How to establish a personal finance blog

Over the past few years, there were a number of new personal finance bloggers joining the community. I appreciate their presence as they provide new ideas, thoughts and information for the readers. Such a development is good for Singapore because it helps to cultivate and strengthen Singaporeans’ personal finance literacy.

But I think one of the many blogs that stands out from the rest is The Finance.sg, a collection of local personal finance blogs in Singapore. The owner, Derek, believes that by consolidating quality sites and articles, the content can reach out to a larger audience and encourage like-minded people to share their views, thereby creating a vibrant community.

Sure, there are many other blog aggregators in Singapore but I think the success of The Finance.sg lies in its simplified presentation format. The articles are published in an uncluttered manner, with a short teaser related to the main content. So if the reader is interested in finding out more about an article, he can click on the “read more” function and will be directed to the guest blogger’s website. A lot of my blog’s traffic has been directed from The Finance.sg and henceforth, I appreciate the work of Derek. But beside giving credit to Derek, I would also like to contribute to the personal finance blogging scene by sharing with everyone on how to establish a high traffic website, or a blog for that matter.

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A lot of bloggers thought that coming up with a good blog title is secondary and that writing good content is more important. Don’t ever fall into this trap. You may be able to have a well-written or insightful post but if your title lacked attraction, no one would ever bother to click on your article and find out how good your post is. So remember, no matter how fantastic your content is, a lousy blog title can destroy everything. Don’t let this happen. This is because the title defines your blog identity. It signifies your thoughts, expression and character. Therefore, spend loads of time to think of a great title so that it can attract readers to your blog and sell your postings to your readers. Don’t rush through this thinking process just because you are so excited to churn out something in your blog.

When I launched my blog, SG Web Reviews (www.sgwebreviews.blogspot.com) in 2010, my wife commented that she had no clue of what my blog is all about because the title itself simply does not create any impressions at all. It does not create any attention that interests her to click and read my blog articles. She claimed that this is ironic considering the blog topics are personal finance, stock investments and entrepreneurship – topics which tend to interest Singaporeans and easy to invite conversation.

I did not take that comment nicely and flatly refused to change my blog title for three years. I thought to myself that if I can create a popular blog that can truly add value, the title does not matter. The traffic will take care of itself once I build up my fan base, so I don’t see the need to craft a targeted title to attract readers to my blog. But after four painful years, I guess I really underestimated the power of a magnetic title. After I made the critical decision to buy a customized domain name and change my blog title to SG Wealth Builder (www.sgwealthbuilder.com), my blog suddenly witnessed a huge jump in average daily traffic. I have also received more enquiries from people from all over the world seeking to introduce their products and services in my blog. I suddenly realize that a good title is a sure-fire way to draw traffic to your blog. It can even make you a superstar overnight if you play your cards right.

The best practice for a blog title is to use less than 40 characters. If you can create an apt title in lesser characters, there would be even better. It is not going to be simple but once you get it right, half the battle is won. The next challenge will be to develop a blog that is rich in content.

The number one rule to follow when you are starting a new blog or website is to focus on the content. Your blog must contain valuable content to attract traffic. So the stuff you share with your readers should tackle a problem, inspire, entertain or motivate visitors. Position yourself as the reader and create content that you would want to read, rather than what you wish to share. For example, if your blog is about how to be rich or how to make money in Singapore, focus on the local investment scene rather than blog about food in Singapore.

Many bloggers like to stuff their blogs with articles not related to the themes because of their daily life encounters. In their excitement, they overlooked the fact that most readers visit their blogs or websites for inspirations rather updates. So if you are going to publish controversial events in your blogs without providing entertaining or inspiring thoughts, such a move could backfire. Readers will just skim through the article, not learn anything useful and leave your blog for good. So make sure you give your own inputs. You can be right or wrong, it doesn’t matter. Your readers are only interested in your thoughts.

Alright I hope bloggers and readers find the above article useful. I look forward to any comments.

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Magically yours,

SG Wealth Builder

Over the past few years, there were a number of new personal finance bloggers joining the community. I appreciate their presence as they provide new ideas, thoughts and information for the readers. Such a development is good for Singapore because it helps to cultivate and strengthen Singaporeans’ personal finance literacy.

But I think one of the many blogs that stands out from the rest is The Finance.sg, a collection of local personal finance blogs in Singapore. The owner, Derek, believes that by consolidating quality sites and articles, the content can reach out to a larger audience and encourage like-minded people to share their views, thereby creating a vibrant community.

