Should you start another blog?

I’ve been toying with the idea of starting a second personal blog. I’ve been writing my first blog for a little over five years now. I’ve got a nice core of regular readers and a fair amount of foot traffic from the outside world; everything seems pretty settled. However, my recent attempts to theme the blog have failed miserably. I keep writing posts about my life instead of sticking to my theme. For those of you in the same boat, I’ve created a checklist to help you determine whether you’re ready to expand into a second blog. (Or a third, fourth, fifth – you serial bloggers are not exempt!)

1. How often do you post?

Are you posting multiple times a day, or at least multiple times a week? Is your posting schedule regular, or do you go weeks without posting at all? You’ll need to have consistent inspiration to maintain two blogs. Ideally, you’ll post at least once a day on each blog. At the very least, you should post once a week on each.

2. How often do you post on your theme?

You’re dedicating your new blog to a single subject. To ensure your blog doesn’t sputter and die right out of the gate, consider whether you’ll have enough material to fill it. How often do you think about this subject? Can it be expanded to allow for more material? For example, I wanted to start a second blog devoted to reviews of the books I read. I do read a few books a week, but I don’t always have something to say. I’d probably want to expand this blog to include posts on writing, on other book reviews I find on the web, and so on.

If you’re worried about filling the blog, you can try writing a few sample posts just for yourself, or posting them on your regular blog. Are they a struggle to write, or are you filled with ideas for more posts?

Remember, you can always bring in friends to help with your theme. Not a lot of people can help you write a blog about your life, but I’ll bet you know a ton of folks who share your love of shoe shopping or cat racing or whatever your chosen subject is.

3. How will a second blog help you?

With multiple blogs, you’re obviously committing to an increase in your blogging hours. What are you going to get in exchange for your time? Will this blog make you happy? More to the point for many of us, will this blog make you money? For me, writing about books means I can partner with Amazon Associates to earn money when someone buys books from links on my page. I may be able to partner with small publishers and independent book sellers as well. In addition to all this, having an extra blog on my resume – provided it’s regularly updated – can help me get more professional blogging gigs. Consider what you want from a second blog, and then ask yourself whether you’re likely to get it.