As the regular Teenius readers will know, I recently launched a new project. Now, because of this I had the idea to do a post discussing the positives and negatives of having multiple websites/projects on the go.
Before I start, I think I should make it clear that in this article, when I refer to “multiple projects”, I am talking about serious projects that will take up a good deal of your time. As well as that, the conclusions I’m making are, in my opinion, true for the majority of cases, but there may be some exceptions!
OK, let’s do this thing!
Time
Well, I feel it really goes without saying that if you have one project, you’ll be able to spend more time on it, and therefore probably make it more successful. Let’s say you spend two hours per day on your blog(s)… if you own one blog, you’ll spend two hours on it, whereas if you own five blogs you’ll only spend around twenty five minutes on each one. Because of that, I would say that from a time perspective, you’re better off having a single project as you can spend more time on making it successful.
Money
Now, this one’s tricky. You’d assume that if you have more websites, you’ll make more money, but it’s not necessarily true. Because of the fact you’re spending less time (see above) on each project if you’re doing two or more, you’re likely to find that the traffic you receive on each blog is less, and therefore the income is likely to be less (per site) too. I would say that how profitable multiple projects are compared to a single, bigger project really depends on a case-to-case basis
Branding
In my opinion, one of the most important things about blogging is the branding side of it, so how does having multiple sites affect your brand? Well, it depends, but in my opinion it’s better to have one main site. By that, I mean that from a branding perspective you should either only have one project, or have one main project and other smaller ones. The reason for this is that people will remember you for that main project, and because of the connection in their mind they’re more likely to remember both you and your website. Because of this, I would say that single projects are better from a branding perspective (generally speaking of course!).
Other Factors
Yes, there are other factors you should consider when deciding to start multiple projects… here are just a couple of them:
- Obsession – OK, I think we can all admit we get “attached” to our projects… thinking away about your website, having brain waves at the weirdest of times and other similar occurrences happen all the time with most bloggers. Before starting multiple blogs you need to ask yourself whether you can handle the extra ‘obsession factor’ that may keep you up at night!
- Yourself – Do you really want more projects?! I’ll admit it seems like quite an obvious question to ask yourself, but I think everyone should consider it before jumping in at the deep-end, or so to speak.
So, multiple projects or not?
Do you have multiple projects on the go? What have you found from your experiences? Is there anything you’d like to add to this post? Please feel free to leave a comment below to discuss the post!
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I have recently decided to start developing Asnio. So I now have two blogs on my plate that I am going to be consistently developing. Plus, I have a freelance business that is starting up very well, and that’s a lot of work too. Plenty to do!
Alex | Blogussion.com’s last blog post..7 Simple Tips for Effectively Marketing Your Blog on Twitter
Nice one! Like you say, it’s a lot of hard work, but then I suppose that it’s worth it if it all pays off!
i agree with teenius, if its pays off, then its oks, and ill end here. but if after all the efforts, you are not getting what is due your work because you are spending much time on so many things and losing therefore focus on each one of them, then it is a bad business to pursue.
putting all your eggs on one basket or diversifying? the bottom line…go with the one that makes more money for you, rewarding your effforts.
elmot’s last blog post..From Hate List to Wish List In Driving
I think out of all “Time” is the problem that most people had, including me, when thinking about leveraging them or outsource to someone to do, it will cover up the “Time” but again this will come to “money” when you outsource to someone else to do.
All in all I think, before anything, make “Time” and “Money” is in details first before doing any other things.
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Another good point. I think outsourcing is a completely different skill altogether though, as it’s about getting a profit from someone else’s work. If you can learn to outsource properly, you’re in for big money as you have more time organising other people as you have someone else to do the work for you!
I prefer to go for single project.Perfection is the key to success.if time permits u can go for multiple project.it also depends on ur interests.
‘Perfection is the key to success‘… wow, what a quote!
I see your point though, you should spend time on making fewer big projects than making lots of small projects.
Awesome post as usual Simon.
