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Yesterday I received an email that asked about new user registrations on a blog, but the girl also mentioned she was knee deep in creating multiple blogs to make money, and I wanted to address that issue today.
I realize we all like the green stuff because it pays the bills and builds a financial nest egg, but I don’t like hearing that people are undertaking such a horrendous workload at one time. First, it is not very healthy and second, you are doing a disservice to your productivity and income potential!
The truth is once you start a second blog, your workload increases! Should you really start multiple blogs and if so, what is the best way to go about it, so they are easier to manage in the future?
The Pros
Diversified income – It is never a good idea to place all your money eggs into the same basket. Should your main income source trickle to a halt, it could be devastating! With several blogs producing cash, should one falter by the wayside, you still have the others producing cash flow.
Networked income – By having more than one blog, feeding into the others, you stand a better chance of being able to cater to the same buyer, multiple times. A great example of this is a kitchen appliance blog that branches out to create sister blogs that offer microwaves, blenders, and cookware.
With a networked blogging system, you can now promote each of the blogs from any one of the multiple blogs within your moneymaking system. Another possibility is to recycle your content research and use it across two blogs, making your time well spent.
For example, when you research a microwave, you can pull out tidbits of your writing and announce the new additional microwave review from the kitchen appliance blog. Likewise, the microwave blog may discuss the proper cookware that can also lead to a blog offering cookware.
Target several topics – Operating multiple blogs provides you with the ability to target several topics within the same blogging system. For example, if you run a girl’s fashion blog, but your visitors are searching for hiking boots, then this is something you would target on a different blog.
The name of the blogging game is FOCUS. If you operate a marketing blog, but spend all your time talking about non-related personal topics, your blog will suffer. This is where having a second blog that covers personal topics in depth can come in handy.
Expand your influence – You get additional opportunities to meet more people! You can easily expand your influence in the marketplace by offering more than one blog that caters to a different audience. You have the freedom to take a different approach with your writing, product creation, and promotional efforts.
Get more traffic – Establishing different blogs means you can target different keywords too. By separating your interests in different topical blogs, with appropriate keyword laden URLs, you enable your business to direct more traffic from the search engines.
With so many wonderful things that could result from running multiple blogs, why warn you against doing it? That’s a very good question, so let’s ponder some reasons why starting multiple blogs may not be in the cards for you right now.
The Cons
Overwhelm – What happens now when you have too many tasks to complete? Are you stressed out and unable to get proper sleep? Okay, now add two or more blogs to the mix and what do you think will happen? Yep… a good dose of overwhelm!
Along with new blogs arrives the necessity to create more content, schmooze with more people, reply to extra blog comments and the list goes on.
Limited time – Adding extra work to a busy schedule is never a good idea. Many entrepreneurs juggle too many tasks, and this is no way for a business to operate! Where will you steal time to work on your new project? Will you forego sleep, family time or your fitness regime? Yes, something will suffer.
Costs more money – Eventually you will have to give in to the fact that there are not enough hours in a day to take care of 3+ blogs. You may need to outsource the content creation, and this takes money. This is a burden until your blogs are raking in the cash. Can you afford to outsource?
Weigh the pros and cons. Your decision to move forward isn’t an easy one and shouldn’t be taken lightly. This is your life and health that are at stake here. Realize that you’re in for a long haul of work ahead of you.
I don’t mean to deter you from a dream of having more than one blog; I merely want you to understand the perils of over-extending your time, energy and money. Work on one blog at a time until it’s producing profit before you move onto the next one.
Above all else, have an exit strategy in case your dream to start multiple blogs doesn’t pan out.
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Do you run multiple blogs? Leave a comment below and let me know!
Thanks for reading,
– Bonnie
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Thanks for this post. I’ve been debating for awhile now if I should continue to work on developing content for blogs for three different passions (my Virtual Assisting biz, a vacation trip advisor site, and a personal blog). I feel a tug at my heart when I think of shutting any of the three down, but want to make sure that I am giving my all to the one that is providing income to my family at this time. It’s a tough decision and I appreciate having people like you give the pros and cons in a thoughtful manner!
