Just to get this out of the way, if you care about this blog don’t worry, this post isn’t about I’m Just Sharing. However, it was a point of consideration when I was initially giving this particular topic some thought.
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Lately I’ve been asking the question as to whether I’m doing too much blogging. I love blogging, so much so that I’ve spread it across 5 blogs. Each blog has its own purpose, which is a good thing because if all the blogs were on the same topic there would be too much redundancy.
Two of my blogs are for business. One of those I’ve been writing for 7 years now, Mitch’s Blog, and most of the articles there are on leadership. The other blog, SEOX Blog (gone as of 9/2014), is my social media/SEO blog, and I started it in August 2011.
The purpose of each of those blogs was to highlight expertise of a sort so I could generate business. Another purpose of course was in its SEO properties; the most new content one has on a site, the more search engines stop by and thus your sites will rank higher. That part is proven, so no debate there.
The question I’ve asked is if the effort I’ve given those blogs equates to how much business I get, or even traffic. Truth be told, not even close. I’ve never generated any business on SEOX Blog, and almost no comments. I’ve generated very little business on Mitch’s Blog when you consider that it’s 7 years old; a couple of speaking engagements, a podcast, and requests for reprints and for me to write guest articles elsewhere, non-paid of course. I don’t think I’ve ever even made a book sale, or a sale of any of my other products, from that site, and that’s a shame. No sales from either site; ugh.
At the same time, I have other sites, and one of them actually generates the bulk of my online money. That’s my medical billing site Medical Billing Answers. In December it generated $199.25, moving up, as I’ve started adding a little bit of new content to it. Frankly, one should spend more time on what makes money, don’t you think?
I’ve written often that the worst thing in the world is having a blog where you’ve stopped writing and it just sits there with nothing to show for it. Suddenly here I was, thinking about ending a blog or two, and that’s counter to everything I’ve ever thought. At the same time I think I’ve proven that I can still write tons of content, as I’ve already written tons of content. What to do, what to do…
Thus, I share the video below with you. It was my weekly Google Live Hangout with Brian D. Hawkins of Hot Blog Tips and Sheryl Loch of Fuzzy Wuzzy Anipals, and the topic of the video is “Should I Stop Blogging Or Slow Down?” They shared thoughts with me as I brought up the issue then got their positions on it, since both have had blogs and websites that they’ve either let sunset or killed.
Watch the video, and then give your opinion either on the video on YouTube or right here. As I said, no decision I make will impact this blog at all because I love this one, but others… well, we’ll see.
http://youtu.be/ur3MPLFrmNY
I would say not to stop, but increase the quality over quantity. Nobody like a crappy blog with 2-3-4-5 articles per day if all of them are cheap.
True Radu; then again, I don’t write quite that many, and in my opinion all my posts are quality. 😉
Not to stop. I prefer less post but more quality and short post. Inever read long posts.
I hope you enjoy the short posts, but that pretty much means you won’t be reading most of what I write crunchall.
I’m like you, Mitch. I love blogging and have 5 sites. I recently considered taking a break, but decided to just slow down and be more focused. I’m not quite ready to stop blogging yet.
Marcie, I’m not going to stop blogging, but I will slow down on a couple of blogs here and there because when all is said and done, business needs to be more focused.
I really loved the movie, the amazing scenery and realistic singing make this work, book was much better, Most musicals do not work on the big screen, Chicago the one exception. Good post, thanks for sharing.
Funny Steve, but I’ve never seen Chicago; never even been interested, even though there are a couple of songs from it that I like.
You shouldn’t stop blogging because you have a lot to still offer we young bloggers in the industry. However, I can buy the idea of slowing down a little to make things work better.
Thanks Olawale. Right now it’s just one blog I’m going to drastically slow down on, and one other I’ll slow down a little bit on. Otherwise, business as usual.
