Blog organization ideas? (looooong)

[fidgiegirl]

Hi all,

Wanted to get your take on my blog situation.

Here's how I've approached it in the past: think of a topic that interests me, start a blog on that topic. I have, in various phases of neglect, a garden blog, house renovation blog (more my DH's than mine - a team effort, we'll say), gluten free blog, living green & frugal blog, personal thoughts journal blog. I'd also like to have a blog for work-related thoughts and ideas but have held off because it would have been relegated to the forgotten-blog closet at some point as well.

So what happens is then I get overwhelmed with having so many blogs and I update none of them.

Thinking of scrapping them all (except Twin Cities Gluten Free) and starting over with a general blog where I will put up whatever I like, thank you very much. I feel like the separation isn't me and is stifling my voice, like I feel as if I have to be some kind of teacher or expert and would really just like to reflect on the topics. The blogs I enjoy the most are the ones where the writer's unique voice comes through the most clearly - even if I don't get into all the topics. Like, there is one girl I like to follow who posts super cute crafts, but also does homeschool posts, and I just skip those. I just like it when people are themselves.

I am a bit reluctant, however, because I think if I have a catch-all blog where I put up any old thing that pops in my head, it'll be harder to generate an audience, and eventually the idea would be to monetize. No audience = no money. But in the current segmented arrangement, no content = no money, either.

On the other hand, my idea of what would earn money has changed since discovering Pinch of Yum and their income reports. (http://pinchofyum.com/category/making-money-from-a-food-blog) I thought people only made money from ads. I see that they make a lot of $$ from their products, such as ebooks and membership site. Additionally, it can simply be a place to put ideas out to an audience and see what other offline opportunities grow from it. The blog itself doesn't have to make money. It's all about generating content and growing readership and seeing what can happen from there - I think? :)

Ok, this is too long already and the dog is driving me nuts!! He needs to go to the dog park. Thoughts are welcome.

P.S. I know my business idea journey has been painfully slow for some of you (and sometimes for me, too). But that is ok (reassuring myself as much as anyone else). I am working on exercises from the book Right Brain Business Plan and it has given me lots of food for thought, hence why this is coming up again. It starts at knowing the most foundational parts of self, and that's what I needed and am still working on.

[try2bfrugal]

I would stick to one topic to start and have it very focused and niche. Check out the competition and make sure you are going up against other mom and pop type sites for your niche. My best site is fairly generic now has competition in the top ten on Google from an Amazon owned site, Forbes and some other corporate type sites. I am amazed I have hung on this long. I started it years ago when a lot of these other sites didn't exist in my niche. From here on out it may have to be more niche terms for me because I don't think I can hang on to the rankings for high traffic, generic terms much longer. But I had a good run so I can't complain.

[catherine]

I agree that if you are interested in making money with it, you need a focus, and you need to know how to attract your target audience.. a business blog has to be a business blog.. it's fine to have one just because it's fun, if that's OK with you. I have my Silent Entry blog which I consider to be pretty self-indulgent and I don't ever expect to make money from it.

A couple of good resources are Darren Rouse (Problogger.com) and The Art of Non-Conformity, (ChrisGuillebeau.com)

In particular, I like Chris Guillebeau's guides on "World Domination" and "Building an Empire." (Obviously his gimmick is hyperbole). But he has really good suggestions.

Darren Rouse IS the PRO blogger, and he talks about all the different ways to monetize your blog.

You have to think BRAND if you want your blog to be a success! But I'm sure you can do it!

[Kestra]

Well, I'm no expert, since as you know I only have 3 posts, but I plan to take the opposite approach, at least at first. I will post about whatever topics interest me that may also interest others. I'll try not to be super boring, at least. And then, if there are topics that I get a stronger reaction to I might narrow my focus then. But until I post about lots of different topics I won't know if there's a particular niche that's under-served or particularly interesting to the average blog reader.

[Miss Cellane]

Perhaps you still need multiple blogs, but fewer of them. You mention a blog with both crafts and homeschool ideas. Those are two separate topics, but in a way, they compliment each other, as I am sure many non-homeschooling parents could get ideas for educational ideas for their kids, and many parents would like craft ideas to do with their kids. And if a visitor is only interested in one or the other, they can easily skip the posts about the other subject.

