One of the questions that I’m being asked quite a bit lately by bloggers who have been blogging for a while is whether it’s a wise thing to start multiple blogs and if so how should one manage it?
It’s a good question and one that I have a few random thoughts on (which I thought would be a good addition to the blogging for beginners series):
Diversification of Income Sources – I’ve posted many times here at ProBlogger about the wisdom of diversifying your interests in blogging and the idea of multiple blogs is central in my own approach to this. While you do need to be careful of spreading yourself too thinly (more on this below) multiple blogs has been very beneficial for me and have been one of the main reasons for my own growth of income over the past three years. My own experience is that a blog’s traffic growth usually starts fairly slowly, then goes through a growth spurt before reaching a plateau where it becomes more difficult to add new readers in great numbers. At this point starting a second blog is often one good way to increase overall traffic.
The main reason that I became a believer in diversification through multiple blogs was as a result of an experience of seeing one of my main blogs suffer in it’s ranking in Google for a six week period. It struck me in this time how easily an income based around one single successful blog could disappear and I was motivated to build other blogs (and other non blogging income streams) so that if it happened again I would not be left completely high and dry.
More work – Of course a blog doesn’t run itself and to diversify your interests by adding new blogs means that you’re also multiplying the workload that you’ll need to take up to maintain them. I’ve seen a number of bloggers get sucked into taking on more than they can handle by starting multiple new blogs at the same time – simultaneously launching numerous blogs that they are the primary author for on the same day.
My recommendation if you’re looking to start multiple blogs is to stagger your launches over time. Start one up but then give yourself a few weeks to get into the rhythm of posting there and adjusting to your new workload before even thinking about your next one. If you don’t do this you run the risk of spreading yourself too thinly and the quality of your posting will suffer.
Don’t under estimate the time and energy that establishing a readership on a new blog can take – take your time.
Sub Domains or Multiple Domains? – This is one of the eternal questions that I’m asked. Which is a better way to go?
Having taken both approaches I can assure you that both have their distinct advantages and disadvantages. It IS possible to take either approach and establish a successful blog. Here’s a quick list of factors to consider (these are just some of the many things that are debated by proponents of the different methods):
- Multiple Domains will generally take longer to establish SEO for whereas Sub Domains generally get indexed quicker and ranked higher IF you have a well indexed and ranked domain already
- Once established Multiple domains be be very powerful with SEO when they link to one another. This is one of the reasons that blog networks are so successful (100 blogs all linking to each other virtually ensures good ranking in Google over a longer period of time). Note: this can take a long period of time to get working for you.
- Multiple Domains are easier to sell down the track (you might be able to sell a domain with multiple blogs but splitting them up would be a nightmare).
- Multiple Domains lend themselves to individual branding of your blogs. Of course a subdomain approach can be branded well also (check out about.com for example) but multiple domains are generally simpler to brand
- Sub Domains will obviously be cheaper to run in terms of buying domains – although they are so cheap these days that it’s hardly an issue.
- The only problem with them is that they might be a challenge to manage on an administrative level (especially when you have a lot of domains expiring all at different times.
- Some believe that covering multiple topics on the one domain can be detrimental for both SEO and systems like AdSense (there’s some debate over this).
My own preference these days is much more to register multiple domains as I have a long term approach which I think this lends itself to. However I can point to a variety of very successful examples of both methods so a blog’s success or failure doesn’t depend upon this choice alone.
Targeting neighboring niches – one strategy that I’m seeing numerous bloggers using these days is to expand their blogging activities by developing new blogs on topics that neighbor their existing blogs. A prime example of this is Manolo’s Shoe Blog which is now has a range of sister blogs on topics including bridal wear, men’s fashion etc.
The beauty of expanding into similar and related topics is that it opens up great opportunities for cross promotion (someone interested in one topic is likely to be interested in a similar one) and can cut down on the amount of time and effort that is put into research (a lot of research that bloggers do is often wasted because it doesn’t quite fit within a niche – but if you have multiple related blogs more of the research can be used).
Apart from this strategy of choosing similar topics – most of the principles that I outlined in my post on How to Choose a Niche Topic for your Blog will apply.
