The WMF Archives: Should Your Blog Divorce Your Writer Web Site?

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Should Your Blog Divorce Your Writer Web Site?

6:00 AM

Freelance writer Lynn Fisher recently wrote me with this question about blogging and Web sites:

...I wondered if there was any benefit to having a separate blog and web-site. I have a blog (mostly to save money and time because I have a full-time job as well as freelance writing). Any thoughts on this? Thank you, I'm trying to ramp up my game a little.

You may not know this, Lynn, but I am the perfect person to ask! As it happens, I began with a free site just like you, in my case a ZoomInfo profile. Then around 2008 I got it together and with help from a teenage Web developer I found in my local high school's digital-design class for $12 an hour, I put up my own Web site, caroltice.com. Then I added a blog to it about the business of writing, which became the Make a Living Writing blog. The blog lived under a tab, while most of the site focused on getting me new writing gigs.

But things started to evolve and change. I found I loved blogging about writing, and had a lot of experience to offer. I quickly found a substantial, enthusiastic audience.

A few months ago, I spun MALW off to its own, separate Web site.

Why did I separate them? And why, in turn, might you want to think about separating your blog from your writer site? The answer depends on what you're trying to do with your blog, and what you're trying to do with your author site.

I think a lot of writers don't ask themselves: Why do I blog? What is my goal? Why am I doing this free writing? If you can answer those questions, you'll know whether your blog and writer site belong together or apart. Simply, if the blog and your resume site serve the same goal, they will likely be happy on a site together. If they're going in different directions, they may do better apart.

For me, I soon realized I was going to want to write e-books that expanded on the Make a Living Writing blog. Then I'd want to set up a shopping cart and a promotional page and sell the ebooks. I also wanted to be able to recommend books, friends' ebooks, classes and other items to visitors to MALW in an effort to turn MALW into a small business of its own.

At the same time, site-monetizing strategies were totally inappropriate to my resume site, which is mainly for prospective clients to come and see my resume and clips. I didn't want them to think of me primarily as someone flogging an ebook. I had come to a fork in the road.

I also wanted to be able to be brutally honest about my writing life -- the problem clients, the pay rates, the negotiation strategies. I soon realized I didn't want these entries to be the first piece of mine a prospect saw! MALW is for new and developing writers; caroltice.com is for business owners and magazine editors. Two audiences, two sites.

Do your blog and author site belong together or apart? Leave a comment and tell us the answer, and why. Lynn, hope you'll weigh in, tell us what your blog is about, and whether it goes with your resume site.

One final thought I'll throw out there -- I notice that on many new-writer sites, the blog predominates on the home page, while the resume and other clips are hidden down the margins or under tabs. I always wonder if that's the best strategy, if the main point is to get writing gigs. Interested to hear some other opinions on that. I did mine the opposite way -- mostly about the resume and clips, blog on the side.

Photo via Flickr user Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

Labels: blogging, blogging sites, Carol Tice, Lynn Fisher, mailbag, writing web sites

9 comments:

Angela Atkinson said...: I do have a blog on my author site, but it's not my personal blog. It's in its own little tab (not on the front page) and I use it for two things primarily. First, I make announcements that are related to my work--WM Network stuff as well as awards given to me or features about me. Other posts are directed at potential clients and essentially outline services I can provide or explain concepts they may want to understand (like SEO, for example.)

I have other niche blogs, but all are separate from my author site (though all are linked from the site.) Great post Carol.; April 22, 2010 9:46 AM
PM27 said...: Perfect timing! Thanks for providing an inside
view of this decision, now it is time to mull over what to do!; April 22, 2010 9:56 AM
Alyssa Ast said...: Great post Carol. I think it's very important to develop a clear and concise purpose for each blog. I currently have 3.

One is attached to my personal website, which I try to use to promote and sell myself to clients. My personal blog is basically a place to share my life experiences, while my other blog relates to my life as a writer.

While it has taken some time and careful thought about what direction I want each blog to take, once I did discover each blogs path it seems to have promoted each site in their own sense of credibility.; April 22, 2010 10:07 AM
Gracie O'Neil said...: This is an excellent blog post, Carol, and incredibly appropriate for where I am this second. I'm about to launch a writing blog (I've transferred everything relevant across from my personal site) and have been angsting over whether it's a good idea or not to run two in tandem. Have yet to push the big End Of The World button :-) but hope to do it this weekend. I really appreciate your advice above, and the comments posted below. Thanks!; April 22, 2010 3:48 PM
Lynn Fisher said...: Thanks for your help Carol, I've had time to think about this and you're correct in that, I write about things other than art, which my blog is mostly about (art, journaling, and writing about art). So my next step was a Linked-in profile and next, a website (and not another blog, it just takes up too much writing time) that keeps these interests separate.
I'm in the process of getting O.K.’s to make PDF files of old work...then I'm in business...thanks again.; April 22, 2010 8:18 PM
Carol Tice said...: Hi Lynn --

Glad that helped you clarify what you want to do. I think a strong portfolio site that stands on its own, with maybe a link or tab to a blog if you have one, is the best way to communicate that you're a writing pro when prospects come browsing along.; April 22, 2010 10:50 PM
Rebecca said...: I have different sites. I have my personal blog, my writing website (will be revamped), teen life coaching site (with blogs), and another life coaching site (with blogs). It's best to keep everything separate.; April 23, 2010 7:31 AM
LatteLibrarian said...: Very nice article. I struggled with this when I left my corporate job to go back into freelance. For 15 years I was a technical writer, and though it paid the bills, I wanted to break away from technical writing and pursue a more creative field. In the beginning this was tough, as I continued to fall back into my more comfortable zone each day. So I took the plunge and not only split out my web sites, but my whole identity. Now I have technical and portfolio sites under my real name that display my technical expertise and a writing site and personal blog that I write under a pseudonym. This allows me to drive the appropriate people to the appropriate place. It also works for me on a sub-conscience level. When I am Marni Derr, I am all about technology. LL Derr is all about creativity.; April 23, 2010 2:21 PM
Messy mommy said...: It sounds like I'm on the right track. I am a newbie--had a children's book "done", but am getting ready to rewrite it after I work on a nonfiction project. I have my personal blog where I review books I read each month. Via Facebook I have my writer's site under a pseudonym and I will start a blog there to create interest in my nonfiction project.; April 26, 2010 4:19 PM