Wealth Itself » Link Love

New Edition of the Carnival of Debt Reduction

Matt — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 15:09:47 +0000

The new edition of the Carnival of Debt Reduction is out and one of my articles has been featured: 5 Reasons to Track Your Expenses. Go check it out!

This carnival really featured some great articles. Here are some of my favorites:

I hope you enjoy the content from this carnival. It’s one of the best I’ve seen in a while!

Recent Blog Carnival Submissions

Matt — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 03:31:30 +0000

The following blog carnivals have been kind enough to feature posts from 15 Minutes to Riches in the past week. I’d like to thank everyone who took the time to link to and review my posts! I hope my readers will take just a second to check out these carnivals–there really is some great information in all of them! The listings are below:

Anna from On a Quest to be Debt Free posted about How PB&J Saved Me $1,296 This Year in the Festival of Frugality Veteran’s Day Edition.
Jeremy Simon from CreditCards.com posted about How PB&J Saved Me $1,296 This Year in the Money Hacks Carnival Aviation Month Edition.
Mary from SimplyForties posted about Shake a Stick at Unnecessary Gym Expenses in the Carnival of Debt Reduction #166.

Thanks again, Anna, Jeremy, and Mary!

How Sarah Palin Can Help Drive Traffic to Your Blog

Matt — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 18:43:35 +0000

CJ from Wise Money Matters recently wrote a guest article for ProBlogger about pillar articles and why, apparently, Obama and McCain are idiots. I normally don’t like to post when I have little original content to add to the discussion, but CJ’s post was so informative (on so many levels), that I had to pass this along. Please note that the purpose of this post is not necessarily to point out that our current presidential candidates are idiots, but to show how effective pillar articles can be in driving traffic to your blog (specifically politically-infused pillar articles in this electoral season). Check out the post here and let CJ know what you think.

How to Build a Blog for Residual Income – Part 3 (Choosing a WordPress Theme)

Matt — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 23:57:01 +0000

This is Part 3 of the series How to Build a Blog for Residual Income.

Perhaps the most critical decision you will make in the initial stages of setting up your blog, is which WordPress theme to use. The good news is that there are literally THOUSANDS of free WordPress themes available for use…

The bad news is that the best themes can be very popular, and are therefore already in use by a number of more popular blogs than your own (assuming you are just starting out). However, I think it’s important to use a free theme in the beginning, so you don’t get bogged down by the details of creating your own theme, and so you don’t have to worry about forking out the money for someone else to create one for you. Once your blog becomes successful, then it may be a good idea to go with an original theme, but I don’t think it’s as important for generating traffic in the beginning. Your focus needs to be elsewhere for now, so I recommend choosing a free, Adsense-optimized template and modifying it slightly to fit your needs. Two of my favorites are:

BlueSense – This template uses highly-optimized ad slots, but may be considered somewhat invasive to your users… I think the theme looks great, though, and has been shown to be very effective.
Green Money – This template will probably look very familiar to you… yep, that’s right, it’s the template I used for 15 Minutes to Riches! (now Wealth Itself) Obviously, I like this one… while it doesn’t make use of some of the most optimal ad slots, I think it’s very user-friendly and non-invasive. Let me know what you think!

There are tons of excellent WordPress themes available that aren’t already Adsense-optimized, but these will require extra work on your part. I recommend keeping this as painless as possible for now. Optimizing a WordPress theme on your own can be very frustrating, especially for someone who has no formal computer programming experience. This could lead to a lack of motivation, which is not the way to create a successful blog.

Save Money — Ride a Motorcycle

Matt — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 19:03:53 +0000

In a previous post, I mentioned one of my favorite blogs, Get Rich Slowly. There is always some good content there, and the author is at it again. Recently, he’s posted an article on saving money by riding a scooter. I really enjoyed this article and I think it’s a great idea. In fact, for the past two years, I’ve been riding motorcycles to and from work, as well as recreationally. While I can’t get rid of my car, since the winter months do not offer a very pleasant riding experience where I live, I do save quite a bit of money on gas by riding my motorcycle during the warmer months of the year. If you’ve got a thirst for adventure (and frugality), I’d urge you to do the math and determine whether riding a motorcycle is for you. There are several bikes out there that will get 50-70 mpg (some will do much better than even this). Whatever you do, remember: SAFETY FIRST. I won’t get on a motorcycle without, at the very least, wearing a helmet. Additional safety gear, such as padded jackets, boots, pants, and gloves are recommended.

How to Build a Blog for Residual Income – Part 1

Matt — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 16:12:16 +0000

G’day, folks! Today, I’m going to begin a series of posts centered around setting up a blog for bringing in some residual income. I’ll begin by answering the question of why one would want to go through the trouble of doing this… residual income offers us the promise of a maximum return on our investment. In this case, our investment is our time, and our return is financial freedom! This isn’t a foreign concept–most of us are used to the idea of getting paid for our time. The only problem is, many of us are spending 60 hours per week or more working for a fixed income. Residual income gives us a better way–it gives us a way to make money while we do nothing! Sure, you have to do some work up-front… but once that work is done, you can sit back and watch the money roll in. For more information on this topic, I’d suggest reading The 4-Hour Workweek. It’s really a great read! (I do receive a small amount of affiliate income from purchases made through this site, but I will NOT promote products that I do not believe are quality and worthwhile). This book covers the essentials of what residual income is all about and how to attain financial freedom in today’s economy. If you don’t trust my recommendation, check out this thorough review of The 4-Hour Workweek from one of my favorite blogs, Get Rich Slowly. Decide for yourself. Once you’re convinced it’s worth your time to pursue one or more avenues of residual income (you’re probably already pursuing some of them, i.e. investing in the stock market, interest earned through your savings account, etc.), come back to my blog and check out Part 2 of this post, where I’ll begin to explain how you can set up your own blog and get paid a residual income for simply expressing your own opinions on a subject of your choosing. Thanks for reading!

Check out Part 2 of this series.