Of course you can do it.

Apart from consulting, most of the monetization / advertising strategies listed above are all page view driven. To increase page views I would look at every other successful web dev / wordpress related website out there and see what they're doing content wise and then ask myself if we're adding that kind of content and if not, how can we get / create that kind of content.... I would then reach out to top devs and work with them to have them guest post, as you already may have. Increasing the amount of content, diversity of content and channelling high profile and smart people from the community that can bring value will not only drive page views because of the great content they bring but because you're tapping into their sphere of influence as well when they share that they've guest posted or been featured on your blog and likely even link to you. More quality content plus more quality links will equal greater organic search traffic and you're on your way. Obviously I would participate in every WP related community out there and share what you know as doing so will help introduce the WP Tavern brand to the uninitiated.

I would also profile and write about every major WP related topic, company, plugin and dev house possible, doing so will help you rank for those terms and bring more organic traffic. Ultimately, if there is any WP topic not covered already on the blog, I would cover it. I would cover a topic like "WP Seo" and then have every top name in the space give their two cents on the topic to create the best WP SEO article or series of articles, ever....etc.... you get the idea.

I would also be asking myself: What can we do that's not being done in terms of content, features, etc.? What are my readers telling me they want to hear about? What do I want to read about that is WP related and not being covered in the space? How can I involve readers? How can I leverage sponsors data / knowledge to educate my readers? What kind of workshops (webinars) can we hold to educate and why aren't we the go to people for everything WP related ... and on and on... hope this helps. :)