Thanks Meredith! I hope the post helps you to make the right decision. I know it’s tough when you like writing on a topic, but have to cut back on the time spent on something.
Just choose the one you enjoy the most and make your online business revolve around it until you see profit coming in.
Several years ago I had close to 40 sites, but used the plugin that let me rotate the posts while only adding fresh content maybe once a week or so. At the time we thought that was the best way to go.
I’ve gotten rid of most of them, but I’m still too attached to several that I still should let go. I also have several subdomains, but we were told the search engines wouldn’t find us.
Because of the constant changes on the web, it’s difficult to really know how best to proceed if we want affiliate sites. I do know my biggest money maker and that’s the one I try to add the most content to. Still struggling to let go of those I worked so hard to build although AdSense has dropped tremendously. It’s like letting go of your first born. LOL!
Trying to stay focused this year on what my priorities are, but it’s still a struggle. Guess that should be one of my goals this year – to fine tune my online work.
Adsense isn’t what it used to be. I remember when it first came out, everybody and their brother was jumping on the bandwagon. Now I don’t hear so much about it anymore. Gurus were raking in $5,000+ a month on Adsense. I don’t believe this is the case now. 🙂
I gave up many of my websites. At one time I had over 100 domains, but I’ve significantly cut it down to like 20 now. I should probably get rid of some more. Like you, I struggle to let my babies go. 🙂
Hi Bonnie
I’ve been guilty of the too many blogs syndrome – and I still am. It IS overwhelming, but I did spend a long time on some of the original ones with no results whatsoever.
My main reason for having different ones has been to keep “things” separate. My first blog was about migraine and it just didn’t seem right to mix it in with “starting a blog” posts….. or then again, suddenly they seem very relevant to each other!
ROFL – are you trying to tell me that blogging is giving you a headache, Joy? 🙂
Thanks Bonnie. One of the reasons I’m reading blogs like yours right now is because in the past I had multiple blogs and burned out on the marketing aspect for these blogs.
I found that by “starting” up something new I was actually trying to feed off the energy of the “new start” which was more exciting than getting down to business and carrying one thing through completion.
The other reason I had more than one is because I wasn’t honest with myself and didn’t know my exact purpose and customer base I wanted to serve.
Thanks for bringing this issue to light. That said can you comment about the feelings that are natural to have after the “new start” and how you worked through and kept the passion alive until you reached your goals.
Yes, I will definitely discuss the feelings you have when you first start a project and how those feelings are less apparent, for some people, after the project newness wears off.
Great question, Sandy!
I find that having multiple blogs can be overwhelming. So I decided to go back to some basics and focus on one. I can definitely relate to your Cons list.
You are among the majority of bloggers in agreement with each other. 🙂
I only have one blog right now and I think because of all the cons you mentioned, time, overwhelm and cost, I wouldn’t be able to right now, especially with to young kids. But the pros make it something I would definitely consider in the future.
The Internet is here to stay Salma, so there’s no rush. The children come first. 🙂
I agree. I think once your one blog is well established, more blogs can be created to add additional income.
That’s hitting the nail right on the head! You’ve got the right idea, Rada!
Congratulations by the way… on the upcoming birth! 🙂
Great post!
I’ve ran a lot of blogs in the past because that’s what I thought I was supposed to do (due to gurus’ always talking about it in their training). From personal experience though, I rather run 1 or 2 very good blogs than multiple mediocre blogs. I recently decided to change my whole strategy and stick to only 2 of my personal blogs which I can constantly update and have time to actually respond to my readers.
For those who want to have multiple blogs, ManageWP plugin is great because its free and you can update blogs and all the plugins all from one dashboard instead of login into each blog separately.
Taking the time to respond to your readers is majorly important to building a loyal tribe. It’s one thing I see lacking in many of the so-called leaders of today. Big gurus making tons of money and none of them take the time to RESPOND to comments that visitors share, which is a shame because it’s their target market.
