happiness in work and lots of things in between. It’s a great place to go to when you are feeling a little less motivated. They have recently brought out a book that you can buy from their site entitled “The Blog Business Funnel” which is sure to be a motivating read. Go have a look-see.

www.skelliewag.org

* * * * *

#27 Erica Douglass

Why has Erica Douglass made the list?

Well at the tender age of 26yrs, Erica sold her original online business for a fairly hefty $1,100,000! After “Retiring” from the traditional work she had been doing previously, Erica now teaches other how to become successful online. She doesn’t only teach the good though, she also teaches the bad, the failures, the pitfalls you know, the parts we all want to avoid but no one ever lets us in on. Well Erica certainly does, so if you are motivated, and want to read some concise, succinct and inspirational blog posts then you must go and meet Erica on her blog.

www.erica.biz

* * * * *

#28 Robb Sutton

Why has Robb Sutton made the list?

He is the owner of Oneninety8, Robbsutton.com and he’s an all round Mr Nice Guy. Seriously, Robb is a great chap, full of exciting, inspiring and thought-provoking content within each of his blogs. He has many passions in life, blogging is definitely one of them, the man is obsessed, and we mean that in a very complimentary way. He’s also a giver, of advice, freebie icons, graphics and code, he really is a true gentleman. His blog posts are always worth a read and you will be hard to find other writers who have so much to offer at such a young age. He now has a new ebook ready for download if you so wish I wont reveal the surprise you will have to head over there to see for yourself. If you are looking for success and don’t have the get-go then Robb Sutton’s blogs are definitely worth a read.

www.robbsutton.com

* * * * *

#29 Chris Garrett

Why has Chris Garrett made the list?

Chris is hard to pigeon-hole and I’m pretty sure he likes it that way, writing for his personal and business blogs he always has very informative posts and interesting topics that keep you interested. He is very successful within his niche and he loves to give back by helping others learn how to avoid the pitfalls. Chris also writes offline, co-authoring five books so far, one of his most successful being “Problogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income” which he co-wrote with our #2 on today’s list, Darren Rowse.

www.chrisg.com

www.chrisg.org

* * * * *

#30 Lewis Howes

Why has Lewis Howes made the list?

Lewis is a very interesting blogger, an unofficial world record holder, founder of two highly successful companies and co-author of the LinkedIn book, LinkedWorking: Generating Success on the World’s Largest Professional Networking Website. His online success is easily seen and he has a large number of supporters, even his Twitter account has nearly 40,000 followers. Lewis is very much a professional in the world of social media and networking, Which he writes about in his highly successful blog.

www.sportsexec.net

www.sportsnetworker.com

* * * * *

#31 Denise Wakeman

Why has Denise Wakeman made the list?

Denise Wakeman offers blogging, marketing and visibility tips for all that decide to look her up. She gives a very serious account of how to do things the right way and helps countless bloggers to keep their eye on the ball. With almost 20yrs of experience in the business and online marketing realm she is one of the most important bloggers online. Having written many different programs and posts for her subscribers and followers her unflinching and charismatic presence shines through her writing. Often using videos to emphasize her point across to the readers Denise certainly knows how to make herself heard. Denise has a huge online presence and enables others to contact her easily through her blog, if you need training or advice, or simply want to get the inside know-how of online marketing Denise would be a person to seek out for sure. Her success is no accident, she works hard and gets where she wants to be.

www.biztipsblog.com

www.buildabetterblog.com

* * * * *

#32 Kristi Hines

Why has Kristi Hines made the list?

Kristi Hines provides informative and valuable posts on her blog as well as a very clear writing style. She is a Internet Marketing Specialist with the company Vertical Measures which provides link building services to those that need it most. Her tips and advice are second to none and she is always writing new posts on a near daily basis. Her success is greatly matched by her ability to blog in a very intellectual and yet simple way allowing you to get the most out of the internet, be it by yourself with her advice and tips or through her company. Another definite blogger to look up to.

www.kristihines.com

* * * * *

#33 Rae Hoffman

Why has Rae Hoffman made the list?

Rae Hoffman is a self-confessed Internet and Marketing SEO Consultant…try saying that after a few drinks! Specializing in viral and affiliate marketing, Rae is one of the SEO gatekeepers, she really knows a thing or two about her chosen career, that is for certain. Just by reading any number of her online posts its clearly evident that you are in the presence of SEO royalty. Rae has been mentioned in a lot of publications, and I mean a LOT, USA Today, Forbes, and ZDNet to mention a few of the more well known ones. Rae runs a lot of different affiliate and content based websites and is also the co-founder/co-owner of two high profile businesses; MFE Interactive and Outspoken Media. Both of Rae’s companies have had great success, both for her and her clients. Watch out, Rae’s about.

www.sugarrae.com

www.outspokenmedia.com

* * * * *

#34 Marko Saric

Why has Marko Saric made the list?

Marko ‘How To’ Saric has made the list because he definitely knows his stuff. His blog is a great big how to of everything a blogger could want to know but hasn’t got the nerve to ask. A lot of his blog posts are entitled “How To” and for good reason, he really goes into depth about the kinds of things all blogger should know, want to know, or just plain didn’t know. Marko Saric Is also the co-founder of the London Blog Club, where he gives back to the community of bloggers, in fact that is a great place to be if you haven’t already checked it out.

www.howtomakemyblog.com

* * * * *

#35 Leo Babauta

Why has Leo Babauta made the list?

Leo Babauta has no formal qualifications (how many of us do have?) but that hasn’t stopped him from getting on the list of the top 50 influential bloggers of 2010! Leo likes to help others, and also write about the difficulties he has faced and overcome. He is also a very competent writer, in 2009 he wrote 108,000 words in 30 days to complete a novel! Now that takes some doing! He is also the author of “The Power of Less” which was a best seller on Amazon, but that’s not the end, he’s also written “Zen to Done” an ebook which has been downloaded by tens of thousands of readers and subscribers. Leo is forever working hard and because of his excellent standards and writing skills Leo has made our list. Leo..we salute you.

www.zenhabits.net

www.thepowerofless.com

* * * * *

#36 Mary Jaksch

Why has Mary Jaksch made the list?

Practical inspiration, creative ideas and generally good informative content, that’s what Mary offers at ther blog the GoodlifeZen. Mary is an officially authorized Zen Master, a Psychotherapist and an author. Wow, that is a lot to aspire towards. Mary as you can already see is a very successful woman and her blog is just an extension of her success which she throws out to help and inspire others. Not only does she offer tips, advice and general thoughts, she also has a great ability to make you want to relax, grab a cup of green tea and just read through her topical posts. A master in her own right, Mary has helped many people around the world to get to grips with all manner of serious topics, and although mostly serious, it is one that you will enjoy.

www.goodlifezen.com

* * * * *

#37 Alex Fraiser

Why has Alex Fraiser made the list?

Blogging trickery is what Alex Fraiser specializes in, well, in a sense anyway. He is the 17 year old mastermind behind blogussion, see what he did there? Good right? Alex has been given the gift of the gab and can write his socks off. Don’t let his age fool any of you either this young blogger is becoming a real hard hitter on the bloggin scene and we can’t wait for more. His posts are informative, creative and concise. You have just got to give him credit for his ability to write such great content at such a young age, it’s great to see! He now has over 4,000 twitter followers and in excess of 1,900 subscribers, and he’s only been doing this blogging malarkey since 2009. Well done Alex.

www.blogussion.com

* * * * *

#38 Corbett Barr

Why has Corbett Barr made the list?

