Canadian Finance BlogTop 5 – Canadian Finance Blog

Top 5: August 2010

Tom Drake — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 09:00:51 +0000

First of all, I’d like to welcome the newest members of the Money Mavens Network. Continuing our goal to represent every niche within personal finance, we are now joined by Monevator, The Military Wallet, The Centsible Life and Deliver Away Debt!

Last month I announced that we’ll be adding book excerpts and the Canadian Finance Carnival. Both of these will start this coming weekend. So on Saturday you can read great posts straight from some of the top books in personal finance and on Sunday you’ll be able to find links to posts that other bloggers have submitted to share with you.

Do you have a blog with relevant personal finance posts that are applicable to Canadians? Submit a post each week to gain some link love and traffic. Please check out the Canadian Finance Carnival page for details!

I also mentioned wanting to pass the 1,000 RSS readers mark. Well, we’ve spent most of August above 1,000, so thank you to all that have added Canadian Finance Blog to your RSS readers!

Finally, the newsletter is still on the way. There will be two versions, one that brings you each full post daily (replacing the current feedburner email) and another that will summarize each week into one email. Both will include special offers and giveaways. So keep your eyes out for that around mid-September!

Top 5 Referring Blogs

Top 5: August 2010 originally appeared on Canadian Finance Blog on September 6, 2010.

Top 5: July 2010

Tom Drake — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 09:00:09 +0000

The survey was a great success and I will be contacting the book winners next Monday. Here are how the results have helped decide the improvements to Canadian Finance Blog…

Readers want more info about investing, taxes and retirement. While Jim is providing some great retirement information, I will be be increasing the posts about investments and taxation. To provide the best information on these topics, I will be taking some courses through The Knowledge Bureau, starting with Tax Efficient Investment Income Planning.
There was a lot of interest in a monthly newsletter with special content and exclusive giveaways. I’m hoping to get this up and running by the end of summer.
Friday Links will stay on Friday and include 10 links a week, giving you only the best of the best from the past week.
Saturday will include book excerpts that I will choose based on being effective as standalone posts. I already have some great publishers and self-published authors on board!
Sunday will feature the Canadian Finance Carnival, where bloggers can submit their posts to gain some exposure and build links. Participating blogs do not have to be Canadian, but they do need to submit posts that are relevant to Canadians.

Over the last couple weeks the RSS reader count has been hovering in the high 900′s. I’m hoping that August is the month where we’ll reach the 1000 milestone! Do you use an RSS reader? If so, consider adding the Canadian Finance Blog RRS feed to your reader!

Top 5 Referring Blogs

Top 5: July 2010 originally appeared on Canadian Finance Blog on August 2, 2010.

Top 5: June 2010

Tom Drake — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 09:00:39 +0000

I hinted at it last month, but later this month I’ll put up a survey to find out what everyone would like to see next from Canadian Finance Blog. And to make it worth your time, I’ll set up a giveaway of a few extra books I have sitting on my desk. So keep your eye out for the survey and get a chance to win a book!

I now have five SweetCents posts up at SweetSpot. So check those out and keep the link handy as we have articles more to come!

Top 5 Referring Blogs

Top 5: June 2010 originally appeared on Canadian Finance Blog on July 5, 2010.

Top 5: May 2010

Tom Drake — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 09:00:16 +0000

May was a new record for traffic, but not only due to regular visitors and search traffic… this month’s visitor count got a nice boost from a Digg submission from Ray at Financial Highway. Just over 15,000 extra visitors in one day came to see Alan’s post, Dirty Car Dealership Tactics.

As I mentioned on Friday, over the summer I’m on board as a writer in the SweetCents section at SweetSpot. If you haven’t seen it yet, check out my first post, Pull The Plug On Your Power Bill.

I also have a few more ideas for the site, but I’m thinking I’ll set up a short survey that I’m hoping you’ll all fill out to help shape the future of Canadian Finance Blog!

Top 5 Referring Blogs

Top 5: May 2010 originally appeared on Canadian Finance Blog on June 7, 2010.

Top 5: April 2010

Tom Drake — Mon, 10 May 2010 09:00:28 +0000

April was an important month for those looking for tax info. Many Canadians came to Canadian Finance Blog from The Globe and Mail, Money Sense and Google to find tax tips and reviews of all the 2009 tax software.

In last month’s Top 5, I mentioned there were a couple things in the works that would be announced soon. Thankfully everything came together and both announcements were made in April.

The first was the formation of the Money Mavens Network. A group of nine blogs, each occupying a different niche within the personal finance blogosphere. I’m looking forward to what we can do as a group and expect big things from all the bloggers involved!

The second was bringing Jim Yih in as a regular contributor to Canadian Finance Blog. Jim has written for almost every major Canadian publication and it’s an honour having him share his expertise here every second week.