I currently have two blogs that I would consider projects and an entire MMO network of sites as one project. One about soccer and the other about college applications. I don’t quite consider ahnternet a project as it is more of a fun space that I use to bond with others. Also, I don’t consider my mini-sites and real MMO sites as projects too as well, they too are just as a whole, one project.
I guess thinking this way helps me get through managing a lot of sites without being bogged down.
I’m hoping to launch a site related to mathematics, two about music and vocals, and another one about co-author book publishing, but those will have to come sometime in 2010 to get some proper attention–hence, I’m just holding on to the domains.
Static’s last blog post..How Much Do You Spend On Renewals?
I think you should be focussing on one project in the beginning. I feel that I’m pretty busy with having one blog now, while it’s in the beginning phase of it. When you have one bigger blog, with a fair amount of readers, some guest posters once in a while, than you could be thinking about another project.
Great post Simon!
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But really I have to say that a single project if done for a long time becomes boring its interesting though. But I don’t even want to start loads of web sites and keep worrying about each. Multiple projects are no risk until they don’t become too much.
Harish | Blogging Kid’s last blog post..A Recap of Some My Best Posts On This Blog
I’m sure you know by now that I am involved with multiple projects.
I had a couple of thoughts on each one of your points:
1) Time. Time is why we capped ourselves at 5 projects for launch and why me and Matt found two editors and a new admin. If you don’t have time to work on multiple projects, don’t start them. This is essential. I know at launch of Kiwidia, I was up until 1am and awoke again at 4am.
2) Money. Websites cost a lot of money (each K-blog costs $27 to start) and so if you don’t have capitol, stick to a single, definitely.
3) Branding – I actually think multiple projects are good for branding if you have one large company website. Of course, people will remember me for my design + writing, but you can expand your brand beyond yourself to new projects with multiple sites.
4) Obsession – I love Writing Whale, so obsession is a major part of having multiple sites. You do get attached to just one project. So it takes maturity to run many sites, and if you can’t really handle it, stick to one.
I think I prefer having multiple sites, simply because I have a lot of ideas that don’t really overlap. However, I think if you’re starting out, or just that kind of person, you should focus on just one major project.
Corey Freeman | Kiwidia Media Group’s last blog post..Get Kiwidia on Your Iphone!
Time is the key. Make sure you can handle all those projects. I prefer single project at a time. I’m afraid if I can’t handle it =)
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Multiple projects do demand multiple attention. I am also thinking of another project, but these factors definitely come into play.
Maybe for branding, you can start multiple projects under a banner company, just like Kiwidia.
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I think Time is the most crucial factor to consider when thinking of starting a project… Although for me it varies heavily… I rarely launch big projects when I have classes and focus more on smaller projects which I can handle on a part-time basis…
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and btw, where’s your guest post to my blog?
Melvin’s last blog post..Is There Such A Thing As Overrated Blogs?
So so true. Thanks for pointing out the money factor. I really never thought of it that way! If people thought of that maybe so many people wouldn’t create many projects that they don’t care about.
You covered some great points here. Great post!
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[...] Things To Consider Before Starting Multiple Projects is a post by Teenius on multiple projects. I found myself being quickly overwhelmed with multiple projects, but never really gave it a good thought on why. I’m lazy, so I like how this article laid it all out for me. [...]
I think that working on multiple projects isn’t always the best thing to do. I don’t really recommend it to anyone.
I suggest that most people stick with one project and just work hard on it and nothing else until it’s a success. Otherwise you might just get tired of working on so many things and seeing no return.
Or you might stop focusing on older projects in order to work on the new ones. For me I find it’s pretty hard to balance different projects because if I start a new project I’ll get excited about it and only want to work on it and I won’t take the time to work on my project that I already have going.
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In my opinion, the most important thing that a person should think about when starting multiple projects is time and money. If he starts to work on multiple projects, than he will have less time, and the quality of his work will fall. Money is only important if you don’t have them, or if you have but not in the needed amounts. If a person has lots of money, than he doesn’t care about them when working on multiple projects.
Useful info, nice blog, thanks.