How To Setup A Blog For DGI Investing

Posted by More Dividends in Blog Stuff, Strategy, Thoughts On January 27, 2020

On a cold December day back in 2014 I decided that I wanted to start a DGI blog. I set everything up and even made the first post for the blog.

Unfortunately, that was as far as the idea went at that point. The website set idle for several months before I really started digging in and working on the blog.

Once I started working at it, I realized that there was a whole world of information that I didn’t know about running a blog.

Here I am now almost 5 years later and I thought that I would share some things that I have learned along the way from the very idea to blog, all the way to getting people to visit your blog.

Why Start Your Own DGI Blog

Everyone’s why is going to be different. Just a couple of weeks ago I posted all the reasons Why I’m A DGI Blogger.

While I do have several great reasons of why I produce this DGI Blog, my biggest reason is that it helps me stay focused on my investing.

By producing content for this blog, I am constantly evaluating my portfolio. I am always thinking very thorough about my decisions when it comes to investing because I know that I will be blogging about it and am setting myself up for criticism.

Something else good that can come from producing a DGI blog is that you may be able to start producing income from it. Then you can take that income and invest it into more dividend paying stocks.

How Much Will It Cost

The cost is going to be up to you the creator. You may have relevant skills like graphic design or programming that will allow you to mitigate some of the cost that is incurred by running a blog.

In a nutshell, here are some of the expenses that you will possibly be incurring.

1. Domain Registration
2. Hosting
3. WordPress Theme
4. Some Graphic Design Work

Like most things in life, remember that you get what you pay for. So, you may be able to find some free hosting but how is their server uptime? There’s a lot of good free wordpress themes out there but do they have all of the functionality that you would like?

These are some of the things that you will have to think through and decide what is worth spending the money on and what is not.

I will tell you that expenses alone my blog cost me roughly $200 a year. I do modify the code myself and have done some of the graphics myself. That is not to say that I haven’t paid graphic designers at times but I try to spread out my cost.

The more you learn, the more you can mitigate some of these expenses but you will not be able to avoid them all.

Domain Registration / Hosting

There are a lot of companies out there who can provide you with the services for Domain Registration and Hosting. I personally prefer to register my domain with the same company that I am going to host the site with.

Some people will register their domain at one place and host at another. The only advantage that I can see to this would be the fact that you would probably be able to get the services a little bit cheaper.

Over my time, I have used free providers and I have used pay providers. I have went the pricey route before and I have tried the cheaper route. Overall, in my opinion you can’t go wrong using a company like BlueHost for these services.

I cannot guarantee how long but currently if you sign up with BlueHost you will only pay $3.95 a month for hosting and it will include a 12 month domain registration for free which is a great deal.

Setting up a blog this way is not foolproof and I have found that by paying for the service it also allows me access to technical support from my host which has helped me a lot in years past.

WordPress And Themes

The simplest platform to use for blogging is going to be WordPress. With those kind of credentials it is no surprise that WordPress powers 35% of the internet.

WordPress will power the backend of your blog and make it very easy to use. They have a very friendly user interface that is pretty self explanatory so it should be a fairly transition for most users.

One of the greatest advantages to WordPress is the fact that you can apply different themes to it without having to change your content. Once you make your blog post if you decide later on that you want to change the theme, you will not have to go back to each individual post. The new theme will be applied to all existing post that you have already made.

WordPress is going to provide services here for your needs better than any other platform.

Useful Plugins For My Blog

One of the greatest things for WordPress is how easy it is to apply plugins to your blog. With a few simple clicks you are able to add so much power and life to your content.

There is an abundance of plugins out there that will serve your needs perfectly. Here I want to share with you some that I have found to be very useful to More Dividends.

All In One SEO Pack – is a great search engine optimization plugin. It makes it easy to assign titles, summaries and keywords to all of your blog post.

CommentLuv – is a great plugin for the readers. It will allow your readers to post a comment on your blog post that has a link to their most recent blog post.

JM Twitter Cards – is a plugin that helps with directing traffic to your blog. It will assist you in posting Twitter Cards for your blog post.

SumoME – is a great sharing and email list plugin. I mainly use the plugin to supply my readers with an easy way to share articles. The plugin has some very strong email list features.

WP to Twitter – is a great social media sharing plugin. Everytime you post a new blog post, this plugin will send a tweet out for you.

How To Drive Traffic To My Blog

There are a lot of ways to drive traffic to your new blog. I am going to assume that you are working on a shoestring budget so I will focus more on ways that are free.

In the year 2020, social media is king. So I would say that you will want to have social media accounts for your blog. With these social media accounts you can use plugins to post whenever you make new blog post. You can also promote old blog post or communicate directly with your readers. The more interaction you have with your readers the deeper the relationship will be.

Another very popular way to drive traffic is to post on other blogs that are about a similar subject. So if you are starting a DGI blog you could post on other DGI blogs, personal finance blogs, trading blogs, financial independence blogs and many others.

By posting on other people’s blogs, you are not only creating more links for people to find your blog but you’re also making your blog look more credible to Google. This will help you drive organic searches to your blog.

Will It Take Up A Lot Of My Time

Yes. Yes. And Yes!!!

I find myself saying this to a lot of people in real life but I also think this phrase stands true right here too.

You will get as much out of it as you are willing to put into it!!

It takes quite a bit of time to do all of the work on the back end of the blog and to do all the work needed to be able to write articles. So if you want to build something significant then you will need to put a significant amount of time into it.

Let me tell you though in my opinion it is totally worth it. Not only are you learning new skills but you’re also making some passive income as well as keeping a focus on your investing.

This is truly a win-win-win situation.

So head on over to BlueHost and sign up. So that you can begin on your journey as a DGI Blogger!

I look forward to hearing about and seeing all of your new DGI blogs.

Until next time, happy investing!!!

-Jason from MoreDividends.com

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