Last year, I did an extensive overhaul of my blogroll page. In addition to adding links to many new blogs, I created a section in which I highlighted active blogs that were at least one year old at the time, providing a short description to tell readers what each highlighted blog is about.
The blogs on my blogroll page focus on dividend growth investing (DGI) and other forms of passive income generation, and many are about pursuing financial independence. I find it fascinating to scan the many blogs out there from time-to-time to see what others think about these topics. Sometimes, someone else's unique way of thinking spawns new ideas in my mind...
Because I find blogs with public portfolios particularly useful, I include a separate link to public portfolios on my blogroll page, marked with a ¶.
Twice last year, I did research on the stock holdings of other DGI bloggers and published articles on my findings. In February 2014, I compiled a spreadsheet combining the holdings of 20 public portfolios and revealed the 31 most popular dividend growth stocks held by these bloggers. To date, that post has received 2,680 page views and it remains the most popular post on DivGro.
In October, I wrote a follow-up article for Seeking Alpha. I scanned the public portfolios of 61 DGI bloggers on my blogroll and compiled a portfolio of 52 stocks, called The Blogger's Dividend Growth Portfolio. So far, the article has received 4,869 page views. At the time, McDonald's (NYSE:MCD), Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO), and AT&T (NYSE:T) topped the list of most popular dividend growth stocks held by DGI bloggers on my blogroll.
One of the problems with having a blogroll is that links can get stale if the linked blogs disappear, or, perhaps worse, if linked blogs become dormant because bloggers stopped posting altogether. One of my readers shared his frustration about this situation and suggested that such blogs should be removed.
Instead of removing links to dormant blogs altogether, I decided to create a new section called Dormant Blogs to list those links. The reason I don't like removing links altogether is that we all know that life happens. Perhaps inactivity on a blog is due to unavoidable circumstances, or just because the blogger wants to take a break. Removing such links permanently doesn't seem right. Also, perhaps a dormant blog nevertheless contains useful (albeit dated) information!
I made another change to my blogroll. I created a new section called DGI Honor Roll to list active DGI blogs that are at least two years old. For me, active means a blog with weekly posts, on average. I'm willing to make exceptions, especially for blogs containing less frequent but more comprehensive, in-depth articles. Since I value blogs that include a public portfolio highly, a blog needs to be exceptional to make the honor roll if it doesn't include a public portfolio.
While several great blogs may qualify for the honor roll based on the active and age criteria, one additional criterium is that the blog needs to be about dividend growth investing in a significant way. Although I'm interested in other forms of passive income generation and in other ways of pursuing financial independence, DivGro is about DGI and so that's what the honor roll will highlight.
Finally, I don't actively look for new blogs to include on my blogroll page. If you read this and you have a blog that is not listed, please nominate it for inclusion. You can do this by providing information (such as a link to your blog) in a comment below this post, or on the blogroll page. Feel free to nominate other blogs, too!
And, while I don't require that you add DivGro to your blogroll, I sure would appreciate the favor!
Full Disclosure: Long MCD, T
Saturday, April 4, 2015
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Nice job DivGro, thank you. As a result, I discovered one blog (Two Investing) that I had never seen before. I will check it out. Thanks for the reorg.
ReplyDeleteGreat! Thanks, Mike for nudging me to do it. Hopefully, you'll find something useful at Two Investing. Feel free to suggest other DGI blogs that I don't have on the blogroll, and I'll add them.
DeleteCheers
FerdiS
I feel honored my little blog was included in the list. I also like how you added a link directly to the portfolio pages. :-)
ReplyDeleteNo problem, Captain Dividend! And thanks for having DivGro on your blogroll -- I appreciate that! The direct portfolio links are really useful if you just quickly want to see what stocks other bloggers own.
DeleteTake care!
DivGro, once again, thank you for adding me to your blogroll. I already have you on mine.
