This is in follow up to Aloysa’s post from yesterday, Why Personal Finance Blogs Became Cliche.
First of all, I agree with Aloysa’s post completely. Wholeheartedly. In fact, when I open my reader, and look at the post topics, I get a little bitchy (and even verbalize it on Twitter sometimes). But that doesn’t mean that I’m different from other bloggers. I too spout the same, boring old “advice” on a very narrow topic from time to time.
We’re all learning and trying to evolve and be better bloggers.
But I think, as bloggers, we all try to find out niche and make a spot for ourselves where not many other bloggers are writing. I’m a personal finance blogger; it’s a boring topic and it’s over saturated.
When perusing the comments on Aloysa’s topic, there were a couple about teaching people things. I got into a bit of a debate on Twitter with another blogger about blog audiences and personal finance blogs not being for other bloggers.
The blogger I was debating with is a new blogger, and while the goal of blogging is not to reach other bloggers, newer bloggers have one tool in their toolkit to get ahead: other bloggers. Newer bloggers don’t have a steady stream of non-blogger readers vying to read their blogs to see their advice.
It’s a little egotistical to think that this is the case. And that goes for all of you who avoid other bloggers when you are just starting out so you can “teach people” about money and “help people with their ____”.
When I see blogs like that, I avoid them because it alienates the REAL readers.
Yes, the real readers. The people who actually read your blog (regularly) are made up of probably 90% bloggers, and, if you are lucky, (VERY LUCKY) 20% non-bloggers that think you are credible, dumb, entertaining, funny, or whatever it is that makes them keep reading your blog. Bloggers are what keep your bounce rate and returning visitors rate from making you want to cry every time you log on to Analytics.
Friends, there are hundreds (thousands?) of blogs covering money topics out there. How is it that you think that you saying the exact same thing on your blog will be something of authority to the masses?
It won’t. Why, as somebody researching a money topic, would I ever bypass Moneyville, Gail Vaz Oxlade, Forbes, MSN Money, (etc, etc) to seek out your tiny little blog (even if it’s a huge blog, it’s tiny when compared to the aforementioned) to get information?
So, most of your (regular) readers are bloggers when you’re first starting out (and, a lot of those bloggers don’t even care what you have to say – they’re visiting/promoting/commenting on your blog to get noticed, to get a link back, or because you reciprocate. But that’s another post for another day).
I’m not saying that we, as bloggers, do not learn from each other. WE DO. Quite a lot. I even wrote a post about that before. But we need to start treating our blogs more like a business, figure out our audience (hint – it’s likely bloggers at first) and targeting that market.
Since most of the people who read our blogs are other bloggers in the beginning, and usually from the same genre, why are we trying to “teach” other bloggers how to do things? Heck, they’ve probably already written about it.
Some might write generic posts like “how to increase your credit score” to get search engine traffic from those search terms, but unless you have a wildly popular blog with tons of readers and just the best SEO skills ever, you won’t even be on the first page because all of your predecessors have written about that.
Even if you want to get to the point where you have readers that aren’t bloggers, other bloggers are the ones to help you kick start your blog. They are the ones promoting your posts, commenting on them, helping your PR, Alexa, and Moz rankings to get your blog out there and attract those readers. Why alienate the very people who will be key to your success in gaining other readers to “help”?
Now, I’m not saying that everyone should just stop writing about generic topics if you love writing about them, because quite frankly, I don’t really care. Except when I’m grumpy in the morning. But I’ll get over it. What I’m saying is that we all need to get off our high horses, and get over ourselves in thinking that we know these nuggets of knowledge that nobody can get anywhere else and will flock to our blogs to find out about.
I’m not saying never write about topics with a lesson, I’m simply saying that you must know your audience as a blogger and tailor some posts accordingly. It doesn’t have to be all posts, but some.
And really, by all means, write about generic topics sometimes. It’s really what brings search engine results to our blogs and maybe the reader will like how we present it and stay. But don’t write about them all the time, because that alienates your regular readers.
