Success Stories: Canadian Bloggers Who Made It Big

Narrowing down the very best bloggers to only a few top contenders is somewhat of an impossible task, especially with so many great options to choose from.

The following excellent examples, however, were chosen for the unique perspectives they bring to the digital world, how they’ve made a space for their content and found a community, and also their sheer staying power. Here are four of the best blogs that Canadians should tip their hats to. 

This plant-based recipe blog has been around since 2008 and is still going strong. Angela Liddon managed to not only gain a loyal following, but also become a New York Times bestselling cookbook author. Her blog has hundreds of health-conscious recipes, with options for gluten-free adjustments, and other food allergy workarounds. Her popularity has not started to wane in the least, earning her over a million unique visitors to her site, every month.

The blog began as a way for Liddon to shed light on healing from an eating disorder, as she learned to embrace and appreciate food, health, and recovery. The sheer number of recipes and how easy they are to navigate is especially impressive, preventing the reader from feeling overwhelmed in a sea of quinoa, chickpea, and tofu. What’s more is she thoughtfully created an app with her most popular recipes, streamlining the instructions, so that home cooks can easily follow the recipes from their smart devices.

Giroux, a blogger from Quebec, has traveled the world since 2014. She started her Broken Backpack blog a year later. With vast experience living abroad on a budget, she offers useful resources for other would-be travelers. Some of the topics she covers include:

• Budget travel
• Eloping guides
• Recommended gear
• Travel finances and insurance
• Visas
• How to work online while traveling
• Itinerary planning
• Accommodation and flight recommendations
• In depth destination guides to specific countries

With so much personal experience, Giroux knows exactly which questions other travelers would ask, and answers them with the needed thoroughness and advice. This effectively takes the guesswork out of any trip.

Jennifer’s beauty and lifestyle blog has been running since 2008. The marketing and video production specialist decided to branch out into the field of beauty and haircare, providing a space for the underrepresented Black community in Canada.

With tips on styling natural hair, beauty products, skin treatments, parenting advice, and general lifestyle features, she has a little something for everyone. She’s also found success in affiliate marketing and honest product reviews that provide her audience with a better idea of what is (and what isn’t) worth their money. Her down to earth, relatable and practical approaches make her content truly useful and fun.

With such relevant examples to draw from, it is helpful to understand what factors made them successful in the first place. Especially if you want to recreate this kind of wordsmithing for your own blog.

For one, they all found their niches and areas of experience. When creating a blog, you don’t have to be stuck with one path. Many bloggers pivot or branch out as their own life paths expand. The key is to still come from a genuine perspective that reflects sincerity and growth.

Furthermore, if you plan to make money from your blog, you’ll need to put in a lot of work and be patient. Many bloggers can expect to start making money at the 6 to 12-month mark, but that greatly depends on how large your audience is, the quality of your content, and your monetization methods (affiliate marketing, ads, sponsors, selling products/services, etc.). It’s helpful to pay attention to what other successful bloggers are doing. Here are some tips to emulate:

• Post regularly
• Build a newsletter or email alerts to inform readers of new content
• Use plenty of high-quality media (like photos, videos, etc.) to help break up walls of text
• Organize content so that is simple to navigate, especially as your posts multiply
• Use easy to read fonts and complimentary color templates that don’t distract the reader
• Take advantage of social media to gain wider audiences, post there regularly too
• Try to find your own twist or niche to help your content stand out

Whatever blogging platform you use, there are universal technical features to look for:

• High uptimes/fast load speeds, to keep site visitors from being frustrated and leaving
• Basic security features to protect you from malware and malicious attackers
• Emailing services to let readers know when new posts or newsletters are published
• The ability to handle multiple media types, such as video and image optimizations
• Optimized for mobile devices, as many visitors use their smartphones to browse content
• Search engine optimization (SEO) tools to make your site easier to find
• Possible bilingual/multilingual tools, especially if you create both French and English content
• Easy to use site building tools, such as AI guides, drag-and-drop elements, or pre-built templates

Scalable add-ons for ecommerce (if you think you’ll monetize or sell products)