10 golden rules of managing multiple blogs

It’s one thing to blog it’s another to taste its success. If you are a pro you already know how true it stands. And once you do, there’s no end to it. Everyday you come back to your computer to find lots of comments and emails. And you open up your Google Analytics account to see where you are. Your feedburner stats indicate a 10% rise over yesterday and what not. Success is infectious. And having realized the secret to it you undoubtedly want to repeat the phenomenon. A case in point is Steven Snell a respected blogger and web designer of the VandelayDesign fame. He started the a blog to extend his design business. Slowly but steadily it grew and above expectations at that. After about an year we’ve seen that success transform into Traffikd.com and DesignM.ag.

Nothing succeeds like success.
-Sir Arthur Helps

Whle pitfalls and the “walls” are a part of life, it doesn’t necessarily mean everyone has to go through them. I’ve seen several bloggers grow; I’ve tried things myself and here’s what I’ve found to work. When you dream or aspire to reproduce your blogging success it could be the trickiest thing in a blogger’s life. Everrything could be at stake. Here’s how.

1. Have a lifeline

   This is your primary, main loveliest and the oldest blog. I call it lifeline for a reason.  For one it’s been a success (isn’t that the reason you plan to start another?) and secondly it’s the one which is taking care of the bills. This is the key to your new world and you must be determined to sustain it no matter what. Eventually if things do not work out, you are going to be back to this. And you want it to be there when you return.

2. Wait it out

   The urge to multiply the success is infectious. If you have a successful blog, you wouldn’t consider the amount it takes to buy a new domain and start another blog. You’d want to jump to it. My take – you wait out the urge. Know and observe how much fire you have in you to start blogging about another thing. Consider this as an investment into the future – for that rainy day when you are sick of blogging about technology and want to escape to the “other” greener side. That day this urge to blog shall get you the motivation and that post your visitors wait for everyday.

3. Get going

   Phew. This could be the toughest. Most of the times you have problems get going. Read Guy Kawasaki’s excellent presentation on “The Art of the Start”. He has one entire slide dedicated to this thing and he breaks it down into three things – milestones, assumptions and tasks. You need a domain name, a hosting account, a logo, a design and lots more. All this is not going to happen in a day. Perhaps you’ll take several days to come up with a name and find a domain accordingly. Don’t panic or rush. One step at a time will get you going. And one day you’ll push the publish button for the first time on the blog. The earth won’t shake and the clouds won’t part. Read on.

4. Create hype

   Your blog will be public and you’ll be waiting for visitors to come by. After all no one comes to know of it in a day – not unless you pre-announce its going public. You’ll have to read it to believe it. It’s the post on Guy Kawasaki’s blog – By the Numbers: How I built a Web 2.0, User-Generated Content, Citizen Journalism, Long-Tail, Social Media Site for $12,107.09. Essentiallyyou are raising the curiosity and expectations. Warning – don’t sustain this for too long lest it die down.

5. Invest and live to expectations

   Setting expectations is one thing and living upto them is another. Two main areas of focus should be design and content. I recommend going for a professional design and have at least 10 posts at your launch. Make the launch big. Setup a countdown timer on your “lifeline” and link to your new blog. Have a grand launch.

6. Divert your traffic

   After launch your initial task will be to get traffic. But you don’t have to reinvent the wheel again. You have many readers on your primary blog. Use your primary blog as a tool to market and promote your blog. Link to it. You already are a blogger and you know how it works.

7. Blog about your blog

   Not too much but once in a while point your readers to a post on your second blog. You never know how many new readers you’ve gained on your primary blog since you launched the second one. Refer them to explore their interests.

8. Plan your schedule and setup

   You are done with the launch. Now is the time to grow and sustain the new kid. No one likes managing multiple installations of Wordpress, two set’s of plug-ins and two designs and more. Time to schedule your time and tune your setup. You may want to keep the plugins synchronised. When you compose a post you may not like having to switch and log into the other blog. Employ tools to maximise your productivity. Get the Windows Live Writer or Scribefire and make yourself comfortable. When you write you shouldn’t find yourself niggling.

9. Outsource other stuff

   If its getting ugly or bothering get the pros to do it. Darren Rowse has a technical team to work and set things up for him. All he has to to is focus on what he does best. I remember I once inquired him about a particular wordpress plugin and he reverted to me saying that he doesn’t have to do those things and thus he wasn’t aware of that.

10. Don’t lose your lifeline

    No matter where you get with your blogs, in the interest of your future and as a token of thanking your readers and as a loyal friend standn by your primary blog. It’s as good as it ever was and has stood the test of time. You now have two blogs and hopefully, as we saw in this article, this success shall multiply further.

What’s your take on this? How many blogs do you blog on? How do you maintain the equilibrium?