Save your trash to feed your blog

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Writers often cram too many ideas and facts into their first drafts. This happens frequently in blog posts. It can even happen in longer pieces, such as white papers, scholarly journal articles, or books. You need to trim the excess to polish your final version. However, you don’t need to lose your extra content forever.

Blog treasures from trash

Let’s say you came up with three great examples and one example with only tangential relevance. If that fourth example tells another story more powerfully, you can use it to start a new blog post.

Sometimes it’s hard to delete information that fascinates you, even if it weakens your final product. I hope that knowing you can use those ideas elsewhere will make it easier for you to trash it, and then use it to feed future blog posts.

Your examples?

Have any of your blog posts started with content you sliced out of other pieces? Please share.

Blogging Q&A with advisor Richard Rosso

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Richard Rosso, senior financial adviser for Clarity Financial in Houston, Texas, communicates with an enthusiasm that’s infectious. I tapped him as a guest blogger last year to discuss “The Fee Value Proposition.” When he mentioned his writing for MarketWatch Retirement when we met at my presentation in Houston in March 2014, I got the idea of asking him to share his thoughts about the benefits of that writing, as well as his blog. In the Q&A below, he says that he can “attribute roughly $2 million in new client relationships to blogging.”

By the way, although Richard suggests that I’d tell him to shorten his blog posts. I think the right length is different for everyone. For folks who struggle to write, shorter is better. There are also people like me who just prefer to keep things short. Then, there are bloggers, such as Michael Kitces of Nerd’s Eye View, who regularly attract readers with very long posts.

Q. When did you start your Random Thoughts of a Money Muse blog and when did you start guest-blogging for MarketWatch Retirement?

A. I started Random Thoughts as a labor of love in 2010. Blogging felt like a natural extension of the writing I was doing on a daily basis for my book that was published in 2012, Random Thoughts Of A Money Muse. Blogging became a method to share voices and experiences, both from myself and others, especially those experiencing troubled relationships with money. The blog is purposely off the traditional path—I call it “the fringe of money”—when compared to bloggers and blogs I respect and read religiously, like Josh Brown’s www.thereformedbroker.com and Michael Kitces’ Nerd’s Eye View at www.kitces.com. Friend, mentor, and best-selling author James Altucher told me that financial topics are boring. People tune out quickly. So I sought to add personal stories (sometimes painful), pop culture, a bit of the spiritual; and then bridge over to salient money lessons. To me, creating a story, painting a picture, makes financial topics easier to digest, and broadens the appeal.

As for MarketWatch Retirement, I am a financial geek at heart and retirement planning as a topic of study is a passion. I’ve been working with Robert Powell at MarketWatch for years. He’s featured as a “money muse” in my book because he is [one of the most studied journalists on the topic of retirement. I began submitting article ideas to him. Since January 2014, I’ve become a regular contributor.

Retirement planning is a formidable challenge, especially post-financial crisis. I seek to share relevant experiences of pre-retirees and new retirees with subscribers to Retirement Weekly and MarketWatch. Life stories are important. They provide Main Street context and valuable lessons for readers.

Q. How has your blog brought you new business or improved your existing client relationships? Please explain and quantify, if possible.

A. The blog has improved my client relationships because it opens up a part of me that’s personal. Clients feel connected. Several have tough life stories they are no longer hesitant to share with me and others.

My client relationships are deeper and robust due to the writing. Several posts have generated calls and greater discussion with client families, especially the kids. The blog makes me a real person—I make mistakes. This vulnerability exposes me as human and approachable. People often hesitate to ask questions of—or feel intimidated by—advisors. My clients and prospects feel comfortable asking me anything because I expose pieces of myself and they know they’ll receive straight answers. My material is in depth enough to showcase my knowledge, but I don’t overdo it. Subtle is best.

On occasion, I’m surprised at the responses. Recently, I had two clients come forward and tell me how much they look forward to my posts and share my commentary on a regular basis.

