This guest posst is by Kole McRae of Chilled Soda.
Four months ago, I had 15 blogs. I had blogs about net neutrality, writing tips, technology news, and more. They we’re all things I was passionate about and loved writing them but one day I deleted them all.
All but one.
I didn’t back them up. I didn’t think twice about it. I simply clicked Delete and never thought about them again. Each one had an audience. Some of them even brought in a little money. But none of that mattered.
That day I discovered a simple truth about myself—a truth that expands to absolutely everyone. The idea was simple, which is kind of the beauty of it.
The less you spread yourself, the better your work
Though I worked hard on those blogs, I knew that the quality of the posts wasn’t high. I tried my best but I just didn’t have the time to do the in-depth work I wanted to. At first I blamed it on my day job and other priorities, but over time I realized it was the sheer number of projects that was holding me back.
With each new project or blog I started, I spread my resources a little bit further. I had less time to devote to each one, and because of that the quality suffered.
The day I made that realization, I deleted them all and focused on a single blog. I was finally able to devote the time required to do the detailed, high-quality posts I’d always wanted to.
Because of this I was able to get that blog mentioned on Consumerist.com, Time Magazine’s website, Howstuffworks.com, and many other A-list websites. All it took was dedication to a single cause instead of many.
Take a look at your current list of projects. Are you able to devote the amount of time necessary to make each one a raging success? If not, why are you working on them?
One at a time
You’re probably looking at this article with an expression of shock. I can hear the objections now:
“You mean, you want me to kill my babies? But all my ideas!”
I’m not asking you to delete everything and never work on those ideas again. As naturally creative people, we want to create. Here is what you should do instead: work on each project, one at a time. Put all your focus on the first one, then, once that’s complete, move on to the next.
It’s up to you to decide what “complete” means.
Not only will this approach ensure that the quality of each project is incredibly high, but you’ll also get a lot more done.
In small doses
You don’t have to do it all at once, like I did. I know that deleting something you’ve worked hard on can be incredibly daunting task. It can even be depressing at first.
Instead, cut out one project at a time.
You’ll find that with the removal of each project, all the others become better in terms of quality. The more you delete, the more you’ll want to delete as you see how much better your other projects get. It’s like an endless loop of quality.
In the end it just proves the point: “Less is more.”
Have you got multiple projects running at the moment? How do you juggle them? Are you giving every single one your best?
Kole McRae started Chilled Soda, a resource for those working 9-5 jobs that want to reduce stress, get more done, find more time for the things they
love, and all around become happier.
I am in the process of doing something similar, but rather than deleting the old content I am migrating it to the new domain. I understand I will take a hit in terms of traffic initially, but I am hoping it will allow me to more consistently blog on the new domain and thus increase long term traffic.
Great post Kole. I’ve learnt from your mistakes. To me, I believe it would get to a stage in business when profit/success you get from your business is stagnant, what do you do afterwards?
This is where the knowledge of planing ahead of the process of Growth, Diversification and Expansion really helps. Learn more about this in other not to make future mistakes. http://www.entrepreneurshipsecret.com/the-process-of-growth-diversification-and-expansion
Thanks for sharing……
I have a few sites too(probably about 7 or 8) and I am finding the same thing you did. No time, a dwindling desire or imagination for posts but wouldn’t it be better to try to sell them instead of deleting them? Although, I have deleted sites in the past, I have often wondered if someone could have taken them and turned them around and by selling them, I would have felt like I got something out of the deal for the time put in.
But working on one main site as I try to do more of now is definitely helping me to stay focused and I do not feel so drained. I also have more time to market which I think is much the area where most of us need to be spending the time.
Congrats on getting your sites listed in the top A-List sites. I haven’t gotten there yet but have still to work on that area. Hope this new plan of action really pays off for you!
I agree about selling the sites. Even if you sell the site for $20, you’re still making a profit from the $10 you spent on the domain name.
More importantly, you can pass on something of quality to someone who hopefully will focus on it and make a profit for themselves.