ManageWP is only free if you manage less than 5 blogs, which means it wouldn’t work for me since I have more than 20. The one thing that saves me is that I always get the reseller account with my hosting, so I can still login to all my dashboards by using the main reseller dashboard. 🙂
Wow, more than 20 blogs.. I don’t think I could manage that. With a toddler and a new baby on the way, that would drive me crazy haha.
It’s all in how you manage them (and what they’re used for) that matters. 🙂
I love the way you highlighted ALL the pros and cons. I’m a terrible one for saying, ‘it seemed like a good idea at the time!’ Long after I’ve bitten off way more than I could chew. The amount of time that I can actually devote to my blogs each day is pretty limited, and I feel guilty when a lot of time passes without me adding new content, so I’ll stick with my one main blog and my holiday one for now. Once my kids figure out they have another parent to pester I might be able to do more, lol!
“Once the kids figure out they have another parent to pester…” made me laugh like crazy, Jessica! I know it’s true though! I’ve been in the same boat once upon a time! LOL
Other than my main blog, most of the others I run are product oriented. Now that my new podcasting MIC arrived, I am going to buckle down and finish the projects that need audio and/or video. It’s crunch time! 🙂
How is your holiday site coming along? Is it bearing fruit?
I just started the 2nd==and it is stressful, and I knew it would be. However, I couldn’t get the idea out of my head. I thought about adding it to my blog, but it was too big and I thought it would distract from my content blog and would drive away people who weren’t bloggers. The 2nd is mainly a resource blog. I can connect them through links, but we’ll just see what happens after a year as I really need to promote it more which takes a lot of time.
I feel for you, Tammy. I visited both your sites and man girl… I have tons of ideas, but if you’re not making any money with the Creative Kids site, we should Skype talk. 🙂
Totally agree Bonnie, had too many blogs at one time and they were just too time consuming and overwhelming to maintain. Right now I have one main blog and one website that I am concentrating on. With the blog potentially feeding people into the website.
This is how I do it. I use the main site to feed into all my other websites. For me, this is the easiest way to make residual money. 🙂
I think we’ve had this conversation to some extent Bonnie! 🙂
For awhile there I was feeling like I took on more blogs than I could chew. I was feeling all of the things you mentioned, especially overwhelmed and unmotivated. Part of it was yes, too many blogs to manage (which happens a lot to us working with niche sites) but I also found that what I was really struggling with was time management AND writers blog. Those can be killers as well. Also…not holding onto blogs that aren’t doing anything for you. If they aren’t making money after a certain time, ditch them and stop feeling overwhelmed over something that isn’t working.
Great article Bonnie!
Thanks Misty… instead of doing multiple blogs at once and then trying to see what sticks – why not beef ONE blog up until it’s profitable and then start a new blog using the systems you created to make the first one profitable?
If you know what makes the first blog profitable, you can rinse and repeat that system for any blog thereafter. Makes more sense to me to do it in this fashion. Wouldn’t you agree?
mmhhh in the case of niche blogs I’m not sure that’s always the best course. With niche blogs, it can take months to see good results, and if I’m only writing one article per week on it, then it would be a whole lot of downtime while I wait to see how it does. Especially with micro-niche sites, which would be 10-15 articles flat and no new content. It’s still a process I struggle with and one I’m trying to figure out what works the best for me. It’s just a learning experience so far.
Well, I guess that’s half the problem. I don’t see why it should take months for a niche blog to take hold, especially if you did the necessary research, picked a niche where there are interested buyers, and filled a site with in-demand products. Case in point – I was new in the PLR arena, yet it only took one week to get my first sale.
I don’t know how you work your niche websites, but to me, it shouldn’t be any different than any other blog property. If you want traffic, you need content and plenty of marketing to drive the buyers to your pages. People can’t browse the offers if they are unaware that the site exists.
I don’t understand the 10-15 articles flat remark. I’m going to assume this is the amount of articles you’re placing onto the site. If so, a niche site needs ongoing content and a follow up sequence to get people back to the website to browse.
