Top 5 Reasons for Multiple Blogs Under a Single Domain

May 9, 2007 in Tips 44 Comments

Building multiple blogs under one domain could be the key to accelerating your blogging career. Many high profile bloggers publish on multiple blogs, but very few do so under a single domain name. I could probably come up with just as many reasons not to build multiple blogs under a single domain, but instead I will focus on the top five reason that you should build multiple blogs under one domain. The following reasons support an argument against (1)hosting multiple blogs on separate domains or (2)having a large number of categories under a single blog.

1. Site Ranking – Getting links to separate blogs dedicated to various unrelated subjects all built on a single domain can raise the domains ranking on services like Alexa.

2. Single Domain Registration – You only have to pay for and track one domain registration.

3. SEO – A link to one blog is a vote for the domain it lives on with Google. A vote for your domain in turn raises all of the blogs in the search engine relevance simultaneously. So each blog actually helps all the other blogs rise in Google results.

4. Simplified Domain Maintenance – A single sitemap, robots.txt, etc. Also having a single point for FTP, email, and database management does make life easier. It is hard enough to administer multiple blogging control panels like with WordPress.

5. Niche Link Attraction – This point fits the argument for separate blogs in general, but plays well with the site ranking and SEO mentioned above. A niche blog with a narrow scope is more likely to get links from other bloggers who might disagree with some of the content of a single blog containing a large number of unrelated categories focused on controversial subjects. For instance, a liberal blogger who runs a popular cooking blog might be more comfortable driving traffic to my niche blog Grill’n Time rather than to a cooking category on The Land of Ozz where a large amount of blogging is based on conservative political opinions.

This idea of multiple blogs under a single domain should only be used if you are very confident that you will be retaining your domain name for the long term. For instance, let’s look at lashawnbarber.com. There is a high likelihood that La Shawn will not sell a domain name featuring her fairly uncommon name. So adding a second blog to the domain is not a big risk. La Shawn is one of the few high profile bloggers hosting multiple blogs under a single domain. Her second blog is located at lashawnbarber.com/ffc.

I have six separate blogs under HOEI.COM. You are reading the newest blog that was created when I switched the main page of my website to a blog. My other four blogs were built to focus on different subjects.

Caden’s Page – The story of our family’s triumphs and trials related to our son’s medical challenges. Caden was diagnosed with Di George Syndrome (22q11.2) after several heart defects were found during prenatal care.

Riley’s Page – A blog journaling some of the highlights in the life of my oldest son Riley.

The Land of Ozz – My personal blog featuring topics on parenting, technology, and spiritual growth. Includes a podcast of The Living Bible and a daily Bible reading plan.

Grill’n Time – A site (needing more attention) that is dedicated to cooking on and off of the grill.

Tech Land – Technical tips from TheOzz.

This post is participating in ProBlogger’s Top 5 – Group Writing Project.

TheOzz

Hank Osborne (aka The Ozz) is a passionate blogging dad who works full-time as a network security engineer. Hank blogs part-time from South Carolina on more than a half dozen blogs. Hank has been blogging since the day his second son Caden was born on 11/2/2004. Caden's Page is still one of Hank's favorite places to blog.

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5 Comments

  • Richard
    May 9, 2007

    I take your point. Although somehow I’ve ended up with 7 blogs on 7 different domains….

  • Neena
    May 9, 2007

    You raise 5 very good points. Number 5 in particular is a twist that I would not have thought of. I am considering starting a blog under my own domain name and this is definitely food for thought.

  • Rod
    May 9, 2007

    An excellent idea that I wouldn’t have previously considered. Good post. If you’d like to have a look at my entry in Darren’s contest, it’s at:
    http://www.rodtempleton.net/2007/05/07/my-top-5-required-feeds/

  • Duncan
    May 10, 2007

    Hi Ozz. I relate well to what you’re writing. I have five blogs at http://www.duncans.tv and eight blogs at http://www.postkiwi.com. As you say the Alexa rank builds up between them which is great when the sites share a similar niche. But it’s a pity if you want to build up each site’s individual ranking. If I remember right the reason I stuck with the small number of blogs in the first place was mostly to do with the cost of hosting each domain.

  • sheryl1945
    June 14, 2007

    As a newbie( I dislike tha’t term)–as a freshman—I’m glad to find this informational site but I’m more confused than ever. If I should ask some insane, off the wall question just remember you all weren’t born with a computer in your hands. I’m hear to learn so I’ll keep quiet —-sheryl1945Nkansas

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