A Suggested Workflow – In order to manage multiple blogs a blogger quickly learns that they need to be smart in how they run their operation. As I say above – the more blogs you have the more work you’ll find yourself with.
My own blogging workflow consists largely of using Bloglines, Firefox and Ecto to post to my WordPress blogs.
I do outline the way I operate in my Day in the Life of a ProBlogger post but in short:
- I give each blog that I write to a folder in Bloglines.
- In that folder I have a combination of RSS feeds from related blogs, bloglines keyword searches, Google News RSS feeds for keywords, Topix RSS feeds for keywords etc.
- Each day I work through the folders one at a time. I scan through them a feed at a time and open up those posts that interest me in new tabs in Firefox (up to 10 tabs at a time).
- I then go through each tab in turn. I close most of them that are not relevant but if one is I then post something on it using Ecto.
- Once I’ve finished with the open tabs I continue to go through bloglines until the folder I’m working on is empty/read.
- I then move onto the next folder.
Some folders I work through every day (and therefore post to those blogs on a daily basis) while others I have a less frequent rhythm for (every few days or even weekly).
I also have a couple of blogs that I have another blogger working on for me to lighten my load. She uses a similar workflow.
By no means is this the only workflow. I recently had a chat with a few other bloggers who told me their daily rhythms and it was fascinating to compare how we went about it. Some were remarkably similar and others were very different. What struck me is that each blogger had found (or was attempting to find) their own unique methods and while some things worked brilliantly for some – they didn’t for others (ie I can’t imagine blogging without tabbed browsing while other bloggers hate it).
It’s definitely worth trying your hand at a range of different tools and methods to see what works for you.
I’d be fascinated to know readers answers to some of these questions:
- How many blogs do you operate?
- Why this number? Are you planning more (or less)?
- How did you decide which new blogs to start?
- What’s your workflow like?
This was a great post for me. I’ve been wondering lately if I am doing the right thing by running so many different blogs – but they seem to each have their own audience and I really don’t think they could combine all into one.
My main blog is Katie the Scrapbook Lady, but I also have a quotes blog because there seem to be a lot of people out there who enjoy quotes but not necessarily scrapbooking. I run an autism blog also because my son has autism.
Thanks!
I don’t think that multiple blogs are for everyone. The person’s creative energy will now have to be split between multiple blogs, which may water down the quality of each blog. And most bloggers don’t earn any reasonable income from blogging. I’ve been blogging since Nov ’05 and I only have $3.51 in my Adsense account. But hey, if you can manage it, go ahead!
* How many blogs do you operate?
Two with a third on the way that I’ll be teaming up with other people on. Three if you count a link blog.
* Why this number? Are you planning more (or less)?
Probably not more. At least for a while. I only have so much time in the day I can spend on blogging.
* How did you decide which new blogs to start?
I pretty much did whatever I wanted to. No particular reasons, just whatever I knew a lot about and felt like writing about.
* What’s your workflow like?
go through bloglines folder for my main blog (the one I post to a few times a day) and drag any interesting stories to a folder in my bookmarks. When I’m done with that I go through the folder and write a post about each of the more interesting stories, and later in the day I write a post with links to each of the less important but still notable stories. In between I’ll usally write a post or two from scratch.
The other blogs are all a bit more free, so I write at them whenever about whatever, so I don’t really even need a flow
Although I have 16 blogs currently, 6 are written by others, and 10 by me. They’re on a wide range of topics from the supernatural to the battle for the London Stock Exchange. Interestingly, I find I wake up each morning with a different set of enthusiasms, so some blogs are easier to write than others, while a few will languish for a day or two. Then they’ll suddently rise to the top of my attention. It’s a bit like the stock market really. :-)
I have got multiple blogs and, oh man, they are a pain to manage. I even tried to launch a blog network but due to insufficient efforts from my end, it fall before the launch.
I agree that doing a separate domain for each blog is more beneficial than working on subdomains. However, I have used subdomains for multiple blogs on my network Blogspk.com.
Hi Darren,
I’ve been thinking about this for a long time now. My domain is doing better and better, and because I have the same domain name but then for the eu, I whas planning a nother blog as well.
But, my big question is” how to realy make money out of my blog?”
