This is a long post – 2000 words, 10 mins to read – but it’s worth it. It’s an exclusive with blogging and business advice from Leo Babauta, Penelope Trunk, Chris Brogan, Chris Guillebeau, Jonathan Fields, Glen Allsopp. Read if it you want:
- An introduction to some great bloggers and their smart ideas.
- Tips on how to build good relationships with influential players in your field.
- The script for a persuasive email people will reply to.
- Expert advice – are two blogs are better than one?
Blogging Advice From Professional Bloggers
I’ve been confused for a while because I want to start a new blog on another topic but don’t have time to work on a second blog. I don’t want to start again from scratch either, it’s taken long enough to build up my subscribers and I don’t want to reset the clock to zero.
But I live in a blogging bubble ~ most of my friends don’t write or even read blogs and they don’t want to either. So it’s just me trying to muddle through as best I can. I’ve been doing a reasonable job of it but sometimes you just hit a wall and need external feedback.
I’ve been trying to decide if I should start a new blog on another topic or blend it into this blog for ages. My head was spinning and finally, I couldn’t take it any longer. I decided to call on some expert advice so I emailed eight top bloggers to see what they’d say.
When I say top bloggers I’m not exaggerating. I’m talking about the likes of Leo Babauta, creator of Zen Habits who just removed his RSS feed counter from his blog because it had maxed out at about 140,000 readers.
Now, when a little blogger emails eight major bloggers asking for help how many of them do you think will email back their free advice to one individual on the other side of the world?
Have a guess. One? Two? Three? Eight? Oh come on, be serious. The answer is six.
Why 6 Top Bloggers Gave Me Their Advice
A 75% conversion rate is good and I got it by writing the best email I could.
It seems formulaic when I write about it below but it wasn’t, it came from the heart. I dearly wanted to hear from my blogging heroes, not so I could write a blog post about it, but because I genuinely wanted their advice. I knew I’d only get one chance so I did my best to write an email that would get their attention, get them to read it and get them to reply. If I analyze my email I can break it down like this:
- I followed some of the tips I shared in 5 Tricks For Getting People To Say Yes. Specifically, I explained that it would only take two minutes of their time by using the subject line: Please can you spare 2 mins to answer this critical blogging question?
- I kept that promise too by making my email concise and clear and offering them a quick way to reply by picking one of three choices like a multiple choice question.
- I asked a specific and interesting question.
- Just in case my heroes couldn’t place me I reminded them I’m a loyal reader and filled them in on my own blogging experience and qualifications.
- I also said I might write a post including their advice.
- Finally I mentioned the other blogging experts I was contacting so they’d know they were in with a good crowd.
Tips on Building Good Relationships Online
Most importantly, I’d been building a relationship with all these bloggers for about a year before I bothered them with my problems. I think that good relationship and the social networking helped me most. I didn’t even realize I was building a relationship or networking either but I:
- read their blogs and commented;
- subscribed to their newsletters and replied;
- tweeted their posts and, in some cases, wrote about them;
- wrote guest posts for them and still loved them whether they published them or not.
A Killer Persuasive Email Script
Here’s the email I sent:
Dear XXXX, ( I used their first name and it definitely wasn’t a mass emailing.)
I’ve been reading your blog and writing my own blog for a year now. It’s going well but there’s one thing I’m agonizing over and I’d really appreciate your advice.
I know you’re busy but it’ll only take you 2 mins to read my question and 2 mins to answer it. Please help me out, I’d love your input. (There was a little trick there – I said it’d only take 2 mins in the subject but admit here that 4 mins is more realistic.)
My Blogging Dilemma
As you know I have a self improvement blog called Get In the Hot Spot. I’ve got about 1000 subscribers after 12 months of blogging. The focus is on helping people live their dream.
But I also want to write about Internet marketing for small businesses. It’s a topic I’m passionate about, knowledgeable of and qualified to tackle (MA in Design for Interactive Media, 14 years Internet design experience, 12 years running my own small business etc). The only problem is that along with self improvement it’s one of those heavily saturated blogging topics.
My Blogging Question
Should I:
a. Try to integrate the new topic into my existing blog? or
b. Set up a new blog and start again from scratch? I’d keep the self improvement blog and have two blogs to maintain.
c. Forget it and stick to the one blog with one topic.
Please take a moment to tell me a, b or c. If you have more time to explain your reasoning that would be great but it’s not necessary.
Having said that I’m asking a few other well known bloggers I’m in touch with for their opinion too and if I get some interesting replies I’ll probably write a post about it as I’m sure a lot of other bloggers have the same dilemma. Of course, if I do that I’ll be singing your praises and linking to your site. I know it’s not much but it’s the least I can do. If there’s anything else I can help you with in return I’ll jump to it. The other bloggers I’m asking are:
Leo Babauta
Chris Brogan
Glen Allsopp
Penelope Trunk
Chris Guillebeau
Jonathan Fields (There were two others who I haven’t heard back from yet. I deleted the name of the person I was emailing.)
