A while ago, I wrote a post about Some Thoughts on Financial Bloggers. I was a bit crass about my fellow financial bloggers (although it was interesting enough that I got a comment from Squawkfox (and then she got mad at me for not putting it up fast enough)). After spending an entire weekend in a room with many Financial Bloggers, I can revisit my concepts a little.
The most interesting observation I can make about CPFC13 (Canadian Personal Finance Conference 2013) was that there was only one segment solely on Finance (a panel I chaired on Investing). There is a great need to learn how to write articulately if you have a Financial Blog. I had fun chairing it, but I didn’t get to do my full Kermit the Frog Financial Blogger imitation (it involves a great deal of arm waving).
Another interesting point was that Personal Finance (as a writing topic) is a dull subject. There is a great need to differentiate yourself from the thousands of other voices that are out there. I somewhat agree with that message. There are countless outstanding Financial writers out there, but what makes folks read their content? What differentiates a great deal between these writers is that their content is rock solid and very useful, and while sometimes it’s a bit dry, the topic itself is not always exciting either. I do not have the talent of these writers. My way of being different is by writing in a personal style and talking about things in my life (mostly).
An exciting weekend, and as usual, while the conference topics were interesting, the most exciting part of the weekend was putting faces to names and having conversations with folks to find out who they are and why they write. As I have mentioned before, the question most asked of me was, “How can you write SO much?”, the answer is, I do, but this volume may decrease in the next little while. We shall see.
I thought the question u were asked was “how can you write so much and say so little” 🙂
Your reader Edward has a great comment. I used to wonder the same thing when I started blogging. However, while there is a little bit of back and forth between bloggers, most blogs get thousands of reads, so it only seems like the bloggers are talking to themselves. I now think the PF blogger comments are as much camaraderie and understanding how much work goes into each post that can only be appreciated by others who put forth the same effort. Or why I comment on your site, to tell you how well the Leafs are playing 🙂
I suspect you run this blog because you want to, not because you have to. Keep it that way 🙂
Personal finance isn’t sexy…we’ll leave sexy to other people. Scarlett Johansson maybe?
Mark
Very true, I do this because I want to (it certainly can’t be for the “money” I make).
I am not a blogger, but I do like to write. I have a couple of articles published in a magazine, which is a nice way to toot my own horn. That I did it in English, my second language, is more a factor of how much I read in English as a child than anything else. I don’t have a webpage to link to so I guess I am the exception. Stunningly good looking??? Well, depends on how many drinks you have had I guess… (grin)
Something that I really wonder about…. It seems to me that a lot of PF Bloggers are writing and only being read by other PF writers who leave comments so they can get links to their own PF page. Personally, I’m not a PF Blogger (or blogger at all, really) but it seems to me this world is like one big snake eating its own tail. I rarely see comments on PF pages where the commenter doesn’t have their own site. Do you know what I mean? There’s a preaching to the choir craziness going on in the PF web model. “I will pretend to read your stuff if just to glean some ideas and get a link from your page and maybe you will return the favour by commenting on mine? …And maybe other PF people will see me as well and I can get my site out there into the big pond and make some money through my Adsense.”
Agreed, it does become quite incestual at times, I do try to get other folks in via social networking, and I do seem to have a few non-PF Blogger readers, and I appreciate all of you.
Great post, just one thing: You forgot to mention how stunningly good looking we all are.
Most of you, I don’t count myself in the majority, I have quirky good looks (OK that is me being optimistic).