How many blogs do you operate?
I have somewhere between 5-10 blogs total, but I only update 3-5 on a regular basis.
Why this number?
Some of my blogs are personal/private, for example, I have a health related blog where I note health issues from time to time. Not really something I felt a need to share with the world! I also have a birthday blog that was created to share the celebration of a milestone birthday with family and friends, an audio blog, a work-related blog and two personal blogs – one public, one private.
Are you planning more (or less)?
I may add one, lose one.
How did you decide which new blogs to start?
“For every reason, there’s a blog.” If I feel the need, I start a new blog.
What’s your workflow like?
I keep track of other blogs I read regularly (like this one) in bloglines and I try to read new posts daily. As for my own postings – when the mood strikes. The personal blogs get the most activity/attention.
[…] Darren Rowse over at Problogger is posting today about his method of running multiple blogs, and it was really nice to see how his workflow compares to mine. I was in fact a bit relieved when I saw his workflow is pretty similar to mine, because this kind of means that I am not missing anything essential.The only differences are in fact the tools we use, because I prefer using Firefox’s WizzRSS extension for scanning feeds instead of Bloglines and I am using the Performancig extension to post to my WordPress blogs. At the end of the day, our method is all the same: I also have my folders for each blog of mine, I scan through them nearly every day and get inspiration from them to create my post.However I disagree with Leon’s comment, as I don’t really think that working on several blogs a day really damages your creativity. As a professional journalist I used to experience that – although writing is considered as a highly creative activity -, it can really turn to everyday routine without the decline of the writing’s quality. I don’t mean one can write as automated as a machine, but I am pretty sure that the skill of writing is only a mechanic tool to put your thoughts into words.Having thoughts naturalli premise creativity – even with the inspiration of several quality blogs per topic, day by day – but an other experience tells me that the more you deal with a specific subject, the more new thoughts come into your mind related to that subject.And this really is working for me. The more time I spend with my blogs, the more things I have to post. It’s rather far from a writer’s burnout I guess. […]
The multiple blog workflow
I currently run 3 blogs with individual subdomains. The topics vary heavily but i still find ways to cross-promote. I have defiently seen an increase in adsense revenue by having the 3 blogs with good reason. I hope to further expand this small family of sites in the future.
As for picking my niches, 2 of my sites have never really been blogged and they were just ideas that popped into my head.
My workflow is normally checking my RSS in the morning and attempting to get my daily post out by 9:00am. It usually works unless im having a tough time deciding what to write.
*What’s your workflow like?
I’m just going to copy/paste what John said because it’s almost a perfect answer! I wake up each morning with a different set of enthusiasms, so some blogs are easier to write than others, while a few will languish for a day or two. Then they’ll suddenly rise to the top of my attention.
The only thing I would change from John’s comment, is that it’s not always a morning situation with me.. but mostly ‘before I go to bed’ situation. Call it ‘research’ or whatever, but sometimes I just enjoy surfing/reading and commenting on blog entries that I feel I can contribute something … i.e. I get lost for hours before I even get to my bloglines folders for topical items of my blogs. For this reason, I prefer at night – because if I started in the morning, I’d waste the day away. If I start at night, I can just go until I pass out at the keyboard.
Although, as I am growing in number of blogs and topics, I find that at least once a week I need to do an all-nighter (thursday nights) to either catch up on my day-job work .. or blogging work. Yah .. I know that sounds sad .. but it’s true. If I were to pass along advice to newbies thinking of creating a bunch of new blogs .. I would still say “go for it” but add this .. “don’t start to blog as if you are a professional blogger – especially if you aren’t a professional blogger .. and have a day job and need to pay the bills or go to school – because it will only get busier”.
Darren, as one of the people who asked for this article; thank you.