Many thanks for your time and support of my blog and writing. I really appreciate it.
Annabel
Blogging Advice From Top Bloggers
So should I set up a second blog or stick to one? Here’s what the pros said. You’ve probably heard of all these people before but if you haven’t do check out their blogs and their writing. You’ll be glad you did.
Leo Babauta – author of The Power of Less
, creator of super blogs Zen Habits, Write to Done and Zen Family Habits.
Congrats on your success so far – you should be proud of it!
As for your question, my answer:
I’d start a new blog on this new topic, but *only* if you feel your first blog is at a point where it will continue to grow without 100% of your efforts. As you know, growing a blog is pretty hard, especially in the beginning, and I recommend that people focus on growing one blog at a time. Once a blog seems to have some momentum and the word about the blog continues to spread, then a second blog can be started and focused on, as long as you don’t forget about the first blog.
It’s tough to split your time on two blogs — you have to focus a lot of your efforts on the new blog, but still post great stuff on the first blog.
However, integrating the new topic into your existing blog probably isn’t the best answer. The readers of your first blog (and you already have at least 1,000 of them) expect a certain thing from you — it’s an unwritten contract between you and your subscribers. If you change the terms of the contract, the readers might feel betrayed and unsubscribe.
Hope this helps!
Penelope Trunk, author of Brazen Careerist: The New Rules for Success
and creator of social networking site Brazen Careerist.
All career stuff is about self-improvement. All Internet marketing stuff is about self-knowledge in some way. Keep the topic. Write about whatever you want. Don’t make a second blog. You have a great topic and you’re doing great. I’m happy to look at a bunch of Internet marketing posts and tell you how to relate it back to your topic of self-improvement – it’ll only take a few sentences.
Everyone has varied careers. You can’t change blogs every time you have a new skill or new interest. The brand you develop via your blog, your public, professional brand, is multifaceted, with varied skills and talents. Everyone is like that. Let your blog show that.
(Quite profound and amazing that Penelope actually offers to help out more by reading my posts. Please note I won’t be bothering her with every half thought out post I write but I might call on her again next time I’m struggling.)
Chris Brogan, author of Social Media 101 and Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust
.
A. integrate it. It’s hard to split audiences.
For the future, see whether you can build a next step bridge that incorporates BOTH topics.
Chris Guillebeau, prolific traveler and writer of Unconventional Guides and eagerly-awaited book Art of Non-Conformity.
Maintaining more than one active blog is difficult for most of us. Darren Rowse does a good job with that, but he’s the only one I know operating at a high level that way. Of course you can have all kinds of different projects, but “blog energy,” so to speak, is limited for almost everyone.
I also don’t think I’d completely start over… those 1000 readers are hard-earned, so you should have this conversation with them and see what they recommend. (Good point, Chris, I’m opening it up to the readers now.)
Good luck, all best.
Jonathan Fields, author of Career Renegade and creator of Tribal Author.
Great question, some thoughts, especially as tied to your ability to post frequently here…
(Side note, check out the post yourself I recommend it and reading between the lines decided that JF was erring on one post with multiple topics. I could be wrong though… he has a couple of blogs.)
Glen Allsopp, Internet marketing boy wonder and writer of Cloud Living: everything you need to know about how to generate a decent monthly income online and built a blog with 4,000 subscribers in less than one year by a 20 year old who’s been doing it for four years.
I’ve tried running multiple blogs myself and it’s just really hard to know where to put your focus and time. For example, which are you going to use as a link in blog comments when you’re interacting online?
Either try and integrate it or focus on one blog is my advice 
Life Lessons From This Experience
1. If you want people to help you you have to care about them too.
2. Successful people are incredibly generous with their time and knowledge.
3. Decent advice from people you can trust is invaluable.
4. But in the end you have to make up your own mind.
So what will I do?
I’m not sure. There will always be what ifs, choices to be made, advantages and risks with both paths. In life as in blogging no way is correct. It’s an art, you have to take your own path and wing it somtimes.
I’m leaning towards introducing the new topic on this blog and seeing how it goes.
What’s Your Take?
I’d love to hear what you think. To remind you, the choices are:
a. Try to integrate the new topic into my existing blog? or
b. Set up a new blog and start again from scratch? I’d keep the self improvement blog and have two blogs to maintain.
c. Forget it and stick to the one blog with one topic.
Update
About 11 months after writing this post I ended up starting a second blog here at Successful Blogging. The original goal of my first blog Get In the Hot Spot had changed and I was focusing on writing blogging tips in response to reader demand. In the end I wanted to set up a dedicated blog for blogging here and let Get In the Hot Spot continue its travel/writing/self-discovery evolution. I think it will make it clearer for readers and allow me to blog more naturally withoug worrying about alienating some of my readers who are only interested in specific topics.
