The number of success stories and people who make money online (from home) has risen substantially since I first started in this industry in 2005.
In this article, I want to give you insight into 10 particular people, whom I personally know, all of which are incredible individuals, whose websites you should check out and learn from.
These people were my inspiration as I was coming up and in many ways, I am now among them. I want to make a quick note that when it comes to success stories, it can be a subjective word.
There are those who build real businesses online, truly create value and happy visitors, and there are those who create an illusion of that and scam others. Both parties are technically successful, but the latter is really an unethical version and one I would never include on this list.
Fortunately the 10 people I have to introduce you to here are part of the good team and you can be assured that if you learn from them, that it’ll be the legitimate way to make it in this business. I also updated this article and added even more similar success stories (see below). In addition, I have included links to each of the 10 people’s sites providing you with extra browsing research.
Here are the 10 and their top affiliate marketing blogs to look at:
#10: Myself (Vitaliy).
I’ve made over 20 sites in my 10+ years doing this. 3-4 of them crossed over six figures in earnings (each). The way I learned to make money online was through a program called Wealthy Affiliate, through which by the way I met the other 9 on this list.
That program taught me to make an online business through creating a niche site/s and promoting products there through affiliate marketing.
One of my greatest and proudest websites to date is this one you’re on (Howtomakehonestmoneyonline.com). Here are some real sales stats from it.
#9: Nathaniel (Rick).
I met Rick in Vegas during an affiliate conference in 2015. His beginnings are similar to mine in that we both started through Wealthy Affiliate. Rick runs several niche blogs, including one that like my site also helps people succeed in this difficult world of making money online.
I will say that Rick is more successful than I because he works longer and takes greater risks with his online business and as such, though he started later in the game than I, he has become more knowledgeable in the process.
One of his sites is Onemorecupof-coffee.com. Highly recommended page to check out.
#8: Ian (Mr. Pribs) as I call him.
Ian is a very passionate individual whom I too met in Vegas the same year I met Rick. He runs multiple affiliate marketing websites and eCommerce pages and constantly engages in new, entrepreneurial experiments, both online and offline.
One thing I really admire Ian for is that he doesn’t mind taking a big risk, works very ethically and has a great sense of humor. Here is one of his sites: Stoppingscams.com and like the name suggests, he really does an excellent and honest job of doing this as one of his main goals is reviewing online marketing, aka work from home programs, which he gives accurate and fair reviews off.
I strongly recommend checking out his site as well. Ian has also created his own education program like Wealthy Affiliate, called FIMP.
#7: Steve.
While his last name is really long and confusing for me to pronounce (He’ll understand :)), Steve is also one of the greats when it comes to making successful websites.
His page: IveTriedThat.com is an excellent example of how far someone can go through blogging great content, which in Steve’s case is mainly about helping people work from home like he does.
#6: Wendy.
Wendy is a female affiliate marketer I also met in Vegas with the rest of this awesome group. She runs a page called SurvivingAfterCollege.com where she does similar writings that all of us do (blogging about working from home).
Considering how much of an issue there is for college students to find work after graduating nowadays, her blog is certainly one to check out 🙂
#5: Eddy (Not Eddie :)).
Eddy is a good friend of mine and also part of this Wealthy Affiliate network. As with the rest of us, Eddy does similar work in that he reviews good and bad opportunities on the internet.
His page is called: Workfromhomenoscams.com.
Eddy has extensive experience with affiliate marketing, regular online job sites, Amazon, Google Adsense and more and he has done very well in this business, earning six figures and more as an internet marketer.
#4: Alex (Sasha).
Another buddy of mine, Alex runs a combination of a blog site dedicated to teaching people about making money online and also one of the only people on this list who hosts his own podcast.
The content is free on both fronts and recommended to anyone and everyone interested in entrepreneurial ideas that have immense substance: Blog.Extra-Paycheck.com.
#3: Jay.
Aside from the last 2 individuals on this list, I will say that Jay is quite possibly one of the MOST knowledgeable internet marketers I have ever met. I do consider him a guru at internet marketing. The man has pretty much done it all when it comes to the different ways to work from home:
Like many on this list, including me, he teaches people to make money online via his site: Affiliateresources.org.
He is also an incredibly successful and knowledgeable local marketer who helps businesses get recognized on Google locally, worldwide and through paid ads. I have on many occasions come to him for advice and he knows his stuff. He helps businesses through his other site: Magistudios.com
He also constantly experiments with various ways to learn a living online and shares his knowledge to members of Wealthy Affiliate through a weekly, live webinar, one which typically runs over an hour long and has priceless information on it.
I have learned more than I can imagine from just several and he has made well over 200 so far! And if you missed or miss any of his webinars, worry not as they are recorded and available in the webinar archives within Wealthy Affiliate if you’re a member.
Jay also runs his own coaching program called Affiliate Coach, which I personally recommend as well.
#2: Dom.
Dom also has similar starting points as all of us, but I personally met him through the same Wealthy Affiliate program when I was looking for people to promote a big product I was promoting with a partner.
It was a women’s fitness program and Dom was one of my first affiliate promoters. He ended up being our best seller.
Later on Dom became even more successful and started his own marketing company called Human Proof Designs where he sells websites and other marketing services. Here is his site: Humanproofdesigns.org.
#1: Kyle and Carson.
I put 2 people into 1 section because these 2 are partners. They created the very program that brought all of us together and made us all successful:
Wealthy Affiliate and I will be talking about it in a moment.
