If you have a deep interest in finance—and you likely do if you’re reading this blog—you may eventually reach a point where you want to share your own knowledge and experience. Starting a blog is easy enough if you have the motivation, but maintaining a blog takes total dedication.
Finance blogs are popular for many reasons. They help everyday people manage their money and provide them with sound advice on how to make investments that could ultimately change their lives. One of the first requirements is to be passionate about the topic. If you’re not passionate about finance, over time, you’ll lose interest in staying consistent, and it will show in your writing. Without passion, you won’t be willing to do the research and put in the right amount of effort.
If you’re passionate about finance and want to take your passion to the next level, here’s how you can start your own finance blog:
Launch A Website
No matter how many great ideas you have, a domain and website hosting is necessary. Your website will house all your efforts. For this reason, branding is particularly important. Your design aesthetic should match the goals you have for your personal finance blog. You should consider hiring a freelance designer if you have the budget for it. Your freelancer can create custom graphics and images that are unique to your site, which means you won’t have to rely on stock images and borrowed artwork too heavily.
You should also take a look and free and premium WordPress themes, which allow you to launch quickly without having to worry too much about code or fine-tuned customization.
Calculate Your Costs
With any business venture, you want to determine your costs up front. After all, you can’t launch a personal finance blog without having your own finances put together. You’ll need to factor in costs of domain and hosting, designs and/or themes, copywriting, and blog posts if you plan to outsource some work. Additionally, you should consider the amount of time you’ll spend working on your finance blog. Time is money, and you should be able to maintain your daily life while still taking care of your blog.
Look At Other Finance Blogs
Examine other finance blogs to give you an idea of what makes a blog successful. Pay close attention to their user experience and content. Write down or keep a digital list of content inspiration you find for you own blog.
You should also download an editorial calendar to begin planning out your publishing efforts for the next several weeks. Alternatively, if you’re using WordPress, consider installing an editorial calendar plugin. To save you some research, here are a few finance blogs you can start with:
- Invest It Wisely
- Million Dollar Journey
- My Own Advisor
- Prairie Eco Thrifter
- Sustainable Personal Finance
Create An Ebook
There are many benefits for businesses to create e-books. It can generate leads, help you establish yourself as an authority, build your email list, create buzz, and spread awareness. Electronic books are more popular than ever now. If you’ve been writing blog posts for a while, you can even repurpose and curate that content to create an ebook that’s beneficial to your audience.
Just as you would research different finance blogs to learn more creating your own blog, you should do the same with e-books. Here’s a list of some of the best finance e-books.
You should also have seperate advertising and marketing campaigns to help generate some buzz around your ebook. For example, you’ll want to create PPC ads for your ebook to attract people who are searching for content like yours. Use WordPress to create a lead generating landing page that easily converts customers who click on your ad and visit your site, or who reach your site organically.
Money-Generating Ideas
Keep in mind that the majority of blogs take a while to become profitable, if at all. And if you’re passionate about the work you do, money won’t, and shouldn’t be a driving factor. However, it does help to think about different ways of generating revenue in the long-run. Here are a few ways you can do this:
- Allow space for advertisers
- Use affiliate links across your webpages
- Offer services
- Set up a membership platform
Choose A Niche
Having a niche allows your blog to stand out from the competition. There are hundreds of great finance blogs out there, but a niche narrows the playing field. You might choose a niche that focuses on real estate, early retirement, or mutual funds. Or, you can focus on a specific category, like shopping or food. When choosing a niche, consider the knowledge you already have, as well as your interests.