Now, there are some blogs with authority, and that’s great, but they usually find a way to make those topics a little less dry. If you are going to write about generic topics, think about how you do that thing differently than the rest of world; what can you offer that another post might not? What is your twist that makes that post believable, or that tip worth trying? Having that twist is what made those bloggers like Get Rich Slowly build authority and non-blogger readership.
Or, maybe this whole post is a reflection of my thinking that I know everything 😉 Probably that, too.
Daisy, you’re justified in your feelings and, if the purpose of life is learning, then that’s what we do as bloggers – as readers and contributors.
I didn’t start blogging to become an authority on anything – hell, my ego isn’t that inflated!
My blog’s pretty eclectic – I just write down my weird and wonderful thoughts on anything that interests and sometimes PF. Blogging is sharing your personal philosophy so why not??
Lucille, don’t sell yourself short! You are the authority of you! Whooo hooo!
Sam
“Slicing Through Money’s Mysteries”
(Most original tagline voted by me and my dad)
Daisy – wow, I gotta admit this is a bit hard to swallow, particularly first thing in the morning. Not saying I completely disagree with you – right now, my audience is pretty much made up of other PF bloggers – but my hope is that it’ll reach a wider audience! If you look at someone like Canadian Budget Binder, he seems to have a lot of non-PF fans.
I think all of our hopes is to reach a wider audience, I’m just not convinced that the way to do that is to alienate readers that already exist. You know? Yes there certainly are some blogs out there that are successful in that and it’s pretty cool.
I definitely appreciate my Pf blogger readers and learned a lot yesterday. I do try to keep my blog fresh and hope you all enjoy it. Thanks for the mention!
While I enjoy comments from financial bloggers, that’s less than 20 percent of my traffic. I’ve worked hard to avoid the “same ‘ol” audience specifically for the reason you suggest: if you can’t be the top of that tree, don’t compete. So, while I’m always happy to have blogger friends stop by the site, I’m not moving in that direction. I hear your message loud and clear: know your audience.
That’s fabulous that you have such a large readership of non bloggers – of course, that’s coveted (I would personally love to keep all of my blogger readers and ALSO have 80% non-blogger readers). It’s great that you know your audience and can tailor to it.
BTW, I find that you put such a personal spin on things that it makes it non-generic. Look at the way you wrote that guest post on here yesterday! You do a great job at that.
All power to you, girl! I enjoyed your tweets last night. Short and to the point. I am a self-centered writer, hell I love telling stories about my life and family. Not because I am trying to teach anyone anything (well, some Soviet Union hisotry perhaps) but because I like to share my personal stories. It is much more fun and a lot of people can relate and share their experience. Blogging should be fun, right?
Oh, gosh, I’m super self centered! I write about myself all the time. I like your posts, Aloysa, because most PF bloggers AREN’T from the Soviet Union so I always learn something from you. Personal stories are interesting.
We do get a lot of google hits from people who know absolutely nothing about mortgages and housing costs. Our “Yes they can still take away your paid off house” post gets hits every day from search engines.
Not that educating folks is a goal of our blog… I believe our goal is still to become “Famous on the Internet.” And we’re authorities on things IRL for work… the blog is just a hobby.
Yes, and that will happen. I get a lot of Google hits from random people looking up random things, so it’s great to have a lot of information on your blog just in case, but not when the whole thing is centered around teaching etc, not right away anyway.
I definitely agree with your post! Most of my readers are lifestyle and fashion bloggers, not pf. I mostly comment on lifestyle and fashion blogs, so I’m guessing that’s why. And I’m also guessing that most of my readers are lifestyle/fashion because these people don’t really see too many blogs like mine because they stick in mostly their same lifestyle group.
This is my way of branching out!
That’s a great way to branch out. I think most of us stay within the PF arena, which makes it difficult to differentiate ourselves.
As nicole & maggie mention, there are a few cases where PF bloggers really can reach a wider audience. But as regular day-to-day readers? I think you are right. i like the commentor above who specificially tries to cultivate a non-blog audience. I think you can put a lot of thought into it, but if you just do the default, you’ll interact with pf bloggers.