ReplyDeleteIts something that Ive been wondering as well - what do I do with the blogs that arent active anymore and either have been dormant and/or consciously decided to stop blogging. I ended up cleaning and removing a couple over the weekend, but left a few of them to see if they come back. I like the idea of dormant blogs, since there are probably still some good resources on their sites.
cheers
R2R
Thanks for commenting and also for including DivGro on your blogroll -- much appreciated.
DeleteMy thoughts on inactive blogs are that the owner just lost interest, or got busy with something else, or just wants to take a break. Its almost impossible to know if the owner just lost interest. Having looked at the last post of several dormant blogs, nobody says "this might be my last post because I'm losing interest in this thing...". On the other hand, sometimes bloggers give hints that they're very busy at work or having a child or getting married or something, so you can assume they're just too busy to blog. In rare cases, a blogger says something like "I need a break, so I'm not going to blog for a while, but I'll be back".
No matter what the reasons, I think retaining the links but labeling them as dormant is better than summarily removing them.
Are you going to make the blogger portfolio analyses an annual tradition? Because I really liked those posts. In my 3.5 years of blogging I've seen quite a few blogs come and go but I completely understand that there's more important things in life than maintaining a blog, especially if you have a family and full time job to deal with. I'll have to give your blogroll a look over to see if there's any new to me blogs.
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking about revisiting the blogger portfolio analysis later this year when things have quieted down a bit. Right now I'm focused on positioning DivGro in the best possible way so I can hit my 2015 goals.
DeleteYou're right about blogs coming and going. It takes tenacity to continue doing this year after year (congratulations on sticking with yours for 3.5 years!). I'm fortunate that my wife indulges this "hobby" of mine. My boys are older now and doing their own things.
I like how you link to portfolios of the respective bloggers. As I start to build my portfolio and do some research, I like to see how others have built theirs, ie sector weight, DRIP, tax vs non-tax account, etc.
ReplyDeleteI also love seeing the progress of each and everyone's portfolio. It inspires me by showing what a little hard work and sacrifice can achieve. Thanks!
Cheers!
Thanks Ron! I use the portfolio links often to quickly get to the portfolio pages. I learn a lot by observing what others are doing. And I agree with you, it really is inspirational to see how much progress some bloggers have made in just a few years.
DeleteTake care!
Thank you so much for adding The Dividend Guy and Dividend Monk as well! ;-) I don't really have such a page, but regularly linking to fellow DGI blogs in weekly Dividend Reads. If you need to highlight a post some time, just give me a shout!
ReplyDeleteCheers!
Mike
Of course, Mike! The Dividend Guy has been around the longest (as far as I can tell), and I bet many other bloggers, like myself, have found inspiration in your writings. If Dividend Monk (you!) become active again, it'll make the honor roll :-)
DeleteThanks for maintaining this wonderful list of resources! I very much appreciate the inclusion and am looking forward to discovering any other blogs you add to it. Best wishes!
ReplyDeleteYou're most welcome, Ryan. Thanks for listing DivGro on your blog roll, too! Yours look like a pretty comprehensive list. When I have time, I'll go through it to see if there are blogs I'm not familiar with.
DeleteYou keep impressing me with this list. Good job. Thanks for keeping me in it although lately I focus more on options than solely on dividend investing.
ReplyDeleteI notices your options slant! I'm interested in options, too, selling puts on stocks I wouldn't mind owning. That's on the side, though, and I don't blog about it....
DeleteTake care!
Hey Ferdi,
ReplyDeleteThanks for adding me to the list!
I'm glad to be on your radar, as you have been on mine ever since I started this journey.
This list must have cost a lot of effort to create, so thank you for that as well.
It's a comprehensive list and I'm sure I will go through every single blog to see if there are additional blogs that could fit my need for DGI information.
Best wishes,
DfS
You're welcome, Dfs!
DeleteYes, it took some time to create the blogroll. I wrote a couple of articles based on the public portfolios in my blog roll, so I wanted it to be pretty comprehensive. I'm sure I'm missing many blogs out there, so I hope readers would nominate their (and others') blogs so I can become aware of them!
Cheers!