I met these 2 guys in Vegas as well as the others. They were the ones who invited us to visit them there and paid for our whole trip.
With the way we all learned to succeed in this business, we did so by learning from Kyle and Carson. What these guys did was they took that same knowledge and basically started a “college” type program to teach the world about this stuff and through it, they created what is in my opinion (and it’s hard to say otherwise), the biggest and most comprehensive internet marketing program in the world.
If you want to learn to do what we do, you need to learn how to do it through Wealthy Affiliate, period. But these guys are out of everyone else on the list here, the most success people in the business, absolutely millionaires and honest ones at that.
Where to find all of us, in one place:
You are absolutely welcome to check out any of their websites I listed above. But if you want an all in one place to find us all, it’s inside Wealthy Affiliate, no where else. We are all active on that site daily and helping others rise in this business like we once were.
Want to see more success stories?
Here you go, and they are all Wealthy Affiliate members too. Enjoy 🙂
I read the 2nd article first which brought me to this 1st article and now I’m even more excited then I was 10 minutes ago reading the 2nd one. I’ve already marked your page as a favorite to come back to and get the free coaching (still wished I signed up under you!).
I follow a couple of more people in this article as well, including Kyle and Carson also. Going to have to dig into Jay’s webinars too when I get stuck on things instead of asking questions. Jay probably has it covered and explained in depth. Thanks again.
Jason
Hi Jason, by now you probably know that both I and WA in general welcome questions. I just recommend asking them after you start the training so that you don’t get the usual response which is to do the training. Most of your questions then will be much better aimed and easier to answer.
People who don’t do the training can think up a plethora of questions, but through doing the training, they’ll be able to see which of their original questions aren’t worth asking anymore (or are answered in the training itself) and then it will be more narrowed down to asking pertinent questions to get the type of answers to help them move forward.
Vitaliy,
Great article, man. I’ve been getting a LOT of value from your content.
This one especially. I’ve been studying a lot of the top sites in the Wealthy Affiliate network, and they are all unique and creative in their own way, but what they all have in common, yours included, is quality content. I’m definitely striving to achieve that standard right now! Hopefully, I can make some top ten list of sorts in the future 😉
Cheers.
Thank you as always Wilson! I honestly think, given all of our dialogue that you’re on the right path to truly being another success story in the internet world and I honestly look forward to that day my friend!
Hi, Vitaliy!
It’s AWESOME to see and hear about folks making money from this internet thing. There are numerous people out there calling affiliate marketing a scam and that it doesn’t pay off, etc…
But I’ve come to realize that these are the folks that tried something just once, didn’t work hard enough, and then complain on the web because they didn’t get any results.
It’s great that you’ve personally had success, Vitaliy, and I also find it inspiring to learn about every other successful “webpreneur” here.
It sure shows that Wealthy Affiliate works IF people do! I guess it must feel amazing when you’re earning 6-figure income, especially when it gives you so many choices in life – choices that are “limited” when you’re an employee on a salary.
Neil
Thank you Neil. I honestly understand the people who call affiliate marketing a scam, because I know that most of them get taken by scams and there’s a lot of them out there. The probability is that someone who is searching for ways to make money is going to run into them, but I do agree, many people don’t work hard enough with this stuff and that definitely affects their results.
It’s always great to see who is having success with affiliate marketing. It gives hope and inspiration to those who are working hard towards to the dream of freedom from money worries and a 9-5 job. While I may not have yet made the top ten, I am definitely having success with the Wealthy Affiliate program. If you follow the steps that are put out by those who are successful, you can’t help but succeed. Thanks so much for sharing.
No problem and I am glad to hear you’re doing well with this program Sunny!
This is some great inspiration for someone that is very new to this! I’m about one and a half months in to this now and it’s hard to imagine the traffic and money coming in at this point. But I know that I if I keep working on my site, keep learning and taking action daily I will eventually get there.
Great stuff, thanks for sharing!
Nic
Hi Nic, the very same people on this list including me also had to go through what you are going through now, but if you’re a member of WA, this type of thing is expected for anyone who gets involved in internet marketing initially, but it gets easier and better as you keep working on it.
Hi Vitaliy,
Thanks for posting the inspirational stories here of regular people achieving great things in their online businesses. And the Vegas opportunities for you to meet like minded individuals is a stroke of genius. It gives hope to those who are striving for success. I hope that you can encourage and motivate people to take the plunge into creating their very own online business.
Thank you!
Thank you Melissa, but all I can do is share this info. The fact is a lot of people join programs like this without actually trying to get anywhere with it. It is no easy task to achieve success online, but with this program, you at least have a road map and I’ll tell you this, having that is actually HUGE.
Vitaliy,
As a member of WA family, I am proud to read your post. I am 3 months into WA and my niche is about natural living.
But I have a yearning in my heart to begin a niche site about internet marketing. Posts such as yours are adding oil to that burning fire. I will start boot camp training very soon with a new internet marketing niche site. Thanks a lot for telling about your’s and others achievements which boost our enthusiasm.
I’m glad you liked this post! I want to quickly comment on your niche which I would suggest defining a bit more before moving forward with it. In regards to internet marketing, this is a good, yet competitive topic you can start another site in, but always put the biggest emphasis on the site whose niche topic you like most.
I will tell you that the people I listed in this post have websites outside the internet marketing realm which cover other niche topics and make them money from that, so you don’t have to narrow yourself into only thinking that an internet marketing related niche site is the only way to go, it’s not.