And you know, for me, that’s about the extent of my goal. I like being part of the community. If I can help a random googler, great, but i just like being in a conversation.
I missed your tweets last night but I agree with this post. I love reading other blogs, but only if they’re unique and tell a story. Honestly so many blogs just blur together someone really needs a unique identity to stand out. And I don’t care that “you need to save 10% of your income” or “pay off your highest debt first” — I already KNOW that, I want to know how you got $200,000 in the hole and how you’re going to get out of it.
Honestly, I am not sure how to reply! 🙂 It’s not a bad thing. I am not shocked or offended by your post. I took the guts to start my own blog because I wanted to share some of the mistakes I had done in hopes other people read, and didn’t make those mistakes…like not tracking my finances in college, even though I had quicken, and had been tracking them in high school….
Is my blog self centered? Yes. I can only share my stories, my experiences. Do I like reading blogs with personal experiences? Yes!!! It helps me. I don’t like reading dry posts. What’s the point? I can go to Smart Money and do that. I like knowing what you did to get where you are, and if I can borrow any of your right choices.
Why reinvent the wheel, when it’s not broken?
So, I highly encourage bloggers to keep their blogs personal.
Not to mention the fact, most people in non cyber space are uncomfortable sharing their personal financial journey.
Great post Daisy. You had me worried there when you mention the generic helping people slogan. I have a slogan just like that on my blog but I had been considering changing it lately.
In my case I don’t really cover the generic finance advice much…yet. I know I do have some pretty awesome SEO skills to ride though. So I will eventually be focusing on that kind of stuff more.
Early on though I fully accept that a large portion of my regular readers are bloggers. Still I know that if I work hard and put my SEO to use, that will gradually shift. As that traffic balance shifts I will probably eventually have to shift my focus away from just pleasing bloggers.
LOL woops! I didn’t have anyone in mind when I wrote this post. My advice (but take it with a grain of salt because really, what do I know?) is start posting on generic topics when you want to move your readership outside of the PF blogger realm. You have good SEO skills so use them!
Thought provoking post here Daisy, I love PF blogs, however I use to pull out every financial book I could starting at age 18 just for fun. Tightwad Gazettes were my frugal bibles! I have several blogs covering a variety of topics but I did start my financial blog as a way to help others but that is because you do not see hardly any blogs from a poverty standpoint.
I’m NOT a PF blogger, but I read a handful of PF blogs (yours, Well Heeled, Jessies Money, and Punch Debt in the Face…I think that’s about it). I’m aware of some of the “huge” blogs, but I don’t read any of them.
I like bloggers that I feel like I can relate to in some way–I like their journeys, their stories, and the “human” feel. The generic advice blogs don’t appeal to me because I already know that stuff.
Laura I so agree, you can only re-hash certain topics before there is nothing new to share. The personal journey’s and humaness with mistakes and all are the ones I really enjoy too!
Wait, you don’t read my blog Laura? What the….!
Time for me to get to work.
A refreshing commentary. Wonder what kind of conflict it might start in the PF Community?
I consider myself to be both inside and outside the PF realm. I don’t talk about making budgets, paying off debt, credit card deals or credit scores. But I do discuss how your ability to communicate, negotiate and deal with conflicts created by your income, debt, budgets and other financial matters effect your life.
As you mention, I am keenly aware that PF bloggers are the vast majority of my audience. The rest of my audience is made up of other Mediators, Arbitrators, Financial Coaches, Attorneys, Financial Counselors and other Dispute Resolution Professionals.
I find it humorous most PF bloggers don’t know what to make of me yet. I’ve had several comments on blogs not approved (including a recent one on Yakezie), likely because my responses were too long, technical, academic or perhaps too preachy.
I admit it- I can come across a bit arrogant or like a know-it-all. I certainly don’t know-it-all, but I do know a lot about identifying, managing and resolving conflicts. And I want to share these skills and knowledge. So, when I see the signs of conflict in a story or article, I say something about it.