I have one simple goal for this site: to help you build a high-traffic traffic website or blog. That’s the opening line in one of Corbett’s blogs and it speaks volumes don’t you think? His willingness to give back to others and exercise his right to help those in need, heck he’s almost like the online version of Batman! Seriously though, he really is a top blogger, great guy and his posts are of the highest quality you will see from a blogger. He’s definitely not an amateur that’s for sure. He has had great success in a venture-capital backed company too! Corbett’s writing, so go read his posts!

www.freepursuits.com

* * * * *

#39 Andrew Warner

Why has Andrew Warner made the list?

With $30+million a year in sales alone Andrew is one of the heavy weights in the online world. Still in his 20′s Andrew and his younger brother decided to create mixergy a website that has clear and simple goals, to encourage, inspire, introduce and give. What a guy, what a generous thing to do, and all his subscribers are glad he did too. Sharing his wisdom, expertise and his courage to take a huge leap of faith in the name of online entrepreneurship Andrew has been able to help many, many of his subscribers just by posting his thoughts. I recommend taking a look at Andrews story to get the full down-low.

www.mixergy.com

* * * * *

#40 Michael Martine

Why has Michael Martine made the list?

He blogs, he coaches, he blogs about coaching, oh, and he also consults too. Michael Martine’s blog posts should not be missed, he has a wealth of inspiration and advice to offer and you would be mad not to listen to him too. He loves nothing more than to guide, excite and entertain with his posts giving you the vital information you need to motivate yourself or maybe write an extra post a week. Maybe you are stuck for topics to write about? Well head on over to his blog and get some inspiration. Michael’s success has been created through hard work, determination, and basically being brutally honest at times. Miss him at your peril.

www.remarkablogger.com

* * * * *

#41 Zac Johnson

Why has Zac Johnson made the list?

He’s not just any old affiliate marketer, oh no my dear friends, he’s not even a great affiliate marketer…he’s a “Super Affiliate” marketeer! I may sound as though I a joke, but in all fairness, would he be on this list if I didn’t think he was worthy? of course he’s worthy, his content is great, his style unique, and he really is a super affiliate you know! Never shy of getting behind the keyboard, or in front of the camera, you’ll find some great posts on his blog that will make you want to come back more and more. Zac is fantastic at reproducing his techniques over and over to see huge sales, and he’s not keeping it a secret either go and check out his latest post to see what he’s up to at the moment!

www.zacjohnson.com

* * * * *

#42 James Chartrand

Why has James Chartrand made the list?

He’s a business web designer and creates some great posts on his blog, which by the way is a very cool looking site. He’s the founder of Men with Pens and his writing style is solid, he was featured in many major online media resources such as Newsweek and the Huffington post and he’s a regular over at Copyblogger. He’s an informative writer with plenty of humorous and anecdotal offerings. He also writes as I imagine he speaks, very openly, and very real. His online website has made him a great deal of success both with subscribers, affiliates and probably in offline popularity. He’s a top blogger and he’s on the list.

www.menwithpens.ca

* * * * *

#43 Tyrone Shum

Why has Tyrone Shum made the list because he is a very influencial young blogger, he specializes in “Outsourcing and Automation for Lifestyle Business Owners”. What? You want me to delve a little further? Well okay since you asked so nicely… Tyrone has a really useful style, he aspires to reach the best in order to reach complete automation for money making. His posts are really insightful and he leaves nothing to the imagination, he like many of the bloggers on this list, is a giver and that is one of the key’s to success with blogging. To receive you must first give seems to be the natural quality all of today’s top bloggers have in common. Tyrone teaches his subscribers how to find the best programs, blogs, videos and basically everything that will lead to an automated money making business. No mean feat I’m sure you will agree.

www.tyroneshum.com

* * * * *

#44 James Schramko

Why has James Schramko made the list?

James Schramko is an Australian internet marketer and all-round good guy. His aim was to leave the 9-5 working lifestyle to one better suited to us bloggers and hasn’t he done well? James has identified how to find and dominate niche areas to build his online empire, and in his blog he divulges into all his inner thoughts. It’s yet another great example of a blog that gives back to the community. James has sold millions of dollars worth of goods, services and information products over the span of his online career. He is now one of the most prolific speakers in the blogging world and is a regular at many of the industry events held all over the world.

www.internetmarketingspeed.com

* * * * *

#45 Dave Navarro

Why has Dave Navarro made the list?

Dave Navarro is a very well known blogger, best known in fact for his product launches, product launch coaching and his ability as one of the best online marketing consultants. He is widely popular with many bloggers, mainly for teaching them how to essentially launch their own products. What a great guy to have on your side. He is someone I would honestly read about a couple of times a week, his posts are so informative and offer very real techniques, none of that fake guru persona, Dave is the real deal and he has made a fortune launching products, teaching others how to launch services and products and of course his ebooks. Go and have a look I’m sure you will agree.

www.thelaunchcoach.com

* * * * *

#46 Lynn Terry

Why has Lynn Terry made the list?

Lynn Terry is a valuable source of information, she creates tutorials, advice, and tips for newbies and the expert bloggers alike. She is always added to her valuable collection of posts and there is always great content to indulge in. After quitting her “last real job” back in 1996 she started her first business and never returned to the 9-5 lifestyle. She eventually left her business behind to become a super affiliate and she has gone from success to success each year. In 2003 she received the Best of Success Award at Total Life Success, she has also had the pleasure of contributing to a #1 best seller and has been featured on the Entrepreneur Magazine’s home biz talk show. I think you can see why she is on the list, and staying there too.

www.clicknewz.com

* * * * *

#47 Michael Stelzner

Why has Michael Stelzner made the list?

Michael Stelzner writes, about…well writing actually. He loves to teach his subscribers and followers how to expertly write, white papers. Michael has written over 130 white papers many of them being for some of the worlds biggest and best companies. Michael is also an author – “Writing White Papers: How to Capture Readers and Keep Them Engaged”. On top of all of this he is also the editor of the White Paper Source Newsletter which has a readership of 20,000+. Finally he also teaches corporations and leading professionals how to write white papers in his “Monthly Teleclass”. Be sure to check him and his blog out, its worth a read.

www.writingwhitepapers.com

www.whitepapersource.com

* * * * *

#48 Hesham Zebida

Why has Hesham Zebida made the list?

Blogging tips galore, advice grotto, Hesham’s blog really is a place where bloggers can find the secrets to those never asked questions. Not only does he offer his fellow bloggers advice, he also teaches how to create a buzz, gain traffic and the most important of issues, keep subscribers. On top of all of this she also blogs about how to make your own blog look better and how to blog better, or should we say, blog properly. One of the main reasons that Heshams blog is so much more appealing than a lot of other blogs is due to the fact he used to be a web designer a few years back. He has helped many, and will help many more in the future I’ve no doubt.

www.zebida.com

* * * * *

#49 Rob Rammuny

Why has Rob Rammuny made the list

Rob Rammuny wants to help you to have the online lifestyle that you crave. He needs to teach, advise and share with his fellow bloggers and readers alike. Did I mention he is only 16 years old? That correct 16yrs! It’s so fresh and inspiring to see someone with such talent and diversity create such a fantastic blog with great content and advice especially at such a tender young age. I can see big things ahead for Rob. His main aim is to get out of the rat-race and leave the 9-5 lifestyle before he even has to join it, and I’d have to agree that it’s definitely the right choice. Why work for others when you are perfectly good at working for yourself? I really hope Rob keeps up his terrific work and I look forward to what he does in the future.

www.robswebtips.com

* * * * *

#50 Chris Guthrie

Why has Chris Guthrie made the list?

