I Have a Dilemma, And Would Love Your Thoughts

Penelope Trunk just wrote about this idea. Basically, she says you should pick one topic and then weave other things that interest you into that. So if your main topic is personal development or freedom, you can still write about affiliate marketing as a means to achieve that. I think weaving all of your topics together can be done.

Here’s her blog post.

My opinion: if you are talking about personal development, it naturally includes a lot of branches that ranges from spirituality to career, therefore I don’t think it’s bad if you talk about both, I do the same in my blog.

Yes, you can open a new blog that is specific to a particular branch (like making money) but it would still be nice to see some articles about career here every now and then.

I think an interesting question is: would you be passionate enough to open a new blog only around a specific topic? If the answer is yes, and you have the time, go with it.

IMHO, keep doing what you’ve been doing. Some people may leave, but you can’t please everybody.

Personal Development is a very broad niché, Glen. I even see some trends inside the niché, there are simplicity blogs, career blogs, dating blogs, productivity blogs, looks blogs.. these are all personal development. PluginID – plug into your identity. Well, I don’t know you as well as I’d like to, but what I see is that your identity.. well.. YOU ARE this. I really like this mixture, and I treat yours as one of my favourite blogs, because of this: you touch the two topics that I’m interested in the most at the moment. Like Oscar said, if you have the time, go for it, open another blog. However, the question arises, will you be able to run both sites smoothly, and still have a *life*?
I opt for no change, however, I understand that there might be other readers who are not interested in all your content.

I come here because I don’t have to go to three blogs for the same thing. Your definition is being the not defined guy.

But, well, do what brings you joy.

Hey Glen.

It is a winning sign thinking about this, because the outcome is very likely to make the site better than it is right now, because of that aim for focus that Pam probably pointed out that top businesses and successful people have.

It is hard for me to say what is right for you, but an option that came to mind, like Zen Habits making branch Zen Family Habits, would be like a branch PluginFinancialID, PluginMoneyID, or PluginCashID for the money-making material.

I haven’t seen one person that started thinking about the next “business step”, as you are currently doing, and didn’t come out much better off.

I think creating another blog is a good idea, if you want to be more specific with internet marketing and personal development.

But if its too much work you can do what Shannon said and relate all posts to one main topic (which you kinda have) and, if you want your readers to read only what they are interested in you can let them choose to what category subscribe (im not sure if feedburner does it but I know its possible as Ive seen it in other blogs).
I know I`ll keep reading whatever you do

…..and is that coming from wanting approval, control, security……

I don’t know, Glen. You may be getting wrapped around the axle a bit here. This blog has a sizable following because of what you have been doing thus far.

I see your point about focused subject matter, but you might explore the sense of urgency to suddenly change or file down what you’re doing here. Is highly focused content an immutable law? Or is it a general rule of thumb that applies to many, but not all scenarios? You’ve mentioned that you’ve been heavy into releasing lately so why not release on it extensively? If after that it still feels appropriate to do, you’ll know you should do it. You’ll also know *what* to do at that point.

Best,
-Craig

Glen!

I think it is indeed a dilemma how to take it further and I would say that it is better to have 1000 truly loyal,targeted and interested readers than 10000 who are just spectators.

I think you should continue working on Viperchill, use that as your specific make money online blog and ‘how to’ blog, and keep pluginID as your personal development blog. Your readers can subscribe to both but they will choose their preference of which niche they want to be in.

Best advice I can give.
Cheers

Hi Glen,

A personal development site can, by rights, write about anything that has to do with improving lifestyle, and that includes a broad range of topics.

But with time, you’ve found an audience of over 5000 subscribers that know you like to cover a wide range of topics. It rather surprises me that you are asking yourself those questions now.

Do people really come to a blog for a specific topic? Doesn’t anyone like to be surprised? There are other wide-ranging blogs, Steve Pavlina isn’t alone. Tim Ferriss & Marelisa Fabrega are two that come to mind straight off. There are many more that choose slower growth in exchange for greater editorial freedom. I made that choice as well, although I think that writing exclusively about weight loss would have been more effective for readership growth.

