One Blog or Two? How To Know When You Need “Blog Separation”

Meg Hoppe
Posted by Meg Hoppe on March 16, 2016

one-blog-or-two.jpgMost businesses sell to more than just one target but present their products and services using a single website—like banks that lend to both businesses and consumers; banquet halls that want to attract convention planners and brides; real estate developers that want to bring both retailers and professional services organizations to their websites. The interests and needs of most companies’ target audiences are different, but they can usually all be addressed with a single company website.

But what about when it comes to their blog? While a single website works for these businesses, some might find they need two (or more) blogs in order to effectively communicate tailored messages to their different audiences. How do you know if you need more than one blog? Most companies struggle just to maintain one blog and stock it with quality content, so the decision to create and maintain two has to be thoroughly considered.

Here’s an overview that should help you determine if your organization needs more than one blog to effectively communicate with your different target audiences.

You Know You Need Two Blogs If:

Your target audiences are very different but your services are similar. If your targets have very specific interests, you may want a blog for each that focuses on its distinct needs. An example might be a nutritionist who works with both people fighting cancer and people struggling with morbid obesity, or a company that offers both business and consumer insurance products.

In either case, a single blog would be filled with posts about a mix of audience-specific topics, half of which don’t relate to one or the other. Because you want your blog to be a resource (and one your targets subscribe to), it should be focused closely on a target’s issues, needs, motivations, questions, and challenges—and only theirs.

Your site itself—everything but the blog—can segment information for your two audiences, with navigation that lets a visitor self-select which areas he or she will visit. But when it comes to a blog, it’s important that visitors see you as aware of and committed to solving their challenges, and if the blog is diluted with posts that mean nothing to them, they’ll lose confidence in your ability to help.

The same is true if your products are entirely different but your audiences are very similar. Think about a company that makes cheese products for food manufacturers and for other food manufacturers that want a co-packed product (a product made by one company but sold by another). If this company were to publish all their posts (some about using cheese in the food manufacturing process and others about the benefits of co-packing) on a single blog, targets could doubt the company’s capacity (or eagerness) to address its specific needs. 

Keep in mind that maintaining two blogs:

1. Doesn’t mean you have to post more often (though it’s been shown that the more you post, the better your lead generation will be!)

2. Doesn’t mean you need two websites! The blogs can both live on the same site and be differentiated by their names (“The Consumer Banking Blog” and “The Commercial Banking Blog,” for example)

3. Will improve your search engine optimization efforts. The more target-specific content you have—and blog posts are some of the best kind of content to publish—the more you’re telling Google that you’re a valuable resource to people searching for related terms

If you decide two blogs are best for your business, make sure each has its own name and “flavor,” and use the right terminology, jargon, acronyms, and style for the audience. This will help convince readers that you’re focused on and have empathy for their needs.

Click the link below to get your free copy of “10 Ways to Keep Your Blog Stocked With Great Content”—a great resource featuring simple ideas for keeping your blog strong!

10 ways to keep your blog stocked with great content 

Topics: Content Marketing

click here to take the state of industrial sales and marketing survey