Category Archives: Blog Network Tips

My Failed Blog Network

Early on in my blogging career, I was planning on starting my own blog network. I thought that I knew better, and could do much the same as what Darren Rowse had done by making some niche sites, and writing on them. I was so naive that I thought I could turn a profit on the sites in less than half a year.

I named the network Digital Life News. I set up a bunch of blogs under different sub-domains all with the same main design. I was planning on targeting the Canadian market, a group that hadn’t seen much attention in the blogging world, and I thought I had what it takes. I was quickly proven wrong. I had ideas, a great domain and passion, so what was missing?

Patience

It seems like such an easy thing, but I didn’t think about the long term, and I didn’t have the patience and really the persistence to make something like this work.

Had I really sat down, and thought about each step of the process in greater detail, I would have seen that it could take me a year, maybe more before the network was making more than the cost of hosting the sites, and even then it might take a long time before the network was recognized in the community as worthy of attention. I would have also seen that I should have focused on a few niches, rather than casting a wide net.

Help

I was planning on doing it alone, and as I mentioned before in Starting a Blog Network, no one is an expert at every skill that starting and managing a blog network requires.

I couldn’t write on all the niches I had planned, at least not at the quality level that would help grow the network. I wasn’t very good at monetization nor at managing others. I actually hired a friend of mine that was tech savvy at one point, but I couldn’t pay him enough, nor was he really interested in writing about the news and information that he found, and thus, he stopped after only a month or two.

I should have found great people that were interested in blogging to help me, which leads me to my next two points.

Networking

I didn’t really know anyone in the blogging community. I knew Darren, and a few others, but I wasn’t constantly talking with them, nor was I someone they came to talk to. I didn’t have anyone that could help me get the word out about what I was doing, and without being able to properly network, I could tell early on, that I was quickly losing momentum.

I have learned this skill more and more over the last two years, but I am still no expert. I shift between being someone that likes to stay quiet by myself, to wanting to be the center of attention. This has been something I have always struggled with.

I knew people that were amazing at networking, and I should have found ways to network with them. They could have passed around my name, and what I was doing, making my network much more of a success.

Money

One thing that some networks need is seed money. It was something my blog network needed badly as more than anything else, I needed money to hire writers to create content. I also needed money to create buzz through contests, or advertising on other sites. All of the things I needed to bring my network to the masses required money, and that was something I didn’t have.

Had I more friends interested in writing, or maybe more of a celebrity clout, I could have forgone the money required on writers for the starting phase, and if I had better networking skills, I could have maybe secured some advertising or items to run a contest from other sites or businesses, but alas that wasn’t the case.

Closed Up Shop

So after a few months of running it, and doing the best I could, I closed Digital Life News, as a blog network. I currently use the name as my business name. I learned a lot through the process, and found out that I belonged more as someone one or two steps from the top of the blog network hierarchy, rather than top dog.

I still believe that anyone can start a blog network, and I think that most can be successful at it, but if you don’t have the proper skills, talents, or friends, then you better have the money to find people that do.

Hopefully, a few of tidbits from my experience will help you avoid your blog network failing.

Originally posted on July 22, 2007 @ 10:42 pm

Starting a Blog Network

4 Replies

What is a Blog Network?

A blog network is just as it sounds, you take multiple blogs and join them together under one main brand. There are currently dozens, if not hundreds of blog networks currently active in the world. Two of the more popular and well trafficked ones include Weblogs Inc and Gawker.

Why start a Blog Network?

Blog networks have advantages that lone blogs don’t have, including support, sharing traffic, and sometimes strong branding. From what I have seen, most of the major sites in the blogging world either start out in a network, or are acquired by one, and there is a very strong reason for this: there is safety in numbers.

Another reason that starting a blog network has become so popular over the last few years is revenue. With companies like b5media getting seven figure venture capital, it makes everyone raise an eyebrow. Honestly though, if you focus on the dollar signs, you most likely won’t make it to the level you want to be at, and this is where nine out of ten blog networks fail.

Little do you know…

Little do you know, creating a blog network can take much more time and money than you probably think. If you are a blogger, or even a problogger for another network, thinking about starting your own blog network, there are some things you might want to think about.

Things like:

It takes time to create a brand. Many blog networks have failed to account for the long months, if not years that it takes to make money from blogging, and they run out of steam.

A one man army is not going to cut it. If you think you are going to go it alone, you might be in for a surprise. Are you an expert in advertising, search engine optimization, branding, server administration, and of course whatever software you will want to use to both manage the network, and publish your content? There are very few people that are competent in all aspects that it takes to really make a blog network last, and do well. This means that you will need to find others to fill in the gaps, and that can be both costly and time consuming.

Getting big is expensive. Unless you know someone with deep pockets, or have deep pockets yourself, setting up a blog network is not a cheap proposition. Be prepared to put a fair bit of money into the venture. This is the one area that catches most people starting out by surprise. You can get cheap hosting, cheap domains, cheap writers, coders and designers, but then you will just have a cheap network, and nine times out of ten, that will lead to you not getting noticed.

One person takes an hour to manage, but two people take four hours to manage. Before the recent project that Bloggy Network put me on, I assumed that managing would actually be easier and take less time than writing on blogs, converting templates into WordPress themes, and helping manage all of our WordPress installations, but I was severely wrong, and with more people, the work load increases exponentially.

Is it worth it?

Now you are probably wondering if it is still worth it to create a blog network, and really that was why I wrote this article. I wanted to make sure you thought about these points before diving in head first.

Is it worth it to start a blog network? Well, that all depends on you, and how well you understand your limitations. The benefits of a strong blog network are easy to see though, just check out the traffic and revenue statistics of some of the networks I have listed in this post.

Originally posted on July 19, 2007 @ 4:49 pm

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