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{ 71 comments… read them below or add one }
Integrate it! I think that the two topic are somewhat related to one another. I like to read blogs that have various topics-)
I’d say integrate. If only I had followed my own advice! I’ve got a whole swag of blogs on Blogspot and one free Wordpress one. I’m too scared to spend money on my own Wordpress blog and too disorganised to get it all together anyway.
Wow! Glad I was on Tweetdeck to see this come accross! What an article! What a gutsy move on your part! Well you always talk about doing something scary everyday don’t you?
1. Your people love you.
2. They may be more interested in other topics such as Internet Marketing for small business. I have one (a small business) and maybe other readers to as well.
3. I like Penelope’s comments. It’s all about self improvement. I got interested in Blogging AFTER reading Zen Habits. He drew me in by his first book. I read David Turnbull’s blog and have to throw out some things because his “Geeekery” goes way over my head! But I love him.
4. I think you always put pressure a lot of pressure on yourself to achieve. That is good. I really believe you are walking through the doorway of achieveing your goals in blogging real soon.
Incorporate what you want in your blog, I for one won’t go anywhere. I think the advice of most of your responders dictates that you can do both in one blog.
Above all take the advice of those who have been there. Karol Gadja’s latest post is on this topic as well.
What ever you decide is ok with me. Although AnnabelCandy.com has a good ring to it!!! Wish you the best as always… Randall
Wow! Righteous work with then networking, Annabel! Totally wow!
Melanie – Thanks for having your say, can’t wait to see what the general consensus is.
Carolyn – We learn a lot from making mistakes. I’ve made heaps with my blog already like hosting it on wordpress then switching to my own domain name and losing all my followers. That’s why I’m keen to get it right with this one.
Randall – Yes, Penelope’s comments are smart and it sounds more interesting to broach a topic in that way with the option to write about it from different perspectives. My main point for integration is that most people dream of having their own business anyway or they already do:)
Jay – Funny how things work out isn’t it:)
Hi Annabel,
First off, congrats on getting to 1000 readers. That’s an awesome accomplishment. To make it to that mark in my mind is really the sign that you have arrived and will be at the top of the game in a very short time. I’m about 400 short of getting there
, but still happy with where i’m at.
That being said, I have some experiences with exactly what you are going through. I write about blogging and social media on my “self help” blog because the 2 are so tied together. Also most people who read my blog are bloggers, business owners, or people who are somehow involved in social media. I’ve attempted to start two sites. One was a multi-author blog and it was a flop more or less because I couldn’t give it 100% of my effort as many of the people you asked have said.
BlogcastFM, was an exception because I was already doing it every week on my personal blog. The only difference was creating a resourced specifically for that component of my site, so it made it easy to give it 100% of my effort. I will say this. It’s definitely increased my commitment to this whole process and experience of blogging. I have to be much more efficient with my time. So that’s one thing you may want to consider. Oh and finally, we need to get you on an interview at BlogcastFM and tell this whole story to us of 1000 Readers
Annabel
I echo what Penelope had to say in her reply to you. The two topics are related, even tho they are framed as being very diverse.
Logical Abstraction is at my core (amongst so many other diverse traits).
Merege the two blogs / subjects, give the world and yourself time to see the results and then be surprised as to which direction you find yourself going in.
Our time is limited. Better to follow a path somewhere than stand at the crossroads debating which way to go.
Good luck and I will be reading the results.
jb
jsbulmercreations
Hi Annabel
This is such a great post. And I am so impressed with the successful bloggers replying to you – this is the new world of supportive and high integrity people!
I would say integrate – I don’t want to read two blogs and what you say in every post will be useful for most of us.
Bottom line is: KEEP GOING!
Loretta xx
(Pretending that I am one of those awesome bloggers) Start a new one only if you want to build a new persona, not new topic. Otherwise migrate it into the existing one. Because for us, you = InTheHotSpot = self improvement. Maybe you might create something like GetInTheHotTub and provide us with tired back-to-the-80s advice.
Hi Annabelle,
Two thousand words is hardly an arduous read. Some topics deserve better than to get short shrift in the name of maintaining brevity.
Speaking as a reader and not a blogger, I’d say go ahead and integrate the new topic into the existing blog. I’m inclined to agree with some of the top bloggers that trying to maintain two separate blogs would take up a tremendous amount of energy and time–and it sounds as though you have quite a full life as it is. Maybe you could integrate the new, small business related topics into this blog gradually–perhaps post one article per month to start and see how it goes. Then if you had additional posts, you could put them under a separate section and put a little note at the end of your weekly posts alerting readers to the new post or article.