Obviously, there are keywords and keyword phrases that would help drive traffic to the website. What are your prospects typing into the search engines? Are you capitalizing on those words? Where does your niche site show up on the search results? Is it on the first page? Does it show up at all?
How many cross promotions are you doing? Have you approached similar blog owners and asked them if they would like to become a cross promotion partner with you?
So many variables to consider…. 🙂
Hi Bonnie,
You are right when you say that having multiple blogs can multiple your workload. I get so excited about starting a new blog for a new subject area then get bogged down and feel defeated when I can not keep up with the content writing.
Time to scale things back and focus on what is important. Hopefully this will lead to better success.
Your blog is looking better than ever. Have a great day 🙂
Thanks Victoria! Nice to see you back online again! We’ve missed you!
It’s never a bad thing to scale back if you know there’s too much work to handle for your current schedule.
Thanks Bonnie so right!
You don’t want to know how many blogs I have :/ Needless to say they are not consistently ‘live’ (until this challenge). They are in different spaces and I’ve been trying to work out a way to bring them all under one umbrella so that I’m posting often on one blog with different themes. Would you agree with that approach?
If you’re talking about adding sub-domains to an existing blog, to create room for a second and third blog – YES, I would agree with that approach. Mainly because you don’t need to run to different domains just to keep up with the content writing.
That seems like a good idea but how does one add a sub-domain to an existing blog.
Do you have any tutorials about that?
Thanks.
I don’t have a tutorial for it at the moment, but let me add it to my list and I’ll get one created for you!
Thanks Bonnie.
You are a great help.
You’re welcome. Glad I could help. 🙂
Thanks for this article Bonnie clearly weighing up the Pros and Cons.
I think that if you want to do a couple of different things, it is a good idea as, as you pointed out, a blog on too many diverse things looks messy and readers don’t know where to look.
I have a couple focusing on different things for that reason. I am trying to monetize them as I lost my job back in October and need to get some extra income. Before that I only had one. So time, unfortunately, is not a problem at the moment. 🙁
I also have some lenses on Squidoo but believe that is a sinking ship. Again, no money made there either. I wonder where I am going wrong – I don’t think it is the quality of the posts / lenses as I am pretty good at writing (modesty apart) as I was an English major at college and used to write professionally for the in house magazine for the English students (I was a teacher teaching English to Spanish students). Length of article is not a problem as you can see from the length of my replies!! LOL
Until then I had only one which, had visitors according to the stats but no buyers……
Do you suggest posting daily then, or weekly?
Any suggestions of how to make money from them?
Any advice, as always, gratefully received.
Best wishes,
Ann
Before anything else, you must decide on the people you wish to serve. Once you know what you want to SOLVE for this audience, only then can you write posts that address their problem(s) with solutions!
Who do you want to help?
How do you want to help them?
What is/are the major problems suffered by this group of people?
Where do they hang out?
What do they think/feel/want to know more about?
Hello. Thanks for your reply.
That is what I need to address now. I will make a note of the list and write down some ideas.
I am going through your “How to Build Your Tribe in 30 Days of Less” – which is great by the way with lots of really good advice” and will stick to the timeline there instead of doing it all at once! 🙂
Thanks again.
Please don’t pressure yourself! Take everything one day at a time. Don’t try to get it all done at once. I know you lost your job and you need to create an income, but if you rush into this – you’ll start to feel overwhelmed and lose focus.
Hello again. Well, I have done my “homework” and have answered all the above questions! Having that done helps me to narrow the field a bit more.
I need to do a bit more research about “Where do they hang out?” but have got a simple list already.
Thanks for your advice! 🙂
Glad I could help, Ann! Take baby steps… and continually move forward! You’ll get there!
Yep – step by step. I will keep you up to date on my progess.
Great! I would love to know how well things are coming along for you.
Hi Bonnie,
The time element is always my issue. Very comprehensive blog. You really covered so much on this subject. Thanks.
