Arranging blog posts by topic

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[SnakyPoet]

Do you think it's better to mix blog posts all up together, sorted only by category labels, or to create separate blogs for each major topic, albeit attached to one profile? Or doesn't it matter? (I'm on Blogger.)

Well, I do discuss all manner of things in my SnakyPoet blog – but I also have other blogs at the same profile, e.g. a poetry blog, a haiku blog, a blog about a poetry tour.... There are links, of course, but I wonder if things get missed. I wonder if it would be better to intersperse the poetry in amongst everything else. The other blogs don't get nearly as much traffic as the main one. Or is that just because poetry's a minority taste?

[Sueblimely]

Hi Rosemary
I took a look at your blogs and do have some observations although not as a definite answer to your question because that depends very much on what your aims are for the blogs, who you would like to read them .....

I think you are right that the poetry blog may not attract a wide general audience but, being a popular niche topic, you can work on publicizing it in the right places, where poetry fans are going to find it. (leaving plenty of comments on a variety of other poetry blogs and social networking site groups etc ...)  The same may apply to the haiku blog too although I do not know enough about the potential audience for that. I think the fact that you update these two blogs very regularly is a good reason to keep them separate from your main one.

Your Snaky Poet blog is a more personal account of your life (I enjoyed reading it - very well written). As these autobiographical posts  are generally long, I think your poetry and haiku could get lost among these.  (especially as blogger does not have a category function so you end up with multitudes of labels)

By keeping the blogs separate you can take advantage of cross promoting them, with links from one to the other in your menus and within posts. Maybe a weekly  summary post in Snaky Poet talking in general terms of your poetry and haiku - avoid duplicate content but include links to individual entries.

I would have a top menu bar on the blogs with links to your other blogs so that the connection between them is more prominent. It took me a while to find them - sidebars hold so many other things. I am doing a series of posts on blog navigation, the latest post shows you how to add a top menu bar.  If you want to do this but have troubles with the coding please contact me and I will give you a hand.

Another trick with blogger is that you can create an About page by writing a post (backdate it if you want so it does not appear on the front page) that contains details about you and links to your other blogs. Put a link to this about page on your top menu to disperse with the default blogger 'about me' details (will give you more room in your sidebar too!)

I notice that you already have your own domain. Have you considered self hosting your blogs on that domain? You could still use blogger but I would recommend changing over to Wordpress if you did this.

One day I will learn to keep my responses short 

[kathiemt]

I've always felt that blogs, if you're looking for an audience, should have a theme to each one, and for it not to be mixed up.  I have many blogs for that reason as I have many topics I like to write about.  I'll get a different audience for each blog although some people read several of my blogs but not necessarily all of them - except for those who proclaim to be fans of my writing - I've even got a few of those! 

But I like to keep to a theme per blog and not mix them up so that I can aim for a targeted audience for each one.  I do have each of my blogs linked on my other blogs - which probably helps with my ranking.

[SnakyPoet]

Many thanks both of you, that all makes sense and I'm glad to know I'm on the right track. Sueblimely, I'll look at that top menu bar idea, thanks.

I'm not sure what would be the advantage of hosting my blogs at my own domain, and why Wordpress would be better if I did? I really don't know anything much about Wordpress.

I wasn't happy with the website created at my domain, so I created a blog website with a nest of Blogger blogs around another profile, and am in the process of taking control of the hosting and getting a redirect from the domain name to the blog website. I could use a top menu bar there too!

It's possible of course to do it the other way around and point my blogs at my domain - but I want something  I can easily manipulate and update, and I have learnt how to do that with Blogger.

However am interested in the opinions of more experienced bloggers.

[kathiemt]

Many thanks both of you, that all makes sense and I'm glad to know I'm on the right track. Sueblimely, I'll look at that top menu bar idea, thanks.

I'm not sure what would be the advantage of hosting my blogs at my own domain, and why Wordpress would be better if I did? I really don't know anything much about Wordpress.

I wasn't happy with the website created at my domain, so I created a blog website with a nest of Blogger blogs around another profile, and am in the process of taking control of the hosting and getting a redirect from the domain name to the blog website. I could use a top menu bar there too!

It's possible of course to do it the other way around and point my blogs at my domain - but I want something  I can easily manipulate and update, and I have learnt how to do that with Blogger.

However am interested in the opinions of more experienced bloggers.

I own my own web hosting SnakyPoet so being able to install Wordpress, point a domain and have a new blog up is very quick and easy - done in less than 30 mins. I spend most of my time searching through thousands of templates just to get the right look and then adding the plugins and widgets.    I love to play!

But having more control over access and backups is one of the reasons why I shifted to my own server.  Plus I register a domain for every single blog I own and/or manage.  The domains always have something to do with the theme or topic of the blog and is therefore keyword driven.  I'm out to get traffic and I know with some of my blogs I'm on the first page of Google simply because the keywords are in the subject heading and domain.  Of course all the content has helped back that up.

There are many webhosting reseller services out there that will allow you to do the same.

[SnakyPoet]

Thanks, Kathie, I love to play too - but I guess I'm a bit scared of getting into serious coding. Will not dismiss your ideas, but might defer them a while until I feel more confident. Or, as I have a son visiting right now who knows a lot more than me about these things and is well acquainted with my needs, will run your ideas past him too.

Dear Sublime Sue, as you are now the third person to tell me about the created About page on Blogger, I think it is time I did it! Thanks!

[supersarah]

IAnother trick with blogger is that you can create an About page by writing a post (backdate it if you want so it does not appear on the front page) that contains details about you and links to your other blogs. Put a link to this about page on your top menu to disperse with the default blogger 'about me' details (will give you more room in your sidebar too!)

Sueblimely - I just took out my back link to my about me post when I changed my template. I found people weren't bothering to click on the link so decided to just write a quick blurb and stick a photo in my sidebar. I did wonder if it all looks a little fussy but from personal experience I quite like being able to see these at a glance. Anyway, I will ponder this for a while and see what I think.
With regard to the top menu bar, I am off to read your post now!