Mr. Money Smarts here from Smart On Money Personal Finance Blog. Thanks for allowing me this space to share a little bit about myself, talk about my blog and blogging goals, and to share my experience in the mighty Yakezie.
My Background
I’m a 34 year old midwestern father of one little boy (born a month after I launched my site!), and husband to 1 beautiful wife of 8 years (With the popularity of that show “Sister Wives”, I thought I should mention I have only 1 wife). I’m a graduate of the University of Minnesota, and my day job is working in the IT department at a local advertising agency that specializes in working with automotive clients and big dealer groups. It’s a good place to work, and I’ve been there for almost 10 years now.
In my free time I love playing tennis, mountain biking and watching my favorite teams, the Twins and Vikings. Now if Brett Favre could just get his act together!
Of course, I love writing as well – writing for my site in addition to a couple of others on a regular basis. My love of blogging has seriously cut into my time for other pursuits, but it has been a ton of fun, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
My Blogging Pedigree
I’ve been blogging on my family and personal blogs since the mid to late 1990s (when did blogs start?), and I am even old enough to remember the wonderful sound made by a modem as you dial in to one of those old fashioned message boards. Ahh. the good old days.
I only seriously started blogging about personal finance and money topics in January of 2008 when I launched my first personal finance site – that shall remain nameless here. I’m sure you can find it if you try hard enough. :) That 1st site has done quite well, and earlier this year after hiring several staff writers for my first site to keep the content fresh, I decided to start a second site. I hoped to cut the learning curve down quite a bit – this time not making some of the mistakes I made the first time around. My hope was to double the site income and create a full time income from blogging. (That fits in well with the second Yakezie challenge!)
So far it has been tough to keep motivated to constantly write new content, but I’ve been able to write 3-4 posts/week for the past 5-6 months – and it’s starting to pay off.
Yakezie And My Site’s Progress
When I joined Yakezie I joined with the goal of getting involved with a group that would help me to improve my site’s Alexa ranking, in addition to hopefully being a great place to help promote my site, get backlinks (and give them), and just have a good time chatting with like minded bloggers. I don’t think you can over-estimate the usefulness of having a network like this to bounce ideas off of, and help you along the way. It’s one of the reasons I love the personal finance blogosphere – because everyone is so friendly and ready to help each other out.
Yakezie has done wonders for my small 6 month old blog, helping me to grow from a sorry 10,000,000+ Alexa ranking all the way down to it’s current ranking of 124,358 as of this post. I’m amazed at how fast it happened thanks to the help of all of you folks here – so thank you!
In the first few months blogging on Smart On Money I’ve been able to grow the site from 1800 page views that first month to where I’m now averaging over 10,000 page views the last couple of months. I hope to continue the upward trend over the coming months.
Why I Love Blogging
Blogging has been a great hobby (turned second job) for me over the past couple of years, and there are a lot of reasons I love it.
- You can make money doing it! (I’m almost making as much as my day job now if you combine income from all my sites.)
- Great way to engage with others out there: I love engaging with commenters, commenting on other blogs, and just talking with others online.
- I love helping people to improve their finances: If I didn’t feel like I was making some sort of a difference, it wouldn’t be nearly as rewarding.
- I love learning about personal finance: I’ve learned more about money and personal finance in the last couple of years than in my entire life before that. Writing about it fosters learning!
I love the blogging process in general, so if you ever want to talk about it, or have questions, please feel free to shoot me an email via my contact page! I’ve got a couple of years under my belt now, and if I can help you along the way, I’d be happy to!
Smart On Money
Smart On Money blog was started with the goal of helping people to make wise decisions about their money. I aim to do that by getting back to the basics, writing about the simple things people need to do in order to get their financial lives in order.
Thanks for sharing your story here. Look forward to working with you.
Your blogging success should motivate many to keep plugging away!
Thanks! I hope it does motivate people – i know it can be a tough go of it sometimes, but if you stick to it you’ll be glad you did!
Dr. Dean, how are you always the one of the very first to post a comment on each of the member posts?? It’s quite amazing :)
Yeah! I’ve been wondering the exact same thing, Dr. Dean.
Hey Mr. Money –
Enjoyed reading your story. I jumped over to your site and subscribed to your RSS and added you on twitter.
I remember stumbling across your blog post “5 Reasons you should never open an IRA” and thought – WHAT?! until I read it; great job!
I’m sure we can all learn a few things from your long history of blogging!
Tim
I’m glad you liked that post, it’s funny – that post was kind of a last minute thing. Sometimes those posts do the best!
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It is amazing what reality tv can come up with now. (Referring to Sister Wives. That Cody just creeps me out, but I digress!)