But once you’ve made that one choice, you’re pretty much stuck with it. Weight loss, or business isn’t enough to have people really make progress. Life is a mix of many things to discover and / or improve on. If you want your blog to be of service, sometimes you’ll write about things you feel people need to have a look at, even if they aren’t looking for it.

My readership decreased with the publication of my article on Chi Kung. What is a Chi Kung article doing on a site that previously published an article on SEO??

But I think that the people that stayed are connecting with me more, and making better progress. I disagree with anyone that says that a good blog is about a restricted subject. I think a good blog needs personality. Once that personality is well defined, those that are in tune with it stick around forever.

That’s what you have, and I think you should nurture that.

Glen,
I’m with Zoli & Iván, vote for no change to content. I like your style, your personality and I love the variety of your interests.

And, Armen’s spot on too. Different niche’s different areas of the SAME site- take Matador as an excellent example, many magazine’s same site. I don’t like having to join multiple feeds for the same writer.

Please don’t simplify yourself just to make yourself more complicated.

I think you have hit an area that a lot of bloggers struggle with. When you have so many different interests, and so many different income streams, how do you go about organizing it in a way that makes sense to the readers and doesn’t get too confusing? Personally I enjoy the hybrid of different subjects, as they are all interesting to me. But that is just one person’s opinion.

Hi Glen,

To me this blog is about finding freedom in your life, finding freedom from doing what you “have” to do and creating a life where you have some freedom to explore life and improve yourself.

For me the passive income articles are a major piece of the puzzle in creating the life that one wants, an income generated that isn’t exchanged for a chunk of life is an important part of the whole equation. With that in place you have the freedom to explore life and improve the person you are. That’s the other posts you write.

I’m definitely for leaving things as they are, you have a style of writing that I enjoy and I enjoy the mix too. If you decide to split it into two blogs then cool, I’ll just read both.

I think your blog is just fine the way it is right now
You should write about both subjects like you’re doing now…
Honestly self development and working from home has to do a lot with each other. You can not go with one without the other
Well at least in my case. I hated my job and so I started looking for answers. I wanted to know what my purpose was and if there was more to life than just a J.O.B =P
That’s how I got in touch with spirituality and self development
I think same goes for a lot of people here.

id what about having this as you rmain hub then having individual ones as subblogs so

career.pluginid.com
thelight.pluginid.com

that way each will be treated seperately in the search engines yet will be still leading back to you.

My blogging has taken a similar path. I totally see your point about focusing on getting readers, doing what you want, and touching people in a meaningful way. Oh, and making money.

I chose to deal with it by trying to simplify and not stress over things. Looking around for the right term and focus will take you away from the true answer: the writing. The conclusion will come from writing–the wrong turns and all the rest, nothing else.

I wrote about your exact issue (and my conclusions) a few days ago on my blog: http://collectivecongruent.wordpress.com/

Hope it helps–BG

Hey Glen, if I may? In my humble opinion, I think for your own sanity and perhaps even greater success in the future, you should fine tune the topics as you said. I think some people may leave, but you may attract a greater audience because of the greater focus.

I enjoy your self development articles, but I’ve also learned a great deal from your lifestyle designing, productivity, and money making articles. A finely tuned hybrid perhaps? I think a bit of brainstorming will help a lot.

Good luck.

You’re doing just fine by being yourself here. I think you will do you, and your readers, a disservice by trying to be someone else. If you lose a reader or 2 while keeping the loyal readers happy, aren’t you really just defining your tribe? Keep up the good work and let us worry about reading which posts we’re interested in reading!!

If you haven’t already, you should check out Chris Guillebeau’s approach to this. He has blogged about this topic also.

http://chrisguillebeau.com/

Like others, I agree that financal independence has strong tie-ins with personal development. I’d say don’t ditch either, and don’t split your blog into two.