Conflict is an uncomfortable subject, and I understand their reaction to my unsolicited input and analysis. I love engaging in something most people avoid.
Hopefully, going to FinCon12 will give me an opportunity to show the group of PF bloggers there that I’m a decent guy. At least most of the time.
Now you just have to figure out if I’m leaving this response simply because you left a comment on one of my articles this morning, or if it’s because I connected with the content. 😉
Dave, your comment is probably caught up in spam in Yakezie. The site gets like 500+ a day, it’s crazy. When did you post it and under what handle? I’ll take a look.
This is hard to respond to! Not because I disagree…I think you’ve just said everything really well and everything I could add would be ironically redundant. I try to keep things fresh, but I likely fall into the same traps as everyone else. I know I’m not an authority, which is why I try really hard to write about things that I personally have done. Though it doesn’t always pan out that way.
I agree with you for the most part Daisy. I will be the first to admit that I write a lot of generic articles because I leverage a lot of traffic from another website. Between that and SE traffic I have a good amount of non-PF blogger readers.
Self-centered? Me? Perhaps…
But my blog isn’t about the link-backs, nor is it about helping people. It’s more about my personal opinions, struggles, and perhaps the occasional bit of brow-beating to my readers.
I know my blog is very thinly read. But that’s entirely because of the current state of investment education. Bay/Market/High/Wall streets are full of millions of people all frothing forth with the same bile. CEO scandals, corruption, bailouts… The media does a fantastic job of helping to control the masses and make investing completely unappealing and untrusted to the general public.
My blog is about trying to make sense of all that rubbish and actually eek out a return that’s more than the paltry rates of interest you can get from banks on savings, GICs, etc.
If people want to read and listen then that’s find with me. If it helps them grasp a bit of insight? All the better.
To write about your experiences several times a week is inherently egotistical, yes?
bingo 🙂
LOL – I’d call it more self centered. From an economical standpoint, everything we do is self serving, so we could say that about starting a blog, commenting on other blogs, etc.
I couldn’t agree with you more but it doesn’t mean I’m not going to try and write generic posts and help a few people out. It is truly why I started my blog…now if anybody cares what I have to say there is really nothing I can do to control that. I simply write, regardless if it’s been written before, and if it doesn’t work out in the end then I’m not going to be bothered by it. All you can do is your best…
I’m with you there. I actually know people who I’ve helped personally, and there are readers who contact me in appreciation for the ‘generic’ content. It’s fresh in their eyes, and eyes opening at that.
I do agree, however, that 15 generic posts in a row doesn’t show any personality, and for all the readers know, could be a copy/pasta of other blogs. After all, if you want to keep your readers at all, piquing their interest should be of interest to you.
Plus it’s fun to throw all the rules out the window and write something that’s on your mind 🙂
I try to write stories of what I’ve done in the past or will be trying in the future. And yup, sometimes I find I write the generic ones but I try to refrain as the blogs I really enjoy, make it personal. I love reading the stories behind why they do what they do or what happened in the past. And I figure that if I love hearing the stories, other people do too.
I think personal finance blogs are great for someone who is just trying to start learning about how to pay off debt or has finally jumped on the bandwagon to get control of their finances. However, I agree that I always skip through the How to posts that don’t interest me (except for investing! because i am still trying to learn about that!) but for the most part I don’t need to be told that i can save money by cutting out startbucks and packing my lunch (things I already do anyway). I read blogs for the PERSONAL aspect of personal finance. I like to hear about other peoples’ struggles.
That’s my standpoint too. You’ve definitely said it better than me – I do read some “how to” posts but skip over most if they are overdone.
When you want to eventually leave your job, you WILL read my How To Engineer Your Layoff book, I know it! ➡
I hate generic posts–and I try to avoide them because I don’t consider myself an expert. Now that I think about it-perhaps I should change my tagline….
