When Is It Time to Give Your Blog A Makeover?

When Is It Time ToGive A MakeoverTo answer this question in a few words, I would say, when you’ve become tired of your old theme or when it has become a real necessity for your business and online presence.

Yes, you’ve guessed it, time has come for me to give a serious makeover to my blog, but more than that, I’m thinking of merging l my three blogs in one.

In this post I’m going to not only tell you what I want to do and why I want to do it, but I feel that it could really help you learn how important it is to purchase products and services from someone you know and trust for the long run of your blogging career.

So, read away…

Why do I Want to Give a Makeover to my Blog?

1 – First of all I feel that my blogs are stuck in a rut. My time being limited as it is I don’t have enough of it to truly take each blog to the next level, because everything I do is multiplied by three, and it’s just too darn much.

Each blog has to be promoted on three different social media platforms as if I were three people, but it’s really just me and it’s tough to handle it all.

2 – I want to have a blog with a home page that is apart from the blog itself, and this is a good time if ever to do this.

My home page which would be found at SylvianeNuccio.com will be introducing my business/me/my brand, and my blogs which would be under three different categories.

3 – Promoting my blog posts will be much, much easier as they all will be under the same domain. Right now, my France/Travel blog is not even promoted on platforms such as Triberr (for example) because you can’t even add a third blog there unless you pay for it, and that’s only one example.

Bottom line, I’m struggling way too much with three blogs on three different domains.  Three themes, three sets of plugins, and three times the work each week. It’s just way more than I can handle right now.

My Blog will Fully Represent who am and what I do

I understand that many people promote the fact that we should concentrate on one niche only, yet there are many successful bloggers that have a multiple niche blog.

While I was doing my research about the question, I found a post by Leo Babauta the creator of a very successful blog named Zen Habits, and here is what he’s saying…

One of the most common pieces of advice for bloggers is to find a niche that you can dominate — the smaller the niche, the better, because all of the bigger niches are already dominated by bigger blogs.

This advice is fine if you’re trying to sell a product to a specific group of potential customers, but if you’re trying to grow a blog with as big a readership as possible, I think niche blogging is dead wrong.

Instead, go for as wide an audience as possible — but find something that will differentiate yourself from others. That’s how you can tap into the biggest possible readership.

That’s heresy in many blogging circles, but at the risk of not sounding humble, I’ve proven it true with my other blog, Zen Habits. I grew Zen Habits from nothing to more than 100,000 subscribers in two years, in part because I used this principle.

While there are many other blogs out there who started around the time I started, or before, I quickly surpassed their (impressive) subscriber numbers because I didn’t limit my potential readership.

The other blogs grew quickly but soon hit a sort of plateau, because of one of two reasons:

  1. They limited themselves to a smaller niche, and thus limited their potential readership. Once they had most of the potential readers in this niche, growth slowed; or
  2. They didn’t differentiate themselves from the crowd. They were one of many other blogs, writing about the same things with the same angles.

These are both fatal mistakes if you want as big a readership as possible.

I feel that as long as my blogs stay where they are right now, I cannot even compete with other folks that have more time and more money than I do to promote themselves far and wide.

Here is a concrete example…

Back in late 2008 I came up with the keyword domain name ‘UnderstandingYourSubconsciousMind.com’. Back then I totally dominated Google (I was on first page all the way) with that keyword phrase.  All the results with that key phrase were mine. These were the good days.

But since then, not only I don’t dominate at all anymore with my own domain name, which was the first, but Google ranks all kind of sites with that keyword, except for mine. The sad truth is that my blog simply doesn’t rank whatsoever.  I’ve asked several knowledgeable people about what they think it’s happening with that blog and why it doesn’t rank, but I’ve never got an answer that could help me fix this.

So, in the case of that particular blog alone, I’m stuck, and it’s a very important one.

I feel that with all my three blogs under the same roof, my blog is bound to get stronger, as the creator of Zen Habits describes it.

Instead of having a blog with only one update a week, I’ll have a blog with three updates a week, and that alone is a dang outrageous benefit. Plus I will get rid of the domain that Google refuses to rank.

Two Different Types of Feedback

Last week, as I continued to research about my strategy, I got two different types of inputs on this topic from two people I admire.

One from my good friend, and successful blogger, Adrienne Smith who suggested that this would be a big mistake and that I will confuse people who need my services.

She also reminded me that Google doesn’t favor multiple niche blogs.

The other person I approached is Kumar Gauraw who is also a blogger friend and a personal branding expert. He has a blog with different topics and writes from leadership, technology to WordPress and sometimes, also some inspirational posts.

Kumar suggests that it all depends on what my business goals are and that I should base my decision on my professional goals. He said that Google and readers will see what I show them and they will connect with me the way I want them to connect.

He gave me examples of some well-known blogs where multiple subject areas are covered and the blogs are really doing well.

As you can see both types feedback are totally opposite, and I value them both as they are coming from two people I trust.

I want to specify, by the way, that I do have a vision of what I want, and I really feel that it could work out great.

Other Lessons I’ve Learned

As I’ve discussed in another post about a year ago, I have plenty of regrets for having purchase the BlogSkin/Thesis theme that you see on this blog today, not because I don’t like the theme, I do, but because the creator of this theme turned out to be the most non-customer service friendly person I’ve ever had to deal with, which left me pretty much with no technical help desk for anything related to the theme of my blog.