I have three going right now, two more in development, and about half a dozen I am considering for later. My rationale for starting a new one is easy: if I keep wanting to post something to one of my existing blogs but know that it won’t fit with the niche or focus of the blog, I’ll make a hidden category in Movable Type and post unpublished to it. If the category gets a decent number of posts (say a dozen) and I’m still posting to it a month later, then I am pretty confident it should become a blog of its own. Call it “Phantom Blogging” – sort of a try-before-you-buy approach. then I begin the whole Technorati research thing to see who’s blogging the topic and whether or not there is a good angle for me to post from. In other words, I think I am on the John Evans plan :)
As for workflow; I start the day by making sure that cued posts actually posted overnight (you gotta have fresh content when people get to work) and then start slogging my way through notes and ideas for posts. Some days it clicks, some days it doesn’t. On the days it does, I’ll write a dozen posts and cue them up for future publication, and on the days that it doesn’t, I get the heck away from the computer and go do something non-bloggy for the day.
With it being so early in my blogging career, most of my workflow is taken up by SEO, linkage, and promotion, and I probably spend a minimum of two hours a day on that.
* How many blogs do you operate?
Three.
* Why this number? Are you planning more (or less)?
One allows new users to register and post. It has about 75 registered users so far. I don’t post often but promote other posts to the front page daily.
Another is all mine. It’s small and doesn’t require much work… and also gets little traffic.
The third is mostly an automatic aggregator on a niche topic. So I rarely post to it.
* How did you decide which new blogs to start?
When the ideas popped into my head I just dove right in and started each one.
* What’s your workflow like?
I check traffic stats. Then I read Slashdot because one of my blogs is tangential, so when I post there many follow my sig to my blog. I check that blog to promote the best posts throughout the day. Then I check technorati so see what others are blogging about with tags the same as mine. Right now my workflow is a little erratic as it’s only a part-time thing.
* How many blogs do you operate?
One
* Why this number? Are you planning more (or less)?
I am trying to make a success out of this one before starting any others. Success to me is a large readership, and I haven’t nearly gotten there yet. Help!!!
* How did you decide which new blogs to start?
I started http://www.thankchrist.com because I’ve owned the domain forever, and wanted to use it for a great purpose. It hit me that valuable information posted by someone with extensive experience in the field should be the purpose of the site.
* What’s your workflow like?
I browse other blogs with related info, I try to invite people to join the email list. Mainly, most of my time is spent towards looking for ways to increase readership. Thats why I am here. Again…, Help!!! Check out the site, the info is awesome. And thanks for writing!
How many blogs do you operate?
I have about 15 blogs of which I update 5 or 6 on a regular basis.
Why this number? Are you planning more (or less)?
Not knowing much I started as many blogs as I could thinking this was the thing to do. Many of them I used just to link to my 6 web sites trying to get links. I’ve learned better and since been updating 5 or 6 with good content.
I’m planning several more.
How did you decide which new blogs to start?
I pick topics that I’m somewhat passionate about, I can find good information on and that appear to be somewhat profitable.
What’s your workflow like?
With 6 web sites, 6 blogs, trying to learn the intricacies of WordPress and CSS from ground zero and life in general, it’s pretty chaotic. Learning to focus and see what’s important is the key to getting better organized for me.
I am working on a concept that will take a niche that is rather broad, and then through subdomains, slice and dice the niche into the micro-niches that have the strength to really do well in SEO and also hopefully provide a nice base for the regular readership.
As the research I am doing is across all of these niches, it takes the guess work out of what stories to do. Just find the right niche, develop it quickly, and drop it in.
Then have a front end of the master that brings the best over and links to the rest. A nice synergy that should feed in both directions.
This is the wrong place for a comment, but I’m curious about other U.S. bloggers who might read this who might want to start a Hannity & Colmes style group political blog – far left vs far right. For someone like me, it would be a caricature of my stances as I’m a moderate conservative but would be fun to go hard right versus someone who is hard left. Anyone wanting to add another blog to their arsenal, contact me…
Once established Multiple domains be be very powerful with SEO when they link to one another. This is one of the reasons that blog networks are so successful (100 blogs all linking to each other virtually ensures good ranking in Google over a longer period of time).
Aside from blog networks doesn’t Google penalize blogs/sites for crosslinking?
I have 11 blogger blogs to manage, apart from a daily job.
As you can see it squeezes off my energy. I made a mistake to start all those.
I would have concentrated on the first five.
Any way, I will now continue with 7 of my blogs.
Blogger for word (sometimes PFF), Google reader are the only tools. I love tabbed browsing with FF
— How many blogs do you operate?
