Welcome to this weeks edition of Saturday Sneak-Peak! Every week I explore a personal finance blog and give a brief review of the site. My major intent of the adventure is to expose everyone to new and/or obscure blogs. Up this week is MoneyTLD.com. Mike has contributed to the discussion on the site a few times and I greatly appreciate that.

Mike has some great tips on his site and I suggest you head over there and check them out. Here are some of my favorites:

Five Tips for a Successful Phone Interview

When Should a House Guest Start Paying Rent?

When is Mega Millions Worth Playing?

I asked Mike some questions to help you get to know him. Here they are!

YMR: What have you enjoyed most about blogging?

Mike: I most enjoy the ability to learn more. Although I consider myself knowledgeable in the area of personal finance, blogging forces me to think about that knowledge in a more structured manner. I have to organize my thoughts to make them coherent for other people, so I learn by teaching. If I don’t have the details right, then I do research to make sure I do have them right. I try hard not to fudge my knowledge. Plus, my readers shouldn’t hesitate to call me out on something if it looks like I did. Without that give and take, I’d just be in an ivory tower and would lack the capacity to improve.

YMR: What post did you enjoy writing the most?

Mike: While I didn’t necessarily write it, I really enjoyed hosting the Money Hacks Carnival on March 25. Compiling it was ridiculously time-consuming, but hosting that carnival really enabled me to see what else was out there. And even for the blogs already in my feed reader, I got to re-examine the posts that those bloggers thought were worth submitting. I find that much of my reading online is simply skimming, so this gave me a better chance to really delve into and think about the material.

YMR: How would you describe your writing style?

Mike: Conversational. In my head at least, I write the way I talk. As a result, I probably use too many cliches and could certainly write more tersely, but I hope that my writing thus feels familiar and readable.

YMR: What did you learn since January (about blogging) that you did not know before?

Mike: Hmm, that’s actually a pretty tough question. I’ve been blogging for several years at various sites, so the process isn’t new to me. However, if there’s one thing I’ve relearned, it’s that keeping up the pace is really difficult with blogging, especially when starting a new blog. At the beginning, you have no readers, no advertising income, and no real motivation to write aside from the idea of creating a kick-ass blog. Without a big marketing budget or celebrity status, gaining a readership is a very slow, organic process. While getting into blogging is super-easy, continuing to blog is very difficult. The many out-of-date blogs littering the internet attest to this fact.

I want to thank Mike for letting me interview him. It was a pleasure! Please head over to his site and poke around. I am positive that you will find something that you will enjoy!

Do you have a new blog (less than 6 months old)? Would you like to be featured in a Saturday Sneak-Peak? Contact me and I will set you up!

Have a great weekend!