So, let's look at the blogs you have:


I have, in various phases of neglect, a garden blog, house renovation blog (more my DH's than mine - a team effort, we'll say), gluten free blog, living green & frugal blog, personal thoughts journal blog. I'd also like to have a blog for work-related thoughts and ideas but have held off because it would have been relegated to the forgotten-blog closet at some point as well.

The garden blog and the house renovation blog could easily be merged into one blog. You have already merged living green and living frugally into one blog. That leaves the gluten free blog and the personal thoughts journal blog, plus the future work-related thought and ideas.

I could see a blog that had garden ideas and home renovations how-tos and green living and frugal living all at the same time. You could give an idea for gardening--say preparing ground for a vegetable garden. You could describe how it is typically done, and then discuss more frugal ways to do this, as well as greener ways to do this. And then discuss which way you would choose and why, balancing out the desired growth of the vegetables, environmental concerns and the overall cost of the project. This could be one blog post, or 5 or 6, depending on how in-depth you go with each facet of the topic.

One blog I used to follow has organizational tips and time management tips, plus bits on creating a simple wardrobe, and home renovations, and childcare. Each entry is clearly tagged, and you can use the menu on the side to get to just the posts you are interested in. (I stopped following that one because it became entirely baby-centered at one point and I simply wasn't interested in that.) But all the posts had the same over-arching subject--how to keep things, even big projects like a gut kitchen renovation, organized and time-efficient and as simple as possible. Even the posts about organizing kids' toys had some nugget of info about organizing that you didn't have to have kids to appreciate.

Gluten-free eating/cooking is a narrower target audience. But it could be combined with frugal cooking, and a look at processed gluten-free products and their effects on the environment and the people who eat them.

As I'm typing this, I'm seeing that there could be a lot of overlap between the blogs you have now. I think the solution might be to pick one main theme--frugality, green living--and work with that, bringing in the specific topics of gardening and home renovation and work and gluten-free eating as they relate to your main theme.

So a frugal blog that discusses the challenges of gluten-free eating and cooking on a budget, plus creating a garden on a budget, plus renovating your home on a budget, plus living green on a budget, plus work and how it affects your frugality (or not). Make sure the entries are tagged, and make sure it is easy to search for each topic.

[SteveinMN]

I second Miss Cellane's recommendation to pick a theme -- a brand, as catherine put it -- and run with it. I don't quit watching a TV show because I find an occasional episode uninteresting. I just skip it. Quantity definitely helps there -- for a TV show, I just wait until the next show. As a person without another connection to the blogger, though, I'll keep reading if the topic I don't care about is not the only post in days (and, yes, I'm listening to myself here :|( ). Mr. Money Mustache is a perfect example -- a wide range of topics, some of which I care about and some I don't. The arch over all of them is his approach to living frugally and his readers carry on from there.

A couple of things to consider in monetizing. Some of the blogs I read daily do offer merch (T-shirts, compilation books, etc.). These usually are items which have a special meaning to the blog's followers but also are general enough to attract non-readers. But on two blogs I can think of in particular, the attraction is less the blog post and more the reactions of the blog's readers to it. I think you have to be careful that you don't end up with a core clique of readers (again, MMM; at this point in my life there is nothing I need to do with "badassity")-- you always want to encourage new readers and responders. But if you cultivate a lively response/discussion forum, that can be as interesting as the blog itself.

[try2bfrugal]

It is probably more doable these days to have many evergreen sites that make small amounts each from long tail search terms than it is to build up a large audience with a single, wildly popular blog. You might want to read this article on "the long tail" (http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.10/tail.html). Plus search engine viewers are more likely to click on the ads than regular readers or forum members. Usually the easiest way for most beginners is to start out with Adsense ads and a highly focused topic.

Google and Yahoo / Bing change their rankings frequently. It is hard to keep one site on top of the rankings long term, but easier if you have a mix. Then when some go up others go down. This eliminates wild swings in your income.

You can use the Google Adwords tool to see how many searches there are for different terms. It is usually best when starting out to pick some lower traffic terms that don't have a lot of competition. For example, gluten free is a highly competitive term. But if you had a site that just compared gluten free bread brands or salad dressings that might be more of a niche and might be easier to rank.