Another benefit is that posting my blog segments to social media occasionally generates story ideas for media. I’m honored to help reporters blend the money and human side. As a result, their stories are robust and memorable.

The writings for MarketWatch Retirement Weekly allow me to “report” what people are thinking and how they’re living in retirement. I’ve received an increased number of hits to my blog since I began contributing regularly to Retirement Weekly. More importantly, the blog assists my marketing efforts. Blogging is such an inexpensive way to share knowledge. Combined with social media, blogging has resulted in prospects and clients. I can attribute roughly $2 million in new client relationships to blogging. It’s a lot of work—you need to stick with it—but the rewards are worth it.

Q. What blogging techniques or topics have most helped your business?

A. I have trained myself, along with lessons in your book on financial blogging, to keep my technique simple and straight. It’s challenging for advisors to take their ego out of their work. I make sure my writing is not about me, it’s about the readers. It’s designed to stimulate responses, emotions and then ostensibly, connections to money lessons. I rarely go longer than 1,500 words, although I know from your guidance that I should cut the word count by half. I’m a work in progress!

It enhances readership when I add pictures or photos to blog posts. People sometimes remember the photos with a smile long after the words are forgotten. It’s a challenge to find just the right visual or mix of photos as to not overwhelm the reader; I think I’ve gotten it down purely by trial and error. There’s no doubt that well-placed visuals add impact.

Topics that have worked for me include how to cut down on debt, the psychology or emotional biases of money, how to raise money-smart kids, and how to increase return on life. These definitely resonate. I purposely stay away from short-term market commentary. There’s plenty of it out there. I seek to have readers examine themselves or their financial situation from 30,000 feet looking down. Focusing on one stock or how the Chinese PMI came in is best left with economists and financial journalists. I can converse about these topics with the best of them. The focus for my blog posts is to inspire the heart, not the head.

Q. What are three of your favorite—or most effective—blog posts?

A. The three blog posts that are the most effective or that have generated the most conversations are the following:

Five Questions To Ask A Financial Adviser. Today. I Mean Right Now.

I consistently come across people who tell me they feel they’re bothering their financial advisors if they ask questions.

The Tolle Of The Governor: 6 Steps To Rebirth.

I will tie in to story lines of popular television shows as attention grabbers. Here, the money lesson focused on replenishment of savings and the act of saving money.

When Organs Go Wrong – 5 Ways To Get Them Right Again.

When I went through a stress-induced illness I openly shared the experience with readers. The money advice? How good financial habits create less stress.

Readers tell me that blog posts like this evoke emotional responses. Well, isn’t money emotional? If I can evoke a feeling or incite passion then slip in a money lesson without anybody noticing, then mission accomplished!

Q. What’s your best tip for advisors who blog?

A. For advisors who blog my best tip is to check yourself. People don’t care how smart you are until they know how caring you are. Reveal your vulnerable or human sides, take ego out of your work, keep readers emotionally involved, be entertaining, keep it simple (no math, just words.) Remember—you’re selling yourself to clients and prospects. There are ways to surgically showcase your financial knowledge without overdoing it.

Blogging with James B. Stewart of The New York Times

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Looking for ideas on how to structure your blog posts? Newspapers like The New York Times can provide inspiration, as I’ve found with many articles by Floyd Norris and with the column by James B. Stewart that I discuss in this post.

You can find a formula for introducing a blog post in Stewart’s “Why Russia Can’t Afford Another Cold War: Now It’s Part of the Global Economy.”

Stewart’s formula? “This, this, and this have happened. This may seem like X, but actually it’s Y.” This intrigues the readers by overturning their expectations.

Here’s the formula matched with Stewart’s content:

Thing #1: “Russian troops pour over a border.”

Thing #2: “An autocratic Russian leader blames the United States and unspecified ‘radicals and nationalists’ for meddling.”

Thing #3: “A puppet leader pledges fealty to Moscow.”