I think maybe if you did in small steps, it wouldn’t seem like quite such an abrupt change of direction for some of your readers. And it’s just a guess, but I’m betting your regular readers would be just as delighted to read about your small business articles as they would be to read your self-improvement/personal growth articles .
As someone who is in the process of setting up a small business (editing and research services) and plans to have a website (and most likely a blog), I am actually going to have to learn a whole lot about the marketing end of a business–online and in the real world–to say nothing of creating a web site, figuring out how to post to a blog, while actually getting the work done. Right now I’m still in the process of deprogramming the “employee think” mentality and retraining my mind to an “entrepreneur think” mentality. It’s certainly an interesting new adventure.
However you swing it in the end, I’ll look forward to seeing both the personal growth and the small business articles.
Good luck,
Sue
Annabel,
I am blown away by this post for a number of reasons. You were open enough to ask for advice and you asked for it so effectively, that some really cool people responded. I think you also asked a really good question. Personally, I think integrating a new topic to an existing, successful blog makes more sense. It’s all coming from you and you can shape the blog however you want, so maybe it’s time to add a new topic? I would love to read your views about your business and internet marketing.
Whatever you decide to do, I think it will be terrific, because of all of the hard work you put into the things you do.
Best,
Jessica
Thanks for sharing this advice from so many top bloggers. As a blogger too I’ve so often wondered how I might get a top blogger to converse with me about directions, tips, etc. I really admire that you just went out and asked. There are so many things I’d like to know! Looks like the majority answer for your question was to integrate. Makes sense to me. I can’t imagine trying o run two of these things!
Hi Annabel,
As per your request, I am sharing my e-mail to you on your blog.
Considering you already have a business on the go and I am assuming your blog is secondary to that in terms of ‘time priorities’, I would recommend a. Try to integrate the new topic into my existing blog.
Option c isn’t really an option in my mind. You are about taking risks! If you are passionate about internet marketing, you should write about it/explore it. Plus it could lead to ‘monetization’.
Perhaps you could set up separate, distinct RSS feeds and you could categorize your posts and that way if somebody is interested in topic a, they wouldn’t get the feed for topic b.
Also, to keep your followers coming back, rotate your posts between your interests frequently enough that their topic of interest is covered at the same rate as the others.
If you are finding that your blog is growing based on your new topic and it dominates the others or creates the most revenue, then I would consider splitting it off at that time.
I would recommend sticking with successfulblogging.com. You’ve already spent a year building up all that brand equity/loyalty. I think the name still fits given your blogging topics. Get in the hot spot. That could be living your dream, getting your small business to the ‘hot spot’ via internet marketing, etc. I would reconsider your tagline ‘Live your dream’ if you introduce the new topic though. It’s too specific to your other blogging subject matters.
I would consider annabelcandy.com more for a personal blog. Consider this: are any of your favourite blogs named after their creator(s)? Here are some brand considerations if you are interested: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brand
Best wishes as you grow your blog and follow your passions.
Cheers,
Stephanie
P.S. One final thought occured to me as I was driving home tonight. You could have a separate internet marketing centric blog as an offshoot of your business website and direct traffic from this blog to it.
I’m a fan of follow the growth, whether that’s re-inventing what you’ve got or playing out a new path.
These questions might help you reflect:
- How big is your new topic in terms of posts?
- How different would the audience be?
For me, I have a blog for work that’s focused on technical stuff, and a hobby blog (Sources of Insight) focused on effectiveness. While there’s some overlap in terms of audience, there’s very little overlap in topic/content. Many people that like my Sources of Insight would not like my technical blog unless they are software developers or architects.
Srinivas – Hmmm, so testing the waters with different content then if it’s popular moving it to a separate location. Sounds wise. Thanks for sharing your tips and congrats on your success so far. Both your blogs have provided food for thought for me:)
John – I like Penelope’s idea too. Weaving and integration of many ideas with one central focus. Thanks for telling me what you think.
Loretta – Thank you! I think that’s the truth, I have to keep going and it may be best to keep it all in one place. Don’t want to spread myself too thin and burn out!
Isao – You are awesome! It has been suggested that people only read my blog because they like and are interested in me. Hence I could write about anything. It’s a liberating thought and most appealing but I’m not sure it’s true. I need to always keep the focus on informing/entertaining/motivating YOU:)
Sue – Maybe just writing it was hard then.. but also worth it:) Loved your feedback, thanks for telling me all that. It really helps to get a picture of what readers want. Yes, I can add SME or Internet marketing as a new topic. Hopefully most people will be intersted in both topics as you are. I think I would need to start posting more often – two or three times a week and reintroduce guest posts to change the tone and give fresh input. As my main business is web design and I want to also help SMEs with that and setting up a blog hopefully it will naturally lead to work in that area. I’d love to get new clients that way. People who already like and trust me, know what I stand for and are keen to work with me. Normally it’s hard for us to get overseas clients who haven’t met us but this could be the way!
