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 can’t even imagine having multiple blogs. I put every spare minute into the one I have. Anymore than that and I’d be sunk.
Yes this is common sense. You should first concentrate on one thing. Take it to a level and then venture into another.
But sometimes people have the tendency of trying something new while the first pudding is still cooking. There maybe many reasons. – Dissatisfaction with your current blog may drive you to think in those terms. I also had this feeling a few times. But the good sense prevailed.
I think many people here would agree.
I have had a similar experience. Spreading yourself too thin not only means that the things you do don’t get done as well as they could, but you also put unnecessary pressure on yourself. You always feel like you’re behind or late when the things that are late don’t really need to be done at all. It’s better to feel good about yourself for what you are accomplishing rather than feeling bad about yourself for not meeting an excess number of goals.
wow its hard just having one
I don’t blame you with 15 how could any one person have the time for all of them. I’d say having 1-3 with one main focused one that you give 110% with the other few amusing side projects to give yourself a bit of a break.
Someone did make a good point above, if they had an audience you probably could of had someone take the helm I’m sure you made a few people sad :)
I HATE it when people just “delete” websites. I don’t care if you stop updating it, but do not remove your content from the internet. People have probably bookmarked it for future reference, found links in search engines only to get a dead-end because the site no longer exists, etc..
Well, I mean, as much as it sucks, I believe that everyone has a right to remove their own content from the internet.
Now isn’t that just what it is ;) Though I would consider giving a heads up or perhaps a future place to where the previous content might find a new home. Either way though, if u decide to paint a marvelous painting and then go on just destroying it, it is your right to do so (and very ZEN of course :p ). But I can understand people getting a bit grumpy over it… so i won’t put any reference at all to this page :d
I’d agree with Redwall here. Everyone does have the right to remove their content, but why remove it when someone can use it in future? It’s win-win right?
Spreading yourself thin with too many blogs is so true. I have tons of micro blogs. I gave them up a few weeks ago. My goal is to have one big blog. My problem right now is trying to focus on what to write about.
I’ve started, stopped and deleted so many blogs that I’ve lost count. In each case I was trying to balance too much in my life and it kept me from really putting all my energy into one strong product.
I loved this post! The line that really caught my eye was: It’s up to you to decide what “complete” means. I may have to juggle my “day job” with blogging for a long time, but just because I’m unable to put in 100% of what I’d like to right at this moment doesn’t mean I should give up. It might not be “complete” for my impossibly high standards for myself, but that is okay.
Honestly, how do people make money from writing blogs ?
Google Adsense, mostly.
I had multiple personal blogs. However, I realized that I could not dedicate the time to all of them, so a few weeks ago, I got rid of a few domains and consolidated one blog into another. I’m about to do the same with another and also fold it into the main one. It just works better for me; not as many logins to remember and having one place to go instead of many.
This couldn’t have come at a better time. I have only one blog, but I am squeezing it in between my stay at home momma duties. I have tried to cut my work load down to 20 hours a week (especially since it brings no money. . .at the moment;) I have been posting every day since I started the blog, but the 20 hours doesn’t allow for anything else. So I’ve decided to write 5 REALLY good articles and focus on promotion as well. Hard to decide what to cut, but I think it will make a big difference in my site traffic. No point in spending 20 hours writing if no one is reading!!!
This is interesting. I was considering starting a couple more blogs and was working out the logistics of how I’d maintain them along with my main photography blog. Now I won’t bother – it’s probably to just guest blog in the other areas that I’m interested in, because I want to give my main blog a fighting chance in this over saturated world. LOL
Thanks for the post!
Greate Kimberly,
You have suggested great idea to me.We always have option of guest posting to write about other topics.
Focusing your efforts on one project at a time is good advice. Focusing on just one task at once too. But deleting a blog… STUPID.
