How Many Blogs?

I've been talking to a buddy of mine who does some posting work on our blogs and we're considering kicking off another network.
I just thought I'd check in with others and ask how many blogs they run as an affiliate?

This is mainly for those who earn a full-time income from affiliate sales, as that's the primary area of business we're looking at expanding right now.
So, if you earn what could be considered a full-time income (I'm guessing maybe between $3 and $4k a month?) through affiliate sales alone, how many blogs do you run, and do you run anything else that gains you a lot of sales?

It's just something we're considering doing, but I'm wondering if we should be diversifying into tubes rather than kicking off another network of blogs. And if we do go down the blog network, should we again go for the sub-domain system (which allows any domain sub for some improved SEO) or kick off numerous individual sites?

Thanks for your thoughts as always :humble:

I don't earn a full-time income from affiliate sales, but I do have a network of a couple hundred blogs, plus I get to see what other affiliates are doing to make sales. I can confirm that earning $3-4K/mo off one blog is VERY do-able!

Blogs are one of the best sources for good ratio sales, much better than tubes, tgp sites or even free sites. But I would always recommend that affiliates approach their work with the "empire building" attitude - the more types of sites you build, the stronger your empire. And strong empires mean consistent sales. Like for instance, the last google update saw a lot of tube sites pushed up in SERPS. If you had just blogs, you probably felt the pinch. But those with blogs and tubes faired much better.

I have to agree with your thinking on that Luke. I've always thought that having more blogs/sites out there just increases your coverage, and adjusting them all to be a little different allows for testing out new formats and layouts for increasing sales too.

Although, I haven't seen any decline in traffic since Google started promoting the Tubes. I don't get what all the fuss has been about, but I also don't understand how I haven't been affected either.
I don't run checks to see where I'm being placed - with over fifteen blogs to check I just don't have the time to run that kind of analysis too often.
But I can certainly say that my blogs have not lost any traffic, even if they have lost in position to some tubes.

The whole tube thing is something I'm looking into at the moment and experimenting with. I don't want to invest too much in it without knowing what the ROI is likely to be, so I think we'll be going with an embed/non member tube version to start with and see how that goes.

Definitely looking at setting up another round of blogs though!
Thanks for your thoughts on it.

I bet Mary could give us some nice information from QueerClicks, that blog rocks!

I'd get all over Tumblr.. It's an incredible page view machine! ;) lol

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Originally Posted by ClickSniper

I'd get all over Tumblr.. It's an incredible page view machine! ;) lol

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I have actually looked at that a couple of times, but I don't think I understand the process at all. I know that's a little embarrassing to admit! lol

Are there any resources out there to educate me in how Tumblr can help with affiliate sales? I'd appreciate it.

I totally agree that the more blogs you have the better. I have a main blog where I'm around the earning that you guys mentioned, then I have about 5 other smaller blogs that pretty much serve as filler when my main blog doesn't perform too well.

My problem is I don't like to copy and paste content, I like to make it my own (pictures/video/text..) so yeah it's really time consuming, and that's why I only update my main right now. If I could update them all regularly, I could easily double what I earn.

I have yet to check Tumblr cos like Twitter, I'm so out of it lol

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Originally Posted by conran

Are there any resources out there to educate me in how Tumblr can help with affiliate sales? I'd appreciate it.

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I can't think of any good getting started resources for Tumblr, but I'll try to give you a few tips and insights that I have discovered by playing around with Tumblr blogs...

- Think of Tumblr as a social blog of sorts.. there are 3 main functions in my opinion: #1) posting/sharing your content #2) connecting with other blogs/users (i.e. making friends) #3) sharing good content from your favorite Tumblr friends to help promote their blog (many will then return the favor)

- Pictures and Video are best (anything you post can be hyperlinked - if you are using affiliate content, this could be a good method of driving traffic)

- Add friends (i.e. other Tumblr blogs) that you are interested in and/or have similar content to yours (You can add any tumblr blog as a friend without sending a request or anything - if you have cool content, the majority of users will follow you back)

- Find a good template. There are a lot of great free templates that are simple to use and customize. If you know basic html, advertising/banners can be very easily added to you Tumblr site. If you don't like any of the default themes (i.e templates), just do a quick google search and you can find lots of other options.