Chris Guthrie earns a six figure income from working online. He’s only 26yrs old and already he is a big name in the blogging world. He first started working for his own business back in school, trading pokemon cards for money, this early lesson in business eventually got the better of him and he decided working for an employer just wasn’t going to cut it. He eventually ended up as an online marketer after “playing too much Halo 2″. How many people can boast that playing a video game could lead them to a career of such magnitude? Well it wasn’t entirely Halo 2 that helped him, getting fired must have been a factor too, but nonetheless, with monthly incomes of $13,000 and more a month, he must be doing something right.

www.makemoneyontheinternet.com

* * * * *

How Do I Get Products For FREE to Review On My Blog?

Frankly, few people know as much about this subject as Robb does – as her demonstrated in his recent interview for this site.

I think you will agree, Robb has done an awesome job, and just for the record, he is not paying me or rewarding me in any way for featuring him here. Armed with the information Robb has supplied I am confident a good number of you are going to set up some amazing review blogs – gee, I am even considering it myself

If you want to learn more about creating a review blog and getting products for FREE to review on your site, then check out Robb’s eBook, Ramped Blogging!

Enjoy the interview – I look forward to your comments.

Best Wishes

Michael

How To Get Products For FREE To Review On Your Blog

An article by: Robb Sutton

Robb Sutton

With the recent fire from the FTC in the United States requiring full disclosures from bloggers on their relationships with firms in regards to product reviews – product reviewing on blogs has gotten its 5 minutes of fame. The thing is that in reality, legitimate product reviewing on blogs and other media outlets has been going on since the beginning, and they can be a tremendous source of traffic, subscribers and revenue for your blog.

If you take a minute and scour your favorite blogs on the web, you will find a very high percentage of those blogs review a product related to their niche periodically. As you look around, you might find that your favorite blogs are reviewing product a lot more than you originally thought! Before we jump into the how…let’s look at the why on both sides of the fence.

Why Do Bloggers Review Products On Their Blogs?

As a blogger, this is an easy question for you to answer, but lets break it down to the basics. Why do you want to post product reviews on your blog?

Useful, Quality Blog Content - Product reviews are a source of quality content for your blog. Your readers want to know what you think about products and services that relate to your niche. Your blog is their resource for topic related information, and – by providing this resource – you can assist your readers by providing useful information that impacts buying decisions. By offering product reviews on your blog, you are expanding the resourcefulness of your content for your readers.

Search Engine Gold – For quite sometime now, I have been calling product reviews search engine gold for a reason. Properly written product reviews can bring a massive amount of new visitors to your blog. By writing product reviews, you are targeting long and short tail keyword strings that have very low competition. Over time, you will create a massive library of content that is extremely search engine friendly. On top of that, product reviews are attractive link bait as other bloggers, forum users and general internet emailers will link to your review articles as a resource for information.

Increased Blog Revenue – Product reviews are still the number one way to increase affiliate revenue on blogs. Want to increase your affiliate sales outside of the pennies you are generating from banner ad placement? Review that product on your site and include your affiliate link at the bottom of your review to increase conversions. Little tip: Honest reviews that outline both the good and bad on a product convert at a much higher rate than glorified advertisements.

Why Do Companies Give Bloggers Product To Review?

Now we know why you want to review product on your blog, but why do manufactures, firms and service providers actually want to give you their product to review for nothing (or even for a fee!)?

Cheap, Long Lasting Advertising and Promotion – Once a newspaper or magazine hits the newsstand, you see the ads and then throw that mag away until the next issue comes out. That advertisement is only good until the next issue. With the web, your product review stays on your blog unless you decide to shut it down. The company that provides you with the review product get the increased benefit of long term promotion by giving you something to review on your blog. Future readers will find the article in the archives, search engine users will find your review in the results and you will refer back to your product reviews over time. For the company in question, you – as the blogger – provide more value with a product review over the larger media competition.

Did I Mention Cheap? – What many bloggers fail to realize is the true cost of the review product provided to the blogger. For the company involved, their true manufacturing cost is the cost to them. What did it cost the company to product the product for review? Not nearly what it costs off the shelf for the typically retail buyer. When you convert this to software and services, all of their costs are in the back end development, so they are even more willing to work with bloggers to get the word out because the true cost is an email!

Social Media Is Changing The Retail Environment - If someone would have told you 10 years ago that Amazon.com would be the largest book retailer in the world and the iTunes music store would be the largest music retailer in the world, would you have believed them? The online world has completely changed how people shop and make purchasing decisions. Firms, companies and service providers know this and they want to tap into your audience. Free review product is their ticket to the big show that converts into increased sales.

How Do I Get Free Product To Review On My Blog?

Unless you are an internet hot shot who already has a huge amount of credibility online, you are going to have to cold call, email and fax your perspective review product companies. For many bloggers, this can be a nerve racking road as they have little experience in the corporate sales and marketing world. Here are a couple of tips to get you going…

Research Before Contacting - If you are just starting out in review blogging, do some research and see which companies in your niche will be receptive to giving out free product for review purposes. Check out other blogs in your niche and look for patterns. Is there one or two companies that seem to have reviews on every site? Contact those companies first with your idea and try to look for one of their products that is not well represented online (not a lot of reviews). This will be a great starting point to get things rolling and increase your chances of success on the first go ’round.

Contact Perspective Companies By Email – Email rules the world at this point in time, so you are going to have to research the company and find a valid email address. Many times, this email address will go to a default inbox, so it is essential that you cut the fluff at the beginning of the email and get straight to the point to insure it gets on the right computer screen. When contacting companies about review product, 100% honesty about traffic, subscribers and expectations is essential to success. With a little research, web savvy companies are going to be able to tell if you are stretching the truth and your credibility is shot. Even small blogs can get a ton of review product if they are creative and stick to the honest truth.

Do Not Limit Yourself To Email - Especially with larger companies, your email can get trashed without even being read. If the companies website lists contact information for sales and marketing professionals within the firm, contact those specific people via fax or snail mail with what you would like to accomplish on your blog. Most bloggers are not doing this and it will show your dedication to targeted results.

Stay In Contact – Once you have reached an agreement, stay in contact with updates. Send an email when you receive the product, when you finish the review process, once the review is posted and a follow up email with educated results. It is your job as the blogger to keep them informed, so take that part of your job seriously.

Reviewing Tips That Equal Affiliate Conversions

There is a misconception among bloggers and other review naysayers that there are glorified advertisements on the web to convert into sales even when the product is terrible. The truth…those glorified advertisement convert at a rate that is much lower than an honest review from a blogger. As a blogger, the credibility of your content is everything. New and old readers are going to absorb your content and present their own educated opinions based upon how you presented the facts. If you throw up a review that is blatantly positive in an attempt to increase revenue on your blog, the reader is going to see straight through it and leave your site (without clicking your affiliate link).

The #1 best way to increase affiliate sales is to be completely honest and fact based in your reviewing.

Spell Out The Perfect Consumer For The Product In Question – A perfect way to convert visitors into affiliate income is to spell out exactly who you think the product would be perfect for! Is there a certain group in your niche that would greatly benefit from that product while another might not see any benefit? Lay that out for them. Your readers want to know if that product will work to fill their needs…so tell them!