Jessica – Thanks so much. I do put an lot of effort into it and I like to do things well. That’s what worried me about having a separate blog but if I can share my thoughts on other stuff like blogging, running a small business, web design and Internet marketing here then I’ll be laughing:)
Carmen – Yes, my main worry now is will they hate me because I wrote all about how I did it?! Hopefully they won’t… I think you’re right, one blog is enough for one woman:)
Stephanie – Thanks for that lovely long comment with your ideas. I think integration is the way to go. Maybe some readers will be turned off but hopefully more will enjoy the mix of business/marketing/travel/self improvement. We all have different interests don’t we?! You’re right about the tagline though. I already tried to change it once with a reader vote and 3 options but the same old one came out on top:) Will think up some new ideas for that.
J. D – Always value your feedback. Thanks for keeping your blogs separate even though it must be extra work for you. I love your effectiveness blog but the techie stuffprobably wouldn’t grab me:) Great ideas. I think I could write zillions of posts about both topics and hope it’s the same audience of adventurous go-getters who want to stay on track with getting the life they want.
Thanks so much for this post! I’m still relatively new at the first blog and I’m already thinking about this issue. ProBlogger frequently promotes a multiple blog concept, so it’s nice to see so many people suggestion integrating.
I write about simpler living, bookselling, spirituality and writing. I write more about some things than others. I don’t have 1,000 suscribers yet, but my list is growing daily.
Great job on the networking. They all gave you great comments to consider. In this career and my previous ones, I’ve always found people willing to help me if asked. I used to be a journalist, and journalists depend on people talking about what they know.
Gip – Lovely to see you commenting here. I was pleasantly surprised by the push for integration. I can see advantages to both ideas and Leo is probably right but I don’t think this blog is ready to go it alone without me and I’m too impatient to get started writing about marketing and blogging. Journalism’s a great skill to bring to your blogging and great to hear your subscribers are growing. Progress was slow for me to begin with but it sped up as I got better at it. I’m sure that’s the same for most people:) Sounds like you have a good mix of topic and experience to draw from. Where do you sell books?
First of all: kudos on having the cojones to e-mail all those A-List bloggers.
I am no expert, but I would say stick with one blog. The people who came on (like me) for the personal stuff likely won’t leave because the topic shifts from time to time. In addition, we might be able to get something out of your other posts.
Though my new blog will primarily pertain to home education, I will also be including humorous posts from time to time as well as general parenting.
Perhaps slide into the new “stuff” slowly…or decide x number of days you will write self-improvement and y number of days small business.
Good luck!
Anne – Thanks:) I think a schedule would be good for all of us!
Like many of the readers who have already responded, I can see a connection between the two ‘topics’ and would certainly be quite happy to read more widely. One complements / supports the other. I love to read your blog because you have an open and honest style and always have something valuable to contribute. Adding to the content with a wider brushstroke adds interest and value (in my opinion). In fact, to continue to grow it is probably a vital element. You can always archive under different headings.
Well done on approaching the iconic bloggers you went to for advice… that shows a fabulous willingness to learn and a great commitment to continue to provide the best for your reading community.
Go for it, Annabel, can’t wait to get into some of the new content.
I’m accidentally trying to run two blogs right now, and let me tell you, I find it almost impossibly hard. Like Glen said, which website should I even use for the link above?
And where do my “best” ideas go?
I really want to write about travel culture + music, the name of my personal blog, but I almost manage a community website, Omaha.net (which I got into because that’s a much better URL than, ya know, my name). Even though the topics seem unrelated, I find a lot of, “I’m feeling creative RIGHT NOW and feel completely torn as to what I should do.”
Torn is not a good feeling…stick to one blog, and if you must, make Sunday night your Topic A post, and Wednesday Night your Topic B post. Your readers will understand : )
Cate – That’s lovely feedback thank you. You’re right, I do love learning and I am committed to making this blog as good as it can be. Thank you!
Annabel, I think this is a great opportunity to open up your “In the hot spot” brand, or Annabel Candy brand.
I am no expert in blogging, but as a reader of your blogs, I enjoy your very personal insights about life, career and family.
I believe that most of us who read and engage in blogs, also do more social media, therefore, if you take into consideration your likely target market, the topics you are interested in sharing with us (your readers) will be welcome those who have subscribed…
Annabel, thanks for sending along the link to this post to the Blogging ideas community on Brazen. I joined recently and obviously the universe was on my side, because I’ve been mulling over this same issue for a while, and I already follow and admire all but one of these bloggers already. I think that your approach was unique and it must have really resonated with these writers, because I am sure they get a lot of interesting mail from readers. Getting one response would have been a huge accomplishment, so getting 6 is downright amazing. Thanks for the tips and the thinking points.