I’d be interested in more about your take on earning money in a way that doesn’t compromise your values. One of the things which impressed me about Cloud Living was your concept of a minisite not just as a money-spinner (which is what most niche site advice seems to suggest!) but as a way to promote products that you genuinely love.

(In Steve Pavlina terms, this might be a bit of a lightworker/darkworker type discussion.)

I think there are a lot of interesting questions about money and ethics, especially on the internet — where it’s easy to feel a certain detachment from our actions and words — and I’d love to see your thoughts on some of this sort of stuff!

I started reading your blog as it was listed in a google reader package, I keep reading it because I enjoy your articles. Likely if you chose to focus on one particular aspect of your blog over others I’ll keep reading. Really the amount of people you’ll lose will be gained by people interested in that particular topic.

For myself, I’m voting for more focus on the business/money-making side of things. Cloud Living was the only product I’ve worked with so far that got me to at least create my first affiliate mini-site. Any content you post in that area, I read immediately. The other topics are interesting, but I get around to reading them whenever.

It may relate to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. We have to provide for our survival before we explore our fulfillment. I realize the affiliate marketing content may not be the most interesting for you, but for those of us still looking to achieve that kind of freedom, it’s pretty darned interesting!

I like what Jon said about separated subdomains.

Glen -

I will say this…..you gotta be yourself! Don’t get in a trap of trying to appeal to the masses. Do you think Tim Ferriss does? Hell no! People either love him or hate him with a passion. What about Leo Babauta? Maybe not as polarizing, but it’s kind of the same thing.

F what anyone else thinks you should be doing. Do what you want to do. I know. Easier said than done. I’m still struggling with this myself.

Beyond that, you need to have almost a ‘mission statement’ for your blog or business. People who come to your blog should be able to figure out the general idea of what your focus is almost immediately. I pretty much get that right now. Yes, it’s personal development, but it’s also about using the internet to create a ‘free’ lifestyle.

Don’t worry about creating a broad following. I’d rather have a a small base of crazy-loyal followers than a huge base that has kind of an ‘eh’ interest.

Having said all of that, I like what you’re doing! Keep up the good work!

Glen,

This may be one of those situations when your desire (you would “ideally like a blend”) may not match the realities of what would be most successful. You may need to do more defining because that’s what the marketplace seems to need in this competitive environment.

Having said that, perhaps rather than treating the two categories as separate ‘topics’, you could create a blend within the same posts. What I mean is that when you have something to say about ‘spirituality’, you may be able to incorporate a spiritual element to the blog posts about productivity.

This would be of interest to those mainly into the productivity (since it still has the content), but could have your own unique flavour.

Maybe easier said than done, but just a thought.

Cheers
Martin

I’ve gotten a lot of perspective on this matter by watching Gary videos and interviews. I actually get what he’s trying to communicate now.

I also think Crush it will be a great book to faciliate in the decision making, but I haven’t read it yet so I’m not sure

Best of luck!
/Jonas

Hi Glen, I am somewhat new to your blog and therefore can give a pretty objective opinion. First, I think it’s apropos that your dilemma is the same as your tagline… Plug Into Your Identity. It’s clearly a theme that runs through your mind regardless of what side of it you are on. While Leo, Chris, and those guys have been successful with targeting their niche identity, that may not be the secret to your success. From reading the other posts, it sounds like your audience comes to your blog for…. YOU. Perhaps you are your niche. So I think whatever you decide, it will be successful as long as YOU are in it.

Best,
Tisha

On most days, I check all your sites. I enjoy your writing style, your insights, your suggestions, your topics, etc. You could continue as you have been doing, as in having all three of your sites, or you could blend them/bringing the others over to this site. Whatever you feel most comfortable with, I’m sure you won’t lose those of us who are your loyal readers. I am confident you will make the right decision for ‘you.’ Perhaps you could let the decision go for a week or so, and see what happens. You may find yourself surprised or relieved or even an unexplained ‘real good feeling’ may come over you. Put it out there-it’ll come back to you.(This has worked for me in the past.) Whatever you do choose to do, my little piece of advice would be to not complicate your life; it’s just not worth it. If you don’t have to rush the decision process, then take the necessary time. I’ll keep coming back. Best to you Glen.