- There are lots of tools and add-ons available to automatically post your content from your other non-tumblr blogs, websites, etc... to your tumblr feed. This can save a lot of time and increase your reach without a lot of housekeeping. But you need to build up a following/community in order for people to find your stuff...

- Most people will discover your content on their personal dashboard (like your facebook feed kinda). So they may not actually visit your tumblr site to click,share,interact with you content. keep this in mind as it's important to understand.

I'm reading back over this and realizing that it probably doesn't make much sense to you right now. lol! But try it out and play around. It's super easy to set-up and you'll start to pick up how the community works really quick. Then reread these tips and hopefully they will be somewhat helpful. lol.

If you run into anything along the way, please let me know - happy to help you out. I've been using Tumblr for a couple years now and know my way around pretty well. The main point I guess is to have fun with it and experiment! Also, take a look around to see how others are using their Tumblr blog - there are a lot of cool and creative people using it for both enjoyment and marketing purposes.

Thanks for all that. I'm looking into it today and I think I understand the potential for it. I'll have to spend some free time this week really looking into it. Then, as you suggest, I'll come back and check out your tips again! ;)

ClickSniper -- I'd like to see a How to Tumblr in the tutorials section, if you don't mind doing a copy paste of your tutorial post in there for posterity!

I have over 100 sites of which 60 blogs. The blogs generate 80% of my income and that's more than what you mentioned in your first post.

I think it's easier to get 1000 visitors per blog than 60K visitors on one big blog. The past 2 months, I have merged some blogs because I wanted to spend more time on certain blogs, but so far I have to say that this wasn't a good choice.

Blog traffic is far more valuable than tube traffic, however it's easier to grow in tube (in traffic numbers). It's all a numbers game.

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Originally Posted by Bec

ClickSniper -- I'd like to see a How to Tumblr in the tutorials section, if you don't mind doing a copy paste of your tutorial post in there for posterity!

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For sure Bec! Gladly :)

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Originally Posted by ClickSniper

For sure Bec! Gladly :)

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Thanks so much!! I'm sure it will give a lot of GWW'ers some ideas on how to use Tumblr for marketing~!!

Hi!
I too have had a look at tumblr but is it just basically a hosted blog platform a-la Wordpress?

Would I be better off creating blogs and sites using WP or Tumblr?

I would have said WP as I have more control and plugins etc but evryone LUVS Tumblr!

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Originally Posted by pocoloco

I have over 100 sites of which 60 blogs. The blogs generate 80% of my income and that's more than what you mentioned in your first post.

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Can I ask if they're all self hosted or do you include Tumblr and Blogspot in those? I'm thinking a cross section of all of those might be a good option?

I've recently invested in some new domains in a popular niche that does well for me, so I think I'll be moving more into daily posting across all those domains.

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Originally Posted by conran

Can I ask if they're all self hosted or do you include Tumblr and Blogspot in those? I'm thinking a cross section of all of those might be a good option?

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I'd be curious to know about this too if you don't mind sharing Pocoloco.. I know there are free services out there that allow you to auto-publish blog posts to both Tumblr and Blogger so I'm thinking that it would make sense to have content on each, since it's basically automated.. after the initial set-up, I'm thinking it would basically run its self...

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Originally Posted by thejungle

Hi!
I too have had a look at tumblr but is it just basically a hosted blog platform a-la Wordpress?

Would I be better off creating blogs and sites using WP or Tumblr?

I would have said WP as I have more control and plugins etc but evryone LUVS Tumblr!