While I have talents in other areas, technical stuff is definitely NOT one of them. I don’t like it, I’m not interested in it, and I don’t want to learn about it either. I’m way busy enough as it is. We weren’t put on the earth to do it all. We were put on this earth to do what we’re good at, right?

So, not only I don’t have any help for theme updates, but if I want to change anything on the theme, I simply can’t do it either. A recent example is when I wanted to have an opt-in box in my header. It never happened, because of this very reason.

My Advice to You

My advice to you if you are in a market for a new theme for your blog (or anything else) is to hire someone you already know and trust.  You know that famous “know and trust thing?” Well, it’s really true, because if you don’t know and trust people you’re hiring you have a 50/50 percent chance that it will work for you. In my case, it didn’t.

When I purchased my BlogSkin/Thesis theme I didn’t know the guy, and at first he seemed to be OK, but that changed over time. I guess he revealed his true colors, or he simply wasn’t interested in my business anymore.  Either way, I think that could have been avoided if ONLY I had known the person I was purchasing a product from.

Hiring Someone I Know and Trust for the Job

About a year or so ago I’ve met Kumar Gauraw, through a Facebook group we both belong to, and since then I’ve come to know that he’s the right person to hire for blog theme/settings and even hosting.

It’s very important for me to know – especially after such a negative experience – that I’ll be hiring someone who will stand behind his services and product, and that I can contact easily as opposed to what I’ve experienced with the BlogSkin guy.

Customer service is as important if not more important than getting you new product or service delivered, because it will determine how long you are going to stay with the product.

So, as soon as I’m ready for that new theme, I’ll get Kumar’s services for the job.

Do me a Favor

So, while I hope you’ve learned something for yourself with this post, I would love to hear your feedback about what you think of my blogs merging together, and whatever you might want to add.  You’re expertise is valued.
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48 thoughts on “When Is It Time to Give Your Blog A Makeover?”

  1. Hi Sylviane,

    Very good decision to merge your blogs…and I think you already knew I would vouch for this, didn’t you? 🙂

    I liked what Leo had to say on this, and while Adrienne and Kumar, both are right in their views, my personal experience is what I have gone through and I know it has worked for me. You already know I had a blog for freelance writers too when I started blogging 3 years back, but managing both was tough so I put one on hold and did up this one. Moreover, I started adding categories one after the other, though gradually, so my readers were ready for it.

    Yes, the more often your blog is updated, the better you rank as Google loves fresh content, so it would make more sense to have them under one roof and put up 3 posts in one place than once weekly on all three. I was doing that earlier on both my blogs, but the progress isn’t there – you don’t really rise, though you get your comments and readers, so depends on what you are looking for.

    What I did was conducted a survey, which I think you participated in also, and when I increased my categories on my blog and added blogging, writing, and a few others, was after I heard my readers wanted to read those posts on my blog. So, that is another good idea, to have a survey to take the feedback from people, though I feel they would all be ready for merging – it brings in lots of readers as it widens your horizon. Niche blogs have that limitation I feel….just my two cents. 🙂

    Thanks for sharing. Have a nice week ahead 🙂
    Harleena Singh invites you to read..Is Link Building Necessary To Rank High In The SERPsMy Profile

    1. Hi Harleena,

      Well, let me tell you, you certainly were in my mind when I was thinking of doing this. I’ve observed your blog long enough to see that all your posts are doing great on your blog, whether that be about family, personal development or blogging. And I know that you’ve merged your writing blog that was independent of your main blog before.

      For the life of me I can’t bring my blogs to the next level, so I know I’ve got to do something.

      Adrienne reminded me of not fixing something that is not broken, which I agree, but I would say that my personal development IS broken as I explained in the post. And this one here, could do better still.

      All in all with what I’ve read and heard so far, I don’t think that it would be a bad idea, but I have to see more feedback. But in the end, I will know for sure when I do it. However, considering the circumstances of my blogs I don’t think I can go wrong with merging.

      Thank you for your valuable comment and feedback.

      1. Yes, I’ve so far only progressed with time and the little changes I keep making to my blog, including the recent community and forum. Thanks to my awesome readers, they just love the change, and if they don’t and tell me about it, I do the best to make it as per what they want, keeping my main aim in mind to them comfortable and happy when they visit the blog.

        I didn’t merge my writing blog, nor have I yet taken any blog posts from there when I started the writing niche her. I preferred to write fresh content, and you know, we writers don’t have a problem where writing is concerned, isn’t it?

        I also think that with your name as the domain name, you can easily add the three categories you want and perhaps even more with time. I changed mine recently and if need be, I might change them further, anything works as long as it works for you and your readers I would say. I don’t know about the search engines….I think they love what you share as you write unique posts and those that help people too. So, I would always say go for it and ease your life out a little 🙂
        Harleena Singh invites you to read..Amazing Community Features and Giveaway at Aha!NOWMy Profile

        1. Oh, OK. I thought you had merged your writing blog, but in any case, you’ve added the writing/blogging topics on your main blog,

          Yes, anything that would simplify my life while benefiting me at the same time can’t be that bad. I know this will do that for me. I know one thing, Google can’t ignore my personal development blog more than they do now LOL!