Blogs are very tough to monetize, probably there are about 20 people in the world that can make living from blogging on a small scale. I own 32 blogs, 1 social networks with integrated blog, 2 more social networks are under construction and few other odd projects. If all blogs make a dollar a day, I am pretty much fine with it and where I live it is pretty much enough. A reason why blogs are not making money is because it is difficult to make any call to action from blogs, 2nd it is similar to social networks, people are not visiting blog to buy something, but to get information. To stop blogging would be a mistake, but there is a lot of space for improvement, starting with design and navigation, offering something else, find personal twist to some system, adding e-commerce store. My social network offer many features, but none of those are commercial and this is done deliberately. I can say that blog is performing very well and there are more than 90 active bloggers, which is about 10% of the members, forum is not going anywhere, but I haven’t spend much time on this. Right now I am planning to integrate job board, domain and website auction and business directory, all this will be with commercial purpose and most likely I will generate more money from the website, but from previous experience, I must not do everything at the same time, but expand features gradually.
Carl, I guess part of my thinking is that at a certain point every blogger has to determine if what they’re doing it helping themselves as much as doing things a different way based on what they’re hoping for with their blog. SEO is one thing, and if the only purpose is to get a website to rank higher, then so be it. If the purpose is to drive business and it’s not, or to sell products and it’s not, then it’s time for an evaluation. I’m doubting that you put the same time and effort into each of your 32 blogs; you probably have some that bring in more money than the others, and thus you concentrate more on those. That’s all I’m initially saying; the second part, stopping blogging, I might not ever really do and I don’t advocate it, but slowing down & concentrating on those things that either bring the most pleasure or the most benefit might have to be a consideration.
That’s the right approach, those that doesn’t work are pushed and replaced, many people are doing the opposite and concentrate on things that doesn’t work and this is totally wrong.
Another good point, Mitch do the things that you like and generate should stay, there is nothing worse that trying to do something that you don’t like.
Thanks Carl. I think that’s part of it, without some of the support this blog gets one of those blogs just seems like I’m going through the motions. At least I do have tons more material for my other business blog, but I’m also working on a book on that topic so slowing it down just a bit might be a smart move until I’m done with it.
Since I am interested in only this blog, my answer is neutral!
Sure Rummuser, you’re going to benefit either way. lol
You should concentrate on the blog that is doing well, to improve it’s quality. Try to put more efforts and see what happens.
I do what I can Devinder.
By the title I thought you were declaring war on blogging! lol
I’ve started and stopped a few because I just wasn’t interested any longer, but I’d say if you’re still passionate and have the time, why not.
If the goal was only to make money and they aren’t making money or generating leads then I think your time is better spent elsewhere. As you said, the blog that actually generates income might be worth more effort. $199 for a month is pretty damn good by blogging standards, considering most folks are making pennies.
I generate $100 every couple of months or so on my main site and that’s with relatively little promotion or regular updates.
So in my opinion you should not spend your energy on the projects that haven’t borne fruit, but optimize the Medical Billing site and spend more time here, I love reading these posts!
but maybe that’s just selfish of me 🙂
Great stuff John. Actually, the site making all the money isn’t a blog but a niche site, if you will. It was doing great until Penguin, then dropped considerably, then got to a certain point in the low $100’s until I started adding health related articles. Those aren’t being read so much but the new content has helped traffic pick up; nothing wrong with that.
And I’ll be here, on this blog, for a long time if physically possible. 😉
Mitch,
I used to have 5 blogs and I decided to let go of two of them. Once I created my weblog, I found myself putting the same things on two different blogs. The other blog I created was supposed to involve other people but they stopped adding posts and it all came back to me so I say “forget that!”
Just like Brian said, maintaining one blog can be difficult but if you have lots to say like you do on this blog, this one will ALWAYS be around.
Good stuff Bev. The two business blogs need to be generating something for me, whether income or publicity, and I’m not seeing it. This blog gets the most attention, probably because people aren’t really ever sure what’s coming and it’s not always teaching a lesson; well, it is to me. lol
Wow! It seems like your a pretty successful blogger. Thanks for sharing your blogging experience with us. It motivates and inspires me, a lot.
