I’d Rather Be Writing offers “My Blog and Podcast Site Are Now Merged into One — Steps on How I Did It”, an interesting step-by-step guide on combining two WordPress blogs into one, with tips for combining a podcast blog with a regular WordPress blog.
Maintaining two sites was burdensome. Whenever I published a new post on Tech Writer Voices, I also wrote a post on I’d Rather Be Writing letting others know. Upgrades, plugins, theme tweaks, comment spam, and other blog maintenance were double the work with two sites. I wanted to reduce my workload and centralize the information.
The article is packed with tips on how to merge the two sites, giving great tips on how to transfer the podcast information and feeds and redirect traffic to the merged site.
Many bloggers today are realizing how hard it is to maintain multiple blogs and sites. Maybe it’s time you reconsidered and shrunk down your own workload.
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Copyright Lorelle VanFossen, and author of Blogging Tips, What Bloggers Won't Tell You About Blogging.
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11 Comments
Unless you have two different needs, having more than one site is a lot of work. I have two blogs, but my second is used as poetry storage, rather than an active blog.
It’s a very delicate balance between trying to blog about your multiple interests and realizing how much work that is.
Far easier just to lump it all together under a big ball ‘o “this is me”
Your post is timely. I’m combining my professional and personal blogs into one. I’ll definitely check this article out.
opps I just started my third blog– tripple the work–well different niches need different blogs.
If somebody else has bookmarked one of your URLs, then what happens to it?
Does it get redirected?
K
Perhaps question in my last comment was not clear.
What happens if somebody has bookmarked one of your posts? That’s what I meant to ask.
@ Kedar:
I’m still not clear on what you are asking. If someone “bookmarks” your site or a post, and you change the URL, unless you make a redirect change in your blog’s .htaccess file to redirect to the right blog site or post, then they will get a 404 Page Not Found Error. Hopefully, you will have a good redirect if you consolidate your blogs.
WordPress.com doesn’t not offer that feature, by the way. You can publish a post and put a note in the sidebar of your WordPress.com blog that alerts visitors to the new site if you decide to leave your WordPress.com blog.
And publish a post and put in a reminder on your new site for visitors to update their bookmarks and links.
Hello Lorelle,
Thanks for your answer. I think I understand better now.
Here is what I mean.
I write a blog at savingenergy.wordpress.com. On my blog, I have a detailed study posted about how to reduce computer monitor energy consumption. That study is been referenced by many other people in their posts , bookmarked by some people etc. That is the most visited post on my blog which also appears in top google search on related words.
I wanted to merge savingenergy with my other blog, and keep the other blog as main blog. So now the top post URL will change from say abc.wordpress.com/xxxx to jkl.wordpress.com/xxxx.
So from what you are saying here, unless I get access to .htaccess file , I will not be able to redirect abc.wordpress.com/xxxx to jkl.wordpress.com/xxxx, right? I am assuming to get access to .htaccess file, I have to go for my own hosting , somewhere other than WP.
And how about google traffic? Will I lose that?
Thanks in advance,
K
@ Kedar:
No, you cannot do a “redirect” from a WordPress.com blog, but you can leave a post as explained in the previous comments. You can put a note on your most popular posts asking readers to visit your new blog. Don’t delete your WordPress.com blog, and realize that many have both, feeding each other, or posting only occasionally on WordPress.com to feed the main blog. There are added benefits to a WordPress.com that you don’t get with a full version blog.
And vice versa.
As for Google, who cares. Worry about bringing your readers with you. The rest will find you if you are doing everything else right.
I am thinking of doing this. I have two sites…one is travel the other is cocktails, but the reality is they cover the same general things. The travel site is more established with a larger following, while the cocktail site is a new site and just starting up. I love the cocktail site, more than the travel site.
I am trying to figure out how to merge the two. The problem is that everything is set up under the travel site…facebook and twitter. But, I really want it all to be under the cocktail site.
Does any of this make sense? The logistics are giving me a headache!!
Lee
If you want to combine them, go for it. Why not just brainstorm or mind map all of the possibilities and look for intersections. Then start adding one to the other. As for facebook and Twitter, think of them as your audience and bring them along for the ride. The two will easily connect. It’s your story, just take care in the telling. You might lose some people, but if your community is so strong, make the process inclusive and they will follow along.
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[…] Is It Time For You To Consolidate Your Blogs? I’d Rather Be Writing offers “My Blog and Podcast Site Are Now Merged into One — Steps on How I Did It”, an interesting step-by-step guide on combining two WordPress blogs into one, with tips for combining a podcast blog with a regular WordPress blog. Maintaining two sites was burdensome. Whenever I published a new post […] […]
[…] Maybe it’s time to consolidate your blogs. In some cases the thought we need different blogs for different niches can be misguided. If you are able to outsource your content, then it might be feasible. But otherwise, multiple blogs can be a real burden and you might be spreading yourself thin. […]
[…] Is It Time For You To Consolidate Your Blogs?: The author of I’d Rather Be Writing decides to combine his two blogs, a regular blog and a podcast blog, into one and offers some excellent tips, and I ask if it’s time you did the same. […]