Sunday, December 9, 2007

One Writer, Many Blogs

I've noticed that there are quite a few writing bloggers out there with more than one blog. And while some are clearly related to their writing business, others are on completely different topics.

Why have so many blogs? Despite the fact that it's time consuming, there are plenty of good reasons to have multiple blogs.

Reaching multiple business audiences. If you start to specialize in writing for a certain niche market, you might want to consider creating a blog targeted to it. It positions you as a writer of authority and experience in that market and it helps you reach potential clients.

The Article Writer's Matt Keegan provides a great example. In addition to a general blog about freelance writing, he blogs on a wide variety of business-related themes including the airline industry, the auto industry, cruise ship employment, and financial topics.

Inkthinker's Kristen King does this too; she also blogs on women's issues and pet-related themes.

A place to write about your passions. Most of us have interests outside of our businesses. But the audience for your freelance writing blog may not share your passion for musical theatre. That's probably why Susan at The Urban Muse writes about musical theatre on a separate blog; Matt Keegan from The Article Writer writes about religion outside of his business blogging, and Irreverent Freelancer's Kathy Kehrli writes about her love of books on a separate site.

Professional vs. personal. It's part of business-blogging orthodoxy that our business-related blogs should include only minimal personal info. But writers who want to get personal--either in public or to a private audience of friends and family--often open up private blogs that include their personal views, activities and opinions--and they're usually not aimed at a specific niche audience.

You're getting paid. There are plenty of ways you can get paid for blogging; sometimes you're doing it anonymously under a client's name and sometimes you get a byline. But I'm sure at least a few multiple-blog writers are handling some of their blogs as paid projects.

I'm in the process of launching a few new blogs that cater to my interests outside of business writing. While I get ready to announce their existence on this blog, I would love to hear from other writers who have multiple blogs. Why did you choose the topics you write on? How do you manage marketing and writing for more than one? And do you feel like you get out of blogging on multiple topics enough to make up for the energy and time you put into it?

8 comments:

Lori said...

I have three myself - only one paid for, but I write the writing blog, the data storage blog, and I've started a fashion blog. Too many things! LOL

Kathy@TheFlawlessWord said...

Unfortunately, my book blog takes a rear seat and hasn't been updated in ages. It's a shame too because I keep quotes from every book I read as potential fodder for it. Reading is a personal passion and I love it when a line from a book sparks something in me. After reading So Many Books, So Little Time, I started thinking, 'How could I creatively turn my reading passion into something that others might want to read?' Through the Eyes of Books was the answer. I'm going to watch for your announcement of new blogs and hope that your motivation will inspire me to get that blog back up and running on a regular basis. When Screw You! started growing in popularity, I had to make a focus choice and that one just won out.

Jennifer Williamson said...

I definitely understand about making focus decisions. One of my off-topic blogs has been going for some time, and I had high hopes for it, but it hasn't attracted much traffic and it's been going for as long as CatalystBlogger has. Still, I do want to give it a chance to live.

Anonymous said...

While I do have a few personal blogs, I'm primarily a blogger for hire. So I have several blogs because that is what I'm paid to do!

And to be honest, I wouldn't have it any other way. How many people are able to support their families doing something they totally and completely love?

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the link. Jenn. This is a fun group of writers you've cited here. :]

kk
www.inkthinkerblog.com

Anonymous said...

I chose to blog about writing because I feel that is where I have greatest expertise and experience. Plus, it's a topic I love and I feel it's narrow enough as a niche yet broad enough to provide endless topics and post ideas.

Before I launched my current blog, Writing Forward, I had drawn up a business plan which included freelancing, and several blogs. As we move into 2008, I will be launching the other blogs but time is a huge issue. I can't wait to see how they all perform and I'm looking forward to writing about other subjects on a regular basis as well.

-Melissa Donovan
Writing Forward

Susan Johnston Taylor said...

Thanks for the mention! When I settled on the name for my primary blog (The Urban Muse), I figured it was flexible enough to allow me to talk about writing, theater, the arts, life in the city, etc.

But I realized pretty quickly that I needed to settle on a more narrow focus so that readers would know what to expect, rather than getting bounced around to a bunch of random topics. That's when I started Broadway, Baby! to indulge my dramatic side, but to be honest, I also maintain several corporate blogs and I don't really have the time keep up with both of my blogspot blogs, too. I admire that people like Kristen King are able to keep up with so many blogs, but I have too much else going on.

Anonymous said...

Hi Jennifer,
I have 3 different blogs all on same topic and related to each other.
I am planning to open another one related to my business. I think it is a common phenomenon but I don't know if it helps in generating more revenue than having a single blog.

good post..

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