Deleting blogs instead of leveraging and/or selling them is the stupidest thing you can do. If you focus on one other blog, don’t post on the others – how simple! If the blog is making money, hire a writer with the money it’s already making. Open the blog for guest posting. Link to your other blogs. Link to your friends blogs. Sell the blog (and invest the money you get to the one blog you are building).
Never, ever, ever DELETE a blog. Bad advice. Very bad.
I agree, it would have been a better idea to either sell them or outsource the work. That’s a better exit strategy then simply deleting them…
You are hitting right on the spot! I have over 100 domains and most of these websites are of lower quality than if I would have to focus on a few. However, having said that, some are doing very well because they are ranking in some of the most competitive keywords. I won’t delete them though but rather allow them to mature and reap the benefits later point in time.
It takes some guts to kill a blog (or 15!) definitely. I have just left my dormant blogs to gather dust, to be honest. I would delete them, or maybe repurpose the content if I thought any of it was any good. Except that here and there they make a few Adsense clicks, a few affiliate sales, and I am sort of loath to press the killswitch…
I see the writer’s point, but I don’t fully agree with it. The easy thing is to delete everything, but the harder thing is to discipline yourself. Make a schedule, adjust how often each blog gets updated, etc. My reason for saying that is because deleting showed a lack of consideration of those who were reading it. If there was no audience then OK. At least warn them and send them somewhere else. I have deleted blogs before, but they had zero readers or they were not really blogs but being used for a different purpose and didn’t need them anymore. So, what seems like the writer is making sound noble, really seems impulsive and thoughtlessness towards their audience.
Kole, I agree with you about not over-stretching yourself and understand that you wanted to do things with resolve.
I’m just wondering how your readers felt about the sudden disappearance of your blogs? These are the people who took the time to actually read your posts each week. Maybe there were articles they still wanted to return to later?
I think that respecting your audience is very important and it shows in your writing if you don’t. I also agree with what George Tee said above about holding on to your assets and letting them mature.
Wonderful, wonderful article. It has been the answer to all of my questions! Now where is that delete button…….
I’ve stretched myself too far. I know I have. This year my plan to is to get rid of anything that isn’t working so I can concentrate on just a few sites that are working. Unlike you though, I’m not going to hit the delete button – I’ll recycle whatever I can and make a decision on domain renewals for the rest when the time arises.
Few days ago i read a quotes, ‘time and money dont west either one” it’s really true and i believe it
Great post. I’ve done it before too–deleted something that I realized I couldn’t commit the necessary time to. It stunk, because it was one of those ideas that I was really passionate about, but I had to let it go. The funny thing is, I managed to work a post from the killed blog into one of my current blogs, and that is what got noticed by another site, whose editor asked if she could post a link to it on her site.
Hi. 15 blogs – even thinking about it just gives me a headache :)
Agree totally. Focus on making the best of the best rather than trying to be a jack of all trades. For me, I’ve cut back on the number of social media outlets that I’m spending my time on. At the moment – just Twitter. Focussing on the blog, promoting with Twitter is working fine for the moment. Will add in Facebook again when I’m ready (and not before!)
Thanks for sharing.
Barney
Did you delete them all like the title says or did you keep one?
I think this is great advice. I too have had too many pots to stir. I have honed it down to two blogs and one website, enough and still maybe too much. Thanks for sharing.
Like others before me here, I focus only on Twitter. I love the tweets and learn a lot from them, as well as spreading the word.
As for deleting stuff, I agree. Why try to keep all those dogs on all those leads at once? They just get tangled, muddled and go nowhere.
In my view, if you have more than one blog, look at it from the new readers view point. Would you want to read it? If not…. you know what to do.
I can completely relate. I have 5 websites/blogs that need regular content and just can’t seem to do it. I’ve let 2 of them slip off into the abyss, but haven’t deleted them, and my business site I’ve decided doesn’t really need regular posting. Thanks for sharing.
The problem is when you bite off more than you can chew, writing that can actually translate into money suffers.
i Understand it.
Yes, it’s diffcult to manage.. more than one blog… with good aricle.
But, to delete them i just try to think it twice.
