The world of blogging has rapidly grown over the past decade, creating a diverse online community of writers and readers alike. Amongst the millions of bloggers across the internet, there are a few who have found a way to turn their passion for writing into a lucrative career.
One blogger who recently caught our attention is Anne Moss, a 50-year-old blogger who owns and manages 25 websites where she earns over $130 000 per month in revenue. She has been in the blogging space since 2000 and in her career, she has launched over 500 niche websites.
Her blogs are centered around topics of gardening and home decor and they receive well over 5 million page views per month!
In this article, we'll take a closer look at Anne's inspiring story and the lessons we can learn from her journey to success including her approach to content creation, how she trains her writers to engage her readers, how she turned blogging into a sustainable business that maker her a 7-figure income per year and so much more.
Anne Moss with her husband
“I created my first website in 1998 and have been involved in online publishing ever since. I launched my first monetized site in 2000. I have launched over 500 websites in my career…but now I actively run 25 sites…we produce over 1 000 articles per month”, Anne Moss.
Background Story
Being originally from Israel, Anna Moss spent her early career as an officer in the Israel military (IDF) in the 1990s. During her time in the military, the idea of “the internet” was just coming around and she wanted to learn and experiment a few things with it. She started learning how to code in HTML for fun after discovering that it can make the screen respond to several instructions.
At that time, the internet was brand new and there weren't enough websites covering every topic, so in 1998 she decided to make some websites covering topics in Hebrew.
“At this time, I had no competition at all, everything was brand new!”
Her websites became popular and she got lots of attention from Israeli media. At that time everything looked good and she felt the urge to make websites in English because they could be read by a much broader audience.
In 1998 she decided to quit her job in the army to start web publishing full-time by creating websites in English and this is when her online career kicked off.
Getting Started
Anne Moss left her military career in 1998, to work on her new web publishing business. At this point, she was a mother of two sons and married to her husband who was working a full-time job to give the family a safety net.
For her first English sites, she hired translators to translate her content from Hebrew to English.
“In 2000, I started a blog in Hebrew about cats called The Cat Site because I loved cats. For my second blog, I decided to write in English to reach a wider audience.”
Ann turned this site into a forum in English and it’s the oldest site she owns.
For the first 10 years or so Anne was making about $3 000 a month from ad revenue. She learned how to run ads by herself through online research.
In 2011, she was approached by a company that offered to manage the Cat Site forum for a split in profit which she fully agreed.
She continued to build and buy websites, and by the time the pandemic hit, her blogs had grown into a publishing business that was bringing in an average of $130 000 in revenue a month, mainly from ad networks like Mediavine and affiliate marketing from Amazon affiliates.
Buying Domains
Anne registered lots of domain names across many niches, and she picked names that could be used for future projects or turned into a brand.
The considerations for choosing domain names have changed so much over the last 20 years, but she went after four-letter domains in the beginning. It was a different time back in the early 2000s — many decent domain names were still available, so she didn't have to spend a lot of money to get them.
The Game-Changing Year
It was around 2016 when she noticed the changes in CPM rates. When she first started, for every thousand views she earned $2 or $3. In 2016, the CPMs increased by over 10x because Google came up with the ad bidding technology; Google Ads runs an auction every time it has an ad space available, so the advertisers bid to get a spot, which raises the CPM rates. Her CPM rates for some sites reached $20 or $30, and sometimes even $40. And this is when her sites started bringing in serious money.
Investing More Into the Business
In 2018, Anne hired her first virtual assistant from OnlineJobs.ph. In 2019, she and her husband invested about $10 000 to hire freelance writers and scale the business. Anne is currently using the ProBlogger job board to post jobs.
They were losing money at first because new sites generally don't receive significant traffic immediately; it can take anywhere from nine to 18 months to see meaningful traffic. Anne saw this time as an investment, and her husband was very supportive because he saw the potential in it too.
Having gone to business school, he was able to help Anne create a business plan with different scenarios, which reassured them of their next steps. It was a matter of checking to see what would happen as they adjusted costs and potential revenue — like if they had to pay $50 or $100 per post, would the model still be profitable?
They needed to be careful since they're in their 50s — they don't have the luxury of starting over again like younger entrepreneurs.
When the pandemic hit, it was very scary at first, because companies cut down on advertising and Anne's revenue dropped. But then the traffic went up like crazy because people were at home browsing the internet.
Looking at the numbers, Anne and her husband were convinced they could go all in. They made a life-changing decision to move to the US from Israel, considering most of their audiences are based in the US.
The Best Niches According to Anne
Some of the best-performing niches, based on Anne's analytics, are home decor, DIY, and gardening. She doesn't think there's a niche that's "bad." A couple of sites have failed, like one in the pet niche and another in the home-decor niche. Some of her websites have views but make nothing because they're still new. It can take more than a year for a site to be ranked on Google, so it's a long game.
Content Approach
Ann says that she doesn't apply any technical SEO strategies such as link building to her websites because she's all about creating quality content. Her top strategy is to provide users with good content that meets search intent.
When she hires a writer, she trains them to write not for Google but for the readers by putting themselves in the readers' shoes. What's their state of mind? What are they looking for — information or entertainment? The answers to these questions guide content creation.
It's important to have clear guidelines for new writers that outline the expectations for style, tone, and structure. These guidelines should be reviewed regularly and updated as necessary to ensure they're relevant and effective.
With these guidelines, Anne says that her team is capable of creating up to 1 000 articles per month across all of her 25 websites. Outsourcing was a game-changer for Anne, as it allowed her to scale her business. Her 12-month goal is to increase publication to more than 1 500 posts per month.
People and Process Management
Anne is now the CEO. She found an amazing COO with excellent people skills after posting a question about a professional service she was considering on Facebook. Anne's main focus is on content creation and driving traffic. The COO handles all aspects of the infrastructure, including information systems, IT, risk management, HR, compliance, finance, accounting, and corporate governance. Anne works a lot, including on weekends.
Effective people management requires clear communication, goal setting, and a supportive work environment. Anne believes in setting expectations and regularly checking in with her team to ensure everyone's on the same page and making progress toward their shared goals.
Anne and her team believe in transparency and open communication. She makes a conscious effort to empower her team members by delegating responsibilities and allowing them to take ownership of their work. This not only helps build their confidence and skills but frees up Anne's time to focus on other aspects of the business.
Anne says that she is also experimenting with growing mailing lists, building out the websites as brands, and selling digital courses. She believes that building direct relationships with her customers through a mailing list is essential since you never know what Google will prioritize. Their strategy for converting readers to their email list involves offering sign-up forms alongside high-quality content.
Tips from Ann
Anne's advice for anyone wanting to get into blogging would be to focus on their site and their content rather than worrying too much about securing the perfect domain name. While top-tier domain names can be harder to come by now, there are still plenty of good-enough options available.
Conclusion
Anne Moss’ experience in online publishing offers an inspiring example of what is possible when you have a vision, determination, and willingness to learn from your mistakes. Her journey demonstrates that success in blogging requires hard work, patience, and a willingness to take risks.
By outsourcing content creation, investing in quality sites, and focusing on providing users with good content, Anne has been able to build a thriving online business that earns over $130 000 per month.
Whether you're just starting in online publishing or you're an experienced web publisher looking to take your business to the next level, Anne's insights are a valuable resource. Her journey serves as a reminder that success takes time, effort, and a willingness to learn from your mistakes.
You can find out more about Anne on her website, Yeys.com, or on her Twitter Account.
