Want to share your personal finance story with the world? Great—here’s how to start a personal finance blog. I enjoy writing, and blogging has steadily boosted my confidence and improved my work over time.
Blogs deliver useful information in short, entertaining bites. So why not start your own corner of the internet? You might discover hidden talents — and even earn more than you expect.
Setting up my blog felt pretty straightforward. If you’re comfortable with basic tech, you can have a blog running in about an hour. I used SiteGround and followed the prompts to get started.
You’ll be asked to pick a domain name. I tried “MrBrokeRetiree.com” and, to my surprise, it was available. Finders keepers!
After that, you’ll enter payment details and create a password. Skip the extras for now—you’re unlikely to need them, and you can add them later. I use the “Grow Big” plan now, but for the first 12–24 months the cheapest “Start Up” plan is enough.
With hosting in place, install a blogging platform—WordPress. Go to the “My Accounts” tab and click “Go to cPanel.” cPanel is where you manage your hosting settings. From there, choose the WordPress installer.
When asked for protocol and domain, pick HTTPS (SiteGround provides free SSL certificates) and include the “www.” prefix if you prefer that look.
Next, select a theme to start with. I recommend beginning with a free theme until you’re established—many successful bloggers do fine with free themes and strong writing. I use the Genesis Framework (about $59) because it’s lightweight and flexible, with free child themes available. My site runs the Magazine Pro child theme and it’s been reliable for years.
That’s the basic setup. Of course there’s more to learn, and I’ll share a few tips to help you avoid mistakes I made early on. You can customize your site and add plugins, but start with the basics. First step after setup is to launch your blog.
Once launched, you can start publishing posts. Or you can waste hours tweaking fonts, colors, and menus—trust me, I’ve been there as a recovering perfectionist. Focus on writing first.
About plugins: try to limit how many you install since each one can slow your site. Because I’m on SiteGround’s “Grow Big” plan, daily backups are included, so I don’t need a backup plugin. SiteGround also offers image optimization to help pages load faster on mobile—important for SEO. I used to run Autoptimize and WP-Optimize, but now I stick with SiteGround’s SG Optimizer, which works much better than it used to.
Update (5/24/18): With GDPR rules in effect, I recommend reading Do You Even Blog’s comprehensive GDPR overview.
After you’ve set up the site and written a few posts, learn the basics of SEO (search engine optimization). There’s a lot to learn, but the best strategy is simple: produce quality content. Also make sure your site is fast and work on building domain authority. Domain authority grows by publishing great content and getting credible sites to link to you. That can happen naturally over time, or you can actively pitch your content to others in your niche.
I haven’t had much luck with HARO (Help a Reporter Out)—mainly because I haven’t submitted many pitches and the competition is fierce. Journalists often prefer sources who come across as real people, too. I recommend reading Mediavine’s free SEO articles; they taught me a lot. If you can crack SEO, you’ll know how to start a blog and keep it growing.
After nearly two years of blogging, I added a couple of useful tools. I had a bad experience with a purchased template at first, then switched to StudioPress and the Genesis Framework. You buy and install the framework, then add a child theme; there are many free child themes to choose from. I upgraded to Magazine Pro to match my site’s design needs.
Give yourself about a year before investing in premium themes. Once you’re established, consider StudioPress for faster pages, cleaner design, and solid support.
Around the one-year mark, consider a graphics tool for logos, Pinterest images, and photo tweaks. I use Canva (free) for filters, text overlays, cropping, and simple edits. It’s a great way to improve your visuals without much hassle.
For my header logo and a caricature, I used Fiverr. You can find designers offering logo work for as little as $5; I paid about $30 each for my logo and caricature. If design isn’t your strength, hiring a pro is worth it.
That’s a straightforward guide to starting your own personal finance blog. Give it a try, and feel free to reach out if you have questions—I’ve nearly broken this site a few times and am happy to share what I’ve learned. Enjoy the process and let it evolve.