This reminds me a lot of our conversation last week, and it’s so true! Even when I look back at some of the posts I wrote when I first started my blog they seem so generic and over done, and it’s so true, I know the majority of my readership is other bloggers. I definitely think keeping your audience in mind is something I’ve had to rethink because it’s true, I don’t think my audience wants to read another frickin’ blog post about why you should start an RRSP. Way to keep it sassy my friend 🙂
Sounds like you need a break 🙂 (don’t we all?). For me, I am energized by personal finance, and the most exciting part is knowing that I’ve helped someone save money or getting them on a budget to help change their future. And though it SOUNDS cliche’, helping someone is a greater reward than writing a funny article.
Though, if we are in the business of martketing our blog to gain readership, you can’t expect to regurgitate information without personality and keep readers, especially if your readers are all PF bloggers. My blog has a fair amount of non-blogging readers, they just don’t comment as much (a lot of facebook friends and their friends). But, I make a point to keep my persnality in all my writing. If I want my 18 year old brother who doesn’t give a crap about PF to read my blog, I can still write about a “cliche” topic, but inject it with some self-depricating jokes and talk about how Justin Bieber’s is the best musician of the 21st century with the last name Bieber, with shaggy hair and a girly voice…
But thank you for writing this, it does need to be said for sure. 🙂
?? (confused about the break comment)
I guess to me, readers are people that come regularly and read my blog – you have some of those that aren’t bloggers through your IRL family/friends, and I don’t let my IRL family/friends know about my blog. I have a lot of VISITORS, but my regular readers are predominantly bloggers mixed with maybe 20% non bloggers.
Heck, I’ll read the most boring topic in the world if it’s by a blogger that I enjoy who always injects their personality in the post.
I meant it sounds like you are getting sick of seeing the same ol’ crap in the feed reader,a nd maybe you need a break from reading PF blogs 🙂 Not that you need to stop blogging, lol. PLEASE DON’T!
I think you’re spot on, definitely know your audience before writing. It’s like if you’re in a circle of friends who love baseball and have for years, and you’re like “ok, well, the pitcher is the guy throwing the ball, and the batter is trying to hit it. He needs to hit the ball and get to that white square before someone tags him out”. It’s very off-putting.
I’ve read a few post now about how we’re just writing for other bloggers. I love that other bloggers come to my site, but I certainly don’t write FOR them. Just like book authors don’t write for other authors and movie producers don’t make movies for directors and actors to watch.
I write for the regular non-blogger readers and the search engine visitors. These people are finding my blog because they want to know what they should do to improve their finances. When the happen to find my site, I want them to have all the info they need, they don’t realize there are hundreds of other blogs with similar info and might not want to have to hunt around internet to find it.
For me my main goal in my PF blog is to just have a place to express my journey. Along the way if I come up with nuggets of wisdom based on my personal experience that I think others might learn from, I’ll post it. But mostly it’s just my point of view of my own personal finance journey. For me, people can take it or leave it. I don’t currently have ads or a need to have a ranking (at the moment), so I’m free to do that, but who knows, maybe I’ll think differently if I do. It’s something to ponder when writing though…just who are you writing for?
You know, I’m not really sure *who* I write for. When I met with Jason from WorkSaveLive and John from MarriedWithDebt, we talked about that and Jason said that I don’t write for him. He’s absolutely right! Jeff writes some for his peers and those that are honestly coming to our lil blog for help with a work issue or something, but I mainly write for me. Is it self-centered to write about my family and think that anyone else could possibly care? Absolutely! I do hope that I entertain, enlighten, or motivate some, but mostly? This is just something we started to keep ourselves accountable and to catapult us out of our mountain of debt…and it’s working! That and I enjoy writing. I know exactly what you mean, though, about blogs seeming know-it-all or preachy about what to do with your money…when most of their audience are other pf bloggers. It does seem kind of silly when you think about it, I guess.
I love SDR. It’s so fun! You always have a personal story or something in your posts and that’s what makes people come back.
Michelle, where was my invite? Sharing is caring, OK?
Party at my house next weekend and everyone can come on by!
Great discussion.