You have been blogging a long time, very impressive! I agree with you in that it does take time from other things, but I enjoy it more than just about any other hobby I have ever had. It combines reading, which I love, and writing, which I am coming to love. Oh, it also can mean money too, which I also love.
Congrats on the little one, heading over to your site now!
Yeah, that Cody guy creeps me out as well. My wife is fascinated with that show for some reason – I hope she isn’t looking to add a few more husbands to the fold!
I enjoy blogging as a hobby as well – if I didn’t, I would have quit a long time ago!
Cody creeps me out too! I can’t believe people want to watch this s@#!.
Mr Money
You’ve done some great work getting all the page views and the low alexa rank! Keep up the good work, and for the record, Minneapolis is awesome!
I agree – Minneapolis IS awesome! And thanks on the other stuff – it’s a lot of hard work, but I know it’s going to pay off in the end!
Good stuff, I’ve enjoyed reading your blog (been subscribing for a while) and will have to make sure to comment more and such.
Thanks, I love comments, it’s part of what keeps you going! I’ll do my best to respond if you do!
Wow you are an internet old timer. That’s really cool about the other site. I have been thinking about frugal zeitgeist and if I would like staff writers but not sure yet. It would be cool to move over and work with some other sites a little more intensely. Sometimes wish there was a fleet of mindless me’s.
That would be ideal – a fleet of clones to do my writing, promotion, etc! I’m in! On the serious side, part of the reason i like having staff writers – even though i have to pay them – is that they bring a fresh perspective to a lot of things, and some of them are just plain good writers. So in the end it is money well spent in my opinion.
I love blogging for the exact same reasons. It is probably the only hobby that can earn you money rather than cost you money!
Exactly. My old hobbies tended to cost me more money than they were worth. Blogging actually makes me a ton of income – which is why I think my wife tolerates all the time that I put into it! :)
Good to hear your story, old timer! I too remember the noise a modem made when hitting the net. My children would freak out if they heard that.
Anyway, spill the beans on your first site. You got all curious, especially when you talked about it, but won’t mention it. You are going to have me search the net all day, not get any work done, promotion of Yakezie members or anything, so SPILL IT!!! lol
And your post about why not to get a Roth had me like, wtf! I had to jump over right away to see this…and like the other guy above, was like, ok….good one!
Looking forward to networking and building with you further. Sub 100K alexa, here we come!!! (Even though I have a ways to go. I am at 345K now, but dropping)
Haha.. I was hoping I might get a few of you searching with Google to figure out what my other site is. :) I’ve already gotten one email from someone commenting above that figured it out! :)Maybe I should turn it into a scavenger hunt or something – cash prize random drawing among those who figure it out! :)
I’m sure your Alexa rating will continue to drop now that you’re part of the Yakezie!
Oh man, it is driving me crazy now! Give up the goods on the site!!!
But since joining Yakezie, not even a month ago I joined Oct 4th I think, my alexa has fallen from 1.58 to the 345K, so this is crazy to me and awesome!!!
Haha.. you mean you don’t want to work for it? Anything worthwhile isn’t easy! ;)
Mr. MS, Sounds like we got a lot in common loving tennis, M-biking, and of course just having a baby…congrats BTW!!!
If you make it to the east coast let me know, there are some fantastic trails around here.
I was actually out in NYC a couple of months ago for my day job. I kinda wish I had looked some of you east coast bloggers out!
Do you still oversee your first PF blog? Seems like you keep pretty busy with work and side jobs. Congrats on the newest family member!
Yes, I do still oversee it, AND I still write for that site as well. All in all I write about 6-7 posts a week between the two sites, in addition to infrequent posts on my other sites.
Mr. Money, nice to meet you. I’m glad to hear success stories like yours. It’s keeps me motivated to keep blogging away. Sometimes, I find myself just unmotivated to do anything and wondered if I’m capable of maintaining a successful blog. But reading posts like yours encourages me to keep going. Thanks!
I’m glad it encourages you to keep going – I know you can be successful if you put your mind to it, write great content, network with others through sites like this one, and just keep at it! Thanks for commenting and best of luck with your site!
Thanks. This is really encouraging me as well. Thanks for sharing. I would love to hear about the best way to monetize blogs….
For me by far the best way to monetize my blog – so far – has been google adsense. I think my content has been well suited towards monetizing that way. Other sites may not work quite as well for that. Beyond that I’ve found that CPM ads work well if you’re working with a premium niche network, selling your own products and services.
Thanks for sharing your story. I jumped over and read – 5 Reasons Why You Should Never Open A Roth IRA. I see, it’s a double negative kind of thing. :)
ah, yes. Kinda tricky and heavy on the sarcasm on that post. ;)
Thanks for the inspirational post; it’s always great to hear from someone that has made it. I also greatly enjoy blogging and although it has eaten up a lot of time, I don’t regret it one bit.