  2. Hi Sylviane,
    hot topic as I recently changed theme and framework on my main blog too.
    I’ve installed Genesis and tweaked a child theme.
    It looks now more professional than the one from Theme-Junkie.
    What do you think? 🙂

    As per your question,
    my suggestion is to merge all your blogs together and concentrate your efforts in one place.
    The reason of my opinion is linked to your limited time in managing multiple blogs.

    You know, there are prons and cons of having more than one website.
    In a few words, if you don’t have the time to dedicate the proper efforts to each of your properties, they really can’t lead you nowhere.

    I hope to have you helped a bit in your decision.
    Have an awesome week! 🙂
    Erik Emanuelli invites you to read..How to Use Twitter Cards to Improve Your Visibility and Social Media AudienceMy Profile

    1. Hi Erik and thank you for your feedback.

      Yes, I agree, when you don’t have the time to put all your efforts in something it won’t go anywhere, so the need for me to merge, because it’s not the writing that’s bothering so much, but the promoting. I know it will be so, so much easier to promote my post under one roof. No doubt about that!

      Frankly, in my particular case, I don’t think that I have anything to lose, as things are not where I want them to be right now.

      I will definitely check your new theme, Erik, and let you know what I think.

      Thanks for your input here.

  3. Hi Sylviane,

    Just as an opinion I don’t believe in not fixing something that isn’t broken. If Steve Jobs thought that, the world wouldn’t have ever seen smartphones we see in everybody’s hands today!

    Innovation comes from breaking out of the comfort zone and taking risk, doing something different, something exciting.

    Don’t you think it will be so much fun when your audience can see all three different aspects of your writing at one place and they can relate to you better?

    Plus, Google loves fresh content as Harleena says. I would vote for making a strategic move to merge them in such a way that it will benefit you rather than trying to hurt your brand name in anyway.

    Anyways, it is a goo discussion. Good luck with your survey and I will be honored to help you anyway I could. Thank you for the opportunity to serve.

    Regards
    Kumar
    Kumar Gauraw invites you to read..Why I Switched From Aweber To GetResponse For My Email MarketingMy Profile

    1. Hi Kumar,

      You are undeniably right. All movers and shakers of this world , have in one way or another tried to fix things that weren’t broken, and that’s why we don’t live like we used to in the middle age. Plus, in my case, I really thing that something is actually broken, and can use some fixing.

      Hey, I’m not going to say for sure what will be the results of this, but I do know that I have a vision and I know what I want to do. I want my readers and potential clients to more fully know who I am and what I do. As for the potential clients for my writing services, they’ll be better able to see what type of different topic and genres I’m writing about on a regular basis.

      And in any case, I don’t want to continue with 3 blogs at this point, but I don’t want to just trash years of blogging either. I do value my blogs, you know.

      Thank you for your input, Kumar, and have a great day.

  4. Hi Sylviane,

    I’m surprised to see that so many marketers (!) recommend that you merge the blogs. It may look strange (or funny, whatever) that I support Adrienne’s view (some ppl may know what I’m referring to), but the fact is that I agree or disagree with ideas, not with persons 🙂

    In this case I fully agree with Adrienne. It’s a big marketing mistake to merge the blogs.

    If someone blogs for their own pleasure, not for business, it’s fine to merge as many blogs and as many topics as possible. Actually everything is fine when you don’t blog for business. You can do whatever you want.

    But if we talk about business, that’s another story. You can merge blogs that are in the same niche. An email marketing blog and a social media marketing blog. Two sub-niches belonging to the same big niche (internet marketing). It may not be the best solution, but I can’t say that it’s wrong – actually one of my blogs is that kind of blog.

    But merging wine, travel, internet marketing, food, etc, wow, that’s a mess. You’re missing cars, fashion, pregnancy, politics and a few other topics and the blog will be “I’m God and I’m talking to all of you, guys”

    Who is your target audience? How are you going to promote that 3-very-different-blogs in one blog?

    I guess you have different mailing lists for each blog. Will you merge them? How will your “subscribe to my list” form look like? Will it be, “Get my free wine guide in exchange to getting internet marketing tips”? Or will it be “Get my 15 easy rules to fire up your writing in exchange of getting my food & wine tips”? 😉

    I’m not going to write a story here, so I’ll stop it.

    It’s hard to run many blogs. I know it. But if you can’t do it anymore, merging the blogs is a bad solution. A better one is to see which one produces the worst results in terms of money, and get rid of it. There are more combinations and solutions, but merging very different blogs… isn’t a good solution.

    Finally, I suggest that you use your common sense, don’t copy what a famous person does unless you have the same skills, the same experience, etc. What I mean is that maybe you’ll find a successful one-man-business-blog that includes very different topics.

    People who are already successful can afford to do many stupid things and sometimes their results will still be fine. Their fame, skills, etc offset the mistakes many times. Just look at Seth Godin’s blog. You’ll see some mistakes all commenters here don’t make. He still gets better results than all of us combined. But we are not Seth 😉
    Adrian Jock invites you to read..Who Else Charges You for Unsubscribes? #EmailMarketingMy Profile

    1. Hi Adrian, and thank you for your feedback.

      Now , I get it that it’s not about agreeing with someone in particular here, but with something here.

      Well, I sure expected that I was going to get the type feedback you’re giving me here, and that’s also why I wanted to write this post. I also don’t think that everyone truly understand what I want to do.

