Question about finance blog/website business

[donald]

Just curious how this business works?I started in on research(rrsp/tfsa,ect)anyways what i noticed quickly was "all" finance bloggers are connected and it is generally a network where everybody promotes and connects to each others websites.Are finance bloggers not in competition with each other?Is there a "market" share you actual try to gain?wanting to "pull" readers away from other's sites?(must be noticable uptick in rrsp season re:web "hits")I know that obviously it is a viable "income" stream just seems from the outside looking in the blogging business is "different" the way the model works.Is the only revenue being made from advertisers?What do bloggers make in revenue running a site?I know over half the readership here are running websites and it might be too personal but would anyone shed light on how operating a website works form a business prospective?-seems like cmf is a "meeting" place where bloggers chat and then retreat back to there site.Curious-what's the score?

[FrugalTrader]

There are a lot of blogs out there likely due to very low barrier of entry. With the blog niche, collaboration is a must in order to rank in Google as links from other sites are essential. As well, most of the Canadian blogs share the same readers... no real competition as such. I would say that most bloggers, in general, gain their income from paid clicks, like google adsense. Once they get bigger, they will likely move into affiliate type programs or private advertising deals.

[donald]

Thanks frugal,your blog was the first one i clicked on in my "foray" into learning finance/money skills ect.Quick questions....whatever happend to qcash in your money stories section?Be cool to see a update on him.

[FrugalTrader]

I'll checkin with him to see how he's doing and if he can send us an update!

[Brad911]

I'm sure if we all shared traffic information there is a lot of overlap between all the finance/investment related blogs. That being said each of us does have a specific following of readers and different organic traffic from google based on SEO.

I don't view other blogs as competition for the simple reason that my site is a little more specialized on investing rather than a lot of blogs that concentrate on personal finance as their main content driver.

[financialnoob]

I'd think that shared traffic is a way to attract new readers. It isn't a monopoly where one blog gets one reader. A reader can go to multiple blogs, the only limitation being time really. It's no different than seeing TV channels advertise other TV channels. You're potentially attracting readers who have a similar interest.