Best way to handle blogs for a customer with a chain business?

[ScottImageWorks]

I have a new customer who owns three local gyms. Each one has its own unique url.

I intend to do some blogging for him, and would like it to be effective for SEO.  Obviously, publishing duplicate content is out, but writing tons of new posts each month is beyond our scope.

Would you recommend having one separate blog (with its own url) that is linked from each of the 3 main sites,  or would it be better to create a blog on each site and alternate publishing articles on each one, putting a unique intro and link to the main post on the other two?

[LesleyPaone]

Interesting situation, let me ask a couple of questions to get a better idea of it. Are all of the domains area specific like gymvirginabeach.com gymwashingtodc.com, ect. Or is there one main name, like gymsite.com and then like gymsitevirginabeach.com. Also, is this a franchise or do they own the gym brand?

[AlanBleiweiss]

Prestashop asks valid questions here.

The issue for me is why three separate sites? That seriously dilutes brand identify, and makes it infinitely more difficult to get any one of the sites to rank with the most strength in a sustainable manner.

If you're going to even consider one blog that all three sites link to, unless there's some extraordinary other factor, the proper solution is to have one site for all locations, and a location page devoted to each location.  Then have the blog within the site as well.  One site - serves all needs.  Every task done to improve any one location or any other aspect of the site would benefit all others.

[ScottImageWorks]

To answer your questions: they have three area-specific domains (www.location1gym.com, www.location2gym.com, etc), and the gyms are all part of one franchise. We're not planning to stray too far from the franchise branding, and of course, each location has its own site as part of the franchise (we'll be able to link those two pages together).

[Christy-Correll]

Hi there, thanks for your question! You've received some great responses. Has your question been answered? We'd love an update on the status of this issue, thanks!

Christy

[ScottImageWorks]

I agree that that is probably the ideal structure. They came to us with the three separate domains to work with, and I think they would like to continue on that way, but I can always mention the possibility of a unified home page.

[ScottImageWorks]

I would still like to see some more answers regarding the best way to handle the blog as the sites are currently structured (versus the suggestion to unite them all as one).

[AlanBleiweiss]

If the client is not open to consolidation you're left with a difficult challenge. Not atypical of site owner thinking though.  Sometimes SEO is just not given the trust value to be able to implement a best case solution.

So - in this case, I'd suggest it comes down to resources. Are there enough resources to devote to three separate blogs consistently enough with enough content unique to each site to justify three? Likely not.

More likely, a single blog would be best.  This way, content can be created for all three locations as needed, and any "generic" content that doesn't apply to a specific individual location can all be kept on that one resource.

I would then link to the blog from each of the three sites as a main navigation link - make it the last one to the right in top nav. Or a footer or sidebar link on those sites.  And then on the blog, I would include links to all three location home pages on the sidebar or in the footer.

Caution is needed to ensure no problems with link penalties (algorithmic or manual).  So no keyword stuffing of links back and forth.  And ideally, I would even consider a nofollow attribute on the navigation, sidebar or footer links to be absolutely sure.

[LesleyPaone]

In a situation like this it is very difficult in my opinion. One thing I was unclear on, does the client own the brand, or are they just a franchisee? That makes a bit of difference as to what I would suggest.