Mistaken perception: It’s no wonder the crisis in the Ukraine this week drew comparisons to Hungary in 1956 and Czechoslovakia in 1968 or that a chorus of pundits proclaimed the re-emergence of the Cold War.

Today’s reality: “But there’s at least one major difference between then and now: Moscow has a stock market.”

Stewart follows his discussion of people’s mistaken perceptions by introducing the key factor that distinguishes the situation this time. This sets up the article to discuss how his key factor, the stock market, made a difference this time. As the stock market plunged in reaction to Russia’s actions in the Ukraine, it limited the invader’s aggression.

It’s easy for me to imagine how you might apply this to a blog post about a specific investment strategy or asset class. You could list three facts about, say, small cap stocks. Then say “this may make you think these stocks are overvalued (or undervalued). But here’s why that’s not true.”

This format can persuade readers. Just think about all of the investors who bought into the “new paradigm” suggesting that tech stocks were not overvalued prior to the 1998 market correction. Those often followed the approach I described in the preceding paragraph. Please don’t throw out this formula because it led some investors astray. You can harness it for the powers of good.

If you’ve used this technique, please share examples below.

Your bad luck can become your good fortune

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“How did you get that great website name?” People sometimes ask this question about my website’s address: InvestmentWriting.com.

I wish I could say I was inspired. Instead, I was unlucky.

I felt devastated to learn that SusanWeiner.com was not available when I created my website in 2008. It seemed like bad luck that I’d be forced to use susan-weiner.com or a similar variation.

Adding to my misery, I discovered that the descriptive term “investment communications” wasn’t available either. I’d been “director of investment communications” in my previous job, so that seemed like a logical choice.

Naming things is not one of my strengths, so I was delighted when Jeff Lerman, my website designer, suggested InvestmentWriting.com as my website’s name.

I believe InvestmentWriting.com has served me well. I benefit from the URL identifying my niche as a writer. While “investment writing” isn’t a frequently searched term, my website fares well when people search on the term. Plus, it’s memorable and easier to spell (and pronounce) than SusanWeiner.com.

investment writing

What does this mean for you?

I see two lessons from my experience.

1. Good things can come from disappointments. If SusanWeiner.com had been available, I’d have settled for a less memorable or search-friendly website name.

2. Asking for help can yield great results. My website name is just one of many good results I’ve achieved by asking others for advice. It pays to ask, although ultimately the decision rests with you.

 

If your bad luck has led to success, please share your story.

5 Secrets to Finding the Best Virtual Assistant to Streamline Your Financial Advisor Blog

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Saving time and energy by using a virtual assistant (VA) seemed to appeal to the advisors who read “9 Ways a Virtual Assistant Can Streamline Your Financial Blogging,” my guest post for Michael Kitces’ Nerd’s Eye View blog. But how do you find a great VA? This guest post by Kathy Goughenor gives you one VA’s perspective on that challenge. I met Kathy when I was searching for a new VA. Kathy works as a VA for someone whom I greatly respect.

In addition to what Kathy says, I suggest that you test a potential VA by paying the VA to enter one or two posts into your blog. This will let you see the VA’s technical skills. If it takes you time to develop trust, you can categorize the VA as a “Contributor.”  A contributor can enter posts into WordPress, but can’t make them go live on your blog.

5 Secrets to Finding the Best Virtual Assistant to Streamline Your Financial Advisor Blog

By Kathy Goughenor

Almost half of all small business owners spend over six hours a week blogging, according to a survey conducted by Vertical Response. Imagine how much more productive you’d be, and how much more time you could spend on money-making aspects of your business, if you turned even half of your blogging tasks over to a virtual assistant (VA).

Here are five secrets to help you choose the best virtual assistant for your needs:

1. Find a blogging expert

Look for a VA who specializes in writing, editing, and proofreading as well as the loading and search engine optimization of blog posts. This ensures you’re getting help from someone who is already an expert at these tasks.