Honestly, I think for many people (including myself), personal development, lifestyle design, and online business DO mesh well together and aren’t necessarily mutually exclusive.

So, like Shannon who says it might be a good idea to “weave” around one main topic and Ron who suggests a “finely tuned hybrid,” I think you can provide a semblance of all three…

Paul

Hey Glen,

Be the JACK of all trades, master of JACK.

Rather than being exclusively focused on one niche, or splitting time focusing on a handful of niches, focus on building the brand of Glen/PluginID. Write not for a thing but for a type of person (like yourself).

Like the person you mentioned, Steve Pavlina (I’d add to the list Tim Ferriss and Chris Guillebeau), the laser-focused branding isn’t on certain types of things but certain types of people.

Steve Pavlina is very exclusive to smart people looking to consciously grow. Within that, it could be relationships on a certain day, meditation on another, health, diet, etc. The point is, he doesn’t focus on being the master of a thing (health, dating) but for a certain type of people.

We humans are multifaceted. We don’t only like one thing. The blogs you mentioned that focus on things, I feel they’ve painted themselves into that corner. Not necessarily bad, but if the author wants to write about something else, they now have to start a new blog or risk confusing current readers.

Whereas those writers that focused on a certain type of person (usually similar to themselves), it’s tougher at first to gain a following (less searchable topics that they write about, obviously), but with time they’re able to write about anything related to that type of person (and they don’t have to limit themselves, since they are that type of person).

Like for my website Lifebeat, I write for remarkable people living their unique path. It could be artists, entrepreneurs, travelers. They could be interesting on maximizing their life, work, or creativity that day. Sure, it’s tougher to gain readers because I’m not the “definitive blog on making the best electronic music” or something, but I’m setting a standard from the get-go of writing for a certain type of person, not about a certain topic. I don’t have to limit myself because I’m that type of person I write for.

All the best with finding your direction, and here’s to the laser-focused brand of Glen being awesomely built,
Oleg

Hybrid. Uncluttered covers different areas of organization on different days. I imagine the main thread of this blog is your journey and discovery of self. I’m tuned into that. Marketing and media could be assigned days for organization and keeping yourself on track. Blend your audience rather than separate. It will yield better.

Hey Glen,

I really like your site the way it is. Your content is thoughtful, inspiring, fresh, vulnerable. I like that you weave in a variety of other topics in besides personal growth and identity. I probably wouldn’t go to a separate site for online marketing, but it is fascinating to read about on your site and I might very well be inspired to do it. Like others have commented, the common thread running through all your posts is Plugging in to your identity. That a pretty rich theme that you can pin a lot of interesting entries on depending on what’s currently going on in your life. I think it’s a real fresh approach and I love how you do it. Keep it up. You’re awesome!

Warmly…
Michael

Glen, perhaps this is the article Caryn was referring to.

http://chrisguillebeau.com/3×5/business-blogging-broken-windows/

In my opinion, you’re already doing a better job in this regard than Chris Guillebeau. He posts things sometimes that I just completely skip because I’m not interested, but I’ll read every one of your posts. The only thing I could maybe add to all the great comments you’ve already received — while achieving financial freedom can definitely be seen as an extension of personal development (and thus fit in nicely with the current blog), if you’re going to start doing more technical internet marketing posts, that might be a little too specialized and uninteresting for the people who aren’t really pursuing that, so maybe you’d want to separate that into a different site.

Hi Glen
I am interested in both areas. I always read your blog and do love it the way it is, but understand your need for more focus around your message. I think it can be done either way (e.g. a hybrid or a new site).
Keep up the good work
Jen

Glen:

“PluginID, named after the slogan ‘Plug into Your Identity’, is a site about helping you realise who you are, and perhaps more importantly, who you are not. My aim with this site is to awaken, inspire and motivate others into seeing that they can be who they want to be and live the life they want to live.”