Good concept though. You can tell the effect on quality when you have 20 blogs and you’re rushing to write a post.
“I also have more time to market which I think is much the area where most of us need to be spending the time.”
This is a big one IMO, because with so many blogs you don’t have enough time (if you are not a professional blogger) to sit around and market AND write for tons of blogs at once.
Plus having to tinker around with so many designs? In the beginning, I wholeheartedly agree, it’s best to stick with one, or at most, a small number of blogs.
WOW! and I thought I was alone in all this. This was so insightful, I will bookmark it for sure to read it back again. And you are right, too many things going on you lose sigh of your true mission is. thanks.
I couldn’t agree more! I am fairly new to this ‘game’ – of profiling, blogging, tweeting, facebooking etc, having been persuaded end last year I had to raise my profile more, get ‘out there’ more and all that involves. Once upon a recent time I thought I would never ever join Facebook or Twitter. Actually I enjoy blogging. As a sometime artist, blogging is kind of like the artist’s sketch book for me, keeping up my writer’s skills and giving me an opportunity to develop ideas, my personal philosophies and creed. But there is so much one can/feel one should be doing. Reading and commenting upon other people’s blogs (like this!), tweeting, putting up stuff on Facebook, keeping the website regularly updated etc. To say nothing of the all-important ‘bread and butter work’! It’s exhausting. And like you, it’s quality that matters too. I don’t want to feel that my work, mainly the writing that I do love, has become rather like a pimp for itself, or for me even! I hate the feeling of pressure, of the ‘oh my God, I’ve been away for a few days and now I have to run very hard to catch up again’.
My blog ‘Wayward lady’ is actually rather new, started back in February. I started bravely putting up a new post every day. Then came the post ‘Blog Slave?’ which set out my views to this perceived need to be ever writing these posts and sacrificing quality for quantity under the mistaken presumption that somehow that would attract more of a following. I want people to recognise me for the interest/quality of what I write, not the sheer quantity of quasi-drivel! A ‘never mind the quality feel the width’ !
I have waxed lyrical on the subject, but, as you’ve gathered, I agree. And now I will retweet your link to inspire other blog slaves!
I have to agree… however, the things that distract me as a working mom have nothing to do with multiple blogs and projects. I’m not deleting my son, no matter how many times he needs stitches in his head or scratches his cornea. Both of these things happened this week, disrupted my schedule and took my focus off my work.
Then my friend passed away of ovarian cancer this week too after 38 days in hospital with a perforated bowel. I found my focus suffered tremendously because my heart was elsewhere…
The quality of posts took a back burner to my life which since the beginning of the year has been a string of mishaps like the above. I use my blog to drive customers to my business.
I work on focus and living in the now. That is the task in front of me is the one that gets my entire attention. I can get better at focusing but I have no control over life and it’s distractions.
I have read many blogs where people mention that they have several websites. This would seem totally overwhelming to me and your right about the fact that they would be watered down.
I just want to focus on my one blog now and improve on my blog posts and writing skills.
I got lots of blog way back too, deleted others (leave them alone) and reduced it to 3 now. Is it still bad?
Hi Monique,
I don’t think one can say that any number of blogs is good or bad. You have to know yourself if you’re able to build those three blogs into awesome blogs or not. If you can, then keep the three, if you find your energy and time is spread too thin because of having three blogs, you could consider stop working on the least successful one and putting more effort into the other two.
Good luck. :)
True Kole. This is the reason I am still building only one blog/project for the moment which is personal growth niche. I want to make it a success first before consider creating another extra blog for another niche which I am passionate about too, which is photography.
Stay focus can help expand and pump our possibility and results far beyond the front, and thus producing greater value to readers and everyone, including our self.
Wow. Perfect timing for me on this.
I’ve been blogging for about a year and a half. I’ve learned so much in that time. I have a blog that I started with the idea of showcasing different photographers and photo tool products. The idea was to have a community blog that other product makers in the same niche would contribute to and I’d make money off affiliate sales. I love my blog, and I love what I’ve made of it, but during this same time, I’ve been developing my product and just recently, it became clear to me that the contributing artists idea wasn’t working but my product was and I needed a blog that focused on my product, so 2 weeks ago I started a new blog. It’s the same niche, but a more specific slant.