No, I don’t think you should stop blogging, not at all. I blog everyday. Since I opened my website on December 5th, 2012 – I only missed about 2 days of blogging and I believe those two days were holidays.
Keep blogging! I’ll be here to cheer you on!
Ah Carrie, I’ve been you! lol I’ve written tons; I once wrote just under 50 posts in one month on this blog; those were the days. But I only had 2 blogs back then; I’m spread out now, as I also write for some other people. I need more discipline on the “living and earning” part more than just the fun part.
I’m going to watch you to see how you progress; let’s see if, in 5 years, you’re still able to keep up that pace. 🙂
“[f]eeling guilty…”
I think you have felt that way because it’s inherently difficult to let your creations go free.
One of the ways I dealt with the multiple blog issue was to roll everything into my main blog, and then redirect those URLs. The content remains, the overhead disappears and my guilt is assuaged. 🙂
Over time, the relevance of your content will dictate its retention, whether you keep it on separate domains or not.
Cheers,
Mitch
Thanks Mitch. It is true to let creations go free, but at the same time I’ve always been the “find time to write” guy and the “don’t let your blog’s die” guy, and even though I know my overall situation is different than most people because of the number and volume I’ve been putting out, I don’t want to look hypocritical either.
I’ll get it resolved… some how…
Mitch, I would not get rid of the blogs, but I would slow down on publishing if it is causing you problems.
I’m just sharing is a great format. I love visiting your blog because I can always expect your opinions.
It is similar to my blog niche and I like blogs that have opinions, I think that is the best way to get to know someone through this web.
I will never know everything, but your words say a lot.
Thanks Michael. As I said, this blog is safe, but one of my others will be slowing down, possibly two of them. Overall, the conversation has to be had. It might be something you think about one day, now that you have more than one blog.
Well, I do not think that leaving the blog to die that does not give you enough business is a correct idea. Yes, of course eventually you tend to pay less attention to it but, you should never end a blog before trying to restore it. You can probably put a little efforts on it an try to make business from it before you put an end to it.
Just asking Thomas, but how much more effort could I put into a blog that has more than 135 posts in 18 months and another one that has over 1,000 posts? Just asking, in case you missed how long I’ve had some of these blogs.
Hi Mitch, I know what you mean about having different blogs for different topics, or niches. I had a few different blogs at one time and found it difficult to maintain them all so gradually dropped the most inactive ones. Now I’m down to one and I can’t fit everything I want to talk about in the one heading! Frustrating!
Enjoy the journey.
Mandy
Thanks Mandy. We start thinking about shrinking and yet my buddy Sire just started his 9th blog. However, he only has one where he contributes on a very regular basis and maybe that’s the key to maintaining so many at once.
Yep, you do all the work on the blog you love and the others you just update occasionally to keep them on Googles radar 😉
I’m not a blogger but I agree you should not let go the other blog site.I’m sure there are readers that get benefit from your older post.
Good luck Mitch!!
Becca, those posts would stay there. I wouldn’t just delete the blog because it’s associated with that particular website.
I guess, most bloggers would love to ask this question to themselves Mitch 🙂 I have asked myself many times. Well, as a matter of fact I always had about 4-5 blogs maintained regularly off which a couple of them (like my personal blog linked here) is not something that I want to make money out of. I keep writing there without any strict frequency defined. The blogs that I make money out of are more frequently updated but NOT as frequent as I used to do earlier. And by the way, I have stopped writing completely on certain blogs and even closed them down due to non interesting niche BUT I guess I will never stop blogging as such.
Ajith, you’d understand me then. I’ll never stop blogging either, but I will back off on some of them here and there because I need to do other things, yet I still have things to say. I’m not going to say I don’t want to make money off this blog; instead I’ll say that it’s not close to being a focus for me here. But I do have some links and will write about some products and, well, if people like what I have to say I hope they decide to at least take a look at it. I have a post coming out soon that will talk about a product that wouldn’t depress me much if someone decided “hey, I want to buy that and I’ll buy it from Mitch.” 🙂
Reducing blogging will be a better option rather than putting an end to the blog. We can always take a break when things do not seem to work on the personal as well as professional front. Blogging will make us no harm if we reduce it for a certain period. We can choose to write less and not post often.
