Are You Ready to Start a Blog Network?

For those of you that have followed my blog for a long time, you know that my transition from a one-woman show to a blog network last year has been quite a journey. I jumped in with both feet, realized I was wholly unprepared for what it takes to run a blog network, somehow kept my head above water anyway, and then was able to rebrand and even expand the Sparkplugging Blog Network.

To say it has been a challenge is likely the understatement of the year. The question you may be asking is, “If I knew then what I know now, would I still have launched a blog network?” As many sleepless nights I have had over the last 12 months, I still say the answer is a resounding YES.

That being said, “Making Money Blogging” and being a “Professional Blogger” are vastly different than running a blog network. And if you think you have either of those two skills ‘nailed’, it doesn’t ensure you would be successful if you were to launch one.

Why?

Different things work for different niches

What has worked to monetize and grow your blog WILL NOT WORK in a different niche. I guarantee it. Even if you launch blogs in sub-sections of a niche, like I have done, you will have to create a different growth and monetization strategy for each blog in your network.

Running a Blog Network is more business and less social

While you can’t take the social aspect out of blogging, if you are running a network, you will find it extremely difficult to interact with readers on the intimate level you were able to do when it was just you and them. The time demands are just too great to enable you to engage in the conversation like you used to. This has always saddened me, and I do miss it tremendously. And if you rely on those tight social connections to grow your blog (which is completely appropriate for many blogs, BTW), you will find that this is not a scalable marketing tool for a network.

Be ready to pay more to your web developer

Running multiple blogs multiplies your maintenance work by more than just the number of blogs you have. A network-wide change, even in the most streamlined content management system, still means you will have to make the change X amount of times. For 15 blogs, we have to upgrade WordPress 15 times each time they roll out a new version. If you have been able to maintain your own blog until now, FORGET about being able to do that for your network, unless you have someone else to run the business for you.

Get ready to chase the page views

I have pounded it into my readers’ heads that they must diversify their income - and that couldn’t be more true with a blog network. But by nature, a blog network is built to make money off of the traffic and page views - and there’s a reason that the term “Page View Slave” has been coined. Chasing page views is a never-ending battle. And what gets you to 100K page views a month will not get you to 500K page views a month.

If I haven’t scared you off yet, and you still are considering starting a blog network, I suggest you read b5media founder Jeremy Wright’s (very long and thorough post) on A Whole Lotta Thoughts On Blog Network Success.

Also, Easton Ellsworth and I are teaching a 1 1/2 hour SparkplugU class this Friday on an Introduction to Starting a Blog Network. For less than $20, it will help you figure out if you are ready to take on the challenge (and reap the rewards!) of launching a network, and help you put a plan of action together to get started.