I’ve been an avid reader of many personal finance blogs for years and I took all I learned to help chart our course to financial independence. I also learned a heck of a lot from my very patient brother. My husband and I made some very smart financial decisions because of his great explanations and advice over the years. So here’s a huge shout-out to him too!

So now I feel like I have some stories to share, along with what I learned about making better decisions in my coursework. But without a lot of tech support this summer, it wouldn’t have mattered how much I wrote. This blog would have never happened.

I would say I am a moderately skilled digital immigrant, but my daughter is definitely a digital native. She is my tech support and proofreader and now she’s getting ready to head back to college. And since I’ve been blogging for almost 3 months now, I have a few ideas I would like to run past you. And since I’ve gone back to work at this point, if there is anything I want to change or add – I’d like to get her help while she’s still here!

I honestly had no set plans for this blog. I just thought that writing about my work on decision analysis could help other people. I wasn’t really sure what “space” I would end up in, but personal finance seems to be a good fit. And now that I’ve interacted with many of you – I’m so happy I’m here!

But as I move forward, I have been looking at all of your blogs and I have a few questions. My goal is to set up the blog to add value for readers and to make the experience as seamless and enjoyable as possible. If you would like to chime in, I’d love to hear your thoughts on any of these 5 questions:

1. CommentLuv or not? Or something else?

As an avid reader of many sites, I was trying to figure out why some blogs use it and others don’t. The main reason I wanted to add it to my site may seem selfish (and it’s not for more comments – because the number of comments doesn’t matter to me at all). I am always interested in what others are writing and this is an easy way for me to see the latest posts of commenters and visit their sites as well. And if it allows other readers to see their post titles, then it is a win-win for both of us.

I know a downside to CommentLuv might be commenters that just want a link back to their site. But my thought was if they are not “real” comments (or people who have commented before), then I can make the choice to not approve the comment.

I really respect Mr. 1500Days and Steve at ThinkSaveRetire – and if they use it, I thought I would experiment with it as well.

2. Facebook or Pinterest? Or neither – or both?

I’ve had quite a learning curve with just being able to post on the blog. It also took a lot of time to figure out Twitter. And I don’t use automated posts or direct messages either. But maybe I should? To think about adding Facebook or Pinterest (or Instagram, or…) all seems like too much at this point. Am I missing something though? What works best for you?

3. “Freebies” or not?

I see many PF bloggers give away some type of free e-book or a spreadsheet, budget tool or something else to help their readers. I could certainly generate some type of decision-matrix or handout that could be used by people if they wanted to try it when they had an upcoming decision. If I knew it might be helpful, maybe it would be a good idea? What about giveaway’s such as books or gift cards? I’m not sure I want people just showing up for prizes when they aren’t regular readers. But some folks who do this are just the nicest folks too – and they don’t seem to do it to gain readers at all. Maybe they are just rewarding the readers they have?

4. Blogroll or not?

I think this is the one I struggle with the most. I read so many interesting, funny and informative blogs that I really would love to highlight all of them. But that could be a LENGTHY list – but maybe it’s worth it? And is a list enough – or a short description with the list?

5. Interview series, “Round-Ups” or something else? Or are all of those overdone?

This is another idea I have been thinking about. I really enjoy reading more about bloggers, their lives, interests and projects they are working on. But there are some great bloggers who do this already and if more people do it, it may lose its effectiveness. I also love round-ups by other bloggers! They help introduce you to new blogs and I’ve found some of my favorite blogs this way. But again – maybe that’s overdone too?

I was thinking about “theme” round-ups – where it wasn’t just on random topics of recent weeks. Maybe once or twice a month – look for themes in what bloggers are writing about or invite people to send posts on a topic. Then post links to the “Theme” weekend reads (going back to college, giving, emergency funds, rental properties, etc.). My goal would be to have multiple posts on the same topic as a way for readers interested in that topic to find many perspectives in one place. But I am guessing others already do this too – but I haven’t found them. If you know a site – can you let me know? It was just a thought.

One thing I will promise is that there will never be annoying pop-ups on the site (unless I somehow goof-up something!) I have given up reading some blogs that stop you from reading content until you “click off” a pop-up. I’m not sure why bloggers do that. Maybe you gain sign-ups, but I think you lose a heck of a lot of other readers too.

But maybe there is some other tool or plug-in that would be beneficial to my readers? Or possibly some other idea you have - I’d love it if you share!

If you’re a blogger, thank you in advance for any feedback you can provide J You are the best!

If you are a reader, is there anything in the list of questions you’d like to comment on? Something you like – or things you can’t stand? I’d love to hear from you, but I certainly understand your choice to not comment too! I did that for years!!

And as always, thanks for reading!

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