At the end of April I moved the site to a new host. I chose Media Temple and I hope you’ll find the site more responsive as I was having problems with my previous hosting provider. Now that the site move went smoothly, I’ll be looking to improve the speed and adding some small tweaks to the layout. No major changes, but I’m looking for any ways to improve your experience when you come visit!

Top 5 Articles

A Line of Credit, A Car Loan, and More Lies – Alan talks to the bank about a line of credit, a car loan, and basic math.
Should You Use A Real Estate Agent To Sell Your House? – There are pros and cons to either using a real estate agent or selling your house on your own.
Reward Points, Loyalty Cards, and Lies – A look at whether reward points are worthwhile and who benefits most from these programs.
Low Interest Rates: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly – While most people assume that low interest rates are a good thing, this post looks at all the angles.
14 FREE Ways to Spend a Friday Night (FUN Included!) – Some easy ways to have an entertaining evening without spending a lot of money.

Top 5 Referring Blogs

Top 5: April 2010 originally appeared on Canadian Finance Blog on May 10, 2010.

Top 5: March 2010

Tom Drake — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 09:00:59 +0000

March was a great month for Canadian Finance Blog. Traffic was once again a new record, thanks in part to Money Sense and The Globe and Mail. Of course the top referring blogs you see below had a great part in it as well as some social media help from Craig at Free From Broke.

I noticed this site is now in the top 50 of Wise Bread’s Top 100+ Personal Finance Blogs, which currently tracks 501 financial blogs. This makes Canadian Finance Blog the top rated Canadian site in that list!

RSS readers may have noticed that the bottom of the feed now includes a copyright notice with a link to the site and a digital fingerprint. This was added due to too many sites pulling the feed and posting it as their own content. I hope you don’t find the notice too distracting, I’ve written it to display in a small font but some reader software may not adhere to that.

Speaking of RSS, the amount of readers has gained by another 100 for the 3rd month in a row. We’ve passed the 700 mark now but I’m really hoping to make the 1000 milestone as soon as possible!

One more milestone was achieved. There are now over 3000 people following @Canadian Finance on Twitter. Thanks to all those that are following and I hope you are enjoying the tweets!

Stay tuned as there are a couple things I’m working on that should be announced soon!

Top 5 Articles

How I Got $8 Glasses – Alan’s story of how he was able to get eye glasses online for only $8.00!
What is Financial Literacy? – The Financial Literacy series that Jim wrote looks in depth at the topics highlighted by the Task Force on Financial Literacy.
Tax Software Review – StudioTax 2009 – StudioTax continues to gain a following as the best free tax preparation software available to Canadians.
Passive Income – How to Supplement Your Retirement – With retirement income depleted over the last couple years, here are some ideas on what you can do to earn a little extra money.
A Quick QuickTax Online Review – A look at the online version of the top selling tax software, QuickTax.

Top 5 Referring Blogs

Top 5: March 2010 originally appeared on Canadian Finance Blog on April 5, 2010.

Top 5: February 2010

Tom Drake — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 10:00:25 +0000

February was a record month for traffic once again. Most exciting was that it was a short month so I have high hopes for March! RSS readers increased by another 100 for the second month in a row. I certainly hope to keep gaining new readers at this great pace!

The biggest news this month was the addition of Alan Schram to Canadian Finance Blog. He adds a great personal perspective to all his personal finance articles and I’m glad to have him join me as a writer! With the gaining popularity of Canadian Finance Blog, I also appreciate all the guest posts we’ve been receiving. Guest posts are a great way for bloggers to gain some exposure and links, or for anyone to share their knowledge with our readers. If you would like to submit a guest post, please contact me from the site or on Twitter.

This past month I participated in a couple interviews. Canadian Money Advisor recorded a podcast interview and Clarifinancial included me in their Fresh Perspective series. Thanks to both Monty and Aaron for taking the time to interview me. I had a great time and hope to do more of these in the future!

@CanadianFinance was included by Money Sense as one of the twitter accounts to follow! It’s an honour since I’ve been a big fan of Money Sense and they helped to inspire this blog. My second post on this site was about their magazine and the Couch Potato strategy.

Canadian Finance Blog has recently joined The Yakezie Alexa Challenge. Started by Financial Samurai, this challenge encourages all the members to help each other improve their blog’s Alexa rating. Alexa measures website traffic, similar to Nielsen ratings for television. Readers can help out by installing the Alexa Toolbar. Not only will your visits to websites help their ratings, but the toolbar also gives you interesting insight to related links and what’s popular at that moment.

