Nords will be along in a day or two to give you his perspective as a long-term FinCon participant.
Thanks, REW!
I read something a long time ago that everyone wants to rank well for high paying topics like Viagra or mortgages and no one wants to corner the market on bird lice treatments. Finance is a pretty competitive field for blogging. Many who do succeed, especially in the ER area, seem to fudge the truth more than a bit about how much they or their spouses really work, that they actually have large pensions, what their true expenses are, etc. Many have also never had their rosy investment plans tested during a long bear market or high inflation years. So it makes it a hard field to compete in especially if you don't also succumb to selling the dream, not the reality kind of blogging.
The alternative is to go after long tail topics like the bird lice treatment, and for long tail topics you don't really need any conferences.
A long time ago, and long out of date.
Here's everything you need to know about personal finance:
Income > expenses.
Any questions? Why would anyone need to read more about the topic?
And yet there are literally tens of thousands of personal-finance blogs. The organizer of FinCon (Philip Taylor of PTMoney.com) hosted over 800 of us this year. Next year may be nearly double. Over two dozen sponsors, startups, and other nonprofits were campaigning for their attention at FinCon, and the conversation will continue on social media all year long.
I'm not going to comment on your "many who do succeed" gross generalization about fudging the truth.
I'll agree with you that nobody wants the bird-lice market. However personal finance is bigger than ever, and more people (of all ages) are consuming more content than ever before. The biggest "problem" in today's personal-finance blogging is finding enough people to create content for blogs, podcasts, videos, and even Periscopes. Advertiser money is raining down on personal-finance bloggers, and all you have to do is attend a FinCon with a bucket.
The key is writing stuff that people want to read. It's not about fudging the truth or black-hat SEO or misleading advertising. Some readers want to see the dream while others are ruthless in their approach to reality. It's a huge market and there's still plenty of room for everyone-- especially freelance writers and producers.
It's a business. It's a gold rush, and it's still hard work, but it's financially rewarding. There are no secret tricks or techniques, and the vast majority of the bloggers are sharing everything they've learned. For less than $100 per year you can create a blog. If you're writing stuff that readers want then you'll earn that money back within the first two years. The automated AdSense auctions on personal finance keywords are bringing in top dollar. If you keep blogging and grow your audience linearly, then within four years you'll earn over $2000/month from Google AdSense (even though your readers have adblockers), Amazon affiliate links, direct advertising, eBooks, books, podcast sponsors, YouTube shared revenue, courses, webinars... use your imagination. Pat Flynn of SmartPassiveIncome has been writing about blogging techniques and tools for over six years, and he's completely transparent about the income. Pat hit an elliptical growth curve that now generates over $70K net most months.
It's not just filthy riches beyond your wildest dreams. Most of these bloggers are entrepreneurs who are paving their own paths to financial independence. They're paying off their student loans and their mortgages, they're accelerating their net worth, they're using their blogger income for investments (and philanthropy), and they're quitting their day jobs to take control of their own futures. They may be dreaming, but they're creating their reality. I've said many times that the entrepreneurial spirit in the corridors and lounges of the FinCon hotel is thick enough to cut with a chainsaw. It's exhilarating.
The dedicated bloggers spend $350-$500 for their ticket. Depending on rewards points and sharing rooms, they'll spend between $0-$750 for their hotel stay. (I bring my spouse and we spend a good bit more.) Transportation is also $0-$1000. (FinCon15 included a blogger from the UK, and another has attended from Australia.) Most of the food is free. Most of the adult beverages are also free. The education and mentoring: priceless. This is a tax-deductible investment with a ROI.
I decided not to go. Too much like a work conference for my tastes. I'd love to meet a number of people in person (like Nords), but I figured it would be hectic scrambling around and maybe chatting with folks for just 5-10 minutes.
I'm not sure how much value a non-blogger would get out of it unless you just really really really want to meet the financial blogger personalities you love.
It's not that kind of conference.
Every ticket includes a "virtual pass" to the FinCon videos. Each presentation (there are at least five tracks of presentations over the three days) is professionally recorded on video with quality audio. A few weeks after the conference, the ticket holders get the YouTube passwords. If you wanted, today you could even buy a virtual pass for FinCon12.
Every year I attend fewer presentations in person and spend more time in the exhibition hall or at a table talking with other bloggers. Sometimes they're brief chats, but last FinCon I spent over two hours in a conversation with Todd Tresidder, Joshua Sheats, Rob Aeschbach, and a rotating cast of supporting characters. Brandon Turner and I shared a table for an hour's discussion on real estate. I met a dozen startup founders and enjoyed in-depth discussions of their pitches and their business models. (Surfing and blogging was also analyzed.) I did some formal mentoring in a couple of presentations and lots of informal mentoring. I enjoyed long talks with readers and with millionaires. I planned the marketing strategy for my next book and had it brutally critiqued (for free) by several other authors of multiple books.
At the closing keynote, Grant Baldwin noted that all of us introverted bloggers have hundreds of friends over the Internet... and at FinCon, we were all in the same room.
I know of one marriage and another possible pending engagement due to FinCon. There's no better place to meet someone who shares your financial goals.