      I’m not God, no, but I’m French, I’m a freelance writer and I’m a certified life coach. We are each more than one thing, and in my case, I happen to know well not one niche, but three. I mean, you could be an actor, painter and writer. You could know about plumbing, wood working and gardening as well. My mother was a tailor, a cook and a baker, and an expert at all three. Many people on this planet are not expect at only ONE thing, but several.

      Just about every other day, I read blogs that say, be unique! Well, I’m pretty unique, but whomever knows only one of my blogs would not even know that, would they? I don’t think that it serves me one bit. Plus all my blog are related in at least ONE thing. They each show my writing skill.

      Now, as for my lists, each blog offers a different eBook, and that doesn’t have to change. I still won’t offer my wine guide on my writing blog or my personal development eBook in my travel blog. There shouldn’t be any confusion there.

      Like I said, there will be a home page, and the home page will explain things well.

      Anyways, thank you for sharing this with me. I will consider all pros and cons. Very much appreciated.

      1. Sylviane, I’m not sure that I made myself understood.

        Many people have many different skills. But it doesn’t mean that it’s OK to display in a Mercedes showroom also some shoes, some books for moms, etc, even if the store owner is also a skilled shoemaker and writer.

        Marketing isn’t about the marketer, but about the audience. Forget about “I”. Consider the “You”.

        If I subscribe to an internet marketing blog feed and I get a cookie recipe, I’ll unsubscribe quickly. Even if you’re a wonderful cook. I’m not interested in cookies. This is about ME (the audience) not about YOU (the marketer).

        The more very different topics you have on your blog, the more people will be unhappy. It’s hard to find many people interested at the same time in all your different topics.

        There are internet marketers out there, right? How many IMers are interested in French food tips? Not all of them. The audience decreases. From the remaining audience how many IMers are also interested in getting travel tips? Not all of them. The audience decreases even more. And so on. The more very different topics, the less prospects. It’s not about you, but about them.

        Being unique doesn’t refer to how many different skills you have. Today you’ll teach the readers French (I know French, I don’t need the lessons), tomorrow SEO (I might be interested in what’s new) and after tomorrow you’ll teach them how to be a good mom (no thanks ;)) Well, that’s unique, but the tip referred by you doesn’t refer to that kind of being unique. It refers to not being a copycat, not repeating the same ideas tons of other people already bombarded everyone with, etc.

        You see, you want to merge the blogs but you don’t want to merge the lists. Why? It’s the same thing. It’s the same you, who has many different skills. While you’ve noticed that it’s bad to merge the lists, you didn’t notice the same for the blogs. It’s the same thing, Sylviane 😉

        You don’t want to merge the lists because you’ve guessed that the audience for each list is different. Well, it’s the same thing for the blogs. It’s about the audience, not about you.

        You cannot succeed if the only person you focus on is you. Focus on your audience. When you focus on your audience, you focus on yourself too, but indirectly. You help yourself by helping them and making them happy. Don’t lie to yourself and believe that you help a guy having his car broken by offering him a cookie recipe.

        Well, I finished. Not trying to force you (or the others) to agree with me. I can’t do that anyway 🙂

        Have a great week ahead, Sylviane!
        Adrian Jock invites you to read..Who Else Charges You for Unsubscribes? #EmailMarketingMy Profile

        1. Hi Adrian,

          Well, at least this post has brought each other closer, hasn’t it? 🙂

          OK, I’m sold. I think you’re right. I’m not stupid and I get this. Plus I’ve been online TOO darn long not to know that’s not about “me” but about my audience, indeed.

          Now, I would love to find a way where I could at least kinda link “personal development” with “freelance writing.” Do you think that there could be a middle ground?

          Gosh, I tell you, this is a huge headache for me right now, and I must found a way to define myself better to be of service to my potential clients/readers and to be unique at the same time.

          1. OK, let’s move further… 🙂

            1) Audience that is common to both blogs

            1a) people who comment on your blogs, for one reason or another
            1b) family, friends
            1c) readers, customers or prospects interested in both blogs

            No matter what decision you take, merging blogs or separate blogs, these 3 groups of ppl will still be happy. From the perspective of our topic – “What decision to take” – these 3 groups aren’t important.

            2) Audience for blog A only and audience for blog B only

            If you’re sending to Audience A content relevant to Audience B or vice-versa, you’re making them unhappy because you’re sending to them irrelevant content.

            ***

            I guess that now you know what decision I suggest to take. Don’t merge the blogs unless…

            i) the group 1c) is larger than 2), so the loss isn’t significant [If you ask me, I don’t think that this case i) is true. It’s quite impossible. Simple math.]

            ii) the group 1c) already produces enough money for your business

            iii) you’re ready to gamble and hope that sending irrelevant content (Case 2) won’t make you lose too many prospects.

            I hope my analysis helps you 🙂
            Adrian Jock invites you to read..How to Easily Extend the Reach of Your Affiliate ReviewMy Profile

  5. Hi Sylviane,

    Congrats on letting go 😉 Clarity is a wonderful thing, right? You saw my story; I trashed 3400 blog posts in a split second before I went live with Blogging from Paradise. I just published my 2nd eBook yesterday, and my blog has taken off too, and I never looked back.

