Blogs, like people, evolve and grow up. A blog which runs on a single track invariably branches out. Bloggers aren’t one-trick wonders, either, and can find a single theme very restrictive. If you’re an IT expert, and have been doing blogs on offsite backup service for a couple of years, the chances are you’ll want to branch out.

There’s also the audience to consider. A blog with a single audience is likely to get a limited number of readers. At expert level, your readers are also likely to be experts themselves, and they need more than one subject.

Blogsplitting, explained

Blogsplitting is literally creating secondary blogs. This can be a lot more difficult than it sounds, and can create problems. If you’ve ever seen a blog where it’s practically impossible to find anything, you’ll understand the problem. These blogs cover anything from nuclear physics to basket weaving with your feet, and the search function usually doesn’t work, either. These blogs can become unmanageable in a hurry.

By rights, they should be separate blogs, (see below) but they’re not. That’s exactly the effect you must avoid. So start with a good idea of how/if your blog topics are going to coexist with each other.

Diversifying a blog takes some planning, and the more thought you put in to the idea, the better the result is likely to be.

These are the main issues:

• What are the new areas you want to cover?
• Are the new areas clearly related to your core blog?
• Will the topics interest your current readership?
• Define your ideas- What sort of blog content do you need?
• Do you want a new look, new media, new layout as well?

If this is looking like an intro to a basic web design course, it’s no coincidence. The design has to be considered as well as the content, because you’re creating new elements in your blog, and you are, in effect, redesigning the blog in the process. You’re also adding new content, meaning you’ll need new tabs, a links area, etc.

The other type of blogsplitting- A separate blog

The fact is that some blog topics must be separate from each other, because they’re aimed at different audiences. The best and definitely the simplest way out of this situation is to simply start up a new blog.

For example:

If your blog is about offsite data storage, and your other material is about how to run an IT outsourcing business, they need to be seen separately. One’s a service, and the other is a business blog. Even if there are some common elements, the blogs are going to be about very different subjects.

You can capitalize on your original blog in the process:

• Use a name which is very close to your original- The “corporate” effect, with a clear relationship.
• Publicize the new blog on the old one and keep links in conspicuous places on the original blog. Cross link as much as you like, particularly on subjects where the two blogs have common ground.

Blogsplitting can be the best thing for your blog and your business. Consider your options, and check out the possibilities.

Guest Post By Suchin