Sure, there are other blog aggregators in Singapore but I think the success of The Finance.sg lies in its simplified presentation format. The articles are published in an uncluttered manner, with a short teaser related to the main content. So if the reader is interested in finding out more about an article, he can click on the “read more” function and will be directed to the guest blogger’s website. A lot of my blog’s traffic has been directed from The Finance.sg and henceforth, I appreciate the work of Derek. But beside giving credit to Derek, I would also like to contribute to the personal finance blogging scene by sharing with everyone on how to establish a high traffic website, or a blog for that matter.

A lot of bloggers thought that coming up with a good blog title is secondary and that writing good content is more important. Don’t ever fall into this trap. You may be able to have a well-written or insightful post but if your title lacked attraction, no one would ever bother to click on your article and find out how good your post is. So remember, no matter how fantastic your content is, a lousy blog title can destroy everything. Don’t let this happen. This is because the title defines your blog identity. It signifies your thoughts, expression and character. Therefore, spend loads of time to think of a great title so that it can attract readers to your blog and sell your postings to your readers. Don’t rush through this thinking process just because you are so excited to churn out something in your blog.

Again, I shall use my blog as an example. When I launched my blog, SG Web Reviews (www.sgwebreviews.blogspot.com) in 2010, my wife commented that she had no clue of what my blog is all about because the title itself simply does not create any impressions at all. It does not create any attention that interests her to click and read my blog articles. She claimed that this is ironic considering the blog topics are personal finance, stock investments and entrepreneurship – topics which tend to interest Singaporeans and easy to invite conversation.

I did not take that comment nicely and flatly refused to change my blog title for three years. I thought to myself that if I can create a popular blog that can truly add value, the title does not matter. The traffic will take care of itself once I build up my fan base, so I don’t see the need to craft a targeted title to attract readers to my blog. But after four painful years, I guess I really underestimated the power of a magnetic title. After I made the critical decision to buy a customized domain name and change my blog title to SG Wealth Builder (www.sgwealthbuilder.com), my blog suddenly witnessed a huge jump in average daily traffic. I have also received more enquiries from people from all over the world seeking to introduce their products and services in my blog. I suddenly realize that a good title is a sure-fire way to draw traffic to your blog. It can even make you a superstar overnight if you play your cards right.

The best practice for a blog title is to use less than 40 characters. If you can create an apt title in lesser characters, there would be even better. It is not going to be simple but once you get it right, half the battle is won. The next challenge will be to develop a blog that is rich in content.

The number one rule to follow when you are starting a new blog or website is to focus on the content. Your blog must contain valuable content to attract traffic. So the stuff you share with your readers should tackle a problem, inspire, entertain or motivate visitors. Position yourself as the reader and create content that you would want to read, rather than what you wish to share. For example, if your blog is about how to be rich or how to make money in Singapore, focus on the local investment scene rather than blog about food in Singapore.

Many bloggers like to stuff their blogs with articles not related to the themes because of their daily life encounters. In their excitement, they overlooked the fact that most readers visit their blogs or websites for inspirations rather updates. So if you are going to publish controversial events in your blogs without providing entertaining or inspiring thoughts, such a move could backfire. Readers will just skim through the article, not learn anything useful and leave your blog for good. So make sure you give your own inputs. You can be right or wrong, it doesn’t matter. Your readers are only interested in your thoughts.

Alright I hope bloggers and readers find the above article useful. I look forward to any comments.

Magically yours

TheFinance.sg is a collection of the latest Finance & Investing news and articles from local bloggers in Singapore.
By consolidating quality sites and articles together, I hope to make the content easily available and to reach out to a larger audience. The site also aims to encourage like minded people to share their views and create a vibrant community.
– See more at: http://thefinance.sg/about/#sthash.wID4AvYG.dpuf

TheFinance.sg is a collection of the latest Finance & Investing news and articles from local bloggers in Singapore.
By consolidating quality sites and articles together, I hope to make the content easily available and to reach out to a larger audience. The site also aims to encourage like minded people to share their views and create a vibrant community.
– See more at: http://thefinance.sg/about/#sthash.oI9BeWZF.dpuf

One thought on “How to establish a personal finance blog

  • July 21, 2014 at 9:54 pm
    Permalink

    Hi Gerald,

    Thanks for the mention. I agree that some additional effort has to be taken if you want your blog to take off further. However, one should not over do it especially if it starts to take away the joy out of writing. While the improvements can help bring in additional traffic, it is the content that keep them coming back for more.

    Cheers!

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