Teach people how to realise who they are and what freedom means to them so they can start a happy leaving. Forget other topics – focus on one – Plug into Your Identity And Become Happy. Do what you love. People have so many barriers in their heads – they need an example of the ones who succeed and will help them on their way… I would focus more on a psychological side because people struggle to become brave enough to make their dreams come through or even discover who they are. You are good at it.

You can write about affiliate marketing or productivity but in the context of freedom. But don’t go too far from the true YOU as I think Clay Collins did. Don’t become another marketing guy… You have a stable income. And set yourself a goal that will confirm that you are going in the right direction, like: “If two guys email me that they left they job they hated and are not extremely happy pursuing they dreams after reading me blog for 5 months”

That’s my humble advice.

And Glen, don’t start another blog. You can always publish e-books on this one to cover more specific topics.

I say stick with a single blog, because I believe as people become increasingly comfortable with consuming online content they “get” that people are multidimensional and aren’t off put by broader blogs.

And in terms of thinking of a name/category for yourself, that’s certainly a tricky thing, but how I came up with my own category, “Barefoot Geek” was simply by thinking of something I do (walk barefoot) with something I am (a geek). I came up with the name, and tied it in with the concept, opposed to coming up with a concept and trying to think of a name for it.

Hope that helps.

Hi Glen,

I think you hit the nail on the head thinking about a hybrid. Most people will come to your website because they like the mix of what you offer – I’d hazzard that the majority of those interested in personal development are interested in productivity, and probably making money online (I have never go this right in my head, but I assume is something along the lines of want-more-out-of-life=personal-development=current-job-evil=quit-and-make-money-online).

My job is designing corporate strategy, and the biggest mistake I see businesses make is throwing away broad customer appeal to dive down an attractive looking niche. “We need to focus on our core area” which they define narrowly, rather than realising their ‘core area’ is providing customers with the wider array of products they want. Think Woolworths in the UK.

Just my £0.02!

Rich

write about how to be awesome.

like you already do.

i don’t see a problem here

the things you write about are connected more than you think. not directly. but they are. people who are into personal dev are into spirituality and are also into making money. sure, online money making is a lil dif to personal dev stuff but people will still learn from it

i like getting a good dose of glenny all in one place

Coming at this from a branding stand point I think that productivity and spirituality can mix very well but you really could do a whole different blog for the money online stuff. I know I would be subscribed to both. But when I come to this site I look at the name, and the promise in the headline. Spirituality and Productivity are more consistent with this brand. Its like Darren of Problogger has problogger, but he also has his photography school. Two very different topics. You would have some spill over from this blog to the other, but ultimately you could have a more focused message on both sites.

It’s so awesome seeing all these really genuine comments on here offering very thoughtful advice. Personally, I like your site as is. Your goal is personal change. That encompasses a lot of areas. Zero in too much, and you’ll get bored with your writing. And keep sharing your struggles. That’s the secret ingredient that keeps everyone reading in my opinion. For me, PluginID is the best personal development blog out there because you do keep it real.

Wow
A lot of really cool, helpful comments!
I’m sure this will help you a lot

You’ve obviously wrote a little about each of the topics in question to draw the audience that you have. I like the suggestion that you pick one main focus and keep the other two as secondary topics. If you’re content is good, people will stick around.

Hi Glenn,

There is a saying which stuck in my mind since the very first time I heard it: “Follow your heart and life will follow”. Go where your heart leads you. As an Native American wise man once said, “all paths lead to somewhere but some paths have a heart”.

All the three paths you suggested lead to somewhere but one of them has a heart…which one is it? This is what is ultimately important.

If you have 2 types of readers and ask them the question you asked you will still get two answers. So why not ask your heart and get one answer?

Hey Glen, my opinion is to put everything in one spot. We all have different sides of our personalities/interests/strengths/etc. Putting it all together shows you’re a normal, authentic, approachable human being, and regardless the audience, I think that resonates. It’s also a lot easier for you and your readers.

