Newbie Blogger looking for advise?

Hey how's it going, I took a look at your blog and here's a brief breakdown of what I would do differently on your site:

1. Have a very clear and concise design
Upon landing on the blog, I was unsure to where I should start, I didn't know whether I was looking at a blog post or an explanation of what your blog is about. So #1 is have a very clear concise design that puts everything in their place so viewers know where to navigate. A good example would be the links I have provided below:

The 'I Will Teach You To Be Rich' Blog

Blog - Social Triggers

Boost Blog Traffic

2. Who are you targeting? What type of audience do you want to reach?
I noticed while briefly reading through the blog posts, the language that you were using with the different types of acronyms that go with taxation is not understandable for someone that knows nothing about taxation.

If you're trying to reach other tax professionals then stick with it but if you're trying to reach people that know nothing about taxation and who want to know how to do things properly, I suggest using language that will make it easier for non tax professionals can understand. I suggest reading some of the blog posts I listed above to get an idea.

3. BIG BLOCKS OF TEXT ARE SCARY.
Most people have a very short attention span, so if your first paragraph of your blog post is a big block of text, people will usually be turned off and exit your website.

My suggestion:
When writing blog posts, always start with short and brief sentences and brief paragraphs. As the blog post goes on then you can start implementing more lengthier paragraphs but don't go too crazy.

4. What's Your Goal?
Do you want readers? Do you want subscribers? Most bloggers want subscribers and readers so if you want that, then you need a place for your readers to subscribe to your email list. If you don't have an autoresponder to collect emails then I suggest signing up for an auto-responder (icontact, aweber, mailchimp) are all good ones to start with.

So far you have a good start, the fact that you have an up and running website is an accomplishment since it takes most people months or even years before they even get started. Also I suggest going through Boost Blog Traffic and also Social Triggers to learn how to get traffic back to your site using content marketing. I can share tons more with you but I'll keep it brief for now. If you have any other questions you can connect with me on facebook at My Facebook Page

When I first land on the site, all that I see are ads. The header design needs work.

If you hadn't requested us to take a look, I would have hit the back button right away.

My advice is to spend some time on the design. It appears that your content itself is solid. Do it justice with your design.

Well how about spending some time reading the rules then?

Definitely a good start. You have to start somewhere. My advice for anyone new to blogging is be an active blogger not a passive blogger. What do I mean by this?

So many people focus on creating content and waiting for the traffic to come to them (passive). This is the long road to building a successful blog and its also the one that leads most people to give up before they are successful.

Instead, have an active approach. Spend time creating content but be active about driving traffic to your site. This might mean that you spend time commenting on other blogs, commenting on forums, guest blogging on other sites, creating videos on youtube and facebook etc. This will kickstart things right from the beginning.

Next up, I would lose a lot of the ads you have on there now. Especially the amazon ads on the right. I realize you are trying to monetize your blog. However, those ads are far from being targeted and won't generate much profits. Your best bet would be to lose the ads focus on building a brand and an email list around that brand. Then look at other ways to monetize as you grow. In your niche there are many great affiliate programs to jump onboard.

I'd say that you need to lower down on the ads and focus more on providing value to the market place. You need to educate and solve problems in your niche. That's how you become more valuable. Just keep up the blogging and focus more on creating content that would enlighten other people and give them that aha moment.

One other thing that I don't see on your blog that you absolutely need is an opt-in form. Without one, you will not have the ability to capture leads and build a following. Not having a list is a recipe for disaster for anyone who wants to make money online.

So what you should do is create more high quality content, lessen the selling and increase the value, get an autoresponder so that you can capture leads and just focus on driving traffic to your site. Once you publish a blog, realize that you need to promote it. People don't just miraculously stumble unto your blog especially if it's new. You need to put it where people see it.

You're on the right track. Just be consistent.

1 Pick One Main Keyword Group:

You have too many different keyword types. You have credit score, tax tips, mortgage, then save money then reduce expenses.

If your planning on blogging for 'organic' traffic from SEO, then you really need to zero in on (1) Main keyword and make your whole blog geared around it.

All of those keywords are very 'highly' competitive.

2- Make Excerpts of your posts.

Your whole blog (or most of it) can be viewed all on the same webpage. Choose 'excepts' from your blog dashboard settings.

3- Learn how to promote your content:

Most new bloggers make the mistake of just posting stuff. But the problem is that you may have the most amazing blog with loads of value but if no one sees your stuff, your just weeping in the wind.

The Internet is literally a waste land of the 'dead'. So many blogs that hardly ever get noticed.

4- Do you want to make money with the thing or just write for pleasure?

There are some bloggers who get droves of traffic and no money. I know a lady who has a blog about traffic and she said she barely makes enough money to buy grocery. She gets thousands of visitors per day.

I am not a blogger but I do have a blog. However I am friends with some people who blog every single day. Blogging is a long term thing and it takes a lot of commitment and patience.

Hi,
You could add pictures of yourself at your blog on the sidebar at the blog and/or at your about me page,to make people see how you look like,that you are a real person etc. Branding is very important as you probably already know. Add more images in your posts to makeyour posts more enjoyable to read. Maybe edit/change your theme for youre blog to also make it more attractive (not saying that what you have is unattractive), but maybe for instance another banner/logo on the top of the blog and add a capture form to a free newsletter at the sidebar of your blog,to build your list.

Thank you, everyone for your valuable advice especially pictures, design, and ads. I able to make few changes to my site in a short time. I understand it's a long and ongoing process.