2. Ask for referrals

Get referrals from small business owners, especially other financial service professionals. Ask me for a referral by emailing me at kathy@expertvatraining.com

3. Request samples

You want someone who has excellent writing, editing and proofreading skills. To verify your potential VA’s skills, provide a rough draft of a blog post you’ve written, and ask for edits. A VA may be willing to do this test at no cost.

4. Focus on value not price

Virtual assistance is not the type of service for which you want to price shop. The saying “you get what you pay for” holds true for the virtual assistant industry. I recommend paying about $45 per hour, in order to get a VA who is truly a professional and an expert at the services you need. By hiring the best, you’ll save time and money in the long run.

5. Contact references

Email three clients or former clients of the VA you’re considering, and ask the following questions:

  • What type of work did this VA do for you?
  • What are your favorite and least favorite things about working with this VA?
  • Would you refer this VA to your best friend? Why or why not?

Put these five secrets to work for you today to quickly increase your productivity and profits.

Since 2001, virtual assistant, trainer and VA coach Kathy Goughenour has built several successful internet businesses. Her secret to success is delegating to expert virtual assistants. Get more tips on working with a VA by subscribing to her free monthly newsletter Small Biz Smarts.

Blogging Q&A with James McDonald

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James McDonald of Index Strategy Advisors, a Houston-based firm that manages ETF-based portfolios, has made social media a key part of his firm’s marketing. He has built his firm’s assets under management from zero to more than $50 million in a little more than two years.

This is part of a series of Q&As that I’ve conducted via email with advisors who blog. Previous interviewees included Michael Kitces, Jim Blankenship, and Carolyn McClanahan.

Q. When did you start your Insights blog?j2

A. December 20, 2011 — I launched my blog on my birthday to coincide with the public debut/announcement of my company on social media.

Q. How has your blog brought you new business or improved your existing client relationships? Please explain and quantify, if possible.

A. My blog was crucial in growing my business from scratch. It helped by displaying my expertise and research to three main audiences:

  1. Potential clients
  2. Potential employees
  3. The media, colleagues and potential partners in the industry.

It’s all about showing people what you know and what potential value you bring to the table without logistical limitations! I’ve acquired clients, employees, and partnerships from all four corners of the United States and everywhere in between based solely on my online presence. Without my blog, I could never have grown my business across the country, let alone persuaded anyone to do business with me.

I can trace some new clients directly to my blog. In fact, there’s one blog post that attracted dozens of clients for me over the course of several weeks.

Q. What blogging techniques or topics have most helped your business?

A. The two most effective blogging techniques for me have been the

  1. Presentation of timely, news-driven topics, such as the Facebook IPO, fiscal cliff, U.S. presidential election, and euro zone credit crisis—this works because it attracts pageviews from people trying to understand these topics

2. Integration of people I care about into my writing—for example, I’ve been thrilled to reconnect with friends from my high school in Bethesda, Md., from 20 years ago. I often remark about them or speak directly to them in my writing. In other words I usually make my narrative personal. This seems to resonate with my readers, who feel they’re getting to know me as a person.

Q. What are three of your favorite—or most effective—blog posts? Provide the titles, URLs and a comment about why you included them.

A. My three favorite blog posts:

  1. How To Invest Smarter: The 5 Reasons Your Portfolio Isn’t Growing — this post is a favorite because it demonstrates our core expertise directly. This is the blog post that attracted dozens of clients for me over the course of several weeks.
  2. A complex debate simplified by money — this post is a favorite because I learned something new (financial statistics about the gun industry) and was able to constructively get something off of my chest. After the tragic shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, there was a heightened gun debate in the U.S. I wanted to join that debate, but from the perspective of a parent and investment professional. This post attracted several new clients for me. It was also a catalyst for new relationships with journalists interested in the topic and my research skills.
  3. 4 reasons why I accept Facebook as a friend, but am ignoring the IPO request — this post is a favorite because I felt so strongly about the topic (opposing investment in individual stocks by retail investors) and the investment in question (FB IPO). It was a fun way to include my technical expertise and personal thoughts, while weaving in my friends on Facebook who I enjoy so much. In fact, I even dedicated the post to my FB friends and a hilarious video about a baby raccoon that I had just seen on FB.

