How to Manage Multiple Blogs Without Burning Out

I’m guilty of getting caught in the cycle of “start new blog > get excited > do nothing > wonder what to do when it’s time to renew the domain > get excited again” so I know what it feels like when you get the itch to start a second blog or even considering how to manage multiple blogs to keep things nice and organized. Needless to say, shiny object syndrome can hit at any time and turn that “huh” idea into a “huh, maybe I DO have too much free time”

But what should you do when a new passion comes into play while already running a successful blog? Should you branch your old blog out by making it a multi-niche blog, or is it better to start clean and create a completely separate blog from the one you’ve got going now? Let’s discuss!

Should You Have a Multi-Niche Blog or Start a Second Blog?

Deciding whether to keep your older blog as a super-niched blog or branch out to another site depends on a few factors. The two main things you need to keep in mind are SEO and your ability to stay on top of things. Let me break it down a little for you:

1. How much do you care about Google? Google’s stance on content changes all the time, so it’s tough to nail down whether or not you’ll be dinged for creating new categories later on. That said, currently, Google’s algorithm is dumb and wants to use as little effort as possible. If you’ve written mostly about pets in the past, then Google thinks you’re a pet blogger and will rank you higher for pet-related searches. However, if you start adding beauty articles, then Google doesn’t know what to think but (again, currently in 2022) might decide you’re not the prolific pet blogger they thought and will move you down the list.

2. How organized are you? If you’re a seasoned blogger then you know all the work that comes along with running a single successful blog. Now let’s double that AND start from the bottom with SEO and social media rankings. Running multiple WordPress blogs (or whatever different blogging platform you use) requires an insane amount of organization to ensure both are kept consistent and make the search engines happy so that they’ll send you traffic.

In my opinion, it’s best to silo your content across multiple new blogs and keep yourself as organized as possible to stay consistent. My main reason is this:

Each blog has niched topics that cater to a specific demographic. Do home decor junkies want to read about SEO tactics? Probably not. Conversely, entrepreneurs looking for social media marketing tips probably aren’t interested in reading about the latest copper sinks live on Amazon, you know?

That said, if your demographic would enjoy the content and see the value of these new topics, then I’d say keep everything on the same blog. Google/Bing/DuckDuckGo/whatever will ding you a little, but you’ll be able to compensate for that by having a loyal fanbase that loves your content and will help promote it across social media.

Oh, one more thing: If you do decide to keep all content on one blog, I’d recommend revamping your strategy for Pinterest to accommodate the new topics. Running a fitness blog most likely means you’ve got a lot of pin boards that are related to fitness, right? So launching posts about skincare without updating your Pinterest content will make things a little wonky in Pinterest’s algorithm. If you want to use Pinterest to help rebalance the traffic lost from Google’s lazy algorithm, you need to put some effort towards ensuring Pinterest can deliver.

Tips for How to Manage Multiple Blogs Without Burning Out

I currently have four blogs going now (I know, right? My blood is permanently caffeinated.) so I know a thing or two about how to do this successfully. Here are some blogging tips I’ve learned to help streamline the process for multiple blog management:

Set yourself and your blogs up for success.

What I do when I want to create brand new blogs is to first sit down and create a strategy matrix. Doing this first creates a path for me and lets me really flesh out whether or not I’ve got something worth pursuing. My matrix isn’t anything fancy but is more like a one-page quick reference guide. It covers:

1. Who I want to target (roughly)
2. What content categories do I want to write about
3. A few ideas for low-effort posts for the days when I don’t feel like it (link roundups and such)
4. A preliminary schedule for my posts. This evolves over time, but I make it a point to at least have some set idea of how many posts per week I want to shoot for.
5. A few ideas for monetizing. I wouldn’t recommend thinking too heavily about how to monetize your blog because there’s just no traffic there yet. However, I like to brainstorm this ahead of time because it gives me an opportunity to look at what’s out there in affiliate partnerships and what trending topics seem to do well in this new niche I’m entering.