Show The Good And Bad - There is no such thing as a perfect product. By specifically stating the good and bad points, you are showing that there is also room for improvement. The side affect to this is that companies eat this information up as constructive feedback to make their product better in future revisions. By stating what you think the high and low points are…you are adding value to your review process.

Keep Things Fact Based – Your opinion is your opinion, but it needs to be based off of fact. If you throw up a review that is a bunch of opinion with no reason why…you are going to have a difficult time with review blogging. Every one of your opinions on the product need to be backed up with facts.

Review Blogging – The Big Picture

Review blogging is a great resource to companies within a niche, the blogger and the readers when done correctly. As with most things in life, when you stay honest and work hard at completing a task, good things result. The reason for the FTC disclosure regulations is from black hat techniques that are completely monetary focused by questionable internet marketers. As a blogger, you should want to continue to provide valuable resources for your readers and your niche. By providing 100% honest product reviews, you are achieving just that.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

A Footnote By Michael:

If you have not already done so then you should check out the recent announcement by the FTC in the USA that Amateur Bloggers must Disclose Freebies when doing a review or be fined (Actually, there is much more to it than this one point)

I know many of you are thinking, well I am not in USA, so this does not apply to me. My view is that is is good practice to have Full Disclosure in any case no matter where up are located.

Here is helpful link that goes into more details:
FTC Tells Amateur Bloggers to Disclose Freebies or Be Fined

I should also here do my usual Legal and Financial disclaimer – namely, I am not qualified to provide such legal or financial advice, anything you read here is merely discussion, you must do your own due diligence before making a decision.

It is around 3 years since I first started blogging and if you have been following My Story you will know I have come along way.

But what is most amazing to me is just how far some of my featured Top Bloggers of 2009 have come. It almost feels crazy to think that many of these bloggers started their blogs at home, in a spare room or bedroom, just like most of us and yet today they are ‘famous‘ all over the world for their blogging.

I have said it many times on this site and in my Blogging eCourse – the OPPORTUNITIES in blogging are almost endless and today’s post of the fifty most influential bloggers of 2009 proves it.

Before you check out the list completely I would like to just draw attention to 3 individuals in particular who have been a huge inspiration to me. (Actually very hard to pick out three – because as soon as I did it – I could think of three more who equally could appear here)

The first is our No 1 Blogger (Video Blogger) – Gary Vaynerchuk. I was fortunate last September to visit with Gary in his offices in New York and do this interview. I don’t think I really need to explain why Gary is No 1. You would have to be living under a rock in the last 12 months to not know who Gary is.

Gary comes out with the most profound statements – he states the TRUTH in a unique and inspiring way and the quote below by Gary acts as a very good reminder to all of us.

”People are always talking about what you’re doing now… To me, it’s not what you’re doing now, it’s about where you’re going.”

The second individual I would like to give a special mention to is Timothy Sykes. I have also met with Timothy in New York (a different trip) and his insights and business wisdom has been a huge help to me personally. Timothy has also done an interview for me and you can find it in this Earning Big Money With Blogging post.

And finally there is my good friend James Schramko. James is such an amazing guy and a very generous teacher who has been a huge influence on what I have done with IncomeDiary.com. You can see my interview with James at this post: Work At Home Dad – Dominates Affiliate Marketing

Please Note

There is no scientific way to choose those who are on the list, these are purely the people who I know have impacted the way I and my friends do blogging. If you feel that we have missed anyone out, please leave a comment below.

I hope you are inspired you to follow in the footsteps of these most influential bloggers of 2009 – I know I am

I look forward to your comments below and it would also be great to hear who has inspired you the most to build a better blog!

