The pandemic emphasized the importance of good personal planning and finance. Many people depended on government furlough schemes as their company was forced to close due to lockdowns and Covid restrictions. Governments had to borrow money to pay for all these extra social payments. The consequences of this borrowing were that governments had to increase taxes to finance their loans. Supply chains have been affected because of restrictions or a decreased workforce. This has led to increased food prices. The current conflict in Ukraine has led to increased energy costs due to a reduced supply of oil and gas from Russia, further adding to our financial woes. This leads to an increased cost of living for all individuals and families.
Therefore, now is an excellent time to start a personal finance blog. There is a big audience looking for financial advice on the best ways to deal with their increased financial commitments.
Create your mission statement
Before launching your blog, you should ask yourself a few essential questions.
-Why are you setting up your blog?
-What audience do you want to reach?
-What type of content are you going to write?
In answering these questions, you will identify your target market and create a niche for your blog. When you have decided on your niche, don’t be tempted to divert from it, at least in the short term.
Minimal start-up costs
A considerable advantage of starting a blog is that it doesn’t require a lot of start-up capital. You can work from home on your laptop. The start-up costs will be your website creation and hosting services. You can work on your blog when you are not working, and, as such, your personal finances should not be affected.
Build the foundations of your blog
It is important to do a lot of research into your product development before launching your blog. Making changes after you launch may alienate your audience. First impressions count for a lot, and getting your website right from the start will increase the chances of your readers revisiting your site.
Write a business plan
Your business plan will be the template that you should execute as well as you can. Your business plan should set out your blog’s financial goals and marketing strategies. In this case, the latter is more relevant as your start-up costs will be minimal. If you need help writing your business plan, this blog will explain everything.
Create your website
Your website is the most crucial marketing tool for your blog. Design it in such a way that makes it attractive to your target audience. If you are writing detailed blogs, make the site more businesslike and professional. If you target an audience that is not savvy with financial terms and procedures, make your articles short and easy to understand.
When building your website, you will need a WebHost and word press. Bluehost includes both in their start-up pack, and it is a company we would recommend.
Decide on a name
Your blog name should be a combination of your preferred choice and one that will maximize successful search hits on the internet. Choosing the correct name should be taken seriously. Business Name Generator will supply you with a name that will describe your business and give your blog solid SEO (Search Engine Optimization) to direct your audience to your website when searching for personal finance blogs. Having a good and relevant domain name is crucial to your business. Without it, your audience will not find you.
Make it legal
You will have to register your business. There are many ways of doing this, but a sole proprietorship will suffice for your blog. It is easy and inexpensive to set this up. You might consider changing to an LLC (Limited Liability Company ) in the future when your blog business has grown significantly. An LLC protects you from trade creditors the company might have in the event of bankruptcy.
Ensure you have disclaimers and terms and conditions on your website. This is particularly relevant to a personal finance blog. You must let your audience know that you are only advising them on personal finance and are not liable for any bad investments they may make.
Prepare your content
If your blog concentrates on helping your audience reduce their monthly outgoings, start with a cornerstone article that your other blogs can feed off later. An example of this might be “How to reduce your monthly outgoings step by step” Make this blog rich in keywords, as this will be the article that Google will see first.
Then write several blogs relevant to your subject and keep them on file. You can introduce these articles regularly to your website to keep it active and exciting to Google. Ensure all your blogs are relevant and unique to increase your traffic. Write new blogs to replace the ones you post on the site, so you always have something informative to post.
Be patient
It will take several months before your blog has enough traffic volume to attract advertisers or reputable affiliates. To get to this level, you will have to write unique and valuable content that gets Google’s attention. So take your time before you post your blogs. Ensure they are correctly researched and will add value for your audience. The more you do this, the more organic traffic will be directed to your blog. Resist the temptation to post a blog that is not up to standard or is just repeating what other bloggers have written. If you haven’t got something good to post, wait until you do.
Facebook is a great way to increase your website traffic. Your Facebook page can have shortened versions of your blog articles, which will lead your audience to your website. You can spend some money with Facebook to boost your posts. This is a cost-effective way of getting more followers.
