Today I've been promoted at work to the position of project manager. I've been given the task of setting up a blog network. Now while I'm chuffed to bits that my boss has put his faith in me I'm also anxious to do a good job for him. The thing is, I don't have any experience in project management just bags of enthusiasm and a willingness to learn coupled with an interest for the subject matter. Any tips from you guys would be most appreciated. To give you a clearer idea of what is required, I'm to set up a blog network simialr to the one at b5media.com although on a much smaller scale and not as developed of course - for now. The idea is that I set up 20 blogs in niche areas which are most likely to attract the most advertising. My ideas so far are: 1. Blogging 2. Xbox 360 3. Fat loss 4. Muscle building 5. Photography 6. Internet marketing 7. Blog for men, gadgets, sport, etc 8. Blog for women, beauty tips etc 9. Science fiction/fantasy films etc 10. Cars 11. Pets 12. Mens health 13. Womens health 14. Music Could I have your opinions please and any advice, tips on setting up would also be really helpful.
If you are looking for help in installing the blogs, and adding features to the blog with some plugins and all, I can help you do that. I love working with wordpress blogs...
#7 I would split the gadgets and sports to each having their own blog putting you at 15 16: A "How To" site where each post addresses a common problem and how to fix it. 17: Culinary Site 18: I know there is a gadget site but I would suggest one that has a specific niche as well (ie: cell phones, computers, laptops, netbooks, etc. Something specialized that will always have new things to write on.) 19: Entertainment/Humor site 20: A site dedicated to reviewing online services and applications
the subjects sound ok.. but I mean how are you going to write the woman's blog stuff? Are planning on writing these all yourself or hiring blog writers. There a large number of sites that offer writers for people like you. otherwise where is all this content coming from. A blog isn't just a one day kind of thing.. it take lots and lots of work to get your blog seen and made important.. Good luck
The best advise I can give you is, look over your budget. Find good blogs and buy them, then hire the blogger to keep running the blog smoothly.
Yep, that's good advice. If you are starting all of these from scratch simultaneously they will take a lot of time to develop. Some of those subjects can be combined with a few good magazine style themes.
ok guys thank you all for the input and advice - I really appreciate it I should have made it clear at the start that I also have a few resources when it comes to the blog creation. I have a team of writers to cover the blog posting etc and also some SEO guys and website designers so I should be ok. It was more the project management side of things and niche ideas that I was trying to get a handle on as I've never done this type of thing before.
All the subjects that you have listed are ...for lack of a better term..."The Old Stand By's". With the exception of Photography, and Sci-Fi, the others are done often, especially by new bloggers. What drives me in a new niche is, "What can I sell that hasn't been realized yet in this niche". I wouldn't start all of those and just rely on adsense..that's been done to death, but , if you have an affiliate product, or are going to build something really nice and informative and target private advertising (Need big traffic) then I could see it. If you have a unique perspective, or solid marketing ideas or channels, then you could possibly rise above the rest. There is certainly more than on way to present an idea, and that will sometimes make all the difference in the world. Out of everything that you listed, the hardest one to make any money on is Music. Just a general music site will never beat out the big sites, unless you offer something unique, and music downloads pay crap, so you will need a lot of traffic to make that worth your while, not to mention that pirate and illegal downloads make it hard to sell surfers music, depending on the niche and demographic that you target. If you are going to do a music site, my suggestion would be to stay away from niches that target kids...they don't have any money or Credit Cards, and they are the most likely to use illegal downloads. I assume that you are starting these blogs because you already have a monetization plan in those niches, if not...and you are just starting blogs just to branch out and diversify, then I would investigate something that you could use your resources to make profitable, without having to tackle tons of major competitors.
Hello Mizaks I just checked out the link you provided - very interesting. So you can host multiple blogs with one installation of MU yes?? Do you know if this can be installed with Fantastico delux?