I’m considering a second blog for 3 major reasons!
To monetize one of them when the time is right
What I don’t know about affiliate ads or selling products, I have time to learn. If all the young people claiming to make $5000 a month on social media are telling the truth, then it’s worth a look see. Currently, my blog stays away from sales. There’s no ad screaming buy me, or any other controversial post. So, I need another blog that can do that. Mostly, I want a second blog for content freedom.
To write the content I want
My husband is a genius when it comes to newsworthy ideas. His favorite words to me are, That’s a blog!!! I say back to him, I can’t blog about that. We have an agreement in the indie writing community! We won’t get political or crazy. He rolls his eyes at me, and when his subject makes its way to the news or a talk show, he shakes his head and says, That was your idea!
To reach different audiences
Where are my readers? Just the other day I wrote a post asking how to reach followers who aren’t writers. The Indie community is a supportive, tightknit community, but authors agreed we need to break through the glass ceiling in order to reach readers.
Seven years ago, as a newly retired baby boomer, ready to take on the next phase of her life, I created a site called Boomacious. I blogged there for over four years.
The year before I stopped blogging at Boomacious, my focus had become authors, reviews, and writing. Prior to that my posts on Boomacious had been lifestyle and entertainment. To avoid confusing my followers, of which there were very few, I created a totally different blog, The Long and Short Stories of Life.
Boosted by the indie writing community and fellow bloggers, The Long and Short Stories of Life (TLASSOL), grew. Its followers surpassed the number of those who followed my first blog and I put it to rest. Over the years I’ve often thought of discarding Boomacious and writing on the site that had the most followers. Then, I’d think of something I couldn’t publish here, and the thought made me hold on to my first blog.
On TLASSOL, posts have touched lightly on Donald Trump, Black Lives Matter, etc., but I’ve often pulled back. I worried those pieces weren’t why the readers had signed on. Over the past few days, I’ve contemplated resurrecting Boomacious. I’d keep the focus, but add editorial and journalistic writing. Have you ever rebooted a blog? Any tips? Does anyone have multiple functioning blogs? Tips?
Oy! I barely have time to maintain one blog, Linda, let alone, two, LOL.
I do think if you want to share things that you fear might alienate some of your regular readers, then a second blog is a good place to do it.
Thanks for weighing in Mae. I appreciate it.
I am also contemplating a second blog, just for me, mainly because our main one is shared between me and my sister, who also writes ( but won’t touch a computer!)
😂Who does your sister’s inputting. Thanks for sharing your opinion!
That would be me… for my sins!
😄
Hi Linda, I have two blogs, but mine are both for writerly matters. I publish recipes, poetry and children’s book stuff on Robbie’s Inspiration and adult book reviews, book discussions, and photography on Roberta Writes. I know a few other bloggers who have separate blogs for political matters and discussions. It seems to work for them. It is just extra work to maintain to blogs.
I don’t mind the work, at least not right now, Robbie. Maybe when things pickup and I can’t keep up, I’ll recant.
I know Nonnie has multiple blogs, so you may want to ask her about managing and maintaining them. I know I barely have time for one blog, so it’s not even an idea in my head, but I do agree with you that blogs should be content-oriented. If you have an established blog for reading, writing, and reviews, it should focus on that, though you can bring in other topics that highlight you as an author. If you want to get into controversial issues, perhaps a blog that doesn’t deter the audience you are trying to reach with your author page should be created for those posts. At least, that’s my two cents! 🙂
Yvette M Calleiro 🙂
http://yvettemcalleiro.blogspot.com
Thanks,Yvette! I always appreciate your two cents!🤗
Hi Linda. I had created blogs for different niches at one point, and then I ended up merging them again. I discovered after a while that my google search viewers come in – sometimes at the top of the blog – but more often on individual pages – sometimes a travel direction query, sometimes a recipe search. So I don’t think having different topics hurts my search results – if that helps! The challenge is trying to make it all to fit together. I’m looking forward to reading more of your posts – like you I am retired and trying out blogging. Good Luck!