Two main reasons to come to a blog 1) information 2) Entertainment 2.5) It’s your mom. You’ve got to mix both into the pot or no one will come to your blog…pf blogger or normal people.
I am one of those who helps people do money better category. That’s because I started my blog as an extension of my money coaching service. I write many articles, just so I can send the link to my clients.
I think many of us know we need friends and support from the PF community ( I do), but our goal is to be influential for a wider audience. I want to do the most good for the most people. If that is egotistical, then paint a blue E on my chest.
I’m sure everyone says the same thing, but I do like to think I cover topics or views not ordinarily found in other blogs.
WOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!
I HAVE TO SAY… It’s been a LOOONG time since I wanted to give a post a standing ovation.
Your are so right on SOOO many levels, and this is exactly what I write about. Either do it for fun and enjoy networking with other bloggers for the social interaction or treat it like a business. But if you’re going for the latter, do it for real. Do it right. YES! I’m so 100% with you.
And by the way, *this* particular comment is not for the link back. 😉
It’s because I FINALLY read a PF post that really rocked my socks. Most of the other blogs are good, but man, sometimes you knock them out of the park.
I’m guilty of regurgitating common pf topics too 😛 But that’s only if I have nothing else interesting to talk about. Most of the time I try to write short, concise posts about macro financial events and how it affects ordinary people. I also like to write about my controversial views towards debt and investments.
Its for this reason that I like to write about my personal experiences on how I dealt with something, rather than write in a textbook way. That way it must be unique as there is only one of me! 🙂
That’s it, I QUIT blogging even though I just quit work! 🙄
Last I checked, returning visitors only accounted for about 17% of my traffic, and probably less than a third of the 17% are PF bloggers. Hence, perhaps 5-7% of my total visitors or PF bloggers.
I’m allowed to write a book on How To Engineer Your Layoff though right? I looked for a while and found ZERO resources on how one can negotiate a severance package. There are only books on how to get a job etc.
The reason why I turn to blogs, rather than MSN Money etc is because of personality, opinion, and interaction.
Sam
“Slicing Through Money’s Mysteries” <– is this tagline OK?
I think there is a huge difference between readers and visitors. Readers come back for more. Visitors come once and leave. While I do think generic topics (with a personal twist) bring in visitors, which is great, I think we all want to make our visitors into READERS – real ones, that return. I think the way to do that is to not give the same advice that everyone does, because then what is making them want to return?
More seasoned bloggers (like yourself) will have a higher level of non-blogging readers, because you’ve been blogging for a long time and there is a reason you’ve succeeded in gaining as many visitors and readers as you have.
Hey, you’re allowed to do whatever you want, and I’ve never seen an article on that topic so why not? I think that’s an interesting and much needed topic.
Cool. Any writing or blogging tips you have for me? I’m always interested in getting advice and improving.
Thx!
I love this article. This resonates well with me Daisy. Anyone who is writing for Adsense income is lying to himself/herself. Same way, writing about how to buy insurance or your next car is equally boring and waste of time, because no one cares to read those things on your blog. My goal is to write less posts but unique from a fresh perspective — to make you think. Also, I don’t think I can make more than $100 in ad revenue, so I wanted to write to eventually do something similar to what Sam is doing.
I couldn’t agree more! Non-religious AMEN.
Well you (sort of) burst my bubble. I’m a fairly new blogger, and I started my blog with the intention of sharing my journey and things I learn with the rest of the world. This definitely includes a lot of the generic, mundane topics. At least in my first month or so of blogging, these were super generic, but I try a lot harder now to incorporate more personal touches.
A lot of my traffic is from search engines, but I know that another big chunk is probably from other PF bloggers. But I’ve always been hesitant about writing a post talking about my traffic statistics or Alexa ranking because I thought my “normal” readers probably don’t care or even know what I’m talking about. You bring up a good point that a lot of those “normal” readers are other bloggers that may indeed find that information interesting.
Justin, don’t get down! Do what you want to do. So long as you’re having fun and staying consistent, blogging will pay you back many times more and then some!