As I mentioned last week, Canadian Finance Blog has been nominated for two Plutus Awards, Best Canadian Personal Finance Blog and Best Designed Personal Finance Blog. Hopefully on the March Top 5 I’ll be able to post that we won at least one of those categories. You can help out by voting here!

Top 5 Articles

Multipurpose Money – A look at whether it’s better to use a separate savings account for each purpose or to combine all your priorities into one multipurpose account.
10 Tips For Going Green And Saving Money – Provides some ideas to save some money while saving the environment.
Gas Money – Getting a ride from a friend… when should you offer gas money?
10 Ways To Save Money On Valentine’s Day – Keep these tips in mind so that your ready for next year!
Would You Invest In The O’Leary Funds? – Kevin O’Leary is all over television. But are the O’Leary funds worth your investment dollar?

Top 5 Referring Blogs

Top 5: February 2010 originally appeared on Canadian Finance Blog on March 1, 2010.

Top 5: January 2010

Tom Drake — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 10:00:12 +0000

January has come to an end and has seen more visitors than any month before! This time last month, I was hoping to hit 400 RSS subscribers soon. Not only did we pull that off, but thanks to all the people that added the Canadian Finance Blog feed to their readers, the 500 mark was passed three weeks later!

Thanks to Nicole at Rainy-Day Saver, who provided a guest post this past month titled What’s Yours Is Mine: Consolidating Your Debts After Marriage. If you would like to submit a guest post, please contact me from the site or on Twitter.

I’d also like to mention that this post wraps up one year of writing and growing Canadian Finance Blog. To celebrate, Tuesday’s anniversary post will include our largest giveaway yet. Also, be sure to check back on Wednesday as you’ll be introduced to a new writer joining me at Canadian Finance Blog!

Top 5 Articles

Control Your Spending With A Budget – The basics on how the set up a budget to help reduce your spending and find room to save.
How To Make Your Household Appliances Last Longer – By properly maintaining and cleaning your appliances, they will last longer and save you money.
10 Ways To Save Money On Car Rentals – While renting a car can be a hassle, thankfully there are a few ways to save money!
How Much Do You Need To Retire? The 10% Rule – A look at the 10% savings rule and whether it applies to you.
How To Protect Your Online Banking Info – If you bank online, follow these steps to help guard your data from many online threats.

Top 5 Referring Blogs

Top 5: January 2010 originally appeared on Canadian Finance Blog on February 1, 2010.

Top 5: December 2009

Tom Drake — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 10:00:33 +0000

December was a surprisingly good month for Canadian Finance Blog. While the traffic was slightly less than November, I was impressed that it came so close with everyone enjoying the holidays in the final week or two. The maximum daily RSS reader count came in at 398… so close to 400 but not quite there. Hoping to hit that milestone any day now!

When I upgraded the site back in November, I was concerned that slight changes to my search engine optimization (SEO) might risk losing my page rank 4. Thankfully I just noticed that the improvements did help and now Google ranks me as a PR 5. While page rank is just a number, a strong rating from Google helps Canadian Finance Blog rank high on searches, bringing in more new readers than any other source.

Thanks to Dual Income No Kids (DINKs) Finance for their guest post, Integrating Finances As A Couple. If anyone else would like to submit a post, please contact me from the site or on Twitter. You don’t have to have a blog, I’m happy to share anyone’s well written perspective on all aspects of personal finance. Of course if you do have a blog, guest posting can be a great way to gain new readers and get some links back to your site!

Top 5 Articles

Top 5 Referring Blogs

Top 5: December 2009 originally appeared on Canadian Finance Blog on January 5, 2010.

Top 5: November 2009

Tom Drake — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 10:00:24 +0000

November was a great month here at Canadian Finance Blog. The new site went up on November 9th and has received a lot of positive comments. To celebrate, we gave away three of my favorite books on investing.

In the ten months that this site has been online, traffic and RSS readers have both continued to increase each month over the previous month. Thanks to everyone for visiting, reading and leaving comments, it provides great motivation for me to keep posting new articles and look to continually improve your experience when you stop by! I’m guessing that the amount of visitors could be a challenge in December, and for good reason, as everyone will be busy with shopping, parties and spending time with friends and family.

I was provided with two great guest posts this past month. The first was from Fred Schebesta, at Savings Account Finder, who wrote a well timed Top 15 Ways to Save Money on Heating Your House. William, from ByTheOwner.com, gave us a look at 5 Factors That Might Burst The Housing Bubble. I’d like to continue to feature a guest post once every week or two as a way to present other perspectives and opinions on the site. It’s also an opportunity for the writer to gain extra exposure and some links back to their site. If you’d like to contribute a guest post, please contact me through the site or on Twitter.

Top 5 Articles

Top 5 Referring Blogs

Top 5: November 2009 originally appeared on Canadian Finance Blog on December 1, 2009.