Why Keeping Several Blogs Can Be A Good Idea

Yzabel / August 19, 2005

A comment left by Silmy on the French version of my blog led me to think a little more about this question: why do we keep several blogs, and is this a good thing to do? Why not keep everything in the same place?To someone who’s not into blogging, or doesn’t have a lot of interest in it, it may seem a weird thing, not to mention a waste of time, to write in different blogs. This just creates more work for us, in a life that is already busy enough as it is. I used to think the same way, to be honest; I don’t mind taking one or two hours every day to write, because I really like doing it, but whether it’s a pleasure or not, there are days when time is short, period. So why?Here are a few reasons why I consider that it can be a good idea, after a while if not from the start, to keep several blogs instead of one.

  • People in general tend to “expect something”. If they do a search for business-related matters and find your blog through a keywords search, they want to read about business-related matters, not about family stories. They’ll visit a dogs-related blog to read about dogs, not crochet nor gardening. Although reading about “all and everything” is an interesting way to get to know a person, there are times when we just want to grab the info we’re looking for, without having to sift through ten pages and five categories first.
  • Remaining clear and focused is always a good thing for blogs. This applies to professional blogs mostly, although I suppose one could want this for a more personal blog as well. Avoiding to clutter it with too varied topics is an appropriate choice.
  • For AdSense (or other targeted ads) users, better have a blog to revolve around one theme, or at least very similar themes, for purposes of ads relevancy.
  • Different topics call for different settings. This may seem a little restrictive and sectarian, yet the fact is that in the world of websites, one doesn’t usually design a personal page the same way as a professional one. There often are “codes” to use, and it’s evidently easier to choose one of these codes if you don’t have to pick among thirty very different areas of topics.
  • You may want to heavily advertise one blog, while keeping another one in a more restricted sphere. You can’t do that with one blog only, in which case it’s an all-or-nothing matter.

There probably are other reasons than these, perhaps more personal ones as well, and this list is by all means no holy word. For someone who wants to take on a more professional way of blogging, or at least not spread oneself too thin, I however feel that it is an important point.Y Tags:

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Comments

  • John (SYNTAGMA)

    It shows the value of the 3 blogosphere classification. I have one Tertiary blog, SYNTAGMA, and now one Secondary blog, Windows Vista. The two are totally different and you couldn’t combine them onto one blog.

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  • Martin

    I’m not sure on this one Yzabel. I have enough on my plate trying to get my main blog right – I see it as if I take on too many niche blogs I’m leaving myself too thin and thus the writing may suffer.Also I guess it depends where you’re coming from with your blogging – if you’re after AdSense reveneue then it’s okay but in my case, I’m using my blog as may main marketing vehicle for other information products I’m going to sell.

  • Yzabel

    Ah, I never said it was to be easy. I think however it can be a good thing to think of it, in the case it could improve the blog. For people who’re after AdSense revenues, it’s anyway better to craft their blogs this way, but it can be useful for other bloggers as well.It really depends, IMHO, on what exactly you wish to blog about. As John posted in the comment above, some themes just can’t be combined together, while one may still want to write about them; forcing a combination, in this case, would be a hindrance, and lower the quality of the blog.Of course, this is worth if you want to focus on several niches. If it’s not the case, then no need to bother.

  • raj

    Good article. It makes me think I’m approaching some of my multiple blogs the wrong way.Just a heads up. Under your “Other” links, the last one, Writer’s Blog Alliance, the tag points to the wrong web site.cheers,raj

  • Yzabel

    Raj, thanks a lot for having pointed this link to me. This will teach me to copy/paste from my URL bar and not realize that the clipboard still holds another URL. It’s all corrected now.

  • Lei

    Hi. Made my way here via ProBlogger. I especially like the last point. I don’t try to keep my personal blog “private” but I prefer that it have a small audience of people I can get to know well. My professional blog, on the other hand, is just the opposite. Come one, come all! 😉

  • Yzabel

    Thanks for dropping by, Lei. I assume the professional blog is the one you linked to whan you posted the comment? (And I bet I could learn a lot by reading it, actually.)

  • Lei

    Yes, the genetics blog is my professional blog. If it were my personal blog, what would that say about me? LOL

  • cheayee

    hei hei.This is what i was thinking a couple of weeks back.I started a new blog for my education journaling because i had feedback from my friends that they totally could not understand a word I was saying in my entries. (They’re only in their mid 20s and mostly not involved in education nor parenting!).So, in view of that, I decided to start another blog and I find that I am able to focus my writings more.So, my friends have less to complain about!!

  • Yzabel

    Thanks for leaving your inout, cheayee. :)If it allowed you to focus more on your writing, then it sure is a positive experience in my book. After all, it’s not always evident to write for every kind of audience, however hard we may try to do it. Sometimes, things just have to be kept separated.

  • Annie

    I agree! I often go to blogs about a certain topic that I’m interested in. But then only 2/5 of the content is actaully about the subject, and I have to scan and search for the information I want! It can be very frusterating.

  • Yzabel

    Annie, I know what you mean. When we visit blogs about a specific subject, it’s normal and logical that we expect to find, let’s say 90% of content about said subject. Of course, it may happen that some of the entries are off-topic (the blogger warning that she’s sick or away for some time, thus unable to post, etc); this is different, though.

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