Two Websites: What Am I Thinking?

I have decided to have two websites--one for Margo Dill, the author and hopefully consistent blogger, and one for Editor 911, my freelance editing business. I know many of you are thinking: this woman likes to make her life difficult. She is on here constantly complaining how she never has time to write and her energy level is down, and NOW she has TWO websites?

Okay, I understand why you might be thinking that, but hear me out. For years, I have struggled with dual professional identities and one website, which I had hosted by Yahoo because I have had that website domain, margodill.com since 2000. Now it is easy and inexpensive to get domains and build websites, which I am now using Wordpress to do. So for the first time since 2000, I have created a website margoldill.com for writing/blogging and editor-911.com for editing/proofreading. They are currently under construction (yes, I am planning to write about my progress on the Muffin more than once--I hope that is a good thing). But you can check them out here (margoldill.com) and here (editor-911.com).

My word of the year is organization, and although I joke about my lack of it often, I really am making progress in several areas of my life. Just this weekend, I cleaned out a closet in my bedroom, and recently I made a much-needed trip to a financial adviser to start understanding my retirement accounts and money from several different day jobs. It is also time to get my writing life organized, and these two websites are helping me.

Now I could stress out about both of these being "under construction" and wondering when I will find the time to write posts, finish the pages, and get both of these fully functioning like the plans in my head. But for some reason, I am not stressing out about this because 1. it feels good after 16 years to finally have some clarity about how I want to run my business 2. it is fun to design these websites myself 3. it is absolutely wonderful to have been writing and editing for 16 years and STILL have a need for both websites.

Yes, I am focusing on the positive instead of the frenzy of when will I finish these beauties.

I'm wondering if you have a need for two websites or if you already have two (or more). I know writers who write under different pen names and have sites for their various genres. I also know some that write fiction and then have a professional business, so they have two also. How do you handle both? Do you spend more time on one than the other? Once they are set up, do they pretty much run themselves? Do you update and or blog?

Finally, if you don't have two but this is something you've been mulling over lately, I will tell you I used GoDaddy to purchase the domains and am managing them with Wordpress. I find GoDaddy easy to use because their chat ability on their customer service is fast and efficient; and whenever I have been confused, the person at the other end of the chat window has been able to help me. But if you have different companies you have used, let us know. I'm sure several readers would love the information.

So this is the first post of I'm not sure how many, but I will keep you updated on this two-website life I now lead.

Margo L. Dill is a writer, editor, and teacher in St. Louis, MO. To find out more about her writing, visit margoldill.com .  To find out about her editing, visit editor-911.com .  To find out about the class she teaches for WOW, visit the WOW! classroom. 

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