I was debating if I should try to keep both blogs going – but I’m already working 10 hours a day (not all of that is blog posts, I’m also working on my product.)
I’ve been coming to the same idea – that I just can’t do both and do them justice. It’s hard to let the other go, but I think that’s going to have to happen for me to make the most of this blog. I also keep thinking of the 80/20 principle. I’m making 80% of my money from my product. I need to put 80% of my energy into that and serving my direct audience.
Since the niche is basically the same, I’m going to slowly transition my subscribers to the new site by announcing in my newsletter the new site with a new opt-in gift.
Thanks for helping me get clear on this.
(I also have some hobby blogs and a personal blog, but those I don’t even expect to make much money and they get posts when they get posts!)
This is very useful information. It’s very tempting to try to build our readership by trying to do a little bit of everything. What I have learned in my experience is that it’s best to focus on one particular market or niche and do everything in our power to establish ourselves as an authority there. Best to be the king of a small pond than a slave in several large ones. Thanks for the reminder.
Hmmm. You make me rethink. I just wanted to Launce 6 blog at once
Hmmm. You make me rethink. I just wanted to Launce 6 blogs at once.
Thanks
That is very bold decision you made Kole.I also realized it after spending so much time.Some times we just want to write about so many topics and we create new blog for each.I did the same.But as you mentioned the worst thing is your post quality suffers.
Instead of deleting them I donated my all other blogs to my friends.They are still alive and growing.
Its great to share this with other bloggers as we only realizes our self only after putting so much effort and Kole said it is very hard to kill my babies.
Laser sharp focusing on a niche will get you amazing results. My question is – what took you so long ?
Insightful post.
I have a few blogs, but they serve very different purposes. I manage them by giving them different emphases. For example, one was expanded to include a handful of authors, so I mostly have minimal management responsibilities. One is mostly updated with answers to client questions — answers I’m typing up anyway. So just requires a bit of formatting, etc.
Less is more Kole. If you feel the urge to release on a deeper level, feel free to delete. Releasing precedes acquiring. Thanks for sharing! RB
You don’t say whether or not you gained from the 15 blogs? Presumably you didn’t delete the one blog that was working best for you? And what did you learn from the other blogs (apart from that you were spreading yourself thin)?
Like you said in this post. I had 6 blogs and all on various fields. At last i found that spreading on several topics is not as better as focusing on one topic. I deleted all my blogs one by one and now is focusing on my new blog just started.In it’s first week i get a much better attention than i expected. Now i know the power of focusing on a niche.
I definitely had too many projects rolling at the same time. Now if I honestly “Just Hafta” take action on a new idea, i’ll grab a domain, back burner it and build content slowly offline. That at least takes away all the anxiety of having a live site that I need to react to.
I still seem to do most of my better writing with pen and paper (sigh*).
The art of letting go… Thanks for the article. Glad to know I am not alone. My issue was trying to get started with 5 blogs at one time. Now I am down to 1 and feeling some momentum.
Keeping more than one blog lower your concentration on each blog.eventually you fail to maintain all.i agree with less do more.
Powerful post to read today. The other night I was frustrated with no receiving emails for the comments on my blog. I followed the advise of someone and went in and started moving files. My blog is now down, white screened and the lessons I am learning are BIG!
It has given me time to see the value and priorities that were beneath the daily posts…
Yes.. Less is More!
Just a little time management tip, I personally like the old school To-Do- lists. People are neglecting them, but when you get down to basics (like not spreading yourself thin in your case) is when it’s really the most effective.
Great post!
-Liane
Team Head
Blog Design Team
Same thinking here just think about your niche in which you are perfect and start a blog and give your best.