BTW thank for the article
THANK YOU for this post! I’m going through this right now. I experienced severe burnout last year because of the sheer number of blogs I had personally. (In my day job, I blog for clients, too.) I thought it was better to brand them separately, but frankly, it just became too much. Too many logins, too many domains to keep up with. Not enough ideas to post three times weekly on each. Some followers, but nothing that really made any cash to supplement the income. (Not that I expect to be a millionaire. I’m more realistic than that.)
Some of the ideas go together – like writing and book marketing. I’ve started looking at ways to combine them. I deleted my first blog a few weeks ago, only keeping a few posts that I really liked. It felt GREAT.
Again, thanks for sharing. I don’t feel so alone – and I feel more comfortable on the course of deletion/combination of blogs.
It is not recomandable to delete all your blogs. This is a tricky situation and depends on each individual. Some of them dispose of more resources, more free time, etc, other have are passionate for working in various fields at the same time, when getting bored with something you can switch to different thing. It is something relative here.
Cheers
I got a free domain with purchasing a hosting account but i don’t work on it because i don’t have much time therefore i want to give my all efforts to single one.
The same can be said about business. Why have many businesses when you can focus on a couple. If you are trying to brand yourself as an expert in a certain niche and you are all over the place, people get confused on what exactly it is you do. Same for blogging, I mean can someone really be passionate about 15 different topics?
I have started and deleated a good number of blogs, looking for that certain something that I can be an expert at and get conversion and a following but not happening yet.
Just because it’s easy, frequently free and dummy-friendly doesn’t mean everyone should start up a blog for every random idea that enters the noggin. That’s what a little notebook is for. You jot it down, sleep on it, see if it’s worthy of your very limited attention span. A little self-discipline when you enter the candy store shows some character.
I used to have way too many blogs. Even now, I still sort of do. Once I have everything up and running, I’ll have 7…but I’ve realized trying to roll out a new blog every 3 months simply wasn’t allowing enough time to really start a new blog properly, not when each blog will demand at least weekly updates. Probably more. I did let finance and wedding domains expire, but I migrated the content – what little of it there was – to the new domains for each. If either site had a following, I probably would’ve kept them and set up redirects though. As it was, both only got search engine hits occasionally, so I didn’t feel bad about losing them.
I used to think that it wasn’t a big deal to multi-task on all my sites like the ADHD psycho I am, but now that I’ve stopped doing that and focus on one fiction site and the occasional paranormal post, I am REALLY proud of my positive living blog. I’ve always been someone who has a gift for writing, but since I’ve started focusing the bulk of my attention on The Positive Piper, I’m extremely pleased with the quality of the posts – both from a writing and a idea standpoint. Every time I think I should devote more time to writing about finance or the paranormal, I think about how it will affect the Piper and push back my expansion plans. If I start focusing on another blog in the next 6 months, I’ll be surprised by it.
I come to this blog for expert advice and I must say I am very disappointed with this post. To delete a blog is the worst advice I have ever heard. The goodadvice about not spreading yourself to thin got list by the stupidity of the deletion comment
I don’t think it’s the worst advice in the world. The article specifically says that you do not have to delete a thing. The main point is to work on one project at a time. For the author, that meant deleting a few projects (which by all means, he has the right to do), but it doesn’t have to mean deleting anything for you.
Also, let’s stop assuming that deleting a project means deleting a blog with a ton of amazing content. I’ve deleted blogs before, but they were nothing special. A lot of students are forced to make a blog as part of a computer class, and usually, they are rather poor. Furthermore, some people start blogs when they are young and, now that they are older, they want to delete that content.
I believe that people should have a right to delete any content from the internet that they do not wish to be associated with any longer. In this day and age, our online presence is our reputation.
I know, it might suck to visit a website you love, only to find out that it’s been deleted. I don’t think the author is telling anyone to do that. The idea is that, if you spread yourself to thin, then the content on these blogs is probably going to be pretty crappy anyway. And if the content isn’t crappy, then there’s no reason to delete it…
I don’t see the problem.