Sean
Impressive piece of work. Personally, one of the most interesting elements in your post was the use of an email script (template). To me, a customizable template for inquiries and responses has the potential to add consistency — and save the blogger some valuable brain time.
CONGRATULATIONS on the one year mile marker and the high level of followers. As one, I certainly hope that you figure out your blogging situation as a crossroads, a continuum, or something else (I don’t care which). Readers will probably drop in thoughtful comments if you get too far off track — just want you to keep your sparking presence, insights, voice, and words where they can be read whenever it suits you to post.
It is enjoyable to watch you grow as a blogger, writer, and (should be published) author
..
I’ve been following your blog for a few months and I have to say it’s one of the better ones of its kind. Keep it up! Interesting that I’m going through a similar dilemma as a reader of both these subject on the many blogs I subscribe to.
Both subjects are fighting for my attention as I read about internet marketing and personal development. Recently I filtered all my internet marketing subscriptions from my email Inbox so I wouldn’t have to read them.. except when looking for something in particular, I would retrospectively be able to search my email archive for helpful advice. But I didn’t want that content interrupting my daily flow. Whereas I find the personal development stuff inspiring and motivating on a more human level.
As a reader I would be very happy to see you write about both subjects in your existing blog, and keep the name.. BUT my preference would be to maintain a) a strong bias towards your original subject.. like 80 per cent or something, and b) write in a way that integrates the two in ways that other more focused blogs can’t offer. So each post gives you something of both.
For me, there is already a massive amount of good advice out there for learning how to market yourself or your business via the internet to make money. I feel that I’d be looking for advice that is somehow more personal and human than that, and could offer something unique.
I hope that made sense and I hope that helps in some small way. I will read on with interest!
This is actually my first time stopping by your blog, so I’m not exactly a long-term reader. This is an interesting subject (Well done on writing the emails btw, that’s a brave move!) and I just wanted to mention a couple examples I’ve seen in blogs I follow.
One is thepioneerwoman.com where she has many many different subjects such as photography, cooking, home and garden, and homeschooling. These are all on a single feed, and her readers just read the posts they’re interested in. She has a big followership (or would if that was a word) and her readers love her, as I see your readers love you. I find myself reading even the posts on subjects I’m *not* interested in, just because I like her style and her energy as she writes.
The other example is Christine Kane (christinekane.com/blog/ ) Her blog is an interesting example because looking through the archives you can see it’s development, from a place for her to make notes about her life as a singer/songwriter, to what it is now… the centre of her work as a life-coach. Some of her original posts are similar to what she writes now, but the overall feel of the blog has evolved and become stronger as she followed what she really wanted to do. And her readers have stuck with her and developed alongside.
So I’d say just write what you want, the readers who matter are the ones who stay with you. I think you’ll find your blog becoming a lot stronger if you follow your passion and write what you want.
Wishing you the best in whatever you decide! Vrinda
Again, another productive use of time, that’s just impressive.
I tried running 2 blogs at the sametime & I have difficulty in just writing post; in the end I dropped one of them.
So I agree with Leo, Penelope & Chris Brogan; integrate the blogs.
There is lot of blog about Internet Marketing
There is lot of blog about Self-Improvement
… but not alot that talk about the crossroads … which can become a niche
———-
Your blog name can be redefined to fit both topics.
Honestly if you reclassify the “Hot Spot” as Social Media (the current marketing hot spot), then “Get in the Hot Spot” can be the call to action for small business to get into social media.
Good Luck with the Interesting dilemma
Annabel – Thank you for a well-written synopsis of your experience! Speaking of living our dreams, I am now in the learning and reading stage about blogging about my passion, which is sewing and gardening. I found this post through your guest post on ProBlogger about your blogging mistakes. I sure do have a lot to learn but plan to be a good student.
I think I would prefer http://www.annabelcandy.com better because sometimes I forget whether to type in successfulblogging.com or inthehotspot.com.
Your name is very unique, very memorable, and definitely a strongpoint.
Love, Connie
Hi Annabel,
Thank you so much for keeping such an inspiring blog.
I have added you to my daily reading list. You could see that it appears in my blog.
I think I would say that my take is ‘A’ .. to integrate into this blog. I feel that your reader will love to read from your different aspect in this blog .. I will do.
Cheers! for the wonderful milestone!
Keep it up and there will be more to come
see you around.
~ching
Hi Anabel! I’m new here (I contributed some days ago to beat that 1000 readers line
) but I agree with most of the commnets: integrate it! I would not recommend it to everyone, but in you case is true that both topics are somehow related and can interest to the same readers.
As @Sue said, it would be a good idea to create a separate section/tag for it so people don’t get missed.
I also considered this question some time ago. I have a blog about vegan cooking (although usually I mix my personal experiences with the recipe at the end of the post) but I am also interested in design and coding.