Kole,
I’ve always struggled with making sense of the dichotomy between these two philosophies:
1. Never spread yourself too thinly, because your work will suffer for it.
2. Always have as many balls in the air as possible… that way if you drop one, at least you’re still juggling.
It took me throughout all of high school and college, and the first few years of my “adult” life to make any sense of it all. I’ve come to the conclusion that I can maintain (roughly) 2-3 professional projects, 1 personal project (hobby) and still have time to maintain some semblance of my relationship with my fiancee. Anything more and the others begin to suffer… and that’s no good. It just doesn’t make sense to put in all the effort in the world and have your work, hobbies, and (worst of all) relationship(s) all functioning at subpar levels.
Overall, I think you made the right decision… and that decision couldn’t have been easy. Good for you!
One step at a time. I saw my brain-injured comatose daughter come back to the world ONE STEP AT A TIME. I have always believed this is the way to do it with other aspects of life, also, including writing and blogs. I have occasionally thought about doing a second blog, but have stopped myself for the very reasons you list above. This is an excellent post!
I had quite a few blogs out there too, one that had a good following, and I deleted them all except for the one under my name for now. I will be working on another blog as well as helping others set up BlogSites with WordPress so I am going to be a busy girl. My experience with having many blogs over the last few years is that I know how to set them up and play with themes and plugins. I find I have a love of WordPress as a CMS and even general website builder that I would rather help others set up their Blogs/Websites than try to find that just right niche for me. It may come from my love of WordPress and all I want to learn about using it, then sharing that with others.
Thanks for a great post Kole, and for me to know I’m not the only one who has pressed delete on multiple blogs.
I know what you mean (as do others who have commented). Until last month I was creating content for blogs:
• MusicalMe.org
• TheNew40.org
• CreativeMe.org
• ScribeSite.com
• BarterLines.com
. . . and a few others, whose names escape me at the moment.
Today, I am happier, have more time for myself, less stress, and enough topics to last me ’til Tiffin.
I definitely agree with working on 1 project at a time. There are a lot of guides out there that say you should be working on multiple blogs at once and then stick with the one that takes off. Hmmm…. not quite sure if I agree with that, but I’m definitely starting to see progress from my own blog with lots of focused hard work. If I was distracted with other projects, I might not see the same results.
Have you thought of becoming a pro blogger and thus have more time to devote to your web presence?
This would obviate the need to go around deleting your blogs.
As always, this post rings true to me. I have about 5 projects that are only being run half heartedly. I totally see the benefit
In focusing on one project and will now begin the process of elimination.
Great insight
Brandon
I, too, had multiple blogs and writing ongoing writing projects, but realized (as the author did) that I was spreading myself too thin and wasn’t giving most of them enough attention. Since the effort and quality was spread thin, it’s no surprise the blogs didn’t attract a lot of followers. So I’ve scaled back to just two blogs and am doing more frequent & more in-depth posts that (I hope) readers are enjoying more.
I think that part of being successful in blogging (& many other aspects in life) is not running off & doing a million things at once, while not devoting enough time, care, & effort to each.
This really resonated with me because I too had around 10-12 blogs/web projects on the go and towards the end of last year I took stock of my situation and realised I was half-baking things – tempted by new niches, cool domains or beautiful looking wordpress themes I was on a relentless mission to create new things.
I had some mild success but what I realised is that I could be doing so much more of a better job if I narrowed my focus. I decided that if I have the time to do all these things, the creativity to implement them and the money to fund them then imagine what I could achieve if I were to focus on a much smaller number.
I did the same, deleted sites, turned off auto-renew on a ton of domains and focused on what I saw as important. I even went so far as to ban myself from buying any new domains, themes or plugins unless directly associated with the projects I already have.
Readership numbers are way up on both sites which is really exciting and fuels my passion for the two projects. And things have never been better income wise either – I now have 2 websites (1 low maintenance) as well as a consulting business and my income in March far surpassed anything I have ever achieved previously – less really can mean more.
Inspiring post Kole – you’ll realise just how refreshing it is to have a clear out and focus on what helps you achieve your goals
That’s an awesome story. btw which blog of yours got featured on A-List sites ? Was that the ‘Office Buddha’ ?