To Our Success

Michael

#1 Gary Vaynerchuk
	Why Gary Made The List Gary has shown the blogging world that anyone can be successful at blogging as long as they are passionate about what they are talking about. Gary is one of the world’s best video bloggers and has set a high standard for everyone else who wants to make it in video blogging. He has just released his first book “Crush It” where he shares how to cash in on your passion which no doubt will inspire thousands of new starts ups around the world.Websites http://garyvaynerchuk.com http://tv.winelibrary.com
* * * * *
#2 Collis Ta’eed
	Why Collis Made The List In 3 years has gone from living in his wife’s parent’s garage to running one of the largest and most successful blog networks. Thousands of blogs have started with the aim to have a fraction of the success Collis has had in the blogging world. Collis’s network boasts over 430,000 twitter and RSS readers earning his company several million dollars a year!Websites http://envato.com http://thenetsetter.com/blog/
* * * * *
#3 Darren Rowse
	Why Darren Made The List Darren in the past year has gone from strength to strength, now with 3 super successful blogs and 100,000’s of RSS readers, he really does know what he is doing. Darren has monetized his Problogger website in two new ways this year, by adding a paid forum and an eBook which has influenced a lot of other bloggers to follow suit.Websites http://www.problogger.net http://digital-photography-school.com http://www.twitip.com
* * * * *
#4 Timothy Sykes
	Why Timothy Made The List Timothy is doing things the way they should be, you don’t have to just monetize your website with banner adverts, and you want to diversify your income so it comes in multiple streams. Timothy has earned over $150,000 in one month from his blog and makes it look so easy, check out one of his monthly blogging reports to see how he does it!Websites http://timothysykes.com
* * * * *
#5 Tim Ferris
	Why Tim Made The List Tim is a angel investor and blogger. He was nominated as one of Fast Company’s “Most Innovative Business People of 2007, and is the author of The 4-Hour workweek which has been written and sold in 35 different languages. The book hit #1 in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and was also a BusinessWeek bestseller.Websites http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/ http://www.timferriss.com
* * * * *
#6 Pete Cashmore
	Why Pete Made The List Pete deserves to be on our list because he started the most popular social networking blog online to date, Mashable. Mashable has then acquired many authors to write daily content on the social side of the internet, including news, reviews and new web startups. Pete is an inspiration to everyone in the blogosphere. Websites http://mashable.com
* * * * *
#7 Michael Arrington
	Why Michael Made The List He is a corporate attorney who left law to become a Web entrepreneur. When he took a year off, and returned to the work world, he started blogging as a way to understand the new Web start-ups that had arisen in his absence. TechCrunch took off, and he soon found himself an accidental power broker. Another success story for those who blog about their passion and the money and success follow.Websites http://www.techcrunch.com
* * * * *
#8 Vitaly Friedman
	Why Vitaly Made The List Vitaly made our list because he started up one of the most popular design blogs on the internet that teaches thousands of people daily principles of design. Smashing Magazine is known in every corner of the internet. The content served up on this blog daily is amazing. Designers can head over to Smashing Magazine and expect to find something new, original and juicy each and every day. Websites http://www.alvit.de/blog/ http://www.smashingmagazine.com
* * * * *
#9 Brian Clark
	Why Brian Made The List Brian Clark most well known for CopyBlogger and Thesis Theme is one of my favorite bloggers because he keeps everything clean and hasn’t sold his soul to get to where he has today. His theme has been a huge hit among bloggers making it easy for those who want to customize their blog to do so. Can’t wait to see what 2010 brings…Websites http://www.copyblogger.com
* * * * *
#10 Alborz Fallah
	Why Alborz Made The List Alborz made our top 50 list because he is the creator / founder of Australia’s fastest growing automotive editorial site, caradvice.com.au. Their posts, reviews, news and photos they put up on the site makes it stand out from the competition. Alborz is a big influence to many car lovers. Websites http://www.caradvice.com.au http://www.alborzfallah.com
* * * * *
#11 Lisa Stone
	Why Lisa Made The List Lisa made our list for her compassion and work she has done on her web statup, blogher. Lisa co-founded blogher.com (the woman’s blog network). Blogher reaches more than 15 million woman each month, via the website and conferences. Keep up the great work Lisa! Websites http://www.blogher.com
* * * * *
#12 Yaro Starak
	Why Yaro Made The List Yaro known in my circle of friends as the nice guy in blogging who lets his products and blogging speak for themselves. I have interviewed him twice and both times the wealth of information he has shared for FREE has been astonishing. For those who are new or advanced with blogging, check out his course’s as he has something for everyone.Websites http://www.entrepreneurs-journey.com http://www.blogmastermind.com Become A Blogger
* * * * *
#13 Adii Rockstar
	Why Adii Made The List Adii Rockstar is a remarkable man, which is why he has scored so high up in our list. Adii renamed himself just for marketing purposes, that’s how passionate he is. He owns one of the biggest theme websites, WooThemes, and blogs on his personal blog Adii.co.za. He has recently started video-blogging, which has been a huge success. Adii’s posts are very genuine, plus he started one of the biggest blog theme websites, that’s why he is a big influence in the blogging world. Websites http://www.adii.co.za http://www.woothemes.com http://radiiate.com
* * * * *
#14 Arianna Huffington
	Why Arianna Made The List Arianna made it to our list because she is the co-founder and editor-in-chief of the famous Huffington Post. The Huffington post is an online styled newspaper / blog that writes about politics, business and entertainment. Arianna’s website is read by hundreds of thousands of people. Websites http://www.huffingtonpost.com
* * * * *
#15 Matthew Mullenweg
	Why Matthew Made The List Without Matthew half of the people on this list wouldn’t be doing what they are today. Matt is the founder of the world’s best and most well known blogging software, WordPress. The reason he is on the list is because without all the new features Matt and his company release each month, we wouldn’t be having the results we are having today.Websites http://ma.tt http://wordpress.com http://automattic.com http://wordpress.org
* * * * *
#16 James Schramko
	Why James Made The List Another person I met at the Underground in 2009, James has really set a new standard for affiliate blogging. If you took James’s site and put it along side some of the top blogs in our list and looked at the traffic, James would only have a small fraction of their traffic but would most likely be earning more! Check out James’s website and learn how to create a affiliate funnel to bring in a lot more money from your blog!Websites http://www.internetmarketingspeed.com/about/ http://www.jamesschramko.com
* * * * *
#17 Pawan Agrawal
	Why Pawan Made The List Pawan first came to my notice back in 2007 when he launched MaxBlogPress Stripe Ad which is a stripe advert along the top of a blog which can still be seen on some of the blogs that made this list. Since then he has released multiple new products including WordPress Wizard, an eBook teaching you how to create a successful blog and also a WordPress plugin convert text into affiliates links.Websites http://www.maxblogpress.com
* * * * *
#18 Brian Gardner
	Why Brian Made The List Brian made our list because he has come so far in so little time. Around 2 years ago he had never owned a domain name or touched a piece of WordPress code. Today, he has a nice blog, and offers services alongside his blogging which include WordPress theme design, Website Strategy and Internet Marketing. Websites http://www.briangardner.com
* * * * *
#19 Gina Trapani
	Why Gina Made The List Gina is a Technophile, writer, and coder. She has her own podcast named TWIg, blogs on smarterware.org and also blogs about tech, is a programmer and also is a book author of “Upgrade Your Life: The Lifehacker Guide to Working Smarter, Faster, Better”. She is also a Sun certified Java programmer who builds Firefox extensions and web applications. Websites http://www.ginatrapani.org http://smarterware.org
* * * * *
#20 Jeremy Schoemaker
	Why Jeremy Made The List Jeremy made our list because of the content he publishes on Shoemoney.com Shoemoney teaches people how to make money online, something Jeremy is very good at, and passionate about. He is a very clever man, and his website gets thousands of daily readers. Jeremy is a big player in the blogosphere, and there is much to learn from himself and his website. Websites http://www.shoemoney.com
* * * * *
#21 Chris Brogan
	Why Chris Made The List Chris teaches entrepreneurs and bloggers how to use social media to build their business and brand. Chris can be seen speaking at some of the biggest events around the world and tweeting tips to his 100,000 twitter following.Websites http://www.chrisbrogan.com
* * * * *
#22 John Chow
	Why John Made The List John Chow, also known as the dot com mongol blogs about his life, and the miscellaneous ramblings of the dot com lifestyle. John influences many people, and teaches them how to make money online. All of Johns posts are original, fresh and interesting, not just your standard stuff. That’s why he shines over many competitors in the blogosphere. I have read Johns blog since a very early age when I was in school, back when he had just over 1,000 RSS Readers. Since then his blog has grown dramatically along with the internet. Keep up the good work John! Websites http://www.johnchow.com
* * * * *
#23 David Risley
	Why David Made The List David launched two blogging products this year, 3 day money and blog masters club which were both a big hit in the blogging world. David is most well known for being a 6 figure blogger in the tech industry but has recently been looked at as more of a guru to the bloggers. Look out in the coming months for the relaunch of his blogging membership website.Websites http://www.davidrisley.com
* * * * *
#24 Andy Beard
	Why Andy Made The List I always have know about Andy but never spent much time reading his content but earlier in the year I contacted him for a review and the wealth of knowledge he sent back in an email was just remarkable, a guy every blogger should be speaking with! Websites http://andybeard.eu
* * * * *
#25 Mario Lavandeira
	Why Mario Made The List Mario made our top 50 list because he is the founder of perezhilton.com, one of the biggest celebrity blogs. The notorious gossip columnist brands himself as queen of all media. The website has thousands of daily readers, and attracts alot of attention. Mario inspires many with his daily articles about news, celeb and gossip. Websites http://perezhilton.com
