I Have a Blog, but Why Should You Care?
I started this blog four years ago. My personal finance book was coming out, and I wanted to promote it, share ongoing content about taking your finances beyond the basics, and build relationships with readers.
The Wednesday Reading Lists came first. The successful folks I work with believe in lifelong learning, but don’t always have time to read and rely on trusted curators to cut through the noise.
Why Wednesday?
The idea came to me on a weekend and Wednesday was the soonest I could get the first one compliance approved and out. That was 204 Wednesdays ago.
A client who owns a digital marketing firm gave me the great advice to start with a self-built Squarespace site – easy, cheap, and good quality. Left unsaid was him not wanting me to waste time and money building a bigger site I’d never use.
But I did use it and a year later hired someone to create a WordPress site and refresh the blog to add reader functionality and stronger content tools.
And I kept plugging away.
Covid happened, so the blog became the main marketing engine for the book published in April, 2020.
Traffic grew. Glacially. And in fits and starts. The step back months were painful.
Subscribers followed the same pattern. I made friends and family subscribe. I checked their click stats and complained when they didn’t read my stuff until my wife threatened to unsubscribe if I didn’t stop. The Mailchimp email alert when someone unsubscribes ruins half the day. A reader email with a compliment makes my week. Running into someone who bought the book is awesome.
I love doing it. The reading, writing, and sharing.
I’m going to continue, but more purposefully.
Based on reader feedback, help from Heritage’s amazing marketing team, and learning from other wealth managers pursuing the same path (most recently at the Investopedia Top 100 event), I’m focusing the site much more on the reader and its mission.
The Updated Reader Experience
I’ll share original content focused on my Beyond the Basics roadmap to make the right financial decisions to build and protect your wealth.
The Wednesday Reading Lists will continue, but I’ll summarize the article’s key takeaways in the post itself. In two minutes, you can get caught up on the week’s best, and click through for more detail as wanted.
On most Fridays, I’ll share a Your Week in Money recap, focusing on happenings you need to know about and helpful tips. I’ll sprinkle in videos where I can.
And monthly, I’ll share book and other content recommendations that I used to share weekly in the Wednesday Reading Lists with more detailed reviews.
I hope you like it and share feedback along the way.
Thanks for reading and supporting the blog.
Without you, it’s just a guy clacking away at a keyboard for no reason.
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