I have 35 TypePad blogs. Several aren’t actually blogs but web sites I’ve created by tweaking the TypePad online software. And, some of the blogs are not really operational, but convenient locations for sharing info with a few people.
I link from my main blog 24 of my operational blogs/web sites built on a blog platform. I guess I’ve created my own blog network, not intentionally, but it kind of looks like it has happened.
–Why this number?
I love making blogs, and with TypePad it’s easy to do. One of my children suggested my next blog be BlogaholicsAnonymous.com if the domain is available.
–Are you planning more (or less)?
More will undoubtably arrive. I’m planning at least one more to do soon, and have bought domains for a few more that I’ll probably do in the future. I may stop writing on some but leave them up so what’s on them will be available for readers who want access to it.
–How did you decide which new blogs to start?
As a writer I find that blogs serve me well for communicating with readers of my books, and to focus on the subject areas of specific books. As the owner of several email discussion lists I find that blogs serve me well as mini sites for the lists. As a personal coach, I find that blogs are great for sharing information about subject areas related to coaching. As someone who loves to explore subjects and share what I discover, I find that blogs are great homes for projects I’m doing and subject areas I’m passionate about. And, I just start a blog when I get the urge. So nice to be able to do that.
–What’s your workflow like?
Work flow? What’s that? I often do what HART does, except in my case I write until my eyes are so dry I can’t continue, or I look at the clock and figure that I’ll have to sleep so late the next day that there won’t be any day left, so drag myself to bed.
I tend to write about what i’ve been wanting to say or on subjects that come up on email discussion lists I read and participate on. Also, news items, blog surfing discoveries, and Google Alerts that have pertinent info. I’m wanting to use more of the work flow suggestions Darren has provided, and see if I can be more systematic in posting because some of my blogs (several, actually) are often neglected for too long between posts.
* How many blogs do you operate?
Currently 5 (posting + maintainance + design)
* Why this number? Are you planning more (or less)?
Started with 2, saw the possibilities for 3 other domains I owned and were doing nothing at SEDO parking. Waiting is not my idea of creativity.
* How did you decide which new blogs to start?
To be honest, for only 1 I saw niche-possiblities. The idea behind the others is mainly to have also a piece of the very big cake.
* What’s your workflow like?
Without knowing it, quite like problogger. Well, that is for posting. And my posting is still quite unregular. With a daytimejob it is something on the side and does not always get the attention it should get.
Another big difference is my time reading and observing other blogs and sites for their design and functionality. Opposed to many that use standard themes, I always adapt themes myself, which activity takes quite some time too. Currently working hard on a new and improved design for my sites, whereas I think that this can improve visitors’ appreciation and therefor their revisits.
I think you should jump into the mulitple blogs until you are at least established with one major blog. I find that most people will get disappointed with their lack of success and probably end up quiting them all.
* How many blogs do you operate?
I have around four blogs, all on different rhythm and different topics.
* Why this number? Are you planning more (or less)?
They are all for different purposes. I also have a personal blog. A community blog. A life blog.
* How did you decide which new blogs to start?
Well, a new blog creation is usually when I feel a need to do so. Mainly out of interest. Good Ideas deserves nurturing.
* What’s your workflow like?
My workflow is amazingly similar like yours. Bloglines, Firefox, and Entry editor. Read blog topics in tabs, then post when I feel it’s relevant.
Hi Darren
When I first started researching blogging, to promote my websites, I vowed that I would not get sucked into spending too much time reading blogs. Unfortunately, this blog of yours is addictive. Thank you for the great information, you write well. I’ve put a bit about you on my new ideas for home business blog – hope you don’t mind.
I’m not brave enough to try anything too technical yet – so I’ve stuck to blogger. I also have blogs on disney and floods.
Catherine
I have been running two blogs since I first got into blogging two years ago. I have been thinking of starting more but just haven’t gotten to it. Im still divided on having seperate domains or working with blogger.
To your per-blog Bloglines folder, I would definitely suggest adding a Talk Digger RSS feed to monitor conversation about your blog.
* How many blogs do you operate? I own a network and dabble in others. Officially, 2 for me, personally.
