Attracting Traffic to FWF

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kcowan
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Re: Attracting Traffic to FWF

Post by kcowan »

Is anyone monitoring traffic? I get the feeling that activity has trailed off more than the usual summer slump.

Could it be that finiki is doing its job too well? Are there stats on finiki that are separate?
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Re: Attracting Traffic to FWF

Post by Peculiar_Investor »

Keith, the management team does monitor traffic to our sites and periodically reviews the trends.
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Re: Attracting Traffic to FWF

Post by Davis »

I think the young folk are hanging out at Reddit, although that may be last year now. I took a look at Reddit's Canadian personal finance thread a while ago, and found it to be (a) too anarchic, and (b) reall y about young people getting started, so not much for me to learn there.
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Re: Attracting Traffic to FWF

Post by kcowan »

Peculiar_Investor wrote:Keith, the management team does monitor traffic to our sites and periodically reviews the trends.
Is there a positive trend on finiki traffic?
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Re: Attracting Traffic to FWF

Post by Flaccidsteele »

kcowan wrote:Is anyone monitoring traffic? I get the feeling that activity has trailed off more than the usual summer slump.

Could it be that finiki is doing its job too well? Are there stats on finiki that are separate?
Personally I still think that it's related to this:
Flaccidsteele wrote:First, anyone who is savvy and knowledgeable in this area would have no financial incentive to teach such a course. Second, this forum would make sense to nobody outside it's membership, let alone be a source of teachable material. Third, for better or worse, the majority of individuals don't care about taking such a course. Last, but not least, the financial industry's marketing machine will overwhelm any attempt to improve financial literacy making such a goal to be a waste of time and money.
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Re: Attracting Traffic to FWF

Post by kcowan »

In the next couple of years, after the investment companies are required to divulge their actual charges each year to clients, I expect there will be a renewed focus on DIY. I am always amazed when I ask my friends how much they pay their financial advisors and they give me a blank stare. Even when I tell them it is between 2 and 3% of their portfolio, they don't believe me.

I just hope we are positioned to offer benefits. I fear that mobile apps will scope the market. Such development would require some development money. And I see no such ambitions here.
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Re: Attracting Traffic to FWF

Post by hamor »

I don't believe I have seen this thread before.
I don't think mobile internet will bring much change to FWF in the near future.
I work in IT and while I am far from being an expert in this field, I don't think the kind of people attracted by FWF has gone completely mobile.
FWF is self limiting in nature, not a lot of people have the interest, intelligence, patience, perseverance etc to go DIY.
Those who do find the forum. JMO.
I know from the personal experience not one person I referred here stuck around.
I think we covered that elsewhere...
"Speculation is an effort, probably unsuccessfully, to turn a little money into a lot. Investment is an effort, which should be successful, to prevent a lot of money from becoming a little." Fred Schwed " Where are the Customers’ Yachts?"
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Re: Attracting Traffic to FWF

Post by Flaccidsteele »

kcowan wrote:In the next couple of years, after the investment companies are required to divulge their actual charges each year to clients, I expect there will be a renewed focus on DIY. I am always amazed when I ask my friends how much they pay their financial advisors and they give me a blank stare. Even when I tell them it is between 2 and 3% of their portfolio, they don't believe me.
Financial planning industry marketing is one of the best.
kcowan wrote:I just hope we are positioned to offer benefits. I fear that mobile apps will scope the market. Such development would require some development money. And I see no such ambitions here.
Nor would it make much difference. IMHO.
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Re: Attracting Traffic to FWF

Post by northbeach »

Traffic should also include readers of posts, who do not post.
I do not post very often because I do not anything to add to the conversations.
I spend to much time in front of the computer and not posting very often is a way of cutting back.
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Re: Attracting Traffic to FWF

Post by jaybee »

northbeach wrote:Traffic should also include readers of posts, who do not post.
I do not post very often because I do not anything to add to the conversations.
I spend to much time in front of the computer and not posting very often is a way of cutting back.
+ 1 from a lurker.
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Re: Attracting Traffic to FWF

Post by Peculiar_Investor »

Thanks to all for providing feedback and input. :thumbsup:
northbeach wrote:Traffic should also include readers of posts, who do not post.
There are a variety of traffic measures to that are monitored and reviewed, some based on the number of posts and others based on the number of site visitors and page views.

Both posters and lurkers are important to us, although we'd hope that the discussions might entice the lurkers to chime in and post to advance the discussion.
I do not post very often because I do not anything to add to the conversations.
What about asking questions or seeking clarification on what others are posting? This adds to the conversation and helps keep the discussion going.
kcowan wrote:Is there a positive trend on finiki traffic?
Definitely, although the trend rate has slowed somewhat.
kcowan wrote:I fear that mobile apps will scope the market. Such development would require some development money. And I see no such ambitions here
For the younger generation, apps are clearly important, but at the end of the day they are just a content delivery mechanism. Our choice has been to leverage the mobile support that exists for the software used to run our sites, both the forum and the wiki are mobile friendly.