Hi Glenn,

I just recently purchased your book and am now following your blog because of the content of your posts. Regarding your dillema, what about creating separate blogs within your blog that will represent the different areas that you have mentioned (productivity, making money, spirituality, etc). Sort of like a set of blogs within your blog. And if at one point you want to split up those blogs, at least you have your followers fitted into the different buckets.

We’re creating a fitness blog with this concept and we’re hoping this will allow people with different background to connect with us. And we’re hoping to use your Cloud Living concepts to make some money out of it as well.

Thanks and let me know what you think about this idea.

-Brian

I like how the site is now, it’s a mixed bag. You never know what you are going to get. I like that I can come here and learn about online business, productivity or spirituality. I like how it is all over, kinda like a one stop shopping.

Either way I will still follow your sites,
Vince

I like things as they are. My view is that all this subjects discussed are related, more or less, but they are related. It’s not like you write about poetry, then math, then sport. And posts about various life domains prevents boredom and gives dynamic to website.

Hi Glenn!

I’ll be honest I haven’t been online for awhile but I do like this site alot. I actually have an interest in all of your work here! I like all the topics you cover whenever I have time to stop in. I am hoping to get back here more often soon. I also share your site with friends too on the various topics as their own interests come up.

Maybe its the difference that attracts so many and makes it such a success! Plus it frees yout o be your entire authentic self expression…..? Yes/No Remember unnique is a great quality!

Peace, Love and Joy,
Diane

One of the main reasons I vist pluginid so much is for the variety. I for one couldn’t read and don’t want to read personal development posts all of the time. Nor do I want to read marketing posts all of the time. The thing that intially attracted me to your blog is the fact it really is a hybrid from a young guy who seems to have a head on their shoulders.

PluginID is a great blog, with some really great posts in all topics. I believe you should continue this way and if you’re looking for some kind of focus, then focus on this blog. I’d drop the other ones and continue on the PluginID journey.

I don’t think your readers, no matter which topic they are mainly interested in really mind the change in venue every now and again.

Bill Cosby said “I don’t know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody.”

Continue as it is and stop overthinking stuff you hear at conferences. Take care Glen. (By the way, I added you to my blog directory. I hope you don’t mind)

Hey Glen,

Lots of great feedback – but where does it leave you? Hopefully not more confused.

My input is this…

THE ULTIMATE QUESTION

As a businessman, what I pay more attention to is not why people come to your site or what they get out of it, but more importantly, what do they actually say to others when they recommend you/your site?

Your ‘sneezers’ (as Seth Godin would say) have already distilled down the most valuable elements of your vast offering into a single sentence that they can quickly and efficiently share with friends and colleagues.

This gives valuable clues as to branding, positioning, benefits etc that will help clarify your focus.

For example:

“You should check out Seth Godin’s blog for fresh thinking on marketing.”

This is dead-easy to ‘sneeze’.

“Seth Godin” “marketing” = clearly defined focus and a cinch to find in search engines. He sells marketing books and gives marketing speeches.

Easy-to-find, easy-to-sneeze.

When I ‘sneeze’ you Glen, it’s a bit harder because I never remember your website name and your focus is less defined. So I say something like, “There’s this amazing young guy who blows me away with his work ethic and the value he adds. I’ll send you the link.”

Harder-to-find, harder-to-sneeze.

I would love to see one amazing site, one focus, one simple name (ideally yours!) and one powerful audience of raving fans highly motivated to sneeze a simple, valuable message.

Just some thoughts to add to the mix.

Still a huge fan.

Robin

Hi Glenn

My first comments post here although Ive been recieving your newsletter for 6 months now. At the start reading some of your positivity posts really really helped my through a very difficult time so thank you.

As for changing PLUGinID’s structure… i personally come here to hear about YOU and whatever insights you may have regarding your personal journey. Up to you if youd like to change it but Id say if it isnt broken dont fix it ? I dont find the making money side as stimulating but its part of YOUR journey and that makes it more interesting to read about.

well done anyway and keep it up!

