2nd blog vs. staff writing | Bloggers Lair | Yakezie Forums

I think it really depends on what you are looking for. There are benefits to both…

Going with a second blog may be slower at first, but there is a lot more growth potential with that option. Also, you have to consider if you would have a problem with "tempering" your voice, if necessary, if you are a staff writer. If you have another site, you can build up two different reader bases – which may serve well in the future.

My own experiences with staff writing – I used to write for 4 sites – maybe different than some, because I wrote for four amazing site owners. I learned a lot about managing reader relationships, SEO, consistency, and even the technical aspects of running a site. Also, they actually allowed me to be quite liberal with the use of backlinks (as long as I also linked to their articles), and it game me a chance to introduce my writing to a much larger audience.

It took a lot of time – about 4 to 5 hours per article, because I tried to give each site my best every time I wrote a staff article. I even did a lot keyword research and on-page SEO. I say that just to demonstrate that staff writing can take as much time as running a site, depending on how you do it.

Depending on how many extra, quality articles you think you can write each week, you may want to start a 2nd site, and then write one guest post each week for a different site.

I have not been blogging for that long–only since June–so my blog really does not make me a lot of money. However, I didn't start my blog with the desire for it to be profitable. I started it as an outlet for writing about what's on my mind (and, if you read my blog, what's on my mind varies wildly) and because it was a way for me to talk about money, which I like to do. I love the freedom and control I have with my blog, and I write in a similar manner to what Money Beagle mentioned. 

I am a staff writer for a few sites and I do enjoy it. But that's because I really like writing. The schedule doesn't bother me (I also write for amazing people who are beyond flexible). I'm also working on building a site with some other bloggers, and I'm really excited about that. Again, we're not necessarily doing it for the money. We're doing it as another creative outlet that we hope, maybe, will bring in a few dollars. I believe that if you start blogging for solely or primarily financial reasons, or you shift your focus to primarily monetization, you are going to burn out and become dissatisfied very quickly. I'm not saying don't try to earn money; I'm just saying write what you want, build your site how you want it, and let the money be a secondary thought. 

If you truly can't decide, you can try to do both. If you want to staff write for a site and have a second blog, go for it. See how it works for you and your schedule. You can always stop if it gets to be too much.

retireby40 said:

I was wondering when you were going to cut down on the staff writing.

It seems like there are better way to spend your time now that you have a full fledged business going.

 

Budgeting in the Fun Stuff said:

My suggestion would be to throw yourself into what you like.  I liked writing the most, so I had my blogs and 11 staff writing positions, BUT I then started my advertising business and liked it even more.  Now, I have cut back to just handling daily posts on BFS and one post a week for How I Make Money Blogging.  I also only have two weekly staff writing positions now, but my ad business has more than 100 client sites to handle. 

Priorities and likes shift, so I'd always concentrate on your own personal wants and goals.  In my opinion, you make the most money by doing what you love – mainly because you generally start slacking off on the stuff that doesn't move you.

But from a pure financial perspective, a regularly updated blog makes more than staff writing for me. When I did have 11 gigs, I was bringing in about $1000 a month from staff writing.  I bring in about $300-$400 from each of my co-owned sites (3 total now and growing), another $300-$400 a month from my secondary sites like HIMMB, and $2000-$3000 a month from BFS.

Anyway, good luck with your decision!

Yeah, I had to start reevaluating my time.  But now I have started getting my first haters now that my ad business is a success and it scares the crud out of me that I don't have many other income streams anymore.  Oh well, I knew that starting my own business and being open about my income would create competition.  I just didn't realize that people I had been talking with for the last 2 years would start bad mouthing me now that my business is successful.    It's been a really tough weekend and I need to grow a thicker skin.

Forest Parks said:

How could anyone bad mouth you! Ignore them, not worth wasting your brain power on them.

Thank you Forest.  I know you're right - I actually wrote a post on HIMMB about using this to fuel success, but it's still a downer and I never had thick enough skin for haters (ask my friends and family, lol).  I just posted asking if I should stop publishing my updates since they seemed to fuel the current fire.  I figure that 75% of my non-search engine readers are here, so I'd get the opinions directly.

20sFinances said:

Thanks everyone for the input – this is valuable information and has helped me to come to a decision. More details to come in the next few months.

 

@Crystal, you already know how I feel about haters and how inspirational your reports are. Good luck with your decision.

Thanks and sorry the thread went off course!  You know I think that staff writing is a great, stable income source and that blogs will make you more overall in the long term. 

Starting a second blog when you're new to blogging is a bad, bad idea.  It takes a lot of time to build a blog to where it will make you decent income. Plus consistently posting on TWO blogs, monitoring comments, building links, growing traffic, etc.

Double the work + Double the effort does not = Double the money