Dear Reader,
This is a post about bringing more money, time, productivity and health into your life.
However, it’s not just about starting a blog.
Because we’ve been there done that.
I’m writing this post because if you’ve been trying to make money from one single blog as I hear so often but are still struggling to break even, the reality is one blog may not be enough.
Like a first job, a first blog is a learning experience that despite it’s glory often wreaks of mistakes. Mine was.
In this post I’d like to examine why starting blog #2 – as daunting as it seems – could unlock a lot of what you’re working for.
What the heck?
If you run a blog or online business then the best method to double your results is pretty clear: work twice as hard.
Or is it?
Maybe you’re putting all your eggs into a blog that has already maxed out it’s potential.
Maybe you could potentially double your current results and achieve a blogging lifestyle that’s more relaxed with more focused productivity on all fronts.
The sad result is that many of us exhaust time on one project because it’s our first, our baby, and we love it. It prevents us from beginning a new endeavor even when all signs points there.
This happened to me for at least a year on my first blog before I just plain outgrew it. Now, I still manage my first blog, but the pressure is gone with more blogs and websites, and it’s doing better than ever before.
And I’ll tell you exactly why below.
But to be clear, you don’t have to start another replica blog. I’m talking about starting anything from:
- A website service
Some secure environment using simple eCommerce and WordPress to see your homemade goods. - A niche review site
A blog focused on a hyper-specific type of product (or products) people want or need reviews on before purchasing. - A blog about something totally exotic
Travel, food, travel + food, or whatever else you can think of. - Even a forum or something bizarre
Forums can earn through membership fees and contextual ads, help people better understand a product and rank well in Search.
Of course, what works best for you is totally individual. To make this personal, I’d like to focus on some numbers from my own past blogs, some near disasters from my blogging, and explain what I’ve gained.
If this resonates at all or if you’d like help selecting your next big project, just ask in the comments.
And because of our recent focus on making niche review sites, let’s place an emphasis on that.
Putting all your eggs in one basket is risky
For a lot of reasons.
For example, back in October of 2013 the first blog I had started lost its PageRank as Penguin 2.1 swept over us. The PR went from a four to a zero.
Sure, in the grand scheme of the web, this is a tiny issue, but for someone serious about blogging, it’s like your world is ending.
And it actually did put a small scare through someone who was voted “most chill” in high school.
But I write small because at the time I lost PageRank, Dear Blogger and several other projects were already well in bloom.
Sure, my advertisers were angry as heck and I did have to remove some ads and even refund some payments, but the whole blow of it was deadened by the fact that I have some other cool – and profitable – things in the works.
I think a big concern in “making it” in blogging is over-cooking things and becoming overly concerned with small issues.
We look at the same pages for so long that our brains lose their creative edge to weave new content.
It creates stress.
When is that productive?
Thankfully, in this case described above, I figured out how to get my PageRank back within two weeks.
But for my money, I’m fairly certain that everything – from my response to Google’s webmasters to my ability to write productive posts for people here – was boosted by the sense of calmness from having multiple blogs bestowed on me.
Why two blogs are better than one
Now it’s time to really pour some gravy on the concept of having two (or more) blogs instead of one.
As I mentioned above, I’ll picture all this in the light of making a niche review site, and if you need any help with an idea, just say so!
- Less risk
If you are surviving of off blogging revenue then this obviously makes sense. Whether than revenue is $50/month or $5,000, you want it to be spread out over multiple, sustainable projects. - You don’t (have to) care about Google regulations
As I hinted at above, I didn’t care as much about losing PageRank because I had already mentally and financially moved on. You know who else doesn’t care? Google. They will continuously shift the climate in ways that can harm bloggers. - You can experiment with designs
This is another important point. If you run a trustworthy blog then you must be careful when changing the theme or even the navigation menu because readers are used to it. On a new blog you can really tweak the layout and learn what works (better). - You can weather periods of lower income
Inevitably, and as you probably know, blogging income flucuates. Even Pat Flynn doesn’t document ups and downs in earnings, but by constantly launching larger than life projects he guarantees long term growth.
More creative outlets
Aside from padding your pockets, launching a new blog can help you rekindle that creativity you had early on in your blogging career.
- You expose yourself to more writing styles
- You stand to meet (exponentially) more people in your field
- You have a better excuse when readers complain you’re neglecting one blog! 🙂
Larger empire
If you can afford to invest in a new blog, you’re looking at serious expansion potential.
For example:
- You can try case studies on one, then post the results on the other – This was the basis of the Bounce Rate eBook that helped launch the Dear Blogger email club.
- You almost always get more traffic – For example, here are the numbers I constantly stared at writing down college advice (as a 24 year old back in 2011). I thought more tweaking, more blog posts and more backlinks would mean more views.
-
Blog post statistics from my first blog. Hint: it didn’t.
At least not until I realized that my words could be better used for blogging advice.
Below are (roughly) the current stats for some of the best pages on Dear Blogger.
They’re more than 2x that of the college advice blog and have grown to that point in half the time.
Next blog, better numbers.
Sometimes you just have to accept people want one thing more than another. And sometimes, this can lead to a lot more fun!
You’ll earn more subscribers
These are the folks you can pitch even newer ideas to and get the real feedback and real support that builds on online business.
Do you know how many subscribers I had on my first blog?
Eleven.
Granted, I didn’t have an eBook or a design that worked too well, but those things just didn’t seem to work with the game plan I had formed (when I knew nothing about blogging, ha).
Probably like you, I had a ton of content piled up, some of it doing pretty well. But I didn’t have much more until I started another blog, and then another.
This blog now is (finally!) reaching nearly 1000 subscribers, 1000 real, awesome members of our club. Maybe Glen will read my emails now. 😉
So what’s stopping you?
Instead of over-cooking your current project, why not start fresh?
It changed my life.
If you’re earning on your first blog but not quite enough, why not take what you learned to a new niche?
It could unlock everything.
I’d really like to hand this over to the community now. What’s stopping YOU from starting a new blog? Post a comment and join the usual discussion.