The time element is an issue for everyone. The trick is working in “blocks of time” and sticking to the daily schedule.
I try to maintain two blogs and ultimately one always suffers. I think it comes down to how many other things you have on your plate that may keep you from tending to your blogs. As they say I guess, it’s all about focus and moderation.
Aside from blogging, we do many other things online (and off for that matter) that eat up time. It’s not always the blogging part that sucks the life out of an entrepreneur. LOL
As always, great advice! Eydie 🙂
Thanks dear! How many blogs do you operate Eydie?
Uggg… only one blog, Bonnie. It’s more than I can handle. I had two at one time – the second one being very different from my business blog, but I recently let the domain expire because I hadn’t posted on it in close to nine months.
Eydie 🙂
I totally understand and believe you made the right decision in letting the domain expire (if you knew you weren’t going to go back to it eventually). No sense in prolonging the inevitable. 🙂
Just think, this gives you more time to dote on the blog you have left!
Bonnie,
You are absolutely right! I have multiple blogs and recently created a new one because I wanted to share more personal things with my audience and didn’t feel comfortable sharing them on the marketing website.
I also have a couple of niche blogs that I do outsource content for. They’re both an experiment of sorts. I also have a PLR shop and a one owner content shop. Trying to run all of them can become overwhelming.
I think it’s okay to have multiple blogs if you’re able to commit time to each of them. Some people thrive on diversity and having one site is not enough to either grow their skills and talents or hold their attention.
I think it’s also good to have other blogs if the topic of interest is different. Some times having one blog where you try to discuss multiple topics on can cause your viewers to get lost.
As far as niche blogs go, I go along with your suggestion to get it underway and have it become successful, then move on to another one that accompanies the first one.
Great article with equally great ideas and suggestions!
Thanks Cynthia!
Have you created one owner content yet? How is that working out for you?
Since Squidoo isn’t what it used to be, I can understand people venturing out and creating different blogs, but it should be done with special care to prevent overwhelm. OR, establish them and get someone else to take care of the content for you in exchange for sharing the profits.
i do have multiple blogs but find it tough to manage each of them. though all my blogs are on different topics (personal , technical ,education) , committing time to keep each of them uptodate is a challenge.
That’s exactly why it’s important to try and keep the blogs in the same market, just different topics. Hence the kitchen, microwave, blenders, and cookware blogs. 🙂 They are all different, yet they fall under the kitchen category and you can easily share content between them all! Why research for 4 blogs when you can research for one?
I come to you via UBC! I really enjoyed your article today, I know for me I couldn’t imagine running more than one blog let alone try to make money from a blog. I have had to set up a day planner just to keep track of the posts I make in my one blog…couldn’t imagine the workload and stress several would bring.
I can tell you it’s no picnic (having been there and tried it already). You don’t make money with your blog? Do you want to, Kim?
Absolutely right…. Loved the post. I could totally relate to the pros and cons due to that experience in the past. 🙂 Thanks for sharing.
Eloquent Mind
Sounds like you tried running more than one blog at one time. How many do you operate now?
This was once an issue for me and luckly I was able to come to an agreement with myself. The truth is that we take on too many things at one time. That’s just the way we’re built. However, it’s those times when were really busy that help us challenge ourselves and have greater success.
I agree Vincent, but I don’t think challenging ourselves should interfere with proper time management or stress us to the point where we can’t move forward.
Yes bonnie! I agree, it’s never a good thing to mess around with our health. If there’s a serious issue with owning many blogs and it’s causing you a problem. I’d have to step back from one of the blogs… at that point.
If it turns out that you bite off more than you can chew – have an exit strategy. Either sell the blog on eBay or hire a partner/VA to take of the content creation for you.
Nothing wrong with sharing the profits with somebody else. If you walked away, you wouldn’t see a dime (unless you sold the blog). At least with hiring a VA, you get half of the profits, or whatever the two of you agreed on.
Thanks for returning and leaving another response. 🙂