Q. What’s your best tip for advisors who blog?

A. My best tip for advisors who blog is to track and measure your viewership analytics closely. If people don’t like what you’re writing you need to change it. If people do like what you’re writing, then you need to increase your emphasis on that topic or style of post

Google Analytics is a great free tool to measure how many have viewed your blog posts. The input from a good tracking tool will inform how you calibrate everything you do with respect to your blog. It will ultimately drive your ROI higher.

How to blog without giving it all away

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“I can’t guest blog for you because I don’t want to give away my secrets,” said a potential writer for my blog. My response to the author who made that comment? “Don’t give it all away. Blog about a narrow slice.”

Whether you’re an author, advisor, or consultant, there are many elements that combine to make your product or process special. Take away some of these elements, and it’s not the same.

Giving away one little piece of your knowledge won’t destroy the value of the entire package. For example, I’ve blogged extensively about “how to write blog posts,” yet people still sign up for my blogging class and buy my blogging book. In fact, my many posts on this topic are probably the main driver of my sales.

You don’t need to give everything away. Say, for example, you’ve developed a great way for young parents to save money for their kids’ college educations. You could write a case study or describe just one step of your process. Break things down into small pieces.

Have you tried writing about a narrow slice of your broader expertise? I’d like to hear about how it has worked for you.

Image courtesy of SOMMAI/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Blogging Q&A with Carolyn McClanahan

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Carolyn McClanahan’s fearless sharing of her opinions across social media, including on her blog, spurred me to ask her to participate in my Q&A series with financial advisors who blog. She’s a great example of an advisor who communicates her passion about her topics, which include the intersection of medical and financial planning issues. Carolyn, who began her career as a doctor, is with Life Planning Partners in Jacksonville, Fla.

 

Q. When did you start The Quest for Simplicity, your blog for Forbes?

A. November 2011.

Q. How has your blog brought you new business or improved your existing client relationships? Please explain and quantify, if possible.

A. Unlike most financial planners, whom I assume blog for business development, I’m blogging for my colleagues in the industry and opinion makers. The purpose of the blog is to educate other financial planners and the public about an area in which our firm, Life Planning Partners, excels—incorporating health conversations into all aspects of financial planning. The firm’s goal is to be an innovative financial life planning practice that is nationally recognized as doing great things for our clients and the profession, demonstrates a model other financial planners want to emulate, and serves as a base for us to make great change in the world.

Has my blog brought us new business? Probably not directly. Do our clients love my blog? Yes, they are very proud of the work we are doing to improve the financial planning profession. They participate in all our “experiments,” love when I share their stories (with permission of course), and refer clients to us readily. I think the referrals are not due to the blog alone – it is a combination of our great service and our ideals. Our business is so good that we had to close to new business for now. Our waiting list had grown to eight months long. I think we are doing something right. New business comes from a confluence of factors.

Q. How else does the blog affect your relationships with clients and prospects?

A. We actually share our business plan with our clients. By doing this, we’ve created a “tribe” of people who get what we do and are very supportive of the change we are trying to make in the financial planning profession. The blog is part of how we implement this change.

Most of the new clients who come to us have read the blog. My unbridled openness about some very controversial topics actually attracts clients to us. And the really good news—people who are uncomfortable with us do not come to us. Therefore, we have only ideal clients and our client retention is off the charts. We have authentic, deep, and difficult conversations with ease.

Q. How will you know if you’ve succeeded as a model for other advisors?

A. Our metrics are:

1. The number of people who read my blog.

2. The number of speaking engagements and type of topics I’m asked to provide.

3. The number of planners who ask about our business model so they can incorporate it in their practice. I will watch with interest how many firms move to retainers and hourly work over time.

