As I mentioned in my ‘Fat, Lazy Blogger‘ post, I have recently trimmed the amount of blogs that I subscribe to from over 300 to under 45!

What that experience taught me was to be critical on the content that I allow to enter my mind. I have always been a big believer in the quote:

‘You become like the people you hang around’

And to be honest, the majority of the blogs I subscribed to where not what I wanted StandOutBlogger to become.

This got me thinking about the type of blog that I wanted to have and the blogs that I subscribe too that have already achieved the success that I aim for. So, using that as my guide, here is a list of blogs that I admire and a few reasons why.

NOTE: You may start to realise that there are a lot of popular ‘blogs about blogging’ that I left out. The reason I did this was because I want to learn from the people who are making it work for themselves outside of my niche – so that I do not become just like every other ‘blog about blogging’ blog- because the truth is, the majority of them are not making very much money!

1. Entrepreneurs-Journey.com – (Subscribe)

entrepreneurs journey If I Could Only Subscribe To 10 Blogs...Blogger: Yaro Starak

Why: Entrepreneurs Journey was literally the first blog that I ever started reading – and was in fact my inspiration to start blogging myself.

Having watched him go from just a couple of thousand a month to now making over $500,000 a year (while keeping his integrity), sees Yaro’s blog at the top of my list. He hast just posted a great video  of a presentation he made in 2009 about Website Flipping – well worth a watch. (@YaroStarak)

How Yaro Makes Money:

2. IncomeDiary.com – (Subscribe)

income diary If I Could Only Subscribe To 10 Blogs...Blogger: Michael Dunlop

Why: While Michael does talk about blogging, his focus is on making money and one of the tips that I have tried to implement myself is his ‘No Leakage rule’. The one BIG thing that Income Diary brings to the table is inspiration – through a large selection of high profile interviews! (@IncomeDiary)

How Michael Makes Money:

3. ViperChill.com – (Subscribe)

viperchill If I Could Only Subscribe To 10 Blogs...Blogger: Glen Allsopp

Why: ViperChill totally breaks the myth that you need to be posting every day to have a successful growing content. Each article is well thought out and contains little gems that readers can implement into their own sites. You can tell by the amount comments and ReTweets that his posts get, I am not the only one who likes Glen’s content. (@ViperChill)

How Glen Makes Money:

Glen doesn’t promote anything from ViperChill (which is refreshing), he makes his money from running other websites – which you will learn about when you subscribe.

4. GaryVaynerchuk.com – (Subscribe)

gary vee If I Could Only Subscribe To 10 Blogs...Blogger: Gary Vaynerchuk

Why: Gary Vee has gained a massive following after the release of his best selling book ‘Crush It! If I Could Only Subscribe To 10 Blogs...‘ (I am currently about halfway through and it is fantastic!). Well that was my first experience of Gary and I since then I have been going through the videos on his blog and just trying to take in the passion that he just exudes! (@GaryVee)

How Gary Makes Money:

5. TheFourHourWorkWeek.com – (Subscribe)

tim ferriss If I Could Only Subscribe To 10 Blogs...Blogger: Tim Ferriss

Why: Another author, this time of the NYT’s bestseller ‘The 4-Hour Workweek If I Could Only Subscribe To 10 Blogs...‘, It is Tim’s creativity that draws me to his content. His blog posts are full of ways to simplify processes and free up time – plus his travel tips aren’t half bad either! (@TFerriss)

How Tim Makes Money:

Tim recently sold his supplement business BrainQuicken and now makes money from his book If I Could Only Subscribe To 10 Blogs... and ‘angel investing’ (in companies such as DIGG, StumbleUpon and Twitter.)

6.  HighOnHealth.org – (Subscribe)

high on health If I Could Only Subscribe To 10 Blogs...Blogger: Fran Kerr

Why: Now I have only recently (today) subscribed to HighOnHealth but to see a blog outside the technology niche making $4-12.000 a month made me realise that there were things that I could learn from Fran. She has a hugely successful YouTube channel (something that I am working on for one of my blogs) – so I figured I should start taking notes! (@HighOnHealth)

How Fran Makes Money:

7. Digital-Photography-School.com – (Subscribe)

dps If I Could Only Subscribe To 10 Blogs...Blogger: Darren Rowse

Why: A lot of you probably expected to see ProBlogger on this list, but to be honest I would prefer to see Darren making it happen in a niche outside of blogging and technology. There is a heap of things we can learn about community, blogging and making money from this Digital Photography School, so I encourage you to subscribe (plus I’m saving for  a Digital SLR so the photography tips will be handy too! (@DigitalPS)

How Darren Makes Money:

Darren has quite a lot of different income streams, so it thought it better linking to his ‘make money blogging‘ post to explain!

8. GideonShalwick.com – (Subscribe)

gideon shalwick If I Could Only Subscribe To 10 Blogs...Blogger: Gideon Shalwick

Why: Gideon jumped onto my radar when he launched Become A Blogger with Yaro Starak.

Gideon’s focus is on video blogging and has definitely made quite a name for himself in this field. Another new one on my RSS – but you are sure to learn some great vlogging tips! (@GideonShalwick)

How Gideon Makes Money:

Aside from affiliate marketing and Become A Blogger, Gideon is in the process of launching his latest product Rapid Video Blogging!

9. BitRebels.com – (Subscribe)

bit rebels If I Could Only Subscribe To 10 Blogs...Blogger: The ‘Bit Rebels Team‘

Why: This one is my ‘time out’ blog.

The creative works that they blog about continue to amaze me, and I love this blog just because I find the photos they post insane! (@BitRebels)

Check out this for example: Right Brain, Left Brain Architecture

How BitRebels Makes Money:

From what I can see it is a mixture of private ad sales and affiliate marketing.

10. ….

question mark If I Could Only Subscribe To 10 Blogs...

Blogger: You Tell Me?!?!

Why: And Give Me Your Reasons

I left number 10 free, so that you could tell me which blog I should be following. Now DON’T send me YOUR BLOG or any BLOG ABOUT BLOGGING blogs.

If you can think of someone that you believe is doing amazing work and is worth following – leave a comment with the WHO and the WHY!

I encourage you to take this journey as well, because it will show you what you are looking to learn, and where you see your blog heading. If you decided to do an ‘ If I Could Only Follow 10 Blogs…’ posts, then make sure you link to it below so that we can all see.

If you like what you see, then make sure you subscribe – because there are some big changes coming here.