My time has become extremely short right now. I seem to have gone from running this one little blog, to a whole stable of partially finished sites in just a couple of weeks, leaving me wondering how anyone is able to do it.
I mean, some of you guys like Mark, Christine, Michelle and Tish, actively operate more than three blogs (Some, several more), yet, your posts project an air of absolute calm and sanity.
Then there are people like Garry who maintain over 100 sites. (WHAT?!) Granted, I think he sometimes is teetering on the edge, but for the most part, even he remains fairly lucid.
Me, I buy a domain name and start working on building the site only to look up three days later and the site is only half finished and I haven't even thought about writing a blog post, much less actually developing any good ideas into real articles.
Of course, it would all probably be more efficient if I didn't spend hours hacking up the CSS code so I could re-install it and do it again every time I made a change.
Or, if I didn't have to google how to do every little thing!
But hey! I'm learning how to build a WordPress blog. Heck, I've got one I've built three times!
I'd love to hear some tips from you blogging machines.
I am about to come to the conclusion that this Making Money Online thing is only for people who don't require sleep.
If you enjoyed your read, grab my feed!
27 comments:
I manage 12 blogs, had to close one down over the weekend, and 1000 rss subscriptions in google reader.
I'm not sure how I do it anymore.
I've been frustrated with that myself! its hard enough to maintain one quality blog, how do these people maintain multiple blogs? One has to assume thats all they do or if they are also working full time, as I am, I don't think they sleep :) I'd love to hear some of the tricks from them. I'd been thinking about posting this but then thought may be I was the only one who couldn't do this ... oh well, lets hear what Garry has to say:-)
I'm getting tired of no sleep. I work full time days and blog by night..at 61 its beginning to look like I've bit off more then I can chew..
Good luck hope your real young..
My best,
Dorothy from grammology
remember to call your gram
http://grammology.com
I wonder that myself, I have trouble keeping current on my one blog. I remember when I was reading BobMeetsWorld and then he started JohnCow.com and early on in the cow days he quit his dayjob and started branching out from there. I think that for those of us that still work outside the home, it's easy to get really ambitious and start feeling left behind. But if we push ourselves too hard, we forget what exactly we're sacrificing, which is usually the reason we started, our families.
But I look at it this way, we'll all quit one day, but the great thing is that we'll be able to say that we did this. The first time I had a subscriber to my feed, I celebrated, now I have 21 and I'm amazed at that number too.
I feel successful already and you should too, you have a fantastic blog. We're pioneers so to speak. We are of the first in a long line of people who will venture onto the web and start businesses, in whatever form they become, so I think it's awesome that I do what I do, and that you do what you do. We are all pioneers of our generation.
I say we're pioneers because my dad is only 54 and he still doesn't have email. ;D
If you figure this out you need to write a book in your spare time. Sign me up for the first round of printing!
Good Luck
@ Sir Jorge - That's just amazing. It would take me all day just to get through the RSS feeds ;)
@ Pearl - Believe me, you're not alone! I'd love to hear Gary and some of the others chime in on this one too :)
@ Dorothy - HaHaha! You're only as old as you feel! I bet you don't have many peers who blog at night :)
@ SabrinasMoneyMatters - I think maybe Bob had some help in the early days of JohnCow.
Yeah, you have to keep everything in perspective. Woking online is still a job and takes as much or more time.
LOL! Yeah, I laugh out loud (literally) every time I think about the fact there are 160+ people who subscribe to this drivel ;)
Pioneer, huh? I like it. With a name like Traker it kind of fits ;)
@ Chris - Yeah, that's what I need to do, start an ebook. Then I could have another partially finished project ;P
LOL,
This is great post. Personally, I don't know how I do it. I work outside the cyber world, maintain a household with 2 teenagers, and am still doing everything I can to keep my blogs up.
It isn't easy, but it is do-able. It's the fact that you seem to think I'm sane that I find amuzing. Honestly, I'm nutty as a loon. There are days when I literally wonder why I do this. But for me, it's the love of writing.
I'm imagining that by this time next year, I'll be totally certifiable and my hubby will have me shipped off to the funny farm, but until then, I'll keep plugging away and talking in a language that only my cyber buddies understand.
