A finance blog that was too slow to sell against.

A magazine-shaped blog on a slow theme is a bad combination: every new post inherits the weight. The job was to make the site fast and legible enough to pass an advertiser's review, without losing the archive.

• SpeedA theme built for one site rather than a marketplace theme carrying everything.
• ApprovalClean structure, visible authorship, and no claims that cannot be backed.
• Useful next stepA calculator under every guide, so a reader does something with the advice.

One custom theme, built for this site only. Topic hubs group the archive by what a reader is trying to do, and each guide and blog template reuses the same structure so a new post costs the same weight as an old one.

1. Topic hubsCredit, budget, and general finances, each with a landing page that links into the guides.
2. Guide and blog templatesTwo layouts, shared typography and spacing, no per-post layout decisions.
3. AuthorshipPosts carry a named author, which is what a review looks for on a YMYL topic.

Each one answers a question the articles already raise. They are plain JavaScript, not a plugin, so the maths and the labels stay under the site's control.

• Debt payoffSnowball against avalanche on the reader's own balances, with the payoff date for each.
• Emergency fundHow much to hold and how long it takes to get there at a given monthly saving.
• Loan costThe real APR once fees are included, so two offers can be compared fairly.
• Credit utilizationHow far a balance has to come down to reach 30% and then 10%.

The theme, the hubs, and the calculators are in production. The older posts were rewritten against sources, with the outdated figures replaced rather than lightened.

What I did not keep: a before-and-after PageSpeed number, and the advertiser's review outcome. Both would be the strongest evidence on this page and neither was recorded at the time.