Product Reviews, Giveaways, and Personal Anecdotes

I’m so proud of myself!

Posted by on May 10, 2009 in Blogging, Life | 7 comments

oopsBack in January I thought separating my reviews and giveaways from my personal blog was a brilliant idea, but I’ve now come to the conclusion that it’s just not the right thing for me. It’s hard to admit, especially after all the work that it took to design a whole new blog… but it’s true. Jessica’s post (Jessica Knows) on this very same topic pretty much sealed the deal for me. It’s not that I can’t keep up. I just don’t see the point in having two blogs that don’t really connect in any way.

This got me to thinking about my brand. Ultimately my niche is reviews – sharing what I “really, really love,” as my byline says. And it’s so much easier to tell people they can find me at ridingwithnohands.com, as opposed to having to explain to them that I have a personal blog AND a review blog, yadda yadda yadda. It also comes down to simplicity. Managing two similar WordPress accounts is complicated and time-consuming!

However, I think having a separate review blog works perfectly for some bloggers who have a very specific niche. For instance, Jessica, from A Parent in Silver Spring, writes about what’s happening in the DC Metro area. It’s a really great local resource. On her review site, A Parent in Silver Spring Reviews, she gives away fun prizes like tickets to a Milkshake show in Baltimore.

Another example is my friend Tara. On Feels Like Home she blogs about her passions – food, crafting, raising a family, and maintaining a home. She created Feels Like Home Recommends to share product reviews that fall into those categories. In both these cases I can’t imagine not having a separate review blog.

In the title of this post I said that I’m proud of myself, and I am. I’m proud that I can admit I made a mistake in splitting up my blog, and I’m proud that I managed to put it back together again without losing any posts or subscribers on either end. It took a little work, and after thinking I broke my blog a couple of times late last night, I finally succeeded! How I did it deserves a post unto itself, so I’ll save that for another day.

If you’re a subscriber, everything should continue just the way it is! No need to re-subscribe or anything. BUT, if you’re not a fan of the changes I’ve made and would only like to read my personal posts, you are welcome to subscribe to just that category by feed reader or email.

Thanks for reading, and a Happy Mother’s Day to all the mamas out there!

7 Comments

  1. Kris / May 10, 2009

    I had to do that with two of my blogs. I merged two together into Lily’s Licorice, although Lily’s Licorice is still mostly what it was before anyway.

    I do have a separate blog for my Usborne Books business. That blog highlights all the kids books Usborne offers. Lily’s Licorice is a bit of a silly take on life and has nothing to do with kids books. So I do keep those separate. I do have links on both to each other.

    You did the right thing. I’m sure you will feel so much freer focusing on just one. It’ll make it better too. Once I merged the other into Lily’s Licorice my readership really started going up – probably cause I can take care of it better now and give it more love and attention.

    Good luck!!!

    Kris’s last blog post..The Mighty Flea vs. The Cricket

  2. Lauralee Hensley / May 10, 2009

    As a reader, I prefer when it’s all on one blog instead of having to keep two links in my favorites places and trying to remember and see what’s going on at both. For me it’s easier to visit when you have one all on one site. Thanks.

  3. Chrissy / May 11, 2009

    I think this looks great! Glad you got everything worked out without too much trouble – I know how treacherous things like that can be, lol. And I hope you had a nice Mother’s Day! :-)

  4. Ginny / May 11, 2009

    I’ve been debating this myself. I did the same thing in January. Whenever I got an unsubscribe it was always because of too many updates. I would sometimes do 2 posts in one day ~ one a review & one a personal post. I decided to do the 2 blogs & it has gotten to the point I dread blogging a bit.

    My review blog dropped it’s page rank, my personal blog gained page rank. I struggle with keeping up with the personal one though. I do more reviews then anything, but I like to do personal posts as well. I’m still thinking about what to do though. Glad you posted this though & the link to Jessica! Will give me more things to think about.

    Ginny’s last blog post..Review ~ Star Trek Movie

  5. sagemom / May 11, 2009

    For me it was better to split mine up, but for others it’s better and easier to stick to one.

    You just have to do what’s best for you!

  6. Renee J. Ross / May 11, 2009

    I think it is a personal choice whatever works. It looks great here!

    Renee J. Ross’s last blog post..Bringing Sexy Back! – Belly Dancing

  7. Mozi Esmes Mommy / May 11, 2009

    I’ve often wondered about splitting my blog into two – since my posts attract different types of readers. But I haven’t done it because I’m pretty sure I don’t have the time right now to manage two blogs – I figure my readers can just skim through the stuff they don’t want to read.

    The other issue is that I’d have to “double” network to get readers to both blogs – rather than just network for the one blog.

    Thanks for sharing your thoughts and helping my clarify my own decision!

    Mozi Esmes Mommy’s last blog post..Blue Monday

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