Whoa! Looks like I’m late to this party. I didn’t read all of the comments, so I don’t know if this has come up yet: “The Thing” that you will be known for, that everybody will be able to sum up in just a few words, could be YOU. I think you can probably make yourself the brand and people would come here “because it’s Glen”. This way, you don’t need to narrow the focus of the blog. I think that’s what happened for Steve Pavlina. He writes on all sorts of subjects, but people go to his blog because it’s him writing.

Combine this with what some have already mentioned – framing one subject through another (e.g. making money as a part of personaly developement/freedom) – and I think you’d be golden.
Starting a separate blog… I don’t know. I would probably not read all of your articles if I had to go to two different places to do so. But that’s just me.

Hey Glen,

I personally don’t mind the blog the way it is. I found your blog and started reading it because of the personal development aspect, but then I really started to take your blog a lot more seriously when I found out you also did affiliate marketing.

Why?

I’m big into personal development myself, and I’m learning the ropes of affiliate marketing. To me that makes this blog truly unique.

In my opinion you don’t need to change a thing. I think what separates this blog from others is how unique it is. Otherwise you’d just be another “self-improvement blogger” or just another “make money online blogger.”

To me the holistic approach is much simpler to manage and gives you the freedom to write about whatever you like. I mean, look a Tim Ferriss’ blog. He write about “lifestyle design” which so far has included, diets, exercise programs, travel videos, entrepreneurial advice, and how to peel a boiled egg. He can do that because he has a broad blog. And he sure has no shortage of follower.

This comment is turning out much longer than I thought it would, so I’m going to stop here.

Take care, man. And don’t stress it too much.

I read this blog to stimulate my own thoughts and for ideas that may improve my life. It doesn’t matter what they are about as long as it meets this criteria i will keep reading.

Just keep it like it. Make it like a three in one blog, that makes things neat, and organized than to have multiple blogs then you have to do everything separately. It’s just my opinion to integrate them all here, and have a growing fan base. Like playing instruments know which one is your best but keep them all, later in your own experience you shall find which ones you are the best at. Why not a hybrid? Obviously you are here to help people, so both help. Just check out this guys http://www.urbanmonk.net/. He works with all three. and its a site I recommend.

Hi Glen! I like your blog as it is. I really don’t remember whether I began following you for your business ideas or your spiritual thoughts, but I do remember that I liked the combination and felt that you were a kindred spirit. I think your light shines through all of your postings and that is the common thread that connects it. You don’t have to specifically mention light for it to shine brightly. I like the variety, but through it all I see the connection. Just keep doing what your doing! It’s terrific!

Hi Glen,

I’m stumbled on PluginID for the first time about a month ago, and I’m now a subscriber. Since I’m not a long time follower, maybe I can give you some insight from someone who is newly following you.

I subscribed based on what you share: your insights, your challenges, and mostly your personally development stuff. I really enjoy your style of writing and your honesty.

I am intrigued that you make a living online, though, and find that interesting. But that’s not why I subscribed. Personally, I would prefer to read about that elsewhere, somewhere that’s devoted to that sort of thing, a site that would be a great resource, because I think you’ve got a lot to offer there.

But to me, PluginID isn’t a resource for that sort of stuff, it’s a different kind of resource, a great blog written by Glen Allsopp, chalk full of content to “awaken, inspire and motivate others into seeing that they can be who they want to be and live the life they want to live.”

If you did create another blog as a resource for all your other stuff, I would subscribe to that one, too, because to me you’ve got enough experience that I want to know what you have to say.

So, you’d get two subscriptions out of me! I have some friends that I’ve recommended to PluginID because of what you write about here, the non-online stuff. But people who come here looking for your wealth of experience making a living online really have to dig around and sift through a lot of other things to get what they are looking for.

I think splitting the two would grow your future subscribers for both quite a bit. Just my opinion. I know you’re concerned about your past and loyal followers, and although some would split off, I think most of them would end up following you on both, too.