Build trust
When blogging about personal finance, the most important thing is to gain the trust of your audience. Without it, your blog will not reach the heights you aspire to. To do this, you will have to tell your audience about you, your background, and the goals you have set up for your blog. Don’t try to sell anything to your audience at the start. They will become suspicious and will probably leave your site. Offer free information so that they can build their trust in you gradually. Engage with your audience by encouraging interaction. You can do this with the aid of a simple messaging service like Messenger or WhatsApp. When you give more than you take, your audience will become loyal to you, and you will have a market to build on.
Explain financial investments
Everyone gets offered lucrative investment schemes every day through our social media platforms. Some of these provide incredible returns for a small investment. Many people get taken in by these schemes and lose a lot of money.
You can research these ” get rich quick” and give feedback to your audience. This will be invaluable to them and increase their trust in you. Explaining the intricacies of cryptocurrency is something that your audience will appreciate as many people don’t understand how the system works.
Marketing
Your blog should use all the social media platforms available to increase traffic to your website. This has become standard practice for all businesses and is essential for your marketing mix. However, YouTube is a perfect platform for your blog as it can make a complex subject easier to understand.
YouTube
Your website is all about writing blogs. It is hard for your audience to get to know you through your writing. YouTube introduces you to your audience. This medium is very effective in engaging your audience. Some people find it difficult to read articles and find listening to someone easier. Your YouTube channel provides this. You can explain a particular aspect of personal finance more easily when talking directly to your audience. Furthermore, a successful YouTube channel can be financially rewarding if you reach the required level of views for your videos.
Share Links
Contact other bloggers and ask them if they can link to your blog in their blogs. You can do the same for them. These backlinks will be noticed by Google and increase the traffic to your website. To get a reputable blog to include your link, you might offer to write an article for them for free. It will be worth it.
Monetize your business
When you have enough traffic to your website, you can start monetizing it. Think carefully about how you are going to do this. Pop Up ads can be profitable, but they can also take away from your reader’s website experience. Although there are ways to minimize the interference of these ads, they will still infringe on your site. There are other ways to monetize your site which are both non-invasive and informational.
Affiliates
You can affiliate with companies relevant to personal finance. When you do this, you link to their website when talking about a subject relevant to them. When one of your readers clicks on the link, you get paid. How much you get paid depends on the terms of the agreement. It would be best if you were selective about the companies you affiliate with, ensuring their services will be beneficial to your readers. There are many platforms you can investigate regarding affiliate marketing, share a sale is one of the best.
Reviews
When your blog has built a good reputation, you can start reviewing financial products and posting them for your audience. The company you are studying will pay you for this service. The company must know that you will give an honest review of their product, detailing the cons and the pros, if applicable. If the company wants a glowing review regardless of what your think of it, you should not agree to do it. Your reputation will be affected if this product turns out to be a scam or, in some way, inferior to what you had advertised.
Product recommendation
Your YouTube channel is a way to recommend a financial product or company you believe in. You can work on a commission basis for every customer they get through your channel. Alternatively, you could charge a once-off amount and agree to mention their product a couple of times on every YouTube video. Once again, it is essential that you have researched the company properly and concluded that it is a reputable company.
Long term growth strategy
When you have grown your blog to a certain level, it will be time to go to the next level. If your blog is making money at this stage, you can pay reputable well known financial writers to write once-off exclusive articles for your blog. This will add to your blog’s reputation and increase your customer traffic. It will also mean that you can charge more for your review and recommendation services.
At this stage, you will have gained a wealth of knowledge of the personal-finance area and might decide to branch out to different areas. You can do this by expanding your existing blog or starting a new one to attract a different demographic.
Conclusion
Your personal finance blog can be lucrative if you have identified the right market and written unique and valuable content for your readers. Ensure you know exactly what your blog is about before you launch it. You have to stamp an identity on your blog, so your audience can identify with it. Engage with your audience through easy-to-use messaging services and your YouTube channel.
When you have built enough traffic to your website, you will be able to engage in affiliate marketing to start monetizing your business. Companies can employ you to review or recommend their products. Make sure you have researched the company properly before doing any of these things. Keep in mind that a good reputation is your most valuable asset.
When you have reached the stage when you can afford to put some money back into the business, employ a reputable finance blogger or figure to write an exclusive article for your blog. When your blog starts realizing a good profit, it might be time to keep up your day job and concentrate on your successful personal finance blog.