Q. What blogging techniques or topics have most helped your business?

A. I think our authenticity and unbridled approach in discussing real problems goes a long way. Storytelling is the most effective way to get a point across.

Q. What are three of your favorite—or most effective—blog posts? Provide the titles, URLs and a comment about why you included them.

A. My most popular post is “Five Quick And Important Facts On Health Insurance Through Obamacare.” I think this was popular because it was practical.

Cliffs Notes Version of the Affordable Care Act — Again, a practical explanation of the law.

Gun Owner Rights and Obamacare – Yes It Is In The Law — Although I received a lot of flak about this article from the gun lobby, clients were overall very proud of this article. It was written right after the Aurora massacre, and was the first article pointing out the National Rifle Association’s hand in Obamacare. A reporter from Politico told me this article was the start of President Obama’s executive order protecting health care worker’s rights to ask about firearms in patient care settings. It shows how powerful words and calling out the truth can be.

Q. What’s your best tip for advisors who blog?

A. Writing a weekly blog is a lot of work, especially when you are running a small business. Over the past couple of months, I’ve run into a number of challenges. We are still reeling from the huge growth of our business, we are trying to hire additional help, and I spent some time taking care of loved ones.

A tip I read somewhere that I wish I would have followed? Have pre-written posts in place in case you run into a tight spot and have nothing to post.

Otherwise, only write about topics that you care about – your passion will come through.

If you enjoyed this post, check out this blog’s Q&As with Michael Kitces and Jim Blankenship. If you have a great blogging success story worthy of being featured in a future Q&A, please contact me. I’d like to hear from you.

Repackage your blog posts to get more mileage out of them

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Blogging takes time and energy, so naturally you want to get the biggest possible return on your investment (ROI). Repackaging helps you boost your ROI. I have experience with three kinds of repackaging that you may consider using.

1. Round-ups on your blog

You can recycle your blog posts by linking to them in new posts with a theme, such as topic or popularity. For example, if you blog about different kinds of education savings plans, you could write one post that links to your posts about 529 plans.

“Most popular” round-ups give your readers more of what they’ve already proven they want, as measured by Google Analytics. I used to create such a post annually, as in “Most popular blog posts of 2012.” However, when I boosted my frequency to quarterly in April 2013, some readers thanked me for highlighting posts they’d missed earlier. That’s why I’m continuing on a quarterly basis.

2. E-book compilations

Investment Writing Top Tips is my collection of the best posts that appeared on my blog during the preceding one to two years. New subscribers receive it when they sign up. Existing subscribers receive an invitation to download it as part of a newsletter that goes via email.

I’ve generally formatted my Top Tips documents as Adobe PDF files. If you’re feeling more ambitious, you can use an e-book format. Sites such as Amazon will give you instructions, but be prepared for hiccups in the formatting.

3. Other media

It typically requires some rewriting, but you can repackage your blog posts for other media. For example, there are slidecasts, podcasts, and video. I’ve used slideshare to repackage several blog posts. Different media will appeal to people with different learning styles. They may also work better for people surfing the web on a phone, rather than sitting in front of a big computer monitor.

Blogging Q&A with Jim Blankenship

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I invited Jim Blankenship of Blankenship Financial Planning in New Berlin, Ill., to participate in a Q&A about his blog because I was struck by the depth of material on his blog. When I tweeted a question to him about his blog post explaining the file-and-suspend strategy for Social Security, he quickly tweeted back with a link to a blog post answering my question. I imagine it’s powerful to have this kind of information easily accessible.

This is the second in a series of Q&As with advisors who blog. The first was with Michael Kitces of Nerd’s Eye View. If there are other advisors whom you’d like to hear from, please let me know.