Good luck!
I hope I didn’t actually burst your bubble. The post wasn’t meant to burst anybody’s bubble. It was more-so meant to point out that, what we’d LIKE our audience to be and what our audience really is can differ (at the beginning, anyway) and we need to know our readers and write for them until our readership evolves.
Traffic doesn’t necessarily translate into readers, and READERS are the important thing to a blog, not one-time visitors that leave after reading one sentence. Injecting personal stories into generic posts make them a little bit less generic, which can translate into those visitors – traffic, search engine hits, whatever – into real readers. Also, that other bloggers promoting your writing, reading your blog, and sending traffic to your site is what will be the most help when it comes to actually bringing in the audience that you want, so writing keeping them in mind will help you in the long run.
Just because this is the way I see it doesn’t mean you have to see it the same way, and I’m sure you are doing just fine.
I’m pretty much in agreement but mainly for selfish reasons, lol. I don’t like writing researched posts, so most of my “real” posts are just about what I learn as I go…it’s just easier and more fun to write about, lol.
We all write what we know about… just like all other bloggers. I see it as a hobby.
Just like all of those scrapbookers/coin collecters/house renovator/runners etc. That’s THEIR specialty – so they do it, and write about it. We’re the same. We enjoy researching, analyzing, and writing about personal finance.
I have to say, before creating our blog, I had a dozen or so personal finance blogs bookmarked that I read nearly every single day. I wasn’t a PF writer myself, but still had the interest.. and still enjoyed reading about it.
A lot of good points here… I agree, zero-ing in on your target market would probably prove the most beneficial.
I guess since I’m not a pf blogger that I’m not egotistical? haha, NOT! Even though pf blogs recycle the same advice again and again, if you’re new to the blogosphere or just deciding to get a hold of your finances, then it’s all new information. so it’s okay, no worries 🙂
Bravo – you summarized the major issue with the majority of Personal Finance blogs and sites – the commoditization of basic information. Just like it’s tough for one farmer’s wheat to stand out in a crowd, it’s tough for the 8,000th emergency fund article penned by our peers to gain any traction.
So yeah, take a shot at some Google traffic, that’s your prerogative. But write something I haven’t seen before if you want me to read (ahem, like this post). I say that as a writer and a reader…
About 99% of my comments are from other bloggers and about 40% of my traffic is from other bloggers.
The only thing that keeps me doing things the same way is that I very closely track visits. That way, I can tell when I’m actually helping somebody—which was why I started in the first place.
Still, I agree with most everything you’re saying, especially about how other bloggers are the ones who help us (with rankings and social promotion) to get more “real” visitors.
Great post, Daisy.
We kind of wish more of our regular commenters had blogs– we have some very entertaining commenters (both with and without blogs of their own).
Funny, I’m late to this party, but the PF genre isn’t the only “self-centred” one, I promise. I know almost all my readers are either a) other bloggers, or b) my husband (and he usually doesn’t bother 😛 ). So instead of generic posts I try to tell more personal stories – after all, why else would you read what I have to say? If I’m posting something that’s been written about 100 other times, who cares?
But if I tell you HOW I did it (like our family road trip last week), well, that makes it a little more personal. Now I’m just trying to figure out how to make them a little more funny. I’m told I’m quite witty in person, I don’t think it comes across when I write!
Great stuff! I couldn’t agree more about how we’re all self centered. I literally just started blogging, and i’m thinking of titling my next post, “The 999,999th Blog Post on How Much You Need to Reach Financial Independence!” Don’t get me wrong, I love reading personal finance blogs, and I so far enjoy writing posts on my blog. But boy do we get repetitive, and I find myself just nodding my head and saying, yup, that’s what the last blog i read on this topic said too!! The blogs that keep me coming back usually have great writing and a good back story, and put some personality in it! Hopefully I can get there, I think you’re doing a pretty good job. Try not to get too grumpy in the mornings! I actually came to this article from a link on finance fox: he’s got some good stuff too!