* * * * *
#26 Steve Pavlina
	Why Steve Made The List Steve writes a blog about personal development for smart people. Although his site has a plain design, its booming with traffic, so it just goes to show content is king. Steve has his own podcast and also speaks at many events. His blog attracts more than 2 millions readers every month! His book “Personal Development for Smart People” was published back in 2008, and since then been translated in to several languages. Websites http://www.stevepavlina.com
* * * * *
#27 Heather B. Armstrong
	Why Heather Made The List Heather, the founder of dooce.com made our list because of her compassion as a blogger and writer. Her website makes enough money to support her family, and enabled her husband to quit his day job. Heather has wrote books which include “It Sucked and Then I Cried” and “Things I Lenard About My Dad In Therapy”. Websites http://dooce.com
* * * * *
#28 Jake and Amir
	Why Jake and Amir Made The List When I think of funny videos, I think of college humor. Jake and Amir created this awesome website that attracts tens of thousands of daily readers. They have inspired thousands with their network of funny humorous videos, awesome images and funny ramblings. Websites http://www.collegehumor.com http://www.jakeandamir.com
* * * * *
#29 Al Carlton
	Why Al Made The List I first met Al by accident in 2006 on Digital Point forums and somehow I got him on MSN, after a random chat I realized he was one of top earning bloggers I knew but had one of the best business models. Simply blog about what you love and the money followed, TOP bloke, making blogging a more fun place. Websites http://www.coolest-gadgets.com http://selfmademinds.com
* * * * *
#30 Robb Sutton
	Why Robb Made The List Anyone who can get given over $100,000 worth of products to review for their blog in under 18 months is someone to be watching. I have been really impressed with what Robb has done in such a short time from his first blog, anyone who wants to make money reviewing products should check out his eBook.Websites http://robbsutton.com Ramped Reviews eBook
* * * * *
#31 Nick La
	Why Nick Made The List Nick made the list because he has influenced so many individuals including myself from a very young age. I remember reading his first blog ndesign-studio when I was in school. Nicks artwork, blog posts and overall designs influenced so many people and his site grew very fast. He then went on to launch bestwebgallery, webdesignerwall and recently icondock. Nick is a true inspiration to the art & design side of blogging. Websites http://www.ndesign-studio.com http://www.webdesignerwall.com http://bestwebgallery.com http://icondock.com
* * * * *
#32 Daniel Scocco
	Why Daniel Made The List Daniel made this list for a couple reasons, he has a small popular blog network know as “Daily” which he earns a full time living from but the really great thing about his blogs is his following, so many people have 10,000s of subscribers but they don’t seem to take action, care what you write about or share their point of view. This is not the case with Daniel’s blog, he has a strong community built around him that everyone should aspire to have.Websites http://www.dailyblogtips.com
* * * * *
#33 Ewdison Then
	Why Ewdison Made The List Ewdison contacted me earlier in the year when he saw me publish a post of the top earning bloggers, he mentioned he saw me it on Twitter and that he was earning over $60,000 a month from his tech blog. Ewdison has a great network of blogs where he uses several monetization techniques to make sure he doesn’t keep all his eggs in one basket.Websites http://www.ewdisonthen.com http://www.slashgear.com
* * * * *
#34 Hongkiat Lim
	Why Hongkiat Made The List Hongkiat Lim blogs on his very well known site hongkiat.com. He teaches people daily how to design, by providing tutorials, inspirational showcases and huge sets of resources for bloggers and designers. Hongkiat is a true inspiration to now only bloggers, but web designers. Websites http://www.hongkiat.com
* * * * *
#35 Alvin Phang
	Why Alvin Made The List Alvin is most well known for being the author of his eBook “Atomic Blogging” which teaches new bloggers how to make money from a blog. Alvin has made over $300,000 from blogging in the last 3 years and when asked if he would take twice that to work a 9 – 5 job again, would he take it? Phang replies, “Of course not, I will never do it, even if I am broke because I treasure and love the freedom of being my own boss”.Websites http://www.alvinphang.com http://www.gathersuccess.com Atomic Blogging
* * * * *
#36 Fabio Sasso
	Why Fabio Made The List Fabio started one of the most inspirational design blogs ever made, called Abduzeedo. There are some outstanding design showcases posted on there every month. His blog is all over search engine results, and he teaches thousands of people Photoshop every day. An inspirational person for sure, and that’s why he deserves to be on our Inspirational bloggers 2009 list. Websites http://fabiosasso.com http://abduzeedo.com
* * * * *
#37 Leo Babauta
	Why Leo Made The List Leo runs one of the top blogs in the world with over 140,000 subscribers he sure knows what people want out of a blog, CONTENT! Recently Leo has released a new blog teaching people how to write great content for there blog and how to create better blog posts. Leo proves to us all that you don’t need no $5000 design job, just a really clean, simple theme will do the job if your writing is up to scratch!Websites http://zenhabits.net
* * * * *
#38 Walter Apai
	Why Walter Made The List Walter made our list for sure with his website WebDesignerDepot. WDD has a large twitter base of over 60,000 people. Walter writes daily articles for WebDesignerDepot, including inspirational showcases and galleries, tutorials, tips and tricks, and ramblings. Walter has inspired many with his extremely creative, original and colorful website. Websites http://www.webdesignerdepot.com
* * * * *
#39 Ted Murphy
	Why Ted Made The List Ted Matters because he has created two great companies to help bloggers monetize their websites, them being IZEA and PayPerPost. IZEA represents over 250,000 bloggers and 25,000 advertisers worldwide. Put simply, they help advertisers identify people who will promote their products and services on their blog.Websites http://www.ted.me
* * * * *
#40 David Leggett
	Why David Made The List I first met David back in March after convincing him to come to Yanik Silver’s underground event. We both sat down in the lobby with other attendees giving out blogging advise and setting up there blogs. When I returned home to England he took my idea for IncomeDiary and brought it to a whole new level. Leggett adds the wow factor to every site he gets his hands on, if you ever get the chance to work with him, take it! Websites http://www.theleggett.com http://www.tutorial9.net http://www.uxbooth.com
* * * * *
#41 Skellie
	Why Skellie Made The List We think Skellie deserves to be on the list, because she manages all of the Tuts+ network which is owned by Envato. That Tuts+ network consists of many different tutorial blog sites including the famous PSDTuts that started it all out, NetTuts, AETuts and so many more. Its the biggest tutorial networks on the internet today and every day teaches thousands of people about design and programming. Websites http://www.skelliewag.org http://tutsplus.com
* * * * *
#42 Rosalind Gardner
	Why Rosalind Made The List Rosalind made our list because she is a truly inspirational person. When she first started blogging, she received a first check for $10.99, and by the end of the year was turning over $5,000 a month. Rosalind blogs about affiliate marketing, blogging, content development, traffic generation, business strategy and many more topics. Websites http://www.netprofitstoday.com
* * * * *
#43 Michael Martine
	Why Michael Made The List Michael has been exploring the web and making websites since 1997. He created his first blog in the year 2000, and since then has come a long way. Michael runs remarkablogger.com where he blogs about marketing, and also coaches individuals and large groups about blogging. Websites http://remarkablogger.com
* * * * *
#44 Rob Benwell
	Why Rob Made The List I first met Rob back in 2006 when he spoke at Yanik Silver’s underground seminar and he shared a wealth of information about blogging, some stuff people haven’t even heard of yet! When it comes to blogging, this guy knows his stuff! 3 years old and he has made over a million dollars from blogging and from selling his best selling eBook on blogging!Websites http://bloggingtothebank.com/bttb/
* * * * *
#45 Lorelle VanFossen
	Why Lorelle Made The List Lorelle is most well known for helping people learn more about blogging and WordPress. On her personal blog which is surprisingly still hosted on the WordPress.com domain she gives out tips, advice and techniques for blogging and using WordPress.Websites http://lorelle.wordpress.com
* * * * *
#46 Chris Garrett
	Why Chris Made The List Chris co-authored the ProBlogger book with Darren Rowse which shares secrets for blogging your way to a Six-Figure Income. As well as his the book and his personal blog, Chris writes for some of the biggest blogs on the internet including Blog Herald, FreelanceSwitch and CopyBlogger.Websites http://www.chrisg.com
* * * * *
#47 Carl Ocab
	Why Carl Made The List I first found out about Carl when he was 13 years old and he had launched his first main blog about making money online. Carl has made this list because he has set a standard for ALL young bloggers who want to make money blogging. He has inspired and shown that anyone young can get online blogging and make it big. Although Carl hasn’t blogged much this year, he released a premium blog theme which has been really popular among some of the top bloggers.Websites http://www.carlocab.com http://www.ultimatebloggingtheme.com
* * * * *
#48 Joost de Valk
	Why Joost Made The List Joost is well known for his search engine marketing and speed to user experience, the things a lot of people forget, yet are really important. On his personal blog and at live events,  he shares tips and tricks for WordPress users to get more out of there blogs.Websites http://yoast.com
* * * * *
#49 Jack Humphrey
	Why Jack Made The List Jack runs the Friday traffic report, which is a blog on blog marketing tips. Jack talks about blog promotion, social marketing, interviews people, link building tips and many more. He also has his own radio show. Jack has influenced many bloggers, and has a huge reader audience. Websites http://www.fridaytrafficreport.com
* * * * *
#50 Lisa Irby
	Why Lisa Made The List LIsa Irby deserves to be on our list, because she created the website 2createawebsite.com where all beginners can go to find out how to create a blog from start to finish. The brainstorming process, design process and finishing result all included. Lisa has influenced many new people into creating their own blog using her forever growing guide. Also included in her free online guide are video tutorials, free blog creation software / builders and many more tips and tricks. Websites http://www.2createawebsite.com