It’s funny, I don’t quite feel like I’ve made it yet, but maybe that’s because I always see room for improvement. I do some things well, others not as much. Always room for improvement.
As mentioned, it does eat up a lot of time, and I think I can do a better job of time management to be more efficient about my blogging.. :)
Great Story! You are an example of how a blogger can find success by sticking to their goals. Just a few more months and you will hit the 3 year mark. Congratulations!
It is hard to believe it’s almost been 3 years of personal finance blogging. That’s a lot of blog posts!
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Wow, you’ve been writing online for over 10 years? That’s quite impressive!
It seems like you’ve been able to grow Smart on Money pretty quickly as well. I may have to go search for your first site, now ;-).
I definitely will take you up on that offer about blogging advice! I sure can use it.
I’m not sure if it’s been that long, but it’s been a while! I’ve only been doing it seriously though since Jan ’08.
I think you know my other site, you’ve commented there! :)
You’ve blown your cover now! I still think you should hire a female staff writer, haha!
Great job with the new blog.
Uh oh!
I just may hire a female staff writer next time I need one. :)
Nice to meet you! I haven’t seen Sister Wives, but I couldn’t imagine trying to make marriage work with yet another person involved…one husband was hard enough to train, ahem, I mean “learn how to compromise with”. ;-)
I’m so glad you’ve had so much success as it gives me hope!
Thanks! Yes, my wife thinks she has trained me as well! Little does she know i’m just playing along! :)
Never in my life have I been surrounded by so many people interested & engaged in their personal finances – its amazing how connective these blogs are.
So it sounds like you’ve actually had more than 2 sites considering the early day family blogging or did you talk about that on your site that has done quite well. How come you want it to remain nameless? If it has done well wouldn’t you want to share that or do you not want to look like you’re gloating?
Reading into it, sounds like you may be transitioning into full-time PF blogger? Congrats & Good Luck!
Wow, I just am amazed how folks can churn out five to six posts a week. Every. Single. Week. I would completely burn out at that pace.
You think you’ve been around? I remember when computer monitors only came in monochrome – and when Pong was the “must have” gift for Christmas. ;-)
Best,
Len
Len Penzo dot Com
Ah yes, I remember those monochrome screens. I believe they came in shades of green, amber, and bluish white. haha..
I have a close Minnesota friend and he often alludes to how tough it’s been being a Minnesota sports fan lately. I hope the Favre situation works out and the Vikes can somehow get out of this rut. I like the Minnesota teams in general. On pf blogging, it’s pretty impressive how many sites you’re able to keep track of and how much content you’re able to produce…Really impressive how much it sounds like you’re making. Great stuff!
Yes, I am a long suffering Minnesota sports fan. Twins? swept by the Yankees. Vikings? quarterback issues. Wild? Can’t score a goal. Timberwolves? Never past the first round of the playoffs. *sigh.
PF blogging does get tiring sometimes, but that’s why i never write on the weekends, and I’ve hired staff writers. If I didn’t, I’d be burned out in no time too!
Sheesh, and now Randy Moss! It is tough!
Wow Smart on Money–anyway you can share how you’ve managed to get so many readers each month in such a short amount of time?
P.S. I watched the Sister Wives show and had to giggle when you put your disclaimer in:).
How I got readers? Hmmm. well it helps that I have another bigger site i can link from – but mainly most of my readers are going to come from promotion on social media like twitter and facebook, and also the main chunk come from search engine visitors. Probably 75-80% of my visitors come that route, partly because I think I write posts that do decent on search. Basically i just think – what things do people need help with, and if I were searching for it, what would i search for?
Thanks for your the thoughts on blogging experience!
I know that personally, I’m looking at my blog realizing all the mistakes that I’ve made, and wondering if it’s not easier to just start a new site the right way…
Of course, the problem is I’m still learning, so I’m sure I’ll make more big mistakes as I go (the minor ones don’t bother me so much).
I can tell you that I’ve done better this time around as far as knowing how to promote things, do decent on monetization,etc – but really the main key is just to write, and get as much content going on your site as you can. My other site has over 1000 posts, and even if some of them only do a little bit every day, add them all together and they do quite well.
And yes, it is a continual learning process. I’m still making mistakes, and learning new things every day. I think that continual learning process is part of what makes it fun!
hanks for sharing your story, looking forward to getting to know you more.
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Good job on the quick drop in rankings. I went to your “5 reasons..” piece. Believe it or not, it is pieces like these that gets people looking. Worked for me :)