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The beauty of Tumblr is the way people interact with content.. they LOVE to share!! the thing that makes Tumblr unique is that people can "reblog" your posts (content) onto their own Tumblr blog (and following).. If you build up a good following and post some really good content, the community basically takes care of advertising for you! Here's a quick hypothetical example:

#1) I post hot video on my Tumblr blog
#2) hot video shows up on each of my 1,000 followers dashboards (like a homepage or facebook feed for your Tumblr - it's how most users view their content and friend's content)
#3) 50 of my followers like my sexy video and "reblog" to each of their 1,000 followers

So, almost instantly your single post to your 1,000 followers has now been seen by 60,000 people. It's beautiful math. But like all everything, CONTENT is king!

Wow. I should go work for Tumblr. hahaha. fanboy here :P

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Originally Posted by conran

Can I ask if they're all self hosted or do you include Tumblr and Blogspot in those? I'm thinking a cross section of all of those might be a good option?

I've recently invested in some new domains in a popular niche that does well for me, so I think I'll be moving more into daily posting across all those domains.

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The blogs are all self-hosted, each on its own domain. I do have a couple of Thumblogger blogs too, but I haven't updated those in years.

Some of the blogs I own are updated on a daily basis, others only once per week or even once per month. It's a mix of handwritten blogs and copy/paste blogs.

A few months ago, I tried out Tumblr and started 4 different blogs. After a month or so, my account was deleted because the use of affiliate links violated their TOS. I have recently started a new Tumblr blog and I now am just using it as a way to generate traffic to my own blogs now.

I think it's a good idea to start some new blogs. Often you can re-use / re-write content on another blog without spending too much time on it.

I had a tumbler account that was closed as well due to affiliate links.

So how do you guys place content on tumbler with no affiliate links? Wouldn't the sponsors of this content not appreciate the fact that their content is being plastered all over the place with no affiliate link code with it?

Would you mind sharing the address of your Tumbler account Pocoloco so I could see how you do this?

Sincerely,
Kevin.

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Originally Posted by pocoloco

I have recently started a new Tumblr blog and I now am just using it as a way to generate traffic to my own blogs now.

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Do they have any issues with linking to your other adult blog domains or is it just linking to affiliates? I have been think of opening a Tumblr blog to promote my other more popular blogs as well but didn't want to go though the work just to have it deleted.

does Tumblr have any issues with adult content? or should we stick with softcore only?

Anybody interested in exchange links with my blogs/sites?

if you don't already, feel free to submit blogs to these two sites to get listed on 11 directories:
http://gayblogsubmitter.com
http://gaywidewebmasters.com/gayblogsubmitter/

:img43:

HunkMoneyLuke i need my links to appear on front page of sites not on subdomains or other folders/files. Let me know if you are interested in mainpage links exchange

In that case, I have front page 1-year hardlinks for sale. Did you want me to send you info?

cheers
Luke

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Originally Posted by HunkMoneyLuke

I don't earn a full-time income from affiliate sales, but I do have a network of a couple hundred blogs, plus I get to see what other affiliates are doing to make sales. I can confirm that earning $3-4K/mo off one blog is VERY do-able!

Blogs are one of the best sources for good ratio sales, much better than tubes, tgp sites or even free sites. But I would always recommend that affiliates approach their work with the "empire building" attitude - the more types of sites you build, the stronger your empire. And strong empires mean consistent sales. Like for instance, the last google update saw a lot of tube sites pushed up in SERPS. If you had just blogs, you probably felt the pinch. But those with blogs and tubes faired much better.

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I find that very, very hard to believe! We have been blogging for 5 years and have 7 gay adult blogs - and come up on page one for thousands of keywords each month. In this economy I think $1000 a month per blog is a STRETCH! Let alone 3k!

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Originally Posted by raphaelsmp

I find that very, very hard to believe! We have been blogging for 5 years and have 7 gay adult blogs - and come up on page one for thousands of keywords each month. In this economy I think $1000 a month per blog is a STRETCH! Let alone 3k!