To Our Success,

Michael Dunlop

PS. To have your chance of being on this list next year, check out my FREE eCourse to making money blogging by clicking here!

PPS. Who has made the biggest impact in the way you do blogging?

In this interview Robb and I will cover just how he was able to get so much great FREE stuff (some bikes are worth over $5,000!) and how you can to.

Interview Transcript:

Like I just said, you have nearly got $100, 000 worth of review products. Would you like to go over with us how you began to approach companies to get products to review?

Robb: Most contact is through email, obviously. When I go through certain companies looking for different products to review, I take a look at their websites and see who that first initial contact could be through email.

I then send out a… Basically I blast out not a form email but a personalized email towards the company showing them that I know what their product is, if I have used it in the past, and what I would like to do with their product on my site.

Luckily, in the beginning I had some initial relationships with people in the industry that were able to help me get going. But for the most part it is cold calling at this point, or they have, at this point, contacted me to see if I want to review their products on my site. So it is growing nicely and it is getting easier by the day.

Before Robb Started Blogging

I was talking to you earlier and you told me that you started about a year and a half ago.  This is a crazy amount of money to be able to get in such a short amount of time; $100, 000 worth of products to review. How much of that do you actually get to keep? Do you have to send it back?

Robb: At this point we are right at about the $50, 000 mark on being able to keep it, which is pretty crazy. If you walk into my garage it is like a toy store.

A lot of the bikes that get up into the pretty expensive range are demo bikes that have to be sent back. But most of the components, several of the bikes, and a multitude of electronics and that kind of stuff all get to be kept after the review is complete.

Were you blogging much before you started this blog review site?

Robb: Actually none.

So you just jumped straight into this and…?

Robb: At first.

Wow. That is pretty impressive. Where did you find out how to blog? Were there any courses or books that you read? What would you recommend for anyone new starting off to learn what you had to learn?

Robb: Well originally I started off like probably most people do with a blogger format. And after about four posts I knew that wasn’t going to do it because I wasn’t able to customize it enough.

So I started reading sites like problogger.net, Yaro’s entrepreneursjourney.com; all the big guys that everyone already knows about. Luckily, they have a lot of really good content that is all buried in the site. So I just spent hours and hours reading.

After about three to four months worth of blogging I had seen pretty good success, actually, from what I was considering. And I decided to join Yaro’s Blog Mastermind course to just fine tune what I was doing.

Luckily, after going through the course I was pretty surprised. I was doing a lot of things right, but I was also hurting myself in a lot of ways as well. So that really fine tuned my margin of error. And after I cleaned up some things, got some different content up, things really started to grow.

Can anyone just start asking for products to review like you did, or would you recommend you start your blog and build up a bit? What is your advice on that?

Robb: I would definitely build up just a little bit. It is hard to ask someone to review their product if they go to your site and they don’t see any product reviews. So normally I tell people to review everything you can get your hands on. If you are passionate about what you are reviewing, you should have some stuff lying around, or at least your friends should.

So what I started doing was just reviewing everything I owned, everything my friends owned, and built up basically a little bit of a database of reviews on my blog, about 20 to 30, so that I had a track record to go off of when I approached companies for their review product.

I was able to point to search engine results, point to certain reviews, comments left on my site, and that kind of stuff. So if you build up your own resume it definitely helps during the process.

So it is great that you have got all these free products, but what is the point if you are not going to make money from it? So how do you turn these reviews into profits?

Robb: Well one, review products or reviews on blogs are very search engine friendly. When people are searching for something on the web, they generally go to Google or somewhere else, type in the product name review. So you can convert that traffic alone through advertising and several other conventional blog avenues.

But what I found is really the affiliate sales through product reviews is probably the most profitable from a product review blog post standpoint. For just about every single product out there, there are affiliate programs that are either online retailers or directly through the company.

So if you write an honest review that tells the good and the bad of the product, you normally can convert that into sales right at the end of the review, even if for a lot of online retailers it is only 5%. If you are talking about a $1, 000 product at 5%, you can see that adds up pretty quickly.

Robb's Garage Now That He's Got A Review Blog

Robb: It is affiliate, direct advertising, and you can sell the product also if you are complete.

Not many bloggers actually know you can get products to review for their blogs. So does this give you a huge advantage over your competition? And if so, how would you drive traffic to these reviews and let people know about them?

Robb: Absolutely. I think there is a misconception out there that the free product for review is limited to big publications that have a lot of money backing. What companies are starting to realize now more than ever is that the concentrated audience you have as a blogger is exactly what they are looking for.

Lead generation from companies these days is extremely expensive. So for the price of one product, they can reach your target audience that is looking to purchase things in that niche.

And what a lot of people also don’t realize is that it is not the retail price that they are counting. It is the cost to the manufacturer. So there actual cost to give you, say, a $1, 000 product is probably only about $500 or $600 max.

So once you realize that you are really able to play off of that and provide a real worth to the company that is about to give you something to review.

It also takes a little bit of time and effort on your part. I don’t think a lot of people out there really want to take it seriously. They have this idea in their head. They love to get free stuff, but they don’t technically want to put the work into it.

So the people that actually want to put the work into it and show that they are serious have a pretty easy time getting in free stuff to review.

So it is clear you have got a great passion for biking. Do you think your blog would be anywhere near successful if you didn’t have this passion for biking?

Robb: Oh, absolutely not. I probably would have given up six months ago.

The thing about blogging is you have got to do it everyday, and you have got to write, and write, and write. And if you are not passionate about it you are eventually just going to fizzle out because why are you doing it then?

Most of blogging, the first six months of the year, you are not making much, so you have got to have something to keep you going through the growing times. And the only thing that keeps you going is enjoying what you are doing.

So you have mentioned that you have got to blog pretty much everyday. Do you ever get blogger’s block where you can’t write anymore? How would you overcome this?

Robb: Every now and then. Sometimes you brain just locks up and you are like, “Wow. I have got to put something up, ” and you can’t seem to think of anything!

Whenever I do that, I really just imagine myself in the situation that I am blogging about. With mountain biking, it is real easy to think of last weekend when I was out riding. Or, I just get out and ride.

Interacting with your subject matter is probably the easiest way to come up with topics. If you are blogging about blogging, you blog, and then that comes up with ideas. Or if you are blogging about gardening, you go out and plant a flower. I don’t know.

You know, it jumpstarts your brain and it gets you thinking inside your subject matter instead of on the outside just trying to write an article.