What a great way to prove that “less is more”. I have to admit you are right, I have many websites that lack updating and quality content. There is just no point of producing unfinished work. I will start thinking about focusing on one project at a time and making it brilliant.
Good idea, did the same thing when I was on multiple forums and devoting time to my blog….find now that without a dozen forums to go too and post I can focus on my blog….Course I just have one project now and that’s working on my collection….though I do have another project planned…
Still, great story there.
I must confess. I am an offender of too many blogs, projects, to-do lists, all at the same time. What happened to me was a continuous pattern of “I must do” thinking. I was running myself ragged with worry and stress over too much. So… like you I gave up. I began deleting extra blogs or projects. And now, I am focused on one new blog. My main focus is on content presently and later after I hit a content goal I will begin to monotenize my blog better. I am taking the “one thing at a time” approach. I am being intentional and truly building a brand that matters for me. I am choosing to remain true to my life’s calling.
Great article. I am new to the world of blogging. I have been overwhelmed with all of the information I’ve collected. I have so many “great” ideas for products, services, blogs, ebooks, etc. and was frustrated at my inability to manage my life to get them moving. Your post is a nice reminder that I don’t have to do them all once. Some laser focus on one project, get it to “completion” then start another, etc.
Thanks!
great post! I do agree with working on 1 project at a time for sure.
Hi Kole,
I liked your article and clicked over to your site to read more about what your experiences where.
Unfortunately, your about page is cold and unwelcoming. No pic. No anything. No inspiration. Pity.
I believe this note will help you out.
Good luck
Dan
Wow. Your timing in impeccable. I have been feeling much the same way lately. You just pulled the plug on the other blogs, and it appears that it was the right move. Congrats.
I have been toying with the idea of pulling things in a bit closer, giving up some sites, etc., keeping one serious effort and one fun food blog. You’ve really reinforced that decision. Thanks!
Excellent…
I’ve deleted entire blogs in the past, when I didn’t want what I’d written out there any more. I have about 8 or 9 blogs up now, but focus on one of them as my main outlet for writing. I am not trying to turn my blog into a business and make money, it’s just my hobby and my personal journal of things in my life. I guess if you are trying to sell something, it’s better to focus on one thing and learn all about it. Since my blog is not a sales pitch, I don’t worry about if it’s successful, it’s just something to communicate with random people and record my thoughts.
Pity because I may have been interested in buying them, however as they are deleted now with no backup… You need to remember that you had some serious net real estate there and could have actually sold them on. I get the point but it seems to me as if a certain baby has been thrown out with the bathwater.
I agree on this. Almost a year ago I started a blog. After a couple of months I stopped writing for that blog because it just didn’t had visitors. But in that time I learned a lot so I started a new blog. Now that blog has been running for 3 months and I have a lot more visitors. But I’m giving all my attention to 1 blog because I prefer quality in stead of quantity.
Good thoughts, mate.
Also getting focused to only one blog.
ab
You hit the nail on the head with this post because I realized the same thing a few months ago and let a ton of things go and my life is so much easier. Its like the old saying when your eyes are bigger than your stomach and you stuff yourself until you get sick. You want to have the best quality work you can but at times, reality sets in thankfully and we just sit back and breath.
Great post, I’ve done the same. 1 Website to 10,000 visitors, that’s all you need!…
If you delete them, why not just give them away on a forum or ask one of your members / subscribers to take it over?
Although I don’t really delete it but just leave it as it is and currently focus on 2 websites in particular and another 2 on the side. They are all interlinked so hence the reason for the split.
Ralph
Great and bold movement Kole!
Every luck and success to you for doing just that, hope it will work great for you!
I also have struggled in the past with many web properties at the same time and it’s hard to decide what to do, at least at that time.
I’ve written an article on the subject some months ago, if you want do read it and tell me what you think : http://www.moneytized.com/project-juggling/
Thank you in advance,
Angel