That’s good stuff Thomas, and that’s the direction I’m heading in. Still, one should explore things overall to see if they believe it will work for them long term or if they’ve totally tired of it and have decided to go do other things.
Stopping a blog altogether may be a bad idea, instead one should downsize the number of postings on the particular blog and concentrate on quality stuff. A quality content is always capable of drawing loads of readers. Thanks for the share.
Aayna, whereas I believe stopping the process of blogging isn’t a good idea for everyone, for some it might not be a bad thing to do if it’s not generating business and more time is spent doing it than making a living.
Why can’t you take a break from everything and spend time with other things. The reason I say that it is, intervals can help you to get do more work with perfection.
Jason, I have to ask you to explain your thoughts more.
Sometimes I really feel that I cannot get out of stuck with blogging. Somehow I don’t find any inspiration. I’ve tried everything; I’ve stepped out of my comfort zone to get a bigger view or simple switch my view and focus on other things, but it’s still not working. Maybe I should have a longer break…
It’s possible you need a longer break Nori, or are just being too critical about what you’re writing about. Unfortunately, I don’t understand your language, so I can’t even check to see how you’re doing.
Its always easier to say yes rather than no, to start rather than to stop.
At the officers academy the cadets are taught to use their energy in the axis where the initial succes is generated. Thus, ensuring the final succes by taking their objective.
However, I don’t know what you objective is. If it is to make money: trash the other sites and focus on the ones generating leads. Should you have another objective go with that.
I have sometimes taken a break from blogging picking it up again when I felt motivated and inspired.
Soren, for the business sites the objective is to generate interest and thus income; not “make money” in the traditional make money online mode. However, it’s not getting it done, especially on the blog where there’s just so much outside competition and a lack of “want” locally. I can’t trash the sites, if you will, because the sites represent my businesses. I can reduce the number of posts I have on those blogs though and use that time for marketing and, hopefully, sales.
I would never recommend you to stop blogging because I enjoy reading the kinds of articles you publish. You can make the quantity less but don’t stop it completely. Your blog has helped thousands of people out there in all problems of their life, brought some form of entertainment through the videos you shared, gained lot of knowledge with the type of content you share which includes all personal experiences that I personally like reading. You can slow down for some time but don’t stop it, Mitch.
Roger, it’s not this blog I was thinking about. I have slowed down drastically on two of my blogs, and that actually feels a little better.
Hi,
I own 32 blogs, 1 social networks with integrated blog, 2 more social networks are under construction and few other odd projects. If all blogs make a dollar a day, I am pretty much fine with it and where I live it is pretty much enough.
A reason why blogs are not making money is because it is difficult to make any call to action from blogs, 2nd it is similar to social networks, people are not visiting blog to buy something, but to get information. To stop blogging would be a mistake, but there is a lot of space for improvement, starting with design and navigation, offering something else, find personal twist to some system, adding e-commerce store.
My social network offer many features, but none of those are commercial and this is done deliberately. I can say that blog is performing very well and there are more than 90 active bloggers, which is about 10% of the members, forum is not going anywhere, but I haven’t spend much time on this. Right now I am planning to integrate job board, domain and website auction and business directory, all this will be with commercial purpose and most likely I will generate more money from the website, but from previous experience, I must not do everything at the same time, but expand features gradually.
Thanks!!
Wow Dhruv, you’re certainly running a large enterprise. You must have a lot of people helping you oversee all of that; I can’t imagine you’re able to devote so much time to all of them… although I guess it’s not impossible to do.
Obviously I didn’t give up blogging and, in a way, I didn’t really reduce it either. Still, at some point I’m going to have to figure out a way to monetize it all better, or at least some of it, so that I’m getting at least a portion of the value I hope I’m putting out to others.