Diff sites but applying same design?

Just changing a bit of color here and there? opinions welcome

[explorador]

Hi webmasters, I'm a one-man-band owning several websites from ugly to normal and high traffic. I even designed and coded my own CMS (several since my first one) and all my sites have their own graphic design, diff sites = diff design, each piece is unique (as ugly or pretty as they can be), no templates, all by hand.

But it became a pain in the brain.... Things grow, more content, more traffic, more graphics, etc. I want to simplify things and no I'm not interested on hiring nothing (not because of money). I'm thinking on grouping the design of some sites, what do you think?.

I own diff types of sites, but some are about "widgets", ok, but one is Widgets of Europe, the other Widgets of Canada and let's say another one about Widgets from Asia, let's forget the other sites, those 3 are related, same type kind of. So I have a great new design that I love, practical, easy to navigate and tempted to apply the same to all 3 webs with obvious changes on color and graphics, but the layout and navigation would stay. Any of you doing this? comments?

thanks in advance

[explorador]

After thinking twice about the question, doesn't make too much sense. Anyone can apply same design to diff sites, no problem. The think is sites being part of a network, some users end up visiting the brother sites and I'm thinking on how confusing that could be, or giving away the idea of "cheap".

Since like two years ago I saw one famous technology site changing layout, it's terrible, but later they applied it to their other sites, in their case the only think changing is color and logos. Could this affect in any way traffic?

[not2easy]

To affect your traffic I think they would need to see it as a "worse" experience than they expected. I do not think it is rare to use a good functioning "template" you've created and applied palette/css changes to coordinate with the site it is used for. If it were something "off the shelf" found on dozens or hundreds of similar sites, it might cause confusion. So long as the same experience is being delivered, they may appreciate the extra time you have for working on your content.

[explorador]

Thanks not2easy nice points, the following is something I surely hope people find value on it:

So long as the same experience is being delivered, they may appreciate the extra time you have for working on your content.

It's not that I'm lazy, it just became a lot of work for now, and mostly because some sites with high traffic apply for the "If you want something done right do it yourself". It's not easy and surely takes too much time to direct someone with the so many things learned.