How to manage multiple blogs

16 replies
I regularly read online about people who have hundreds of blogs. I am intrigued to know how you can service so many blogs.

Do people set them up and then forget them or do they blog regularly?

This may seem a very basic question but it is something that has puzzled me for a while now.
#blogs #manage #multiple
  • Profile picture of the author Istvan Horvath
    If they "blog" regularly, that means:
    - they outsource the writing and publishing
    - they load up a lot of articles in advance and set them to be published on future dates
    - they publish spun garbage via scripts
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    • Profile picture of the author Henry White
      Originally Posted by Istvan Horvath View Post

      If they "blog" regularly, that means:
      - they outsource the writing and publishing
      - they load up a lot of articles in advance and set them to be published on future dates
      - they publish spun garbage via scripts
      ROFL! That's not exactly my idea of a sound business model either!

      It sort of reminds me of the joke from the earliset days of the space program about mission success depending exclusively on the lowest bidders.
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      • Profile picture of the author Istvan Horvath
        Originally Posted by hwhite View Post

        That's not exactly my idea of a sound business model either!
        Actually, the outsourcing and the pre-written dripping content CAN be a sound blogging model, provided we are talking about unique, quality articles.

        On the other hand, publishing spun text is as bad on one site as on 100 sites - it's just garbage, regardless of the number of blogs.

        And, since you also mentioned autoblogs, there are some successful warriors who managed to use this technique in a smarter way than the average Joe does... and they swear it's a viable model, IF done right.

        Finally, the OP brought up only the content side of "managing" many blogs, although there also is another aspect to it: upgrading and maintaining (technical part) those blogs. Mainly a webmaster's job but somebody still has to do it.
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        • Profile picture of the author Janet Matthews
          Originally Posted by Istvan Horvath View Post

          Actually, the outsourcing and the pre-written dripping content CAN be a sound blogging model, provided we are talking about unique, quality articles.

          On the other hand, publishing spun text is as bad on one site as on 100 sites - it's just garbage, regardless of the number of blogs.

          And, since you also mentioned autoblogs, there are some successful warriors who managed to use this technique in a smarter way than the average Joe does... and they swear it's a viable model, IF done right.

          Finally, the OP brought up only the content side of "managing" many blogs, although there also is another aspect to it: upgrading and maintaining (technical part) those blogs. Mainly a webmaster's job but somebody still has to do it.
          Yes - I hadn't thought about the upgrading and maintaining.

          Personally I think I would prefer to have a smaller number of blogs that I can manage to look after and blog to regularly.
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  • Profile picture of the author Henry White
    These "set it and forget it" autoblogs don't make much money, that's why you need hundreds of them.

    Do the math! Theoretically, if each website makes more money than the cost of domain name registration, you'll have a profit at the end of the year. The operative words here are "theoretical" and "if."

    Worst case, if it fails to produce, flip it and you can probably recover the cost of domain name registration and get a little extra if you chose the names carefully.

    It's not exactly the "fast lane" unless you're willing and able to get enough of them over the next year or so to put you well into 6-figures - which is do-able, but not for everybody.
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  • Profile picture of the author BloggingPro
    I used to think that managing so many blogs would be a royal pain in the ass... and then someone showed me how to use the Multi-site feature with Wordpress.

    Talk about freaking night and day. For example now when I start a blog all of my plug-ins, templates, everything is already installed on the new site and ready to go. When I need to update something, push one button and it does it across the network of blogs. Very nice indeed!

    Essentially all i need to do is have some content ready to go. Since I like to write this is kind of easy for me, but I can understand how others would struggle.

    Honestly the main problem with these huge blog networks is the cost of domains. Sure, they only cost $10, but when you are buying 10 or 15 a month that's a lot of money going out the door that isn't being replaced with income. It may take several months for that month's expenses to be off-set by your revenue.

    Not saying its not worth doing, but there should be some logistical planning on your part. Nothing pisses me off more than when I buy a domain and don't have time to do anything with it--effectively adding an additional cost to my monthly expenses while it just sat there.
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    • Profile picture of the author Janet Matthews
      Originally Posted by BloggingPro View Post

      I used to think that managing so many blogs would be a royal pain in the ass... and then someone showed me how to use the Multi-site feature with Wordpress.
      What is the Multi site feature? Is it a plugin? What does it do?
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  • Profile picture of the author Istvan Horvath
    and then someone showed me how to use the Multi-site feature with Wordpress.
    Yeah, I heard about that feature...
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  • Profile picture of the author Mr Lim
    Well, I own 40 blogs and did not really bother them. lol
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  • Profile picture of the author clever7
    It’s very hard to promote many blogs. I believe that it’s better to have only One very good blog and update it daily than many auto-blogs with poor content and zero PR.



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    • Profile picture of the author Henry White
      Originally Posted by clever7 View Post

      It's very hard to promote many blogs. I believe that it's better to have only One very good blog and update it daily than many auto-blogs with poor content and zero PR.
      I'm inclined to agree with you there. The posts themselves don't take that much time to write. I spend 10 times as many hours on traffic, list building, conversions, etc. before I see any of that lovely cash flowing into my bank account!
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  • Profile picture of the author JamesGw
    There's no way to run a hundred blogs without automating or outsourcing it. I don't care what anyone tells you. Even running five blogs can be a serious chore if you're doing it all alone.
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  • Profile picture of the author Targeted Traffic
    Well if you do it by yourself this will require very good organizational skills, as it takes time really.
    you may outsource and/or use technology
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    • Profile picture of the author Henry White
      Originally Posted by Targeted Traffic View Post

      Well if you do it by yourself this will require very good organizational skills, as it takes time really.
      you may outsource and/or use technology

      If you're doing it all yourself, you don't own a business - the business owns you.
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  • Profile picture of the author NateRivers
    I have quite a few- not hundreds, but what I do is:

    The ones that are ranked and established, I come back to those and do a post once every 2 or 3 weeks or so. I just have it written down in Google calendar.

    The ones I'm trying to get ranked, I'm doing a post once a week, also on a schedule.

    That's pretty much it.
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