I asked what would my readers think if I began to add information and tips on the new topic to some of my post, and the answer was unanimous: don’t! The target readers of the two topics are two different, and it wouldn’t work. So integration is not always a good idea!
By the way, congrats for that 1000 readers and the answers from the top bloggers. This is one of the things I like the most about blogosphere
By the way, I don’t know if it’s me but when I tried to post the comment first (opening the post from Google Reader) I couldn’t
I had a 404 error page. But if I open it from the home page it work perfectly :O
Hi Annabel — glad to find your blog from your problogger post, and what good timing you have to post this blog just at the same time…
I was intrigued myself, as i’m considering something similar right now myself. I will first quote Howard Thurman:
“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive.”
This is SO important.
I was also intrigued to read your comments — these are the people that care, and therefore, the people that matter. I LOVE the name annabelcandy.com, as it implies more than just a name. However, i did a search and as you know there is a big candy company in the US with the same name, and i think that COULD cause some confusion for users and unnecessary competition in the search engines.
The real truth is — you must follow your heart, and FEEL what makes you come alive, and what really makes sense from your soul. If you were just trying to build a following to monetize, it would fall flat, and be quite obvious. But if you’re helping people to live their dream, that definitely carries a monetary aspect as well, right?
How can you live your dream, without making money? (unless you’re dream is to become a Buddhist monk in a secluded monastery.)
I was just writing about this yesterday, and i’ve come up with something that i think may be a little controversial — The Two Tribes: those who work for greed and those who work for good. You can see it on my blog. It sort of negates the whole concept of the “third tribe” in internet marketing, by the way, even though i love third tribe, and darren and chris and the copybloger crew (especially JohnnyBT, who is a wonderful spirit), and I’m a member myself.
Anyway — that’s my two bits. Looking forward to seeing you rnew blog design. — All my best…
Great post. I got here via your guest post at problogger. You just earned one more subscriber!
As for recommendations, who am I to say. I only been blogging for 15 months. Nevertheless, I’d say combine. I also did the same mistake as you. I changed direction in mid-course of my blog. I started blogging about birdsand the birdwatching tours I run in Peru (living my dream in Peru), but soon got interested in the whole subject about building the blog for SEO reasons as well as the implications of Twitter and Facebook for my business. Soon I realized my favorite blog topic became social media for birdwatcher’s. It has become somewhat my blogging niche. Now it is a mix of social media (with implications for birders) and regular birdwatching posts that includes the great birds of Peru, such as the Marvelous Spatuletail (a hummingbird), the Condor and Cock-of-the Rock .
Hi Annabel,
I’ve stumbled upon this great article, and so glad I did because I am at almost the exact same place. I have a main blog in the personal development niche, that I consider moderately successful (200 subscribers) at about 8 months old. I have been thinking about starting a 2nd blog in a much smaller niche. I have always been against multiple blogs, because it takes so much time and effort to do one.
But this past week, I bought TWO new domains. I broke my own rule, and am just going with it. One is a health niche blog about losing weight, and the other is a internet marketing/ learning to be more techie area. Both very different topics. And I’m finding that I’m even more passionate about blogging/ maintaining my sites now that I have a more narrow focus. My problem on my main site was that it was too broad, so that I struggled to figure out what was good to write about. Now I have so many ideas for all three blogs that I don’t have enough hours to write all that I want. A good problem to have.
So my advice is to try what feels right. If having two blogs doesn’t work- you can always go back and integrate later. I’m so glad I went against my own rule, and went ahead and started more sites. I’m now more passionate than ever about it all.
Great post, you have a new subscriber.
Karen
Hey Annabel. I vote integrate it.
I’ve been waffling between a similar decision, and in the end I think focusing primarily on one blog, at the very least until it’s 100% self-sustaining is the best route to take.
And in the end, your readers (at least the loyal ones) are coming back for YOU and not just the blog topic. So integrate and tie them together and I’m sure your readers will still be happy with the results.
Warm regards,
C
What a difference 6 months makes!
I agree with Srini: plan to spin off businesses as they mature.
I have at least one spinoff gestating at my site right now.
Annabel, you’re a very gutsy lady and I love your spirit! My personal take is to integrate it. Like the other bloggers said, it’s intensive to maintain 2 separate blogs. Write what you want (while maintaining a broad, singular theme of self improvement) and readers will continue to read. For example, Yaro Starak writes about self help, entrepreneurship and blogging and he does it fine.
PS: I’ve a question which isn’t relevant to this article, so I’ll be emailing you in a bit.
I went away to the Gold Coast and while I was squealing on rollercoasters and waterslides at various theme parks Darren Rowse posted my latest guest post on Problogger. Lovely to see all the new readers here and read all these comments. There’s a definite trend for integration which is lovely as that’s my preference too. Thanks so much to all of you, both new and loyal readers for taking the time to comment. It’s great to have so much support in this and hear your stories too.
