Blogs, quality or quantity?

[keystothemind]

I only really have one blog, Keys To The Mind, which i put serious work into.
I started it at the age of 15, and then after making pretty much every rookie mistake in the book i was able to grow it into something reasonably profitable, making several hundred a month and being a great marketing tool for other websites of mine and my opt in newsletter.

I know a lot of marketers seem to prefer to have dozens of blogs, and build them up that way, and although i have started a couple of other smaller ones (mostly for SEO purposes) i have always put my best free content on my original blog.

What are your thoughts on lots of blogs versus just one that you really focus on?

Looking forward to the replies.
Nathan

[Charles Washington]

If you are experimenting with different niches, you need to create a new blog in each niche. If you were targeting the same niche, but different keywords, you go either way. Go for an authority site, or go for highly targeted marketing one keyword domain at a time.

[CDarklock]

Originally Posted by keystothemind

What are your thoughts on lots of blogs versus just one that you really focus on?

It's about security, really. The people who throw up lots of blogs are usually the people who have been really down a couple times. Like, lost everything down. It becomes very important to us that whatever we do, we can turn into an income quickly if we lose everything again.

The single-blog route takes time. A lot of time. If you desperately need more income so you can make rent next week, starting one blog and building it up isn't an option.

[Lutz80]

I personally go for quality blogs, and quantity to be honest to kind of build my own network . But that is just me . Good luck

[rapidscc]

I would go for what "earns".

If you have 100 blogs that earn a few cents and Have 1 blog that earns hundreds what will you do?

Let's turn things around, if you have hundred blogs that earns hundreds and one authority blog that earns cents, again what will you do?

I'm being pretty rhetoric but I guess you're getting the point..

To Your Success!

Raul Omar Diaz

[dsmpublishing]

It has to be quality if you have quality you will have returning visitors and that is what is more important. I have a mailing list with aweber for example which is sent out to my blogging customers when i post to my blog.

If i just offered quantity i wouldnt have that list would i?

i do though recommend getting one post out a day monday to friday when you start out so that you have enough content to be taken seriously.

kind regards


sam
X

[geolt7]

I see that you really do put your heart into building that one blog and it is bringing you success. I believe that if you enjoy doing that, you should continue.

Having said that, generally people who build many blogs are usually people whose primary interest is to earn money. They may not have the love to blog but are just doing it because it pays their bills.

There is no right or wrong. It all depends on what you want.

[Keith Kogane]

Can't you do both and aim for the middle? Make as many quality blogs as possible? After all, in most niches, it's not hard to be the best - once you're the best, stop overdoing it, automate as much as you can, and move onto the next niche.

That's what I've done anyway. I wouldn't say my sites are great - in fact, most are mediocre by my own standards. But I'd say if you look at the landscape of the niches I'm in, even my "worst" sites are still in the top 5 best resources online for that niche.

[clarissa25]

I'm leaning towards quantity my self. I have this one weight loss blog i was working on and I just got a reality check on how competive the niche is. So I'm thinking I better start up some other blogs

[bgmacaw]

Originally Posted by keystothemind

What are your thoughts on lots of blogs versus just one that you really focus on?

They are really two different business models although they both use blogging software, typically WordPress, as a base. Let me use a show biz analogy...

Authority blogging is like trying to create a hit TV show or movie. If you're successful at it, you may have your own Star Wars or Seinfeld. If you suck at it, you may have your own Ishtar or Cop Rock. In other words, you're trying to make yourself a star in the chosen niche and failures are more common than successes.

Niche market blogging is like doing local TV commercials. People know about "MR. BIG VOLUME USED CARS!!!!" or "SUNDAY! SUNDAY! SUNDAY! CAR CRUSHING THRILLS AT THE CIVIC ARENA!!!" but they don't know anything about who did the commercial nor are they likely to care. You make a lot of ads and make money. You may not make as much as a big star actor/director/producer but at least you aren't waiting tables hoping for your big break.