 

Q. When did you start your blog, Getting Your Financial Ducks in a Row—and how did you choose your focus?

A. When I started in April 2004, I was sending a paper newsletter to my clients (first quarterly, then monthly), so I just took the newsletter articles and blogged them.  In late 2008, I started specifically writing articles for the blog.

I focused first on tax laws and IRAs because my clients had specific questions about these areas.  A bit later, I added the Social Security focus. I have focused on these three areas since then, but always writing for my audience’s interests.  When they send me questions outside of these three areas, I write about them as well.  Sterling Raskie joined the firm in 2012, and one of his primary areas of focus is insurance, so he’s been writing about that quite a lot.

 

Q. How has your blog brought you new business or improved your existing client relationships? Please explain and quantify, if possible.

A. It’s rare these days to have a new client come to me who has not read either my blog or syndicated articles from it. My articles are syndicated on sites including Forbes.com, TheStreet.com, Morningstar Advisor, and FiGuide. The great benefit is that folks who’ve read my writings already understand much about how I work, who I am, and my areas of expertise. In addition, from having read my articles, there is a level of trust already built into the initial conversation.

This has helped with long-distance relationships, which have increased significantly over the past two to three years.  We now routinely have clients that we exclusively work with long-distance. They account for something like 40% of new clients. In contrast, prior to starting the blog, long-distance clients only came about when someone local moved away.

 

Q. What blogging techniques or topics have most helped your business?

A. The blog’s niche focus on taxes, retirement plans, and Social Security has reinforced the fact that we’re experts in these areas.

Keeping to a schedule has also helped. I started with a haphazard approach to blogging, without any schedule.  I soon recognized that I needed to be more consistent in my blogging efforts, so I set the goal of writing three articles per week, one on each of my focus areas.  Sticking with this schedule has helped me to manage the time to blog, as well as letting my readers expect a level of activity.  As with all things that take time, you will make time for the things that you put a priority on, and I have (since late 2008) always put a priority on keeping that schedule.

I maintain lists of topics to write about, spurred by reader questions, real-life client situations, and articles I’ve read, so I never run out of things to write about.  Sometimes the mix of topics differs week-to-week, but the primary focus areas are still represented in my writing.

 

Q. What are three of your favorite—or most effective—blog posts? Provide the titles, URLs and a comment about why you included them.

A. I don’t really have any favorites.  Here are three of my articles that have had the most hits.

Charitable Contributions From Your IRA – 2012 and Beyond — this explains how the elimination of the Qualified Charitable Contribution option changes the tax effect of making contributions to charities from your IRA. Of course, the tax law was extended, so this now applies to 2014 now—until the law is extended again.

The File and Suspend Tactic for Social Security Benefits — as the title suggests, this is a straightforward explanation of the tactic.

A Little-Known Social Security Spousal Benefit Option — this explains the option where a higher-wage-base spouse files a restricted application to receive half of his or her spouse’s benefit at Full Retirement Age, but delays filing for his or her own benefit to age 70.  Not many folks understand this one, so I’ve written several articles to help explain it. I still get questions every week.

 

Q.   What’s your best tip for advisors who blog?

A. Just do it.  It’s not rocket science.  Find your focus, be consistent, and put a priority on writing, even if it’s once a week or once a month.  Over time, this will build up to a significant body of work that potential clients can refer to, and it will make a difference in how you interact with people.

In addition, use all of the tools available — Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+ and Pinterest — to promote your blog posts.  Explore using various plug-ins to your blog to push out your articles, such as RSS, email subscription, and automatic tweeting.  These free tools are worth their electronic weight in gold, in terms of promotion and reaching out.  Answer questions via each tool, and strike up conversations.

Track your traffic – you can’t know if you’re getting through if you don’t track it.  I use a combination of Google Analytics, WordPress statistics, and Bing webmaster tools to track traffic.

Always respond to comments on your blog posts in a timely fashion — this keeps the conversation going beyond your initial writings.  It’s no different from returning phone calls.

Note: This post was updated on Jan. 14, 2014, to correct a typo.