Personally I have found very few apps that provide a better experience than an equivalent, well thought out mobile website. From my experience, it seems to me that app development is mostly for control and monetization of the advertising stream. Given FWF's commitment to being a non-commercial site, we don't have a requirement for this control, and therefore I'd question the value of an FWF app. What would it offer that we don't already provide?

At the end of the day, the quality of information on FWF is one of our recognized strengths, not necessarily the quantity. As others have noted above, our target audience is towards the do it yourselfer, which isn't for everyone. Obviously we're always looking to grow the membership and the exchange of financial information and make others aware of our existence. We appreciate any and all efforts to assist from the FWF membership. Generally new members generate new discussion and invigorate the existing membership.

As this topic demonstrates, given our non-commercial nature, attracting and retaining readership can be a challenge given the significant marketing budgets that exist within the financial industry. But that hasn't stopped or slowed us down. Remember, earlier this year we recognized a Happy 10th birthday FWF | Financial Wisdom Forum :thumbsup: IMHO, That's a pretty good track record that we hope to continue to build upon.
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kcowan
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Re: Attracting Traffic to FWF

Post by kcowan »

Absolutely well-done and considered to be the premium site by many! :thumbsup:

The financial advisor industry is going to be forced to divulge their costs in full in a year or so. So someone with a $200,000 nest egg invested in mutual funds is going to see a bill for $5000 each year for services from their advisors. I suspect this will create a sea change and many will seek lower cost alternatives. The selection of which ETFs would replace a mutual fund portfolio is something people might need, for example. Maybe they buy a tool along the lines of RRIFmetic to accomplish this. We might have a FWF seal of approval for good tools.

Could/should FWF position itself to help with this transition? I am thinking of some topics on what fees are reasonable for certain kinds of investment management. For example, I willingly pay 1% to have Jame Hymas manage my preferred shares because it is complex and I would rather have an expert look after it. I am sure that there are other examples from other members.

Food for thought? Discuss! 8)
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Re: Attracting Traffic to FWF

Post by BRIAN5000 »

I have belonged to a Moneysaver share club for 3 years now at our first meeting of this season last night I asked how many people have visited FWF. It was a big fat zero out of 15. I've mentioned the site a couple of times and the questions that are being asked in the meetings have the answers on this site. I just don't get it? Any ideas?
I'm going to try to set up a homework assignment that people have to come to this site and at least have a look around and peruse the finiki.
This information is believed to be from reliable sources but may include rumor and speculation. Accuracy is not guaranteed
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Re: Attracting Traffic to FWF

Post by kcowan »

None of my friends in real life have registered even though I have talked it up when they have questions. Maybe they browse until they realize it is a club (not private but "old" boys).
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Re: Attracting Traffic to FWF

Post by longinvest »

I think that few people are interested by money matters and discussing them on the Internet; all they want is a bigger paycheck to spend it all. In all likelihood, the few who really care have no trouble finding this site and Finiki. But, I might be wrong.
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Re: Attracting Traffic to FWF

Post by scomac »

kcowan wrote:None of my friends in real life have registered even though I have talked it up when they have questions. Maybe they browse until they realize it is a club (not private but "old" boys).
Nail struck firmly on head!
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Re: Attracting Traffic to FWF

Post by kcowan »

scomac wrote:
kcowan wrote:None of my friends in real life have registered even though I have talked it up when they have questions. Maybe they browse until they realize it is a club (not private but "old" boys).
Nail struck firmly on head!
With apologies to the girls among us...
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Re: Attracting Traffic to FWF

Post by Flaccidsteele »

kcowan wrote:Maybe they browse until they realize it is a club (not private but "old" boys).
^ This.

FWF just needs to embrace what it is. A small, niche, financial club where the content makes little sense to anyone outside it's membership.
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Re: Attracting Traffic to FWF

Post by kcowan »

Flaccidsteele wrote:FWF just needs to embrace what it is. A small, niche, financial club where the content makes little sense to anyone outside it's membership.
It is what I do when I surf another site. Once I realize that i is just a group talking to each other, I accept that there will be baked-in biases and I leave. This applies to TA and CMF for sure.
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Re: Attracting Traffic to FWF

Post by SkaSka »

longinvest wrote:I think that few people are interested by money matters and discussing them on the Internet; all they want is a bigger paycheck to spend it all. In all likelihood, the few who really care have no trouble finding this site and Finiki. But, I might be wrong.
80% this and
kcowan wrote:None of my friends in real life have registered even though I have talked it up when they have questions. Maybe they browse until they realize it is a club (not private but "old" boys).
20% this.
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