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I really do think that a good blog can earn $3-4K per month, perhaps not directly from affiliate membership sales, but a good blog can earn money in other ways too.

Here's a few ideas that may help you make more money from your blogs:
- sell banner advertising
- sell hardlinks
- sell blog plug posts
- try selling alternatives to memberships, like fleshlights
- have a contest which encourages members to join sites and/or buy products you are selling, for instance, have a fleshlight contest! Tell members to buy their own fleshlight then send in their videos.
- start an opt-in email list and email members regularly
- work with sponsors to offer special pricing deals to your surfers, possibly via that very same opt-in email list

Any one else have other ideas?

And if you are interested, maybe you can list the URLs for your blogs so that we can peek at them and see if we can help more.

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Originally Posted by kejebe

I had a tumbler account that was closed as well due to affiliate links.

So how do you guys place content on tumbler with no affiliate links? Wouldn't the sponsors of this content not appreciate the fact that their content is being plastered all over the place with no affiliate link code with it?

Would you mind sharing the address of your Tumbler account Pocoloco so I could see how you do this?

Sincerely,
Kevin.

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I was still hoping pocoloco can shed some light on this.. I'm guessing he hasn't been around on this board in awhile?

Im looking only for links exchange right now. I will let you know if i will want to buy some. Thank you

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Originally Posted by HunkMoneyLuke

In that case, I have front page 1-year hardlinks for sale. Did you want me to send you info?

cheers
Luke

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Originally Posted by HunkMoneyLuke

I really do think that a good blog can earn $3-4K per month

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I don't really actively track which blog my sales come from, but my gut tells me I make at least that much off rawtop.com (all through affiliate sales) - probably a bit more... So it is possible. But then again 'rawTOP' has become a bit of a brand name...

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Originally Posted by HunkMoneyLuke

Anyone else have other ideas?

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Don't forget to do the most Basic Marketing of your blogs ...

1. Submit them to blog link lists: both gay lists and straight ones with a gay category. And submit the blog url to paid directories with categories for blogs – Yahoo, BOTW, bCentral, WOW, JoeAnt.

2. Optimize them for SEO ranking: keyword meta tags, meta descriptions, alt tags on all imagery, font treatments of specific keywords: H1, H2, H3 or bold, underlined, or italic, etc. Also: Install and learn to use the All in One SEO plugin


3. Do free blogroll trades with other bloggers (find some similiar niche bloggers to trade with at places like www.linkspun.com) Get some A/B/C links happening with these trades as well as A/B style links. Also do some paid listings with sites that have a PR2 or higher ranking.

4. Assign article keyword tags to each post (in the area where you're writing the post on right hand column you'll see an area to put some onto your post) Download and use the free Good Keywords 3 to search for the best keywords and terms to work into your articles. When you use the Good Keywords tool, you're looking for keywords in the list that aren't as heavily saturated, giving you a better opportunity to snag a high Search Engine listing for that keyword.

5. Show a tag cloud on your sidebar or in the footer (easily done with your widgets)

6. Go do comments on similiar niche blogs: it gets you a free inbound link and traffic to your blog's url. Always respond to comments on your blog and when you detect a mention of your blog on another blog, thank that blogger in the comments section of the post.

7. Add additional sites to the "ping" list in Settings -> Writing -> Update Services (be sure to delete the one that is there before copy/pasting in a new list) note* each url MUST be on its own line or it won't work

8. Install and use the Feedburner Plugin and here's an article about Using Feedburner.

9. Using a link cloaking plugin like Ninja Affiliate stops surfers and link thieves from changing or removing your affiliate code and removes the reluctance of a lot of surfers from clicking an affiliate link.

10. Upload and configure a Social Sharing plugin for surfers to quickly spread the word about a post they like. Also use the Social Networking to your own advantage on forums and discussion threads to connect with other bloggers. If they like your stuff, they will link to you.