    I know you’re a student of the subconscious mind and I think you’re open to law of attraction principles. Here’s my advice to you, as for picking your blog topic/topics: where your attention and energy goes, grows. So, devoting your attention and energy, to one thing, makes that one purpose/intent/niche grow. Devoting it to 3 or 4 niches, slows down your growth.

    Here’s what I did before starting Blogging from Paradise; I looked at the top 20 companies on earth from a net worth perspective. When I thought of each one, 1 word came to mind. Google. Search. Walmart. Retail. Apple. Hardware. They devote all of their creative energies to doing 1 thing well so that 1 thing expands, and they become the best at it.

    If I visited Sylviane’s Nuccio’s blog, and saw 3 or 4 different categories, I’d be confused, and I wouldn’t know what she knows really well, or what I should hire her for. Like, are you a doctor, lawyer, or chef? Offline, it sounds silly, and unrealistic, trying to work 3 professions at once. Online, we reason that it’s OK, based on examples of folks who may have seen some success, but who would do so much better if they became a specialist in 1 thing.

    Chris Brogan – a NY Times Best Selling Author and business advisor to Google, Disney, Richard Branson, Tony Robbins, and Paulo Coelho – endorsed my eBook because he calls me “The Island King” and he knows I’m the “Blogging from Paradise” guy. He feels my clarity, and knows I do 1 thing darn well, so naturally, a famous, world-renowned person, will be wiling to endorse a guy or gal with extreme clarity in their own life.

    Do 1 thing, do it darn well, and you’ll become more successful than you could ever believe.

    Other factors have come into play, but I’ve been interviewed on over 30 blogs in 12 weeks, Chris endorsed me, and I’ve been asked to speak at NYU, all after I decided to blog about 1 thing, 1 niche, and I worked that niche, hardcore. I let go of gifting, personal development, and all that stuff – as you suggested I do – and here I am.

    Doing 1 thing, and doing it well, is smart, because where your attention and energy goes, grows.

    Thanks for sharing Sylviane.

    I look forward to seeing your freelance writing blog soon. You’re a natural, and I feel that may just be your direction 😉

    Ryan
    Ryan Biddulph invites you to read..6 of the Most Stunning Beaches in the World that I’ve Visited (Plus a Vital Blogging Lesson)My Profile

    1. Hi Ryan,

      Wow, your comment is excellent and thank you so much for sharing this. Now you’re last sentence says: “I look forward to seeing your freelance writing blog soon. You’re a natural, and I feel that may just be your direction.” Now, this is my freelance writing blog and if that’s not clear, then something is wrong already 🙂

      Now, I’m also a coach, just as much as I am a freelance writer, so what do I do? I guess I have to find some type of ground where both could fit and I could that “one” person just like you’re the “blogging from paradise” guy.

      Indeed, I did notice how much you soared when you dropped the gifting thing, and I remember when you wrote about cleaning up some 3000+ posts. It was a good move. I have to mediate on all such things myself and try to get more clarity.

      If you can think of any tips for me, my dear friend, I’m all ears. Thanks for your excellent view point. As I said to Adrienne, I’m taking all of you guys comments into great consideration. That’s why I wrote the post.

  6. Hey Sylviane,

    Well you know my thoughts and after reading your post and the comments I still don’t think it’s a good idea.

    You are unique but this has nothing to do with that. Let’s use this as an example.

    I have a blog, AdrienneSmith.net. You come over to my blog and on the home page I’m sharing with you all my different interests; freelance writing, personal development and France. That’s great BUT the majority of people who will find you will do so through your post link and few will follow your domain. Not everyone of course but most of them.

    So I follow a blog post that you wrote about France and I’m thinking, this is pretty cool. I think I’ll go check out what else she’s writing about this yet I find stuff on freelancing and personal development. Totally off topic and for new people a total turn off. It would be for me.

    I don’t agree with what Kumar said about my reply of “if it ain’t broke then don’t fix it”. We aren’t talking Steve Jobs or elaborate product creation here. The opposite to be exact so that phrase most definitely does fit.

    Just because your personal development blog isn’t ranking well has nothing to do with needing to merge them all. You just don’t have the time to put into every single one of them in order to promote them and get them on the first page like you want. That my friend is an issue with the time you have to spend on your blogs.

    I fully 100% stand behind putting way too may eggs in your basket and not many human being can handle three blogs in three different niches and have success with them all. I’ve always been under the impression that you should take the one you enjoy the most and are having the most success with and just stick with that niche. You have way too many interests to have success in these different areas. Once you’ve worked up to where you want to be and only then if you have the time to hopefully hire some help with them, venture into your second niche and build that one up as well.

    I just think you have too much on your plate which is why you aren’t doing well with all of them. I happen to definitely agree with what Adrian had to say too. He’s right!

    Of course that’s just my opinion and you KNOW I’m just looking out for you because I would hate for you to make this mistake and then regret this one too. You’re going to do what you want to do and you have a vision for it. I have a feeling that although you want to hear everyone’s opinions that you’ve already made up your mind. So let me shut up here and just wish you the best of luck.

    ~Adrienne
    Adrienne invites you to read..Sponge Bob Can Help You With Technology OverloadMy Profile

    1. Hi Adrienne,

      No, believe it or not if I receive more donts than dos, I will reconsider my opinion, because I don’t know it all, and it will give me food for thoughts.

