Work Your Plan, Plan Your Work: A Retrospect on Blogging
Over a year ago I thought I could add to the personal finance blog world and began Financial Fruition over on the Blogger platform. It its current state, Financial Fruition is on the road to nowhere. With over a year under my belt, I’d like to look back on what was and what was not. To be more specific; what I have learned, what would I do different, and why the hell haven’t I posted more often.
Background:
When I first stumbled upon the personal finance blog world, a bit before I actual started blogging myself, I noticed pfblog.com. It was in an article I read at some point, before the owner began aggregating other blogs, and I was very intrigued at what was being posted. Not only the fact that this “guy” was publishing what I thought to be confidential information (net worth, etc.), but that he could write on all the financial decisions and news that he personally faced. I said to myself, “I think I could do that and it would be fun”.
Well quite a few months passed and I began to see more personal finance blogs popping up across the Internet landscape. It was now or never for me. As with most things, I decided I would just jump right in and sink or swim. On July 25, 2005 at 10:17pm, Financial Fruition was born!
Oh boy, let me tell you, I had to tread water fast. While I had ideas on what to write, I really had no idea about blogging. I didn’t know, among other things, what trackbacks were, how carnivals worked, or how search engines and ad revenue systems functioned. I did however know how to be a part of a community and began reading and commenting on whatever my peers wrote (were they actual peers when I started?). I also:
- joined a few blogging communities (oh those ugly “buttons”!).
- focused on writing good original content (Should I Sell My Car? is a good example).
- participated in the “Oh so stark”, Carnival of Personal Finance (compared to today!).
- solicited links to my blog from those I looked up to in the personal finance blog world (that doesn’t sound too pathetic, does it?)
These reasons are why my awareness grew and eventually about 3 months later I ended up with a google page rank of 5. I thought at the time, this couldn’t be easier!
What I Have Learned:
Well for one thing, it’s not that easy to come up with original posts everyday. In my opinion, it’s not conducive to (it at least hinders) a good personal and professional life. After researching more about blogs in general, I began to also see the limitations of the Blogger platform. Yes, it took about 3 minutes to set up my blog, but hindsight has taught me that what may be easiest, may not be the best. But that’s what blogging is about: Anyone can have a voice to write on whatever topic they want. Here’s what sucked about blogger:
1) At the time they did not have word verification for comments. It was added a little bit after I was up and running.
2) Blogger did not support trackbacks, going or coming. Something that is key to building awareness of your blog, at least in my opinion.
3) Your URL was what ever your blog name was plus .blogspot.com. How lame?
4) The back-end interface was minimal (or criminal!) and crude at the time. Trying to get ads to work and moving things around in your template was insanely difficult.
5) Speaking of templates…there were what…8 choices at the time!
6) Blogger can claim your blog is spam and delete it! Only after many emails and a mini-campaign in some forums did they re-instate my blog.
Number 6 ended up being the last straw. Perhaps, Blogger has improved it’s functionality, but the fact that I didn’t have complete control was a pretty scary! I made the decision to move to my own domain in April 2006, and had to start all over again. This takes a lot of work! Not only do you have to write good compelling content, but you are also the webmaster.
Regarding content, it became very difficult to figure out what i wanted to do and the purpose of my blog. Some blogs provide commentary on financial news. Others research a topic and post information regarding it. Yet, others….well you get the point. In the beginning I wrote the best compelling content I could. Then, I started waning from this original concept and didn’t really have a focus. In the past months, I haven’t posted at all (well at least on this site, but I write a daily post on financial content for another site). I’ve learned it takes hard work and a decent time commitment to run your own blog.
What I would do different:
Knowing what I know…what would I do different:
1) If you think you are going to commit to blogging, whatever you do…buy your own domain and install wordpress!
2) Write great, compelling content. Find your “groove” and go. Do not try to copy what others have done. I know personally where compelling content can get you. My other contributions (mentioned earlier) to another blog have been linked to by some of the top 100 blogs (based on Technorati) and received over a thousand “Diggs”, as well as, numerous other links from all over the Internet.
3) Plan your work, and work your plan! Make and schedule time to maintain your blog. This includes content, website maintenance, advertising analysis, and search engine optimization.
4) Become and stay apart of the blogging community. Especially, those blogs that could be deemed competitors. When you fall out from the blog community you worked so hard to become a part of, there are great repercussions (say goodbye to a lot of links!). Also, read sites like ProBlogger, for research and ideas on how to generate revenue. This takes time, but it should be a part of maintaining your blog.
While some of these aren’t that new in concept, the sum are really the main ingredients to having a successful blog.
Next step for Financial Fruition:
If you’ve read this far…a sincere thank you! I have a plan, beginning September 8th, to produce at least two posts a week of compelling content. This would include personal situations, financial research and information, as well extended commentary on items I see in personal finance blogging. By treating this as a second job, and really focusing on the results I truly feel I can achieve this. If you have any input on what you’d like to see, feel free to email me: FinancialFruition Gmail com (insert the @ and . intuitively!) or leave a comment.
See you on the flip side!
It’s Been A Year At Financial Fruition
Last year I decided to launch this site and the first 5 months or so I provided, what I thought was great personal finance content. I joined the personal finance blog community by regularly reading and commenting at others’ sites, as well as submitted posts to Carnivals. However, over the past 7 months I haven’t really posted the best personal finance content. There are many excuses for this, the main ones being tearing multiple ligaments in my knee (I’m still in rehab) and the fact that I contribute personal finance content to another site. However, what I think are excuses should have been reasons to write content for readers to know what I’m going through. For instance, I have become very knowledgable in health insurance because I have had to do a lot of research in this area. Basically, I have failed to maintain Financial Fruition.
Well this is no longer. I am going to treat this site as a part-time job and provide the best personal finance content, that I know I can. Will I post daily? Probably not. To get back into the swing of things, my goal is to post at least every week and am currently working on a plan to do this.
Carnival of Personal Finance #52
Welcome to Financial Fruition and the hosting of the 52nd Carnival of Personal Finance. The Carnival of Personal Finance is 1 Year Old! It’s number 52 and there are 52 weeks in a year, right? So a reader can be their own editor, I have provided the list of this week’s submissions in alphabetical order with one caveat. My two favorite posts are highlighted at the top. Hope you enjoy!
Can You Make Money From Jim Cramer’s Picks?
Money and Wealth Education for Children - Federal Reserve Comic Books
Carnival of Personal Finance
This week’s Carnival of Personal Finance is up at Mapgirl’s Fiscal Challenge. One of my favorite submissions is “Lifestage Conversations” from It’s Just Money. I’d say I’m in stage 2.5.
I’m hosting next week’s Carnival of Personal Finance. Send your submissions to financialfruition @@@ gmail … com or use the submission form from Conservative Cat.