Writing a managing a blog is a lot of fun. You have complete control over what you say and a great place to share your thoughts with other investors. It does not come without it struggles. I’ve heard it said that you should only start a blog if you can come up with 50 titles or topics to cover. 50 might be extreme but it gives aspiring bloggers a little perspective on what lies ahead. Most would be bloggers quit after 6 months and very few are still going strong after a year.
Seth Godin refers to this initial weeding out period and struggle period as the Dip. He dedicated an entire book to explaining what it is and what the rewards are for those who can push through. Personally I live for the Dip because on the other side of the Dip the work becomes that much more meaningful. In this post I want to highlight the benefits of having an investment blog.
Doing What You Love
While you may not have a full time job doing what you love there is nothing stopping you from blogging about whatever it is you are passionate about. I personally like investing. I really enjoy finding solid investments, analyzing companies, knowing what to look for in the dividend fundamentals and deciding if the company has growth in its future. It’s pure fun for me. Getting to blog about it is a bonus.
Blogging about a topic you care about is a requirement for getting through the Dip. Bloggers that don’t like their topic and start a blog for some other reason burn out fast. That isn’t a problem for me though because blogging gives me a chance to work on something I enjoy doing.
Getting Focued
Writing forces me to get focused and put concrete ideas down on paper. I try to stick to a schedule of publishing articles on Monday and Wednesday. Thursday is usually a post about what I’ve been reading and Friday is a miscellaneous post about something random but I don’t always publish on Friday. These days serve as a deadline which I find is a must. Readers get used to a schedule and if I don’t stick to a routine it will be too easy to quit.
The benefit of focusing my thoughts though is that it makes me a better investor. I find that I have to think through an idea completely instead of just ponder the possibilities. I have to completely research the details of a post which forces me to learn. I become better educated, more understanding and as a result more successful in my personal investments.
Connecting With Others
A big part of having a blog is connecting with other bloggers. As you already know when you make a blog comment you fill in your name, email and website. Having a website to list in the comment section gives other bloggers a place to find you. They get to read your ideas and comment on what you have to say.
This helps develop an investment community where bloggers help each other out. It’s a lot of fun to get to know other investors and learn from them.
Staying Accountable
I have no choice but to be constantly thinking and learning. How else can I be constantly publishing new blog posts. Sure I had my 50+ ideas before I started this blog but that isn’t even enough to get me through the first 6 months. Having a blog and knowing that people are looking forward to reading what I have to stay forces me to keep learning, keep thinking and keep getting better.
Earning Something Extra
It is possible to earn extra income from a blog. How much depends on many different factors including traffic and proper monetization. The better the content the more people will find and return to the blog. Monetizing that traffic is an entire industry all by itself. As traffic (unique visitors) increases the opportunity to earn from it will come in the form of advertising, affiliate promotion or product development. While all of those are possible and the opportunity for each increases as the blog grows none of those income opportunities is a good reason to start a blog. I’ve found that the foundation of the blog must be a topic the author is extremely found of and love talking about.
Most of my blogs run on Bluehost because they make it fast and easy to set things up. See how its done here.
I started an investment blog because I love the world of finance and investing. If you do too then it might be a good fit. I don’t know of any better way to connect with other investors, develop skills and stay focused like investment blogging.
The main reasons I like blogging is that it gives me an outlet for something I’m interested in and keeps me on track. There’s not too many people in my circle that enjoy investing or talking about it so having a blog provides that outlet and let’s me discuss different ideas with other like-minded people. Also knowing that I’d have to blog about some silly impulse buy keeps me on track with my budgeting. Another great reason for a investing blog is that it’s a built in record of what you’ve done. Since I post about almost every single change to my portfolio it’s easy to go back and look at the exact reasons I either purchased or sold a company. And the mutual inspiration helps too!
Great points, I completely agree.
I started blogging about investing for a few different reasons. First was similar to JC. While I love investing and could talk for hours about it, my family and close friends don’t feel the same. Sometimes I bore my wife to tears talking about this company or that. So my blog is an outlet for these thoughts.
Another reason is it gives me a place to put down my thoughts. Every investor should have a journal (either on paper or a blog) where they can note down their strategy, rules, thoughts and why they make certain buy and sell decisions at the time of those decisions. My blog is my journal where I can look back and reference why did I make this particular buy or why did I decide to sell this company back then.
Last I think it’s a great place for me to share my thoughts and for others as well. I’m always learning and it’s helpful when people point out things in comments that maybe I didn’t think about or catch in my own research.
Like JC and Dan, I also wanted a place/forum to share random investing thoughts and ideas. I was also looking to connect with like minded people focussed on financial independence and growing passive dividend income. I remember initially I searched and searched and couldn’t find many others, so writing a blog seemed like a good way to put the word out. Blog monetization isn’t something I’m very focussed on at this stage. I think my main source of side income will be from the actual dividends themselves, but if the blog can cover its costs over time and make a little something, all the better!
For a lot of us investors, investing is a really lonely job. For me, my investment blog is really an outlook for me to engage with the world. It makes what I do more enjoyable and less lonely.
Good stuff here! I thought I heard Warren Buffett say that you should be able to write down on a page of paper why you think it is a good idea to invest in a company. I just started blogging but feel it is a modern way of conducting Buffett’s exercise of writing down your ideas.