      I totally understand your point. I also know that I need to at least keep this one and my personal development blog and I need the later to be at least recognized by Google which it’s NOT at ALL right now. That’s ridiculous. I don’t know what’s wrong with that darn blog, but that’s even beyond the fact that I don’t have enough time to promote it.

      Anyways, don’t think I don’t consider all the replies I’m getting, because I do.

      Thank you so much for it 🙂 and have a great evening.

  7. Sylvaine,

    I can TOTALLY relate to this post. I am currently running four different websites! At first I thought I would connect them, but it seemed that each had its own audience and it made sense at the time to separate them, but I’m right there with you on feeling like there’s always too much work to do.

    I too have thought about merging them, but I currently can’t think of a way of doing that that would make any sense. It seems like you have a vision for how it could work, so I say why not? I think your loyal readers will follow you wherever you go, and that’s what matters, right?

    Best of luck, no matter what you decide.
    Brittany

    1. Hi Brittany,

      Well, I see that you’re in the same situation I am in. The problem is that the more comments I’m getting, the more I feel that it would be a mistake to merge. I have to say that it’s the reason why I wrote this post; I wanted to get some genuine feedback from people who know more than I do. It’s truly a headache, girl 🙂 and I don’t wish this to anyone.

      I think I have to sit down and get some clarity of what I want to do and what is best at the same time. Frankly, I don’t even know why it should be such a problem to have a diverse blog, but it seems that’s a big deal.

      Thank you for coming and for your own input on this.

  8. Thanks Nuccio for this post, in life the only thing that is permanent is change, i am a template changing frick, many people has asked me why i change my bog template at random. I do not like my blog to remain with a template for more than 3 months. I just changed my template about 5 days ago.
    May i use this medium to ask because i know that “F.A.K.E BLOGGERS” (Blog Genius) according to Enstine are here.

    1. Does it have any negative effect to change a blog template at random???
    2. Does it make you a non serious blogger if you change your template at random??

    I need a honest response, i am eagerly waiting.
    Emebu invites you to read..How to find a Good Giveaway for List BuildingMy Profile

    1. Hi Emebu,

      Well, to answer this question I can tell you that changing your theme TOO often can send the message that you don’t know what you’re doing and are still unstable.

      I feel that you should change your theme, only when it’s kind of old and need some refreshing or when it has become a necessity for some valid reasons.

      By the way, Nuccio is my last name 🙂 Sylviane is my first name.

      Thanks for coming by.

  9. Ciao Sylviane,

    I’m constantly changing things on my blog – not the entire theme but large parts of it because I want to keep it visually appealing and prevent sidebar blindness, etc.

    I also use heat map tracking to see where people engage and click on my blog so I know dead or cold spots to spruce up due to low traffic or no traffic/clicks at all. This is based on actual data instead of my gut instinct, and has proved me wrong a few times. I do recommend Crazy Egg if you’re interested.

    I think a blog makeover is one thing, but blog merging is a completely different and more serious decision. It looks like you’ve done your research and made your decision. I certainly wish you all the best with it.

    Having to depend on others for technical things can be frustrating, I’m sure. Yes, going with someone you trust will stand by their work is essential.

    In my opinion you might be able to merge two, but don’t think travel is anything relevant with the other two. You could completely change your strategy on the travel site, and just post something personal about where you grew up every once in a while, but not merge it wholly, because I don’t think it would fit.

    Will be looking forward to the upcoming changes.

    Have a great week. 🙂
    – Carol
    Carol Amato invites you to read..The Importance of Finding Your Unique Voice as a BloggerMy Profile

    1. Hi Carol,

      Well, I’ve done some research, but for the most part it kind of goes against what I want to do, and I think that you’re right, the travel blog won’t fit in there.

      I did write this post to see what type feedback I was going to get and most of them are saying “don’t do it.”

      I haven’t fully made my decision, believe it or not, I think that as Ryan is saying here, I need to get totally CLEAR on what it is I want to concentrate the most on, and go with it. The only problem is that I’m both a freelance writer AND a certified life coach and there are both my businesses. I feel that I need to find a way to “marry” those two so they could complement each other well.

      Thank you for your input and tips. I’ll be checking those tools you mentioned.

  10. Hi Sylviane,

    It’s such an informative post.:)

    You know many bloggers are aware about the design of their blog which is of course an important thing to concern about. Design of any blog matters a lot.

    Building a blog is not any easy task because there are many mistakes you can make while going through the process.

    Like Adrienne has suggested that sticking to your niche is the best thing which can work fine for Google and your readers.
    Multi-niche blog don’t work that much good.

    Hiring anyone to build your website is somehow risky until you trust that particular person.

    Thanks for sharing this wonderful post with us.
    Enjoy rest of the week.:)

    ~Ravi
    Ravi Chahar invites you to read..How To Change Number Of Posts Per Page WordPress According To You?My Profile

    1. Hi Ravi,

      Thank you for giving me your input here. Indeed more people are telling me not to merge than the other way around, so I will hold everything back for now and decide what I need to do to please everyone as well as benefit me.

      Thanks for coming.

  11. Hi Sylviane,

    KUDOS to you!!! If you’re putting that much time, work and energy into three then I think you’re making the right decision.

    I also think you’re making the right decision of integrating a website / blog concept. That’s what I’ve done and it works AWESOME!!!!!

