Blog, niche site and newsletter case studies — 3/3
Blog and niche site cases
49–62 of 62
Fin vs Fin: Profit Down 75% After a Google Update, Still Sold for Seven Figures — a “Damaged Asset” Exit Strategy
Wellness-product comparison site Fin vs Fin grew to $1M in annual revenue and $70K in monthly profit, then saw organic traffic cut in half by Google's Helpful Content Update. Even so, armed with 300+ brand partnerships and its revenue data, it drew 10 LOIs and sold for seven figures — three times annual profit — holding the discount to just 15%.
Extra Points: A Newsletter With 679 Paid Subscribers and $4,300/Month, Sold for “Cash + a Job + Equity” — Then Bought Back Three Years Later
Extra Points, a newsletter covering the business side of college sports, was sold to D1.ticker at the stage of 679 paid subscribers and roughly $4,300 in monthly revenue, for a package of cash + a writing job + equity (low six figures, about 2x ARR). Founder Matt Brown kept writing after the sale and bought the business back in 2024.
EventMB: An Italian Side-Project Blog Becomes the Industry’s Standard-Bearer — the Sale to Skift, After Two Collapsed Deals
EventMB, a side-project blog started in southern Italy in 2007, grew into the event-tech industry's specialist media outlet with 50,000 subscribers and 300,000 monthly visits, and was sold to travel-industry media giant Skift in 2019 (price undisclosed). Two collapsed deals, a husband-and-wife operation, and the rare ending in which a pandemic became a tailwind after the sale.
Career Sidekick: Selling a Career Site Doing $50K a Month at 80% Margins — Growth by “Niching Down Twice,” and the Exit
Career Sidekick, the career-advice site of former recruiter Biron Clark, grew to 1 million monthly visits (80%+ from search), $50K+ per month, and 80%+ profit margins, and was sold in December 2022 to Singapore's Amai Group (price undisclosed). The brokered sale was "a second job lasting 2–4 months."
Marketing Examples: 130,000 Subscribers in Three and a Half Years — a “Distribution” Playbook and a $2,300/Month Sponsor Slot
Harry Dry's free newsletter Marketing Examples launched in April 2019 and reached 130,000 subscribers in about three and a half years. A Product Hunt launch brought 2,000, and the rest came from manual distribution into 15-20 Facebook groups and beyond. One sponsor slot started at $2,300/month.
Bike-Tech Blog BikeRumor Sells to AllGear Digital for Six Figures. A Niche Media Site Joins the Roll-Up
BikeRumor, a blog covering new bike products and technology, was sold by founder Tyler Benedict for six figures (tens of millions of yen) to AllGear Digital Media. The buyer also owns Pack Hacker — roll-ups of gear media have become the standard exit for the category.
Living Cozy: After Six Failed SaaS Startups, a 350K-Monthly-Visitor Home-Decor Comparison Site Sold for Six Figures in Three Years
Ash Read failed at six software companies, then built the home-decor comparison site Living Cozy on weekends using Webflow, grew it to 350K monthly pageviews and an 80% margin, and sold it via Flippa for six figures in 2023. The turning point was giving up on being "a builder" and leaning into his 10 years of skill instead.
Side-Business Blog "Tsuzuki Blog": From ¥42,000 to ¥1 Million a Month in One Year. Breaking Down the Published Monthly Data
Tsuzuki Blog began in earnest in January 2019 while its author handled SEO at an IT company. Month six: ¥69,000 in revenue (¥17,000 AdSense + ¥52,000 affiliate) on about 21,000 pageviews. Revenue concentrated in 2–3 VOD articles, reaching ¥1 million a month roughly one year in. We break down the published monthly data.
Over ¥10 Million in a Peak Month — and "80% of My Articles Dropped": Three Top Bloggers Reveal the Light and Dark Sides of the Numbers
Hitode (over ¥10 million/month at peak across all sites), Kiguchi (¥500 million cumulative — but annual income swung ¥30M → ¥100M → ¥30M through Google updates), and Tsuzuki (¥1 million/month within a year). A top-blogger roundtable that lets us read both the ceiling and the fragility of blog income in hard numbers.
Sanzzo: ¥100 million cumulative from a side-hustle blog — stacking over ¥20 million in six months on top of ¥3.77M/month, across multiple sites
Sanzzo (Tomomasa Yoshioka) started side-hustle blogging in June 2013 and passed ¥100M cumulative revenue by February 2020. His May 2019 monthly income was ¥3.77M across 7 sites — the structure behind sustaining ¥3–4M/month.
Acquired a blog with 400,000 annual pageviews in 6 days. Cut 550 articles down to 100, and visitors rose to 120% in 2 months
A company employee acquired a blog and YouTube channel with 400,000 annual pageviews as a side business. It closed in 6 days from buy offer to deal. After taking over, he trimmed 550 articles down to 100 and rewrote them, splitting the site into 3 categories. Two months after handover, visitor numbers had risen to 120%.
The Generalist: 60,000 Subscribers, $308K in Annual Revenue — a Paid Media Outlet Built on 40 Hours of Writing a Week
The Generalist, a newsletter dissecting tech companies in long-form, reached 60,000 subscribers and $308K (about ¥46.2 million) in annual revenue one year after going full-time. This piece examines the breakdown of a labor-intensive model built on 40+ hours of writing a week.
20 years of a travel blog, from $8,000/month to $35/month. Reading the record of the fall, in numbers
Ikura, who runs the travel blog "Single Traveler" launched in 2004, discloses her revenue. At its peak she earned about 1.2 million yen a month (1 million from affiliates, 200,000 from AdSense); during the pandemic it fell to zero; as of November 2023 she earns about 5,000 yen a month on roughly 50,000 monthly PV.
eBiz Facts: $4,199/Month Reviewing Get-Rich-Quick Courses — Why It Pushes Readers Away From the Products It Reviews
Ireland-born Niall Doherty launched course-review site "eBiz Facts" in December 2018. It now averages $4,199/month over the trailing six months, with $2,708 in profit. The turning point was the very first project: buying a course with his own money and testing it for six weeks before writing anything.