Future of Funancials IV: The Business of Blogging

When I first began blogging, it was supposed to be a learning experience. Although I work with money at my primary job – being 25 years old – I understood there’s still a lot more I can learn about personal finance and money management. My thought was: if I could consistently research finance topics such as purchasing a house and retiring with millions – when it came time to cross these bridges in my own life, I would be well-prepared.

Then things took a turn (dun, dun, dun…)

As I began researching and writing about various finance topics, my interests changed a bit. I would visit another personal finance blog in search of answers to my questions, but would quickly get distracted. I would focus in on the website in front of me and forget why I was there in the first place.

My mind would wonder…

• Who runs this website?
• What credibility do they have?
• Why should I take their advice?
• How many people visit this site?
• How do people find this site?
• How much money does this site earn?

It felt as though I found a whole new world: The Business of Blogging. I was no longer interested in “8 Ways to Save on Taxes” but wanted to see more of “Monthly Blog Updates.” I was drawn to people’s blog posts that answered the above questions. While there’s a lot I can learn when it comes to personal finance, I still have a firm understanding of most concepts (no articles were eye-opening); but I knew absolutely zero about blogging. More importantly, I had no idea of the opportunities that blogging created. Each day I’m surprised by the upside. Don’t believe me? Check out this List of Personal Finance Blogs That Have Sold For More Than a Million Dollars.

Earnings

I didn’t begin blogging to make money. The idea never seemed like a possibility. Why would anyone pay me to write? I would argue that most people, up to this point in my life, would pay to NOT hear what I have to say. It’s funny how things change.

• October Blog Earnings: $180
• November Blog Earnings: $355

Moving forward, I hope to average at least $500 per month. I figure $6000 per year is a nice supplement to anyone’s income. If Funancials continues to grow, I’ll adjust these expectations accordingly. I’m hoping I can finish 2011 strong, giving me the motivation to work even harder in 2012.

Alexa

• Alexa as of November 1: 139,563
• Alexa as of December 1: 127,321

I joined the Yakezie Challenge in August. For those that don’t know, the challenge is the drop your Alexa Ranking below 200,000 in 6 months (Funancials, with your help, achieved this in 2). As long as this figure continues to fall, I’ll be a happy man. The rate at which it falls is up to you.

Just remember if you are visiting this website on a regular basis, be sure to download the Alexa Toolbar as it will improve this important statistic above.

Visitors/Pageviews

I attribute my 27% increase in traffic to a few things. Most notably, I was featured on a few more-established sites Financial Samurai and Free Money Finance, both of which sent quite a few referrals my way.

Summary

I hope you all enjoy seeing “under the hood” in order to get a feel for how this site operates. I’ll be following up with another ‘Business of Blogging’ post to dive a bit deeper into Funancials current Page Rank of 4.

 As always, thanks for reading.