    I’ve been in web design and development for ten years and done sites for $500 and for $250,000. I can tell you that there is always a way to create a classy site with multiple subjects that do not confuse people.

    It’s all a matter of really thinking out the purpose and strategy of the site and laying out a solid sitemap.

    I’m blessed being able to do my own websites and blogs. But I can understand why someone is nervous and hesitant. If you ever want to know what criteria to look for in order to find the right designer for you and what questions to ask in order to ensure they will do a good job for you, just let me know. I’m happy to give that to you.

    I’m slowly moving out of design and into consulting and coaching. Frankly, I’m so much better at that than web design, lol…

    I hope you have an amazing week Sylviane. So glad to see you back!!!!!

    ~ Don Purdum
    Don Purdum invites you to read..Is Your Online Presence Like A Commodity That’s Putting Your Business at Risk?My Profile

    1. Hi Don,

      Wow, I was actually hoping that you would come by and give me your professional opinion. I don’t know if you had the time to look over some of the comments I’ve got here, but besides 2 or 3, most of them tell me that it’s a bad idea. So, poor little me, not being an expert at this at all, you can only imagine how scared I’ve got and was about to give up on my idea.

      But now, here you are and tell me this 🙂 Would you mind shooting a few links my way of people who have more than one niche in a website/blog concept? I’ve looked for some, but was unsuccessful to find any, really.

      So what about the folks who are telling me that I will confuse people who will subscribe to my blog etc.. is that not valid after all?

      Oh, you bet, I would love to pick your brain, as this thing is about to make me lose my mind.

      Thank you so much for coming by.

      1. Hi Sylviane,

        I wouldn’t worry about looking at other sites to compare. That many times just makes things worse most of the time.

        Like I said, completely doable there would just need to be a lot of thought given to it and a few strategies that would make it work for you. I do have a few ideas of how it could work and if you like we can chat about it.

        Please email me at [email protected] and let’s schedule a time we could brainstorm through it, That’s if you’re interested of course.

        ~ Don
        Don Purdum invites you to read..Is Your Online Presence Like A Commodity That’s Putting Your Business at Risk?My Profile

        1. You such a God send, Don. I actually prayed about this last night as I was seeing those comments and really start doubting it all, while getting a huge headache.

          I am sure that if it’s done the wrong way, it could be bad for me, but with the advice of someone like you, it could roll.

          Yes, I would love whatever tips you may want to share with me. Just tell me when you would be available and we can go from there. Thanks 🙂

  12. Hi Sylvianne,

    Thanks for sharing with us what you are planning to do with your blogs and for asking for our feedback. I know you are in crossroads here and it is very hard to make the decision.

    I kind of agree with Ryan’s and Carol’s comments here. You need to have the clarity about what are you best at doing and what will your audience like you best for and stick with that and build on it.

    I totally agree with Carol that your travel blog is an entity by itself and I don’t think it has room among the other two blogs. This makes it easier for you now to decide between the other two blogs.

    Whatever direction you decide to go, I wish you all the best !! Have a great week ahead.

    Be Blessed,

    Neamat
    Neamat Tawadrous invites you to read..3 Benefits To The Pain Of Personal GrowthMy Profile

    1. Hi Neamat,

      Well, I’m blessed with some great readers who gave me their educated advice and that’s great. I’ve got 2 schools of them though 🙂 1) The ones that tell me, that’s great and 2) The ones that tell me that’s bad.

      However, my dear friend and website designer/marketing coach tells me it’s totally possible, but with the right strategy behind it. He’s offered me to consult with him, and he’s got to be the answer to my prayer last night 🙂 as this thing was starting to blow my brain. So all hopes are not gone.

      Thank you so much for sharing your own thoughts and feedback. Very much appreciated.

  13. Hey Sylviane,

    I know about the like an trust thing. It does help to know a person that you can count on versus taking your chances in purchasing a product/service from a stranger that only promote that he/she is reliable.

    As far as bring your blog together, I believe if you can figure out how to tie each one together so they compliment each other, then it would be a great idea for you to do. I talk about online marketing with a focus on blogging/content marketing, but I also talk about other topics like email marketing, ppc, solo ads, as well as make reference to old post on offline marketing.

    So in this case it comes full circle. All the strategies I talk about really falls under blogging and how you can implement each strategy via your blog. So I believe the subjects that you talk about can be tied into together. I been on this blog of course and the Understand Your Subconcious Mind Blog and they can definitely be relative to each other.

    Everything will definitely work out! Take Care!
    sherman smith invites you to read..5 Crucial Reasons Why You Should Segment Your Email ListMy Profile

    1. Hi Sherman,

      Yes, there’s a big difference between promoting your business and actually be worthy of hiring, but at the time I knew no one, thus the extreme value of mingling with other bloggers and marketers and getting to known them.

      Kumar and Don are both professionals I trust and both are telling me it’s possible, so even though I getting many comments against my idea, I’ve not given up.

      Thanks for your input and have a great day!

  14. Hi Sylviane,

    What a hot topic and great comments along the way. All those pros and cons! But when it comes down to it all I say go with your intuition.

    I think that your coaching and professional writing can be done so well on one blog. I have seen some multi-niche blogs and as long as they conform correctly, I do believe it can be done.

    However, the travel blog…hmmmm maybe it could be a page on your blog or a sub-domain. It kinda throws me off.