So you actually wrote an e-book on exactly how you have managed to get all these free products for review. Do you want to share with us just a bit about this e-book and what we can expect to learn from it?

Robb: Yeah. The e-book is Ramped Reviews. It actually happened on accident. After about eight months of blogging with the mountain biking site, I started getting a lot of questions from other bloggers on how I got in on this free product to review.

And when I started researching around online I saw that there really wasn’t a good resource to show you how to build a review blog. So I just filled that need. My background in corporate America helped me write an e-book like this, because I had actually been on the other end of the spectrum.

I have had people call me asking for my stuff I used to sell for review. So I took that process step by step from day one all the way to the end on how to start a review blog, how to write a review, how to contact companies, and what to do after they have given your product a review.

There is a lot of that back and forth conversation that I don’t think a lot of bloggers out there have had before. A lot of them come from Internet backgrounds but not business to business relations. It is basically everything you need to know about review blogging.

So you have mentioned how you get the product, and you have mentioned that you need to write review on that product. But how do you write the review so it actually makes you money, because you said you have to promote product, but it is important to write in a style that will actually sell?

Robb: Oh, yeah. Absolutely. The glorified advertisement no longer works, especially in the blogging world. If every review you put up is how great the thing is just because you are trying to convert sales, you are not going to convert any.

People have become really skeptical of reviews that seem like it is too good to be true. So as long as you stay completely honest with what you are doing, those convert very well into sales. It really just boils down to honesty is the best measure.

So pretty much what you are saying is nothing is perfect and you have to point out what is good and what is bad.

Robb: Yeah. And it is also good to tell the readers who is the perfect person for this product. Kind of spell out, “Look. If you do this, this, and this, this is probably for you. If you do this and this, it probably isn’t.” Really, pinpointing your lead is basically the best way I could put it.

At the beginning of the interview you mentioned you were doing some things right, but you were also doing quite a few things wrong. So if you could just jump in a time machine and go back to when you started, what were those things you did wrong and what would you do differently?

Robb: I am paying for some of those right now. In the next 60 days we are going to fix some things. One of the biggest things that I have come across is that when I picked the URL, MTBtrailreview.com, it had a lot of meaning for what was going to be a user submitted site. But it was hard to remember. And at that time I really didn’t think about it.

So if I could jump back, I would have picked something a lot easier to remember that I could tell people as far as, “You can get to my site by going here.” When you say mtvtrailreview.com people get like, “What? I need to write that down.”

So a URL that is related to your subject matter that is easy to remember would be the first step. Try not to get too complicated. The other thing would be… I am pretty happy with the way I did a lot of things. But organization from the beginning is a big thing also; categories, tags.

I had to go back later and fix a lot of that stuff, because I made way too many categories and was using way too many tags. So there was a lot of wasted time in cleaning up old posts that could have been avoided if I would have stayed more organized from the beginning.

And really, that comes down to having a clear game plan and not just winging it. If you sit down and really plan out what you want to do at the very beginning, you can get over a lot of headaches in the future.

Earlier in the interview you also mentioned about SEO and making sure people could find you on Google for each review. Obviously this is very important to you, so would you like to just quickly share a couple tips for writing, on how to write for the search engines to make sure people can find you?

Robb: Yeah, definitely. And this is actually a funny subject, because I emailed a manufacturer of a bike last week and I told him to search for one of his bikes, and I popped up in the number one ranking above him. He got a good laugh out of that.

But the biggest thing I found is title selection is incredibly important. When you go to pick your title for your post, it needs to have all the necessary elements of a product review. If your model year is very specific, you need to have model year, make, model, and the word review.

Robb Doing What He Does Best.... (Nope, not blogging.... Mountain Biking ;D)

I see a lot of review bloggers try to get really creative with their titles, which looks great when you are looking in your RSS reader. But when Google is searching for relevant content related to that product, it needs to be able to find it quickly and easily.

So by having a very specific title, “Widget Review 2008″, or something like that, it is very good for search engine results. I have also found that as many pictures and as many multimedia objects as you can is also a good thing.

Labeling all your pictures correctly, from the file name, to the alternate text, to any captions helps your keyword density. If you are going to use title tags, which most people do, H2, H3′s, make sure you have the product name in each one of those.

Basically, you want to spread the product name throughout the post as much as possible without sounding like you are just trying to repeat the product name over and over again. You are writing for the reader and you will always be writing for the reader.

But there are certain ways that you can tweak that article, so that Google and other search engines see that as a relevant topic for their readers that are searching.

I would probably say the title, title tags, doing images, and other multimedia correctly is probably the biggest.

Search engines obviously bring you quite a lot of traffic. Is there anything else you do to drive traffic, anything else you would recommend to other review blogs?

Robb: Yeah. Luckily, since I was already so embedded in the industry, I was a member of several different forum sites that are pretty large. So once I started, especially in the early days of starting the blog, I would put the link to my blog in the forum signature. If something came up that I thought people would find interesting, I started a thread on that article.

The key there was is that I wasn’t just at that forum to promote my blog. I was actually integrated in the community, so it wasn’t looked at as spam. You run a risk with forums and they are very sensitive to spam.

So if you just get on there and you have only got five posts, and all of a sudden you are promoting your stuff, you are just going to get laughed right out of the forum site. You really need to be an integrated part of that forum before you start pushing your own stuff.

I also partnered with the largest mountain biking forum in the world in helping them star their product review section of their site. So I was able to promote my blog through my reviews that I wrote for them as well, and that helped out a lot.

Quick Fire Questions:

The first one is what is the best advice you have ever been given?

Robb: Never give up.

What do you like least about the Internet?

Robb: People that like to put you down just because they can’t get what they have got going; negative comments, that kind of stuff from anonymous people who would rather not say their name but have nothing wrong with saying something negative.

Michael: Oh, yeah. I get that pretty much every day of the week.

Robb: Exactly. You get immune to it, but the first ones sting.

Michael: Yeah. Definitely the first few times you are just sort of sucker punch. You just want to take a few minutes out. It can affect you but you have just got to look past it and get used to it.

Robb: Normally if someone is saying something negative, you are doing something right.

Michael: Yeah. Exactly. All publicity is good publicity they say. When you do something wrong and people pick up on it, it is not always a bad thing.

Robb: Exactly.

What do you like most about the Internet then?

Robb: The social media aspect of it. I have met a lot of people through my websites and that kind of stuff. I have got friends all over the world now where 10 years ago that wouldn’t have been possible.

Who do you look up to most online? Who is your role model for your business?

Robb: That would probably be split between Darren and Yaro. Darren just topped 300, 000 subscribers on his digital photography blog, and that in itself is amazing. That and Yaro’s ability to create member sites and really live that dot com lifestyle that everyone talks about is a pretty cool deal.

I know there are probably a lot of people that probably go to them as their go to, but after dealing with them on a professional level and personal level, they are both great guys.

Is there anything you want to share with us before we end this interview? Anything personal, business, perhaps a biking event?

Robb: The biggest thing I always just try to remember is that the only thing that stands between you and success is yourself. A lot of people give up way too early. Just when it gets the hardest is when you are about to make it, so you have just got to keep pushing through. If you know you have a good idea, just stick with it.

To check out and buy Robb’s eBook showing you how he got given $100,000′s worth of FREE stuff from companys to review on his blog, click here. You can also check out Robb’s mountain bike review blog by clicking here!