I would go with Integrate option too. It’s easy to market one blog and put your focus on. Creating multiple blog will need twice the energy plus your audience base may be split between two blogs.
Btw, I read your guest post on problogger and I would say I could relate to it. Wish all the best on your blogging goals!
Cheers!
Hi Annabel,
I like the integrate option too. I’m not likely to hunt for you on two blogs and I’m interested in different things on different days. Test out something new and see what happens! Any mistake will be easily recovered from – what’s the worst that can happen?
Cheryl
Hi Annabel,
Integrate – but get your brand strategy sorted out first.
GITH or Get In The Hot Spot or Annabel Candy or…
Let’s discuss on Skype.
Best, Robin
Harsh – Great to meet you via Problogger
Cheryl -Yes, it’s all experimental anyway. I think I’m discovering the niche thing doesn’t work for me…
Robin – There’s a clear winner coming out here. Yes, the branding. You’re right, it is a bit confused at the moment. Working on it and hope it will become clearer soon – and better looking too:)
Intuition pulls me to suggesting you NOT split yourself in two. Readers want to read what you have to say and the subject matter can vary widely. Should you start another blog you will be starting all over with a new set of readers and you have already climbed that mountain. Stay with what you have built and introduce the new subject matter slowly and gently. You can inform readers that your next posting will be on some new thoughts and in that way move the reader over while preserving your “brand”.
I’ll stick with you to see how it’ working.
Michael – Lovely to have you hear. I think this is the right decision and thanks for sticking around to see how it pans out:) Hopefully as long as I write my best stuff and provide value that will keep people interested.
Thank you, Annabel, for posting this question. It is amazing (and frustrating) the chatter our monkey minds create for us. Yes – No? Should I – Shouldn’t I? It’s enough to drive a sane person nuts. I woke up this morning inspired to start another blog and thought, “Augh, do I really wanna do that?” Five minutes on the internet doing some research and I come across this post.
We evolve, plans change and life becomes more interesting. Focusing on one blog, for me, is the wise decision.
Take care ~
Cindy – Great to see you hear and love that you found this post on the exact topic you were struggling with. Hopefully you subscribed and I’ll have more top tips to share with you soon. We do evolve and I think our blogs can evolve with us.
Hi Annabel,
Fantastic post, so glad I found it in my travels around your website.
I think a lot of people consider splitting there blogs to small specialty areas and I think it’s very sobering to hear the giants of blogging on the whole dont’t have the energy for more than one blog at a time.
I am going to use this information to help myself and my clients.
thanks for sharing this with us.
regards
Tony
I love your simplicity on blogging, inspiration and empowerment. We have so many things in common. Helping others would be the first, writing is the second, and being an entrepreneur the next, but not the last. I will take your advise.
I found your link on ProBlogger.net, which I love, and frequently visit. I am a writer and I will be going hard at being an A-List Blogger, I loved that blog post. How did you become a guest blogger on Problogger.net? I will begin my new blog powered by word press dot org as I have basically stopped my blog on word press dot com, since it was so limited to what I needed, however I still love word press dot com. I was so confused on what to blog about until I read your blog. Often, I read so much about having a niche blog, affliate marketing programs and other content driven SEO for traffic, which was the biggest issue for me. I realized if I simply write, link, read, and post on great blogs like yours then traffic shouldn’t be a problem. Truly, I am still going to follow your lead, blog post and continue to be passionate about my blogging without being to wordy like this comment…lol. Dwritewell signing off, but I will be back.
How do I Get in The Hot Spot?
I so Love your advice, and ease of it all; it’ll make my life easier as a new sort of fulltime (with fun) blogger on Dwritewell.
I would integrate the two ideas and just create a new ‘category’ for the new topic. I have a finance related blog and I speak about everything related to finances including loans, credit, taxes and so on. Then, when I feel like writing something personal. I write it and I have given the ‘personal stuff’ its own category.
All work and no play makes a blog boring……Also, as far as having two domains. Redirect/Forward the second domain so, both domains end up at the same site, but it gives more than one entry point.
But, I am a NEWBIE…and have no where near 1000- subscribers.
Annabel, I admire your tenacity! I aspire to your blog’s growth in a year, too. And I think you can attribute that growth to YOU. People read your blog because you are genuine, and they ‘get’ that it’s from your heart.
I like Vrinda’s idea… what Ree Drummond(the pioneer woman) has done is take several things she’s passionate about and integrated it into a pretty cool blog. The advantage you have over her is that you can design and re-design your own blog!
So I think integrating is the way to go. I know in my short blog life I’m sometimes all over the place, but the bottom line is the same… it’s about my life. And people like variety! If only I could design it as easily as I can tell it!
All the best!
Barbara
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