    But when it comes to ranking, I wouldn’t worry about that at all. Just think, did you capitalize on being on the first page of Google. If so..great, if not, it doesn’t matter at all.

    From a marketing perspective, it is not about your blog as much as your marketing strategy which is a whole other issue. Once you have gotten that down, you can direct people to your blog as social proof.

    I see it as a go to merge, but also plan a marketing strategy.

    I just know you will make the right decision for yourself because of your intuition.

    -Donna
    donna merrill invites you to read..Take The Next StepMy Profile

    1. Hi Donna,

      Thank you for your precious feedback. Yes, I’ve got both pros and cons, but at least I know that I’m not completely crazy of wanting to merge at least my writing and personal development blogs, because as you’re saying they can totally be connected. I know it would be harder with the travel one, but our dear friend Don is telling that’s totally possible and is going to consult with me about the whole thing. I’m so glad.

      Thank you for taking some of your busy time for coming here today.

  15. Hi Sylviane

    Wow you sure have some mixed feedback here. I think reducing your blogs is a great idea. Combing three different topics I am not sure as they are totally different subjects. Yes they are the parts of you Sylviane – but who are you targeting.

    I do not stick to one topic and combine business and mindset but for me mindset is the post important part of business. I am not sure how you would combine recipes and subconscious.

    Is it time to pick your most passionate niche and go for it? I think I know you well enough to know what it is. I am not definite in my opinion here just thinking as I write. 🙂

    As far as themes and tech stuff as you know I am just like you.

    Great discussion here.

    Have a nice weekend Sylviane.

    Sue
    Sue Price invites you to read..Keeping it Simple with iPAS2My Profile

    1. Hi Sue,

      Yes, I’ve got mixed feedback, and really, really appreciated each one including yours. The two types feedback that stuck with me most, though, are those of Kumar and Don who both build websites for clients as well as being marketing advisers, and both are telling me it’s possible.

      Don has offered me to consult with him about this, and he’s really a God send here 🙂

      As far as dropping a niche, there’s only one (the France one) that I could drop. I can’t really drop any of the other two. At least not at this time in my business.

      Thank you for coming and have a wonderful weekend.

  16. Sylvaine,
    I can TOTALLY relate to this post. I am currently running four different websites! At first I thought I would connect them, but it seemed that each had its own audience and it made sense at the time to separate them, but I’m right there with you on feeling like there’s always too much work to do.
    I too have thought about merging them, but I currently can’t think of a way of doing that that would make any sense. It seems like you have a vision for how it could work, so I say why not? I think your loyal readers will follow you wherever you go, and that’s what matters, right? Best Of Luck , Thanks For SHaring me Keep It Up ,

    Regard Leena Shah
    Leena Shah invites you to read..How To Make Money Online By Using BloggerMy Profile

    1. Hi Leena,

      Wow, four different sites? You must be busy, indeed. Actually a couple of professionals are telling me that merging is totally possible, so I’ll be writing more about that and all. Hope you’ll come by and take some advice for yourself.

      Thank you for coming

  17. Hi Sylviane,

    I absolutely agree with Kumar, as you have this set up with your name as domain and brand under this blog you can create you own topic and divert other blogs traffic to this blog too…

    You do NOT have the brand name set up as “Blogging tips” or “SEO” (LIke mine) etc. so you can cover much more area as a blogger like Aha-now (Harleena) is doing…

    Regards…

    1. Hi Karmarkar, and welcome here.

      Yes, Kumar and Don who commented above as well are both telling me that merging is a possibility and can work, so while I’ve received lots of comments that are telling me that’s not a good idea, I still think that it is.

      I’ll write again some more on the topic when all of this will be happening. I’m sure it could be very helpful for many.

  18. Hi Sylviane

    Very informative post with lot of new points especially for struggling bloggers.

    It is generally observed many people start a blog and give much attention to its layout and design. Once they get huge response of people and get higher traffic they forget about the overall structure of the blog and just engage in creating great contents and enhancing readers engagement.

    Those who don’t become successful very early they keep changing the overlook so much so as if their entire success depends upon simply appearance of their blog.

    I think both approaches are extreme. One should analyze if there is any need on blog makeover after watching industry trends, improvement in professional maturity level of his blog community and further expansion of his blog services and contents base. If all of them improved or changed a lot then makeover is must otherwise small alteration can work well.

    Thanks a lot for sharing such a wonderful post.
    Mi Muba invites you to read..10 reasons to give a damn if millions of blogs are already thereMy Profile

    1. Hi Mi,

      Thanks for you insights. Of course one must consider everything when thinking of revamping the blog in anyway. The goal being the success of the blog as always.

      Thank you for coming.

  19. Hi Sylviane,

    I’m no expert when it comes to this but I don’t know how I feel about this. On the one hand, you’ll be reducing the load and the amount of time and energy that you give to take care and promote one blog as opposed to three different blogs.

    But on the other hand, those other two sites would be considered niche sites, no? And people that go on those sites go on them for that specific unique information.

    Not saying that it can’t be done. I mean you have people like Kumar and Harleena that do it successfully. Anyway, whatever decision you make, I wish you the best. Do what works best for you.

    Hope you have a great day.

    – Andrew
    Andrew invites you to read..7 Actionable Tips You Should Use Today To Improve Your BlogMy Profile

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