I’m in my fifth month here at The Writing Journey, so I suppose it’s time to reflect a bit. Five months isn’t that long, unless you consider the fact that the vast majority of blogs fold by the end of their third month. So, I’m tickled to still be here in month five, and I both excited and humbled by the success I experience here.
I get asked, on a fairly regular basis, questions about blogging, about starting a blog, and about how to run a blog. I take this as a compliment.
One of the most common sorts of questions has to do with starting other blogs. Should the blogger, for example, start a separate blog for each of his interest areas, or should he write about all of those areas in one blog?
I’m not Darren Rowse, so I can’t give you the professional blogger’s opinion on the matter. I can tell you about the journey I’ve taken in blogging, though, and how I got to where I’m at today.
The beginning blogs
I blogged on and off in a casual way for a couple of years before I got serious about blogging. I started a couple of blogs in mid-2003. I updated them sporadically, blogging daily for a week or two and then not posting again for a couple of months. These blogs were mostly personal, and aimed more at communicating with my friends and family more than anything else. There’s nothing wrong with those blogs, if that’s what you want. But that sort of blog isn’t going to build a large base of readers.
Getting serious about blogging
You would think that, as a professional Internet writer, I’d have started blogging sooner. Truth is, I was perfectly happy writing my web content. My clients weren’t looking for bloggers, so I didn’t feel the need to blog.
When I first got serious about blogging, I ran five different blogs - all in different interest areas. It was too much to keep on top of, even devoting a portion of my workday. Unfortunately, none of them were really growing.
The Writing Journey
Somewhere along the way I discovered the Blog Profits Blueprint. I’ve raved about this document elsewhere, so I won’t bother doing it again here. Suffice it to say that Yaro’s words inspired and motivated me in a big way.
Among other things, Yaro helped me to figure out that I was spreading myself way too thin. I needed to focus my energies in on making just one great blog.
That’s when I started The Writing Journey. I found myself spending more and more time on WJ, and less time on my other blogs. Within a month or so, I’d stopped updating my other blogs.
That’s when WJ really started to grow. And it’s grown exponentially since then. Every day I have a new record number of RSS subscribers. I firmly believe that wouldn’t be the case if I’d tried to keep all 5 blogs going. I also don’t think it would be the case if I’d tried to combine all of the different interest areas into one. The more focused I become on my topic, the better the blog does.
I picked back up my gaming blog around a month ago. I’ve been updating it regularly and applying what I’ve learned about promoting blogs at The Writing Journey to that blog. It’s growing faster now than it ever has, too. But The Writing Journey is still my flagship, and it’s where I devote the lion’s share of my blogging time.
The short answer
So, the short answer to the question is this: in my experience, focusing on a single blog with a single niche creates the best scenario for success. Once that blog is humming along, add another if you have the time. Don’t neglect the first one, though, and if you have to choose between them, stay with the first.
———-
Many of you readers have been at the blogging game much longer than I have. What would you add to the discussion of running multiple blogs?
14 comments ↓
Personally, I would never run multiple blogs; I believe in putting all my resources into one and making it the best it can be.
As far as a blog being focused on a single niche, it isn’t necessarily true that ones blog must be extremely focused in order to perform well.
DoshDosh wrote an excellent article on this very subject:
http://www.doshdosh.com/can-you-make-money-without-a-niche/
Bamboo Forests last blog post..Act as If You’ve been Succeeding and You will Succeed
@Bamboo - Oh, I get that there are generalist blogs that do well (Dooce, anyone?) But those are the exceptions that prove the rule. There are relatively few successful non-niche blogs.
Is it possible? Yep. Is it common? Nope. Is it worth the trouble for you personally to try it? That’s up to you.
There are blogs which have a target audience demographic as opposed to a target niche. I’ll offer that those blogs are just as narrow, though, as niche blogs.
Indeed.
I’ve pared down to 1 blog now and - gasp - it’s growing well since it’s my only one to focus on
Dave Navarros last blog post..Why Waking Up Early Can Be So Hard
I think a lot of it depends on the expectations you give your readers from the get-go. For Sushi Day, my readers expect their sushi, and they don’t like it quite so much when I give them other recipes. So I’m starting a new, more general food blog soon, so I can keep Sushi Day focused and still write about other things I’m interested in.
Of course, my blogs are not meant to be pro-blogger type blogs, so different rules might apply to me.
Allisons last blog post..Guns and Roll
I may be spreading myself thin. I have two blogs of my own — and they have to stay that way. One focuses on deafness and the other on business. But I don’t pressure myself too much with my deaf blog.
But I struggle to write captivating blog entries like you, Men with Pens, Poewar, etc. Rather than spread myself across blogs — I’m spreading myself all over… writing, volunteering, blogging. My best work belongs to my clients and I help some of them with their blogs.
Too bad I can’t learn to live on four hours of sleep!
Meryl K. Evanss last blog post..Jumping out of a Plane
Bob,
I just wanted to say “congratulations” - and keep up the great work here. I’m looking forward to 5 *years* for this blog. You’ll be there, and I’ll be here cheering for you.
-Brett
Brett Legrees last blog post..the straw.
@ Navarro - See? See?
@ Allison - You do make a point. I think, though, that most readers are willing to give a little bit. Now…. given your blog’s title, there’s not really too much wiggle room. When does the general food blog come out? Make sure I know about it, OK?
@ Meryl - It’s important, I think, not to compare yourself with other bloggers. If I spent all day worrying whether my writing was better than James’, I’d never get anything done. I agree, though; would be nice to not need so much sleep.
@ Brett - What do you mean? You’ll be here alongside me, bro, not just cheering me.
@Bob,
Brett Legrees last blog post..viking fridays - the best things.
Some people are able to run multiple blogs quite successfully. I would think you have to be extremely organized, motivated and kid free.
For me, focusing on one blog is enough. Though I’ve kicked around the idea of another one……a wine blog would be nice.
Magnolias last blog post..The Sound of Silence
I wanted to start another blog but I decided not to because I wanted to concentrate on my first on. Hopefully Wat da Wat will explode then maybe I can start a new one.
chriss last blog post..Sleep
Bob, congrats on all of your hard work. Compete.com says it’s paying off! Though of course you have Woopra to tell you that too.
http://siteanalytics.compete.com/writing-journey.com/?metric=uv
That was a fabulous journey indeed! Thank you for sharing.
As far as my experience goes, I had started my second blog around five months after my first, as I could not resist my passion for writing!
meghnaks last blog post..The Miraculous Escape!
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