Cheers,
Miche

Glen,

This is quite a dilemma. I think continuing on the path that you are going is to be more fulfilling. Perhaps there is a way to 80/20 your blogs so that you can maximize your revenue. That way you will be able to ease off of the affiliate marketing and that will create time to update more often on all three topics.

Looking forward to seeing which direction you take.

Hi Glen,

I have the same problem as you too and there wasn’t a specific direction that my blog is going. But I believe a hybrid would be a choice of mine. A hybrid between personal development and making money online can match together as what the others fellow commenters had said. Which means you get to serve 2 side at a single blog which can save up lots of your time.

Cheers,
Vincent

Hi Glen

I’ve been reading your blog ever since I commented on a particular post back when you were living in Cape Town. Like you, I lived and worked there too although I’m from the UK, and still see it as my second home. For me, I got drawn in initially because you were a blogger who was “walking his talk” and covered the areas that resonated most where I was also at when I found your blog – all things marketing and personal development. And that hasn’t changed. I continue to follow your blog because you always offer good value and interesting fresh insights.

I’m currently battling with a similar thought process so found your post and all the comments really useful. My work straddles personal development and marketing comms, and I’m now thinking that rather than split those up, it’s okay to carry on as I am through the common link I use of wanting to nudge people to get to their important stuff.

In your case, as others have commented, the common theme is helping people to plug in to their identity and since that works on both a personal and professional level, for me, that neatly encompasses your different topics you’re interested in/write about.

Will be interesting to see what you decide and I look forward to reading further thoughts! Either way, as these comments show, I don’t think you’ll be reducing your readership any time soon!

All the best

Tamsin@nudgeme

I believe that a little variations would not hurt. After all, if your audience have identified what you are writing, they will come back knowing that they will have something to learn from you. Would it be much of a benefit if you are known for spirituality, productivity and making money online? Maybe it would be good if you could at least meld them in your post, I mean map a relation among them. Just an idea.

Glen, This may have already been said; i feel your best option to to go with your passion. What is burning deep inside you? What makes it worth switching your computer on each day?

As many people know you’ll never please everybody. If you make sure you’re pleasing yourself you’ll still maintain your readership and have a healthy looking blog.

Keep up the great blogs

Regards

Paul
diary4life.com

It seems to me you could just write about certain topics with 3 perspectives.

Write about the topic with a spirituality side, then productivity then making money online.

thought i think that people would probably be more interested in some short E-book on how it is you make money online and what steps to take. They are not here for the other two just to figure out how you did it.

So a good solution is to talk about those 2 subjects related to 1 topic.

You cna give the side of one related to the topic then the other.

I think personal development is really tied into being an entrepreneur (look at Steve Pavlina). You could make this site focus on personal development as it relates to becoming an entrepreneur – because it seems like you already have expertise in this area. Being fun/original (& I would even say spirituality) would tie into this.

If you’re going to start another site, then devote it to how you started making $ online with cloud living. I think a site devoted to online business would be really popular in this day and age, just my 2 cents.

Can you handle one more comment?

Interesting that this has been such a commented on post and also, when you read all the comments,how your readers don’t seem to care that you write about 2 or 3 different things as long as you write.

They’re more interested in you and your identity info than anything else and they’re interested in blogging and travel too because you are.

They’re worried that you’re in a pickle though and kindly offer to follow you on 3 or more different blogs if that makes you happier.

What a great crowd and well done for building up such a large and loyal following.

Here’s my take. You seem to have 2 blogs already on 2 different topics (pd and marketing) I think that’s enough. Weave a thread between the topics you cover in this blog – the identity element will draw it all together and you can be the personal identity man.

Great thinking points here and this has helped me as my personal development blog focuses on encouraging, inspiring and showing people how to live their dream. But I do a bit on happiness, living better and travel too. I think they’re all related and now I’m convinced that it’s okay for me to carry on that path. Everyone dreams of travel don’t they? Well, if they don’t they can find the ‘live your dream of staying put’ blog:)

So, you just need to keep doing what you’re doing, stop worrying and have fun. That identity hat looks good on you!