Posting "similar" blog posts to multiple blog sites seems "shady", does it work?

[Timmmmy]

I've read a lot of info here in the Q & A tonight and there was a thread that stated it's potentially a good thing to post content on multiple blog platforms such as:

1. blogger.com
2. posterous.com
3. wordpress.com
4. tumblr.com

I've also been trying to figure out how to deal with my blog as a subfolder instead of a subdomain. That research in Q & A clearly indicates that Google treats subdomains basically like separate websites and links from my blog to my main website will not be as valuable if i stay the course with my blog on a subdomain short term.

Given that, if the 4 blogging tools above all require the use of a subdomain, then how am I actually taking advantage of the seo value of blogger,posterous, tumblr?  In my case my domains would be:

• steripen.blogger.com
• posterous.tumbler.com
• steripen.wordpress.com
• steripen.tumblr.com

Just not adding up to being viable given what I read states these would be treated as new websites, not to mention I worry these posts, even slightly differentiated, would be suspect. Who am I truly benefitting by doing this? Users?

[Timmmmy]

Thanks Shelly. My bad...2 different questions in the same question :}

My current CMS where steripen.com is, doesn't provide me ability  to integrate wordpress or any other blog tools. It's a standalone 3rd party cms platform.

Unfortunately the blogging tools are antiquated so short-term I am forced with subdomain. I decided to look at it that "I can provide my users with the best presentation and utility of info about SteriPEN by using the subdomain (and WordPress)." I'll have to live with the seo consequences for now until we overhaul steripen.com soon.

In terms of posting to the microblogs, this to me is like whoring content. Unless I can build the blogs in such a way that they are non-SteriPEN branded niche blogs focused on a topic, I just don't see it. And I don't have the time/money to invest in that right now.

Tim

[DanHill]

'Given that, if the 4 blogging tools above all require the use of a subdomain, then how am I actually taking advantage of the seo value of blogger,posterous, tumblr?'

Google is clever enough to know that although the domains you listed are pretty strong, they will judge each blog on it's own without taking into consideration the domain level strength(esp since it's a free platform).

My advice is to have one blog, on your own site and put the best possible content on it. Putting thin and slightly tweaked content all over the show is not going to bring you the kind of results you're after.

Those blogging platforms do have their uses, but keep in mind the above and that you should not invest too much time in them if you have a core website/business that you're trying to rank/sell etc

http://www.seomoz.org/blog/whiteboard-friday-the-microsite-mistake

[PeterAlexLeigh]

Tim,

You can download the above platforms and install them on your own site in a sub folder; you're right that installing in sub folder is the best thing to do. What you're talking about is hosting a blog on the blog's own website (or a subdomain of it).

If you want to install wordpress on your own site for example, you can download it and follow the instructions here;

http://codex.wordpress.org/Installing_WordPress#Famous_5-Minute_Install

On your server you may have a control panel that has the ability to install wordpress for you, otherwise it's simply a case of uploading the files to a sub folder as shown in the guide and then logging into your new blog. It's pretty straight forward.

If you still want to setup blogs on the blog's own website, you can, and this can generate some extra links for you, but as you say, you won't benefit from the new blog content being on your own website.