8 Tips for Maintaining More Than One Blog

by Laurie Pawlik-Kienlen @ The Adventurous Writer

These tips for maintaining more than one blog will help you become a more organized, better blogger. Many of these tips are applicable even if you just have one blog – and they’re especially important if you’re considering starting a second or third blog!

Here’s my inspiration for this post:

“How you maintain your five blogs and keep them all relevant, ongoing and fun?” asked Joe on Tips for Choosing the Best WordPress Theme for Your Blog. “That’s the real challenge with multiple blogs.”

What a great question – and a great idea for a blog post. For more info on successful blogging, click on The Huffington Post Complete Guide to Blogging by the editors of the Huffington Post and Arianna Huffington. And, read on for my tips for maintaining more than one blog…

8 Tips for Maintaining More Than One Blog

1. Install plugins at the same time.

Instead of installing plugins one at a time, I open all my five WordPress blogs and upload the plugins all at once. This way, I avoid the hassle of trying to remember if I’ve uploaded a particular plugin on a particular blog, what the plugin was called, and if there were specific setup procedures I needed to take care of.

2. Choose a Blogger or WordPress theme that you love.

This is surprisingly important! I installed a WordPress theme on See Jane Soar, didn’t really care for it, but didn’t think it mattered. However, when I started to avoid my own blog and stopped caring if my posts were read or commented on, I realized that I had to install a new theme. Never underestimate the importance of using a theme you love — and don’t be afraid to switch them out, even after a few months. WordPress is amazingly versatile.

3. Promote your blog on a schedule.

This tip for maintaining more than one blog will prevent you from feeling overwhelmed about increasing your blog readership! In an ideal world, I’d visit infertility forums and websites to promote Quips & Tips for Couples Coping With Infertility on Sundays. Tuesdays and Thursdays, I’d post excerpts of Quips & Tips for Achieving Your Goals on Yahoo Shine. Instead of a vague “I have to promote my blogs!” notion, be organized about how and when you visit other blogs, forums, and social media sites.

4. Blog on schedule.

I recently created a blog schedule – and I love it how organized I now am! I have five blogs and I’m the Psychology Feature Writer for Suite101. On Mondays, I blog for Quips & Tips for Achieving Your Goals and See Jane Soar. Tuesdays is Quips & Tips for Couples Coping With Infertility and Quips & Tips for Successful Writers. Wednesdays is Suite101 and Goals. Thursdays is Infertility and Writers. Fridays is Goals and See Jane Soar. Saturdays is The Adventurous Writer. On Sundays, I rest.

5. Make sure your blogs fit who you are and what you do.

It’s easy for me to keep my Quips & Tips for Successful Writers and The Adventurous Writer (my main website) blog posts relevant and fun, because I’m a full-time freelance writer and blogger. Content falls into my lap daily! A crucial tip for keeping your blog posts relevant and fun is to write about things you are naturally involved with.

6. Update your old blog content.

When you have more than one blog, you need twice as many ideas! Learn how to repurpose your old blog content – especially if you have old posts that you’re particularly proud of. Read 5 Tips for Repurposing Old Blog Content for new ideas for old blog posts.

7. Ask readers if they want more information.

One of my favorite ways to get ideas for blog posts is to ask readers if they want more info about that particular topic (but I don’t do this often enough. I just forget). I’ve also done this when I answer questions in the comments section.

8. Tie your blogs together.

I created blog buttons or widgets that tie four of my blogs together (I haven’t yet created a widget for The Adventurous Writer). This way, each blog has its own personality and style — but each one is part of the big blog picture. For help creating and installing buttons, read 9 Tips for Creating a Blog Button or Widget in WordPress.

Do you have more than one blog – and how is it working for you? If you have any thoughts or questions on maintaining more than one blog, please comment…