Christine :)
I run 4 blogs, though I've dabbled at doing a couple others, and I find it challenging to keep them all up and fresh. I would think that you'd have to allot a good chunk of time and make sure that you didn't waste it in order to run a few.
Either that, or get some help in one area so that you can focus on another.
@ Sapheyerblu - LOL!!! Nah, I was just being nice. I know you're nuts ;P
By the time we all make it to the looney bin they'll have a special wing just for bloggers and internet marketers. I can't wait to hear some of the syndrome names they come up with ;)
@ MInTheGap - You are the industrious type, aren't you? And you produce good content too. I just can't imagine letting someone else post on my blog though. I know, I'm weird ;)
I've often wondered this myself. I've actually been considering starting a second blog related to my dental profession.
Then perhaps have opportunities on my current blog to link to my second blog for "further development" on the topic.
Still thinking about it, but leaning towards doing it, since no one tells it like I tell it. haha
Lin - I believe you could handle another blog without any trouble at all. You crank out enough content for three average blogs right now ;)
AT:
Not sure what you're trying to do but here are a few Wordpress tutorials you might want to browse through:
1. So You Want to Create Wordpress Themes. Fairly comprehensive list of tutorials.
2. Free Wordpress Blogging Tutorial Videos
3. Wordpress Videos. Lots of videos, somewhat confusing list. Click on the bold text and then click on the text above the graphic that appears.
Hope this helps.
I do not sleep since 2005 and I still have not got rich! :D
It is not easy, It gets a lot of effort, but I enjoy it and that is all that matter!
I love blogging, I would do it even for free!
Francesco
Good question! I spend six to eight hours a day on writing and blogging - five (and a half) days a week. I would not do this if I weren't making a full time income doing it. No way! LoL.
And if you check out my many blogs you'll notice none of them are wordpress, it was way too complicated for me. Using Blogger and Typepad saves me mega time and energy.
As for having a hundred blogs...that completely has me baffled, lol, but oh the money that you could make!! Wow.
Have a great day, hugs, :)
@ Chanya - Thanks! Thos tutorials alone will probably save me three or four days over the next month. You're always so sweet :)
@ Francesco - LOL! No sleep since 2005?! Yes, you have to love it to make it past a few months.
@ Christy - I think you have to treat it lke a job if you want to make a living at it and yes, blogger is about as simple as it gets. No doubt ;)
Hi, AT! Thanks for the link. It certainly isn't easy managing several blogs, but it can be done - if you don't sleep. ;) I work a full time job, so I work on the blogging at night. I usually end up sleeping for 3-4 hours per night.
Here are a few tips for managing multiple sites.
1. Consider your blogging a part-time job. Dedicate a certain number of hours per day to it, just as you would at your regular job.
2. In the rare event that you have some extra time on your hands, stockpile several articles, timestamping them for future dates. You could also save them for a rainy day when you have nothing else to post.
3. Try to post to your blogs daily. One post per day is better than 3-4 posts on one day and then nothing new for a week.
4. Write about the things you love, and you'll always find the time to write.
5. Buy a lifetime supply of No-Doze and Red Bull.
Best of luck to you with your new sites!!
I have five blogs, with a sixth brewing (it's set up but I have nothing there yet). I also do guest posts.
I treat four of the blogs as different aspects of the same thing. They have the same look and feel, and I interlink a lot. I was writing so much on one of them that I wanted to split it off. The fifth blog is part of another website that I run and a joint effort.
For the four raven blogs (biking, travel, RVing, and everything else), I have committed to one post a day, but it is a "daily photo". Each one takes only minutes to prepare and I can post several ahead at a time. Then, I post as and when I have something to say--a trip to write up, a book to review, an award to award.
I used to do a daily news item, but I realized how much I hated that so I quit in the new year. The idea is to have fun.
I'm hoping to introduce some features like interviews in the future, because again, those could be posted ahead.
Each morning as part of my read-email-with-coffee ritual I go through the previous day's comments and reply. Sometimes I miss a day or so but I try not to let them build up.
Beyond that, I dunno--I just love to write, and it all works towards my very modest financial goals.