Get Tools That Help You Manage Your Blogs and Keep It Stupidly Simple

As you may be aware, I am an app NERD and am a big fan of utilizing tools that can streamline the process of running my main blogs easily. I look for tools that are essentially funnels, so my multiple blogs can all filter down into one app and achieve the same result. Here are the biggest ones I use:

1. MissingLettr – Hook up your RSS feed to it and it’ll generate a year’s worth of social media posts for each blog post.
2. SquirrlySEO – This is a built-in SEO app for WordPress that’s similar to Yoast. I moved from Yoast to Squirrly because I really liked their tracking capabilities and actionable guides for optimizing every blog post.
3. WP 301 redirect – I got this to replace two other plugins (Broken Link Checker and Pretty Links) and LOVE LOVE LOVE it. The primary reasons I use it are to help me keep track of affiliate products that get discontinued, images that go missing, and errors in my links, as well as the customizer link shortener that I love for affiliate URLs and for my own other sites. A quick tip: If you use an app but they don’t have an affiliate program just yet, set up a custom link anyhow (so meganbrame.com/affiliate goes to affiliate.com) because if they ever DO release an affiliate program, all you’ll need to do is update the one link and not go through dozens of blog posts looking for those old mentions.
4. RelayThat – RelayThat “remixes” images quickly which make things super-easy when it comes to creating featured and social media images that match. So my pin for this blog post will be similar to the featured image but in a more Pinterest-friendly format.
5. HappyScribe – I don’t use this as often as I’d like, mostly because of anxiety (more on that soon) but HappyScribe will auto transcribe any audio I send it. If I decide to dictate a blog post on my phone, I can send that file to HappyScribe for instant blog post transcription action. However, like I said I don’t use it often because trying to dictate my thoughts in a coherent way that isn’t just rambling is a skill I’m still trying to learn (hence: anxiety)
6. WordPress – Here is the “keep it stupidly simple” part. Do you want to know how to manage multiple blogs the easiest way possible? Make them all the same! Switching from WordPress to Blogger or Squarespace for your newer blog might not feel like a big deal, but it’s a little micro-decision that increases your workload ever so slightly. When you’re trying to juggle multiple blogs, believe me every little micro-decision adds up. Stick to the same blogging platform for each blog to keep your mental load low.
7. Bonus: Make sure your host allows for multiple websites. I use GreenGeeks because they don’t have a limit on how many domains I can add to my account which means any random new blog I want to start is easy to do. Before getting all this work done, make sure that you’re using a web host that will actually let you host more than your current blog on their servers.

I’ve also got a list of my eight favorite places to find free blogging goodies here.

Frontload All Your Blog Content As Much as Possible

There are going to be times you’re too overwhelmed, sick, on vacation, whatever, that cause your posting schedule to slip. Since consistency is the #1 thing that ensures your blog is successful, you need to make that the priority. What I like to do is create a few weeks’ worth of content at a time and then schedule it out for each blog.

My energy levels (unless I have my Adderall) aren’t unlimited so I can’t create, like, four new posts for each blog at the same time so don’t think I’m sitting around all day writing for myself. I’ll work on each blog in spurts and this really helps me keep down the feelings of overwhelm and burnout. And since I have multiple blog posts pre-written and ready to go, it’s rare that I slip up on getting regular content out. 

Make It Easy to Create Content

I carry around a small journal that has four half-sized post-its with each post-it being a different color. These stickies are my “tabs” for the journal that allow me to quickly get to my list of topics for each blog. Whenever I have an idea for a post, I flip to the right tab and write it down. When that page gets full, I just move the post-it onto a new page and continue the process. 

I don’t recommend relying on your memory when the Muse strikes, so make it easy to keep a record of blog topics you want to write about. You can create a note on your phone, email yourself, keep a list in your bullet journal, or be old school like me and physically write it down in a notebook.

Above All, Take It Easy

Success isn’t going to come quickly and your routine will stumble here and there; it happens. If you stay the course and learn how to manage multiple blogs in a way that fits with your life, you’ll be much more likely to get into a groove that both creates amazing, niched content and gives you new chances at creating engaged audiences that support your creativity. Good luck!