* Why this number? Are you planning more (or less)? I have dreams of more, I stagger openings very far apart. I’m also thinking about closing two unrelated ones. (I have a writing blog, it should be the one I’m MOST interested in, but I can’t get there. We’ll see over the summer.)
* How did you decide which new blogs to start? There are ideas I dream of for months! They’re mostly strictly related to fashion. (Like the shoe blogs)
* What’s your workflow like? I’m a computer junkie. When I’m not on it, I’m either at school, watching T.V., reading (often school work or magazines), or SHOPPING (and eating). It’s all good.
Oh, yeah: workflow. It’s always different.
I now use Google Desktop’s scratch pad (can’t live without it) partly to write down short ideas for posts. I actually often save drafts with just titles! (That can get tough on my eyes.) I have a few sites I frequent. Mostly, I browse stores (online and off), and I use things I buy for ideas. Lastly, I get TONS of press releases and such. Right now, I have so many things about which to post!
I post a few times every day, except for some busy school times, some vacations, and … some “bummin’” periods. :-)
By the way, I can’t imagine blogging (even living, longterm) without tabbed browsing. :-) I open A) the blog, B) the admin, C) the image upload screen, D) a store or information source (sometimes a few).
I used to save products in my favorites, but that didn’t work out well (out of sight, out of mind).
I’m still kinking out my systems.
Oh, yes, and some new blogs I start, aside from interest, are because I see revenue stream, opportunities, or popularity potential. The more I could possibly get out of a blog, the higher priority it is for me to start it next.
I have the number I have in my network because A) I want to have a nice-numbered network, really fully get in the market. (Manolo said I want “Internet domination.”)
B) We’re still too small to be larger. And I’m far too busy to handle all the contacts from much more.
I also have to consider the payments. I have great bloggers who don’t care how much compensation they get (but I’m generous, considering the blog I work on alone gets the most money). I get people who love what they do. (Anyone want the site on which I search for them? It’s a freelance writing site.) And I have to consider the training these new writers to use Word Press.
Deciding upon a URL architecture for your Subtext Blog…
Deciding upon a URL architecture for your Subtext Blog…
I highly recommend keeping blogs on 1 domain name and brand the living daylights out of that one. I’ve started far too many blogs and you lose yourself when you bounce back and forth between several blogs. With the option to categorize your blog, you can have rankings for a multitude of unrelated phrases on the same blog once Google recognizes it as a good source.
Darren, you have quite a few blogs, but the one you will always be known for is this one. Many of your posts on the other blogs will never be found, so in a way I think it’s a waste of time to put too much energy into those.
Just my 2 cents.
Mike
P.S.: I know this is an old post, but I found it in Google when doing research for an upcoming project.
Yep, old topic, but relevant to my current question. Maybe someone will notice?
I’m going to start 4 blogs that will work well together, but be separate. (Think, hypothetically, of a family of tech blogs: one for cell phones, one for computers, one for MP3 players; all separate, but part of the family). I will have separate domains for each, but a central site that acts as a gateway or home.
From a ranking-building point-of-view, would it be better to link to the separate domains from that one home page, or would it be better to redirect the separate domains to subdomains of the home site?
OK, I’m a little confused about how you’re using the term “subdomain.”
A search on wikipedia shows that technically a subdomain would look like this:
(1) http://www.subdomain.example.com
Is that what you mean? Or do you mean
(2) http://www.example.com/subdomain
(3) Or do you mean the second blog being hosted/stored within a subfolder of the public_html directory associated with one’s main blog?
If anyone can help me out with the answer, it’d be great, because I’m at a stage of having a second new blog, but I’m trying to figure out where best/how best to host it. I’m at bluehost which I’ve read is good for multiple blogs, but it requires that the blog be stuffed into a subfolder within the same cpanel I use for moneyenergy. I thought it would be simple to keep things all at bluehost, but reading this post now I’m confused as to what counts as a subdomain. I have registered a wholly new and individual domain for the second blog. So will that mean it is fully independent? Or will it somehow be connected to my moneyenergy blog just because I’m hosting it at the same place? Feel free to email me, since I don’t come by here often…. it’s moneyenergy [AT] hotmail…. thanks.