I have five blogs with one just launched last weekend. To be honest, I'm finding it draining trying to keep up with all of them.
I plan to auction off one of those domains soon, I think (or maybe turn it into a semi-static niche site). Can't decide.
If I do ditch one I'm going to have readers at all of my blogs vote on which one should go, kind of Survivor Style. ("You've been voted off the internet! Go!")
Meanwhile, I'm trying to keep a To Blog list and stick with it just to make sure I'm not neglecting any of the sites. UGH!
Uh....I've got so darned many blogs I go crazy every now and then...12 at last count, but then I don't blog on each and every one all the time. Sometimes I take a nice long vacation from a blog to let it breathe---like fine wine. I suggest breathing, both yourself and your posts. :-)
@ Tish - Thanks for the tips! I tried that "stockpiling posts" thing. I just got lazy and used them all up so I had to start writing again ;P
@ Linda R More - Your writing is amazing. I can understand why you are able to keep up. You obviously love it.
@ Blogging For The Money - I love it! Survivor - Blogosphere ;)
@ Kuanyin - 12 blogs is insane. Breathing? Yeah, I like that idea :)
Hi there!
Boy, I know exactly what you mean. I don't know where I got my steam earlier, but I'm running a bit low on it right now. I keep waiting for that one open window of opportunity to say, "Okay, THIS is the time I will get it all together" and BAM! it shuts down and I struggle to get one or two posts up. Ugh!
Thanks for the link, btw! ;)
Hmm. I'd like an answer to this question as well. I run them, but not well. I don't get "out and about" as much as I should. The writing part is the easy part. Networking each one of them??? Ack.
@ Mark - Yeah, you were in hyper-drive there for a while. Making everybody look like slackers ;P
@ Bloggrrl - I know what you mean about not getting out and about. If it doesn't come across my feed reader, I just don't hardly read it any more :/
Thanks guys. It's good to know I'm not alone in trying to figure this problem out. As a matter of fact, I'd say I'm in pretty good company :)
I am a programmer myself and a few years ago decided to start a blog followed by 2 then 3 then...
So I like to make posts. Never have the time to do it anymore:/ Started out where I made 3 - 4 posts a day on each and then now just over 2 years later. The most active blog I have gets at least a post a week and the others maybe one a month.
I keep saying once I am completed with this one site/framework I have been working on then Ill have time to blog but it never happens.
Sleep? What is that? I have not done such a thing since... I like your site here. I don’t like many blogger sites. Yours is decent. The name is a bit off topic it seems but whatever.
Hints and tips I can offer.
Programmers and designers are not bloggers and bloggers are not programmers or designers. Pick an area you love and enjoy and focus on it. If you like doing the css and layout stuff then that is really what you should be focusing on doing but for other people’s blogs and such. If you like to write and post then you should be a blogger and even though yes it costs money you should just leave the design and programming to those who enjoy it and keep your time to do what it is you love most. Blogging! Otherwise it just gets to be a burden and too much to manage yourself. You are but one person.
Managing multiple blogs as a blogger is all about scheduling. Be realistic in how many blogs you will run. Take the number of blogs you have. Decide how many posts you would like each blog to have per day and then try to figure about 20 minutes or so per post and see what you have for accumulative time. Blogging can be very profitable. I have personally supported my daughter and myself off of it for almost 3 months while I was in transition of contracts but as soon as programming work came along again blogging profits dropped drastically because I did not give the time required to keep it going. Treat blogging as a business and a full/part time job and it will be just that.
Good luck!
I love this, it's nice to see others having the same experiences. I have over 50 blogs on the go right now, but to tell the truth only manage to keep about 12 current at any one time. It ain't easy, but like Tish said, Thank God for Red Bull!
I work a full time day job, so my blogging day starts at 6 each night and goes until midnight. 5 nights a week. On the weekends...well it gets crazy, all day and almost all night. A lot of work for not much money. However, the returns are coming now. Not get rich money, but I do get some and that seems to make it easier. Plus, I love the blogging lifestyle. Would probably do it for no money. I have been at it now since 2005 or 2006 and no sign of wearing down yet.
I totally agree with the article.
his page
It cannot succeed as a matter of fact, that's what I suppose.
his site | 2 | get it
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