I always dream about running a blog empire that consists of dozens – if not hundreds – of blogs. B5media is always the model I am after, but I seem not to have enough firepower. So I guess I have to start slow (unless someone out there is interested in funding my blog network project… anyone?)
I also do notice that some webpreneurs are running blog networks which consist of hundreds of blogs in a network. A spoiler: Their business model is actually similar and pretty simple – Here is what they are basically doing:
- Establish blogs on free blog network, such as Blogger.com, OR self-host blogs with cheap domain name registration, such as dot-info domain name (.info).
- Hire people to ghost-write for them OR create content automatically from feeds.
- Hire some other people to ‘promote’ the blogs.
- Make money from advertising and SEO services.
I do know some who own more than 500 blogs in each of their network (one of them even has more than 700 blogs in his network!), making $1000+ a month for each network.
Although this seems to be a nice deal, the work involved is rather tedious – Of course, I want to work less and make more ;)
Quality prevails in building a blog network
I realised not long ago that quality (still) prevails. I thought of building a network of blogs that match the quality of those of B5media is unnecessary. I was wrong.
Yes, you don’t have to blog yourself to create a great blog, but you do need quality to make your blog(s) stand out.
Here’s how quality prevails: I rather own 10 blogs making $100/month than own 100 blogs making $10/month. The running costs are way to0 high and ineffective in many ways. The former is less work, but more investment while the latter is less investment, but more work. Your choice.
I choice the former, so here I am – I currently run more than 10 blogs (including a couple of sites) that are aimed for quality – unique content, unique design, well-planned income model and target market. Here’s a sneak preview of what I own:
- Money Estate – personal finance blog
- Franchise Note – franchising blog
- Green Hosting Estate – green hosting reviews blog
- My newest – Credit Card Debt Relief Tips – credit card debt tips blog, experimenting on a long tail keyword as a domain name.
- And of course, Noobpreneur.com :)
Those are not necessarily my top performer, but they are suitable to give you an idea what kind of blogs I am building my blog network with.
As you might notice, I do involve in many niches, although mostly the niches surrounding the world of business and finance.
Why a quality blog network can benefit clients (and myself)
First of all, I do notice that when you run a quality blog network, you are often not doing much work yourself to seek advertisers – they come to you themselves through referrals and search engines. On contrary, lower quality blog network needs you to actively market them to get advertisers.
You see, building a quality blog network allows you to focus on growing your network instead of doing the tedious job of pitching business and site owners to advertise on your site.
Secondly, owning a quality blog network allows you to ‘bundle’ an offer for your advertisers – e.g. discounts for advertising on, say, 10 blogs, simultaneously. This actually saves a lot of time and money for both you and your advertisers – a mutually beneficial relationship.
How to build a quality blog network
Here are the simple how-tos:
- Invest in one or several top quality but affordable reseller hosting company. I choose HostGator and GreenGeeks for the green-effect :)
- Buy quality domain names (.com, .net and .org only – focus on .com whenever possible) and register them under the same domain registrar for ease of management. I choose Namecheap for this.
- Write yourself or hire quality article writers (please notice the plural – Never rely on a writer to work for you – Hire several writers to compare article quality.) Always aim for quality, unique, contents, because they do make a difference on your bottom line.)
- Promote your blogs, especially on social media – Tweet about your new blog posts on Twitter; post them on Facebook; bookmark them on Digg; anything you can do to get the words out as farthest and furthest as possible.
- Manage and take care your advertisers well – never take anything for granted.
I hope this little guide can persuade you to create a better blog and blog network.
Ivan Widjaya
Quality blog network
Image by clix.