[Devon Brown]

I believe in quality, however.. I've seen some people that have many blogs and they divide their time equally between them and become successful from them. I, personally, do not have that kind of attention span. I can only do one thing at a time.

I agree with many people here. You do what feels comfortable and what works and "earns"

[cashcow]

Personally, I hate to have all my eggs in 1 basket .. or 1 blog.

Just because you have all unique content and update regularly does not mean that Google can't flip a switch and send you to the bottom of the SERPS or deindex you entirely. You can simply be an innocent victim of getting caught in some filter and your traffic dries up overnight. It has happened to many. Believe me, it has happened to me and so now I build lots of blogs.

But, I don't think that just because you have a lot of blogs that they are not quality. So, maybe you do some autoposting or don't update them as much as if you only had 1. Big Deal. As long as what you are putting on there has value to the visitor who cares if you spend hours writing it yourself? Unless, of course you are trying to brand yourself .. that's a different story.

As bgmacaw says, it's really two different business models. Each can work very well but it really does depend on how you work best. For me having just 1 blog would be way too boring!

Lee

[Keith Kogane]

Originally Posted by cashcow

But, I don't think that just because you have a lot of blogs that they are not quality. So, maybe you do some autoposting or don't update them as much as if you only had 1. Big Deal. As long as what you are putting on there has value to the visitor who cares if you spend hours writing it yourself? Unless, of course you are trying to brand yourself .. that's a different story.

No one cares who the source of the content is, what they care about is context. Do you think Oprah wrote every article in her magazine herself?

You can be a brand and a face in the marketplace without being the source of ANY of the content you publicize. It's certainly easier than trying to write it all yourself.

People always forget the vast grey area between "quality" and "quantity" - it's not a switch, guys. It's a slider. Approach your niches from an editorial standpoint rather than an authorial one, and it'll be much easier to create QUALITY sites that your audiences care about simply because you help organize all the info that's out there. Then, do that in quantity, in as many different niches as you can.

[cashcow]

No one cares who the source of the content is, what they care about is context. Do you think Oprah wrote every article in her magazine herself?

Exactly! I think here in the IM world we get really stuck on "unique"content and it seems like a lot of people think the only "quality" site is one that is filled with all articles that the site owner wrote themselves.

But, to me, it seems that my visitors would much rather be presented with a variety of information from people knowledgable in the field of whatever my niche is. I'm talking videos, news, articles etc...

Keith - in other posts I've seen you say something to the effect of thinking of yourself as a publisher that pulls together content for your niche. I think that's a great way to view a blog - almost as if you were publishing a magazine that could include information from various sources. This can be done with a minimal of effort and still be of good quality.

Lee

[clarissa25]

so I'm just wondering is auto blogging or niche blogging easier when compared to using one blog? Seems like you just can spend all night setting up a bunch of auto blogs and not have to spend nearly as much time getting ranked against the competition with one single blog

[cashcow]

Setting up and maintaining the blog or blogs and doing the work to get them ranked are two separate things.

Whether you use autoblogging or labor over each post yourself, you'll still need to do the same amount of work to get links to the blog posts so they will get ranked.

Getting ranked easily is more a matter of what keywords you pick and the competition that they are up against. To me, that really doesn't have anything to do if you have a small blog or a big blog, however there are advantages that each type has over the other when it comes to this.

[DeePower]

I do both. I have a couple of quality blogs and a number of blogs that only have 3 or 4 posts. Those blogs are niche blogs or they're blogs used simply to give my site(s) backlinks with the keyword phrases I use.

Dee

[PaulWilson]

I have only recently started my blog, but am going down the road of one quality blog.

If I venture into other niches in the future, then I will obviously create a blog for that niche, but for now stick with the one.

Like others have said, if you add quality content, people will return and you can concentrate on building trust and relationships

Paul

[Steven Fullman]

Quality content...in quantity.

This stuff is so much easier than you imagine...

ONE half-decent, well-written post per day for one month will give you so many long-tail rankings...you'll think you've won the lottery.

Steve