Funny how the universe gives you validation when you need it most. Been feeling a bit overwhelmed with my ever growing number of duties and blogs. Was refreshing to see that my decision to get rid of some of the fat and concentrate on being more relevant isn’t only something I am doing :)
I suppose another way to handle the problem of spreading yourself too thin is to simply leave blogs online and stop updating them. If you think the information is valuable, it will still be there for everyone to read. Or, you could take some of the better posts from your multiple blogs and, to the extent they are relevant, re-post them (even using the original posting dates) on your new blog so that they will continue to live.
What you say is true as the sky is blue.
We mapped out 20 niche sites. But rapidly realized the issue – exactly as you describe, So we settled on just 4, each of which we personally knew about in great depth. That focus that has caused a huge multiplying effect due to the quality of content and the connections made in each. That would never have happened across 20.
Jonathan
I see a number of advertisements about having multiple blogs just to grow the bottom line. That is what I do not understand. How can you really be creative with more than one blog? That is unless you have multiple ghost writers.
I do understand that they have automatic writers(robots) of blogs, but than the copy is not always truly unique. Plus it is not you! I think that people initially come to a blog to look at a writer’s style and the
content that they post.
I think that the owner of this blog would agree that just one blog can be very profitable.
Well said, Kole. I had a similar experience recently when I realized how overwhelmed I was by having “too many irons in the fire”. Fortunately, I came to my senses and the same conclusion that you did. Now I am actually enjoying blogging again by concentrating entirely on the content and promotion of my primary project. Guess I’m not alone in this experience!
Best,
Scott
I suppose the positives of having 15 blogs is having enough time to fill these blogs with content.
You just never know that sometimes mistakes can be blessings in disguise. I personally only work on 1 blog and 1 website squeeze page. My main focus is on promoting, marketing my website to the masses.
This probably goes against some of the previous posts here in Problogger where the mantra has been to find your own writing system to efficiently use time, resources and creativity to be able to write for more than two blogs at the same time in order to do well in the niches you’ve chosen to blog about.
At the end of the day, I guess it boils down to finding the right balance whether you write on just one blog or on multiple blogs.
I think its very easy to spread yourself thinly, I can be guilty of this – I must focus more – I hear this on a regular basis from people.
waw….15 blogs and you can regular updated them is amazing one, different with me, I only have one blogs it is very difficult to update them due to my real work..
Excellent food for thought, I currently have three blogs running, however on two of them I share the space with other people so luckily I do not get distracted, actually I have four blogs but the fourth one is a temporary one about divorce in Malta as their is a referendum going on in the country I reside in at the moment and I wanted to hit the key word for divorce referendum Malta I rank first :)
The other blogs are as follows, one is a business blog, online marketing, consultancy etc. The second is a personal blog, I am a creative writer and basically write out my teaser stuff for upcoming novels etc. The third which I share is my new baby a site about money hunting, helping people find money in an interesting way looking at ourselves as predators and money as prey.
I was considering opening another blog until I considered your article and remembered how important it is to do things right and provide quality, however I will counter your argument slightly, DO Focus but do not put all your eggs in one basket!
CJ Deguara
http://www.cjdeguara.com
Good call. Focus is the key. I’m trying for diversity in stimulus, focus in output. It works better than the spread that, like you, I had developed. It’s hard killing a child, though.
This is interesting.
I barely cope with my one and only blog at the moment :)
It is right to start with one and spread eventually.
Cheers,
Togrul
I can´t with more of one
I know what you mean. I have 3 blogs but really only 1 because I can only concentrate on one at a time.
I commend you. I believe having many blogs (and projects) is time consuming and it takes a lot of mental space. Deleting them leaves you with a clean slate and minus the temptation of falling into that pattern again.
One of the best tips I’ve read in a while. I spend a lot of time on webmaster forums, and most of the people there try to do 100 things at a time, instead of focusing on one project.