Don't WASTE Your Time with More than 1 Website

[ttomp13]

I wanted to do a quick post here, because I really feel that mini-niche
websites are a waste of time. Before you jump down my throat, understand
that mini-niche websites are a waste of time, but the idea of promoting
multiple mini-niches on one website is not. I'll explain.

Multiple Mini-Niche Sites Can Be Good.

• They are highly targeted and highly specific.
• Ranking high for domain key term usually doesn't take much.
• They usually result in good affiliate sales / highly relevant contextual ads.

Multiple Mini-Niche Sites Can Be Bad!

• Not an authority site.
• Ranking for key terms can sometimes take a month or two.
• New domain for every new site.
• Setting up a new website every time.
• Worrying about being banned by AdSense for MFA.

Single Websites with Unlimited Mini-Niches Can be Great!

• You're building an authority website.
• When you become an authority, you can easily rank for mini-niche topics.
• Easy on your wallet.
• Don't need multiple websites.
• Don't have to worry about being banned from AdSense for having 100 sites.
• Authorities generally receive more links in than mini-niche sites.
• High traffic.
• More private advertising and link buying requests.

Single Websites with Unlimited Mini-Niches Can Suck.

• Website has multiple categories.
• Difficult for user to find information (unless you make it easy!)
• Links into your home page are less likely. (Not a big deal.)

When it comes down to it, mini-niches are great to promote on a single
authority website. As time progresses, your authority site will begin to
easily rank for many mini-niche phrases, without even having to build
backlinks to those pages. Promoting mini-niches on a single authority site
saves you the time of building a new site, money, and the worry that Google
will shut you down for MFA website creating. If you look at your site like a
Squidoo or like an eZine, you will begin to see that you don't need a million
websites to be successful. Sure, building a butt load of mini-niche websites
on a butt load of different domains does work, but when you could build a
single authority with all of the above perks, there's not a reason to have
multiple sites.

Just remember, if you decide to stick with a single authority website, your
internal link structure is extremely important.

For example: If you choose the topic of "Home Acne Treatment," you'll
probably want to have the page "Home Acne Treatment," as a core post
to 10 sub posts. And if those sub posts have posts, that's alright too.
Basically, you want to tell Google that you're the most relevant result to
whatever it is you're talking about. And to be successful with relevancy,
you don't need an exact match domain. Yes. It can help, but when you
eventually have an authority, it's not necessary.

Also remember, using a single authority website is for people who know how
to build an authority website...

I have tried things both ways, folks, and I have never had more success
than I do now with my single authority website.

[kakarotoni]

Ya know I was thinking of doing this myself and set up a domain name for this purpose. I can agree with what your saying here.

[bgmacaw]

Yes, I hope many people take your advice.

[Jacob Martus]

Originally Posted by ttomp13

I wanted to do a quick post here, because I really feel that mini-niche
websites are a waste of time. Before you jump down my throat, understand
that mini-niche websites are a waste of time, but the idea of promoting
multiple mini-niches on one website is not. I'll explain.

Multiple Mini-Niche Sites Can Be Good.

• They are highly targeted and highly specific.
• Ranking high for domain key term usually doesn't take much.
• They usually result in good affiliate sales / highly relevant contextual ads.

Multiple Mini-Niche Sites Can Be Bad!

• Not an authority site.
• Ranking for key terms can sometimes take a month or two.
• New domain for every new site.
• Setting up a new website every time.
• Worrying about being banned by AdSense for MFA.

Single Websites with Unlimited Mini-Niches Can be Great!

• You're building an authority website.
• When you become an authority, you can easily rank for mini-niche topics.
• Easy on your wallet.
• Don't need multiple websites.
• Don't have to worry about being banned from AdSense for having 100 sites.
• Authorities generally receive more links in than mini-niche sites.
• High traffic.
• More private advertising and link buying requests.

Single Websites with Unlimited Mini-Niches Can Suck.

• Website has multiple categories.
• Difficult for user to find information (unless you make it easy!)
• Links into your home page are less likely. (Not a big deal.)

When it comes down to it, mini-niches are great to promote on a single
authority website. As time progresses, your authority site will begin to
easily rank for many mini-niche phrases, without even having to build
backlinks to those pages. Promoting mini-niches on a single authority site
saves you the time of building a new site, money, and the worry that Google
will shut you down for MFA website creating. If you look at your site like a
Squidoo or like an eZine, you will begin to see that you don't need a million
websites to be successful. Sure, building a butt load of mini-niche websites
on a butt load of different domains does work, but when you could build a
single authority with all of the above perks, there's not a reason to have
multiple sites.

Just remember, if you decide to stick with a single authority website, your
internal link structure is extremely important.

For example: If you choose the topic of "Home Acne Treatment," you'll
probably want to have the page "Home Acne Treatment," as a core post
to 10 sub posts. And if those sub posts have posts, that's alright too.
Basically, you want to tell Google that you're the most relevant result to
whatever it is you're talking about. And to be successful with relevancy,
you don't need an exact match domain. Yes. It can help, but when you
eventually have an authority, it's not necessary.

Also remember, using a single authority website is for people who know how
to build an authority website...

I have tried things both ways, folks, and I have never had more success
than I do now with my single authority website.

What part of me making more money is a waste of my time? How about DEFINITELY create more than 1 site. That way if your 1 site that is making money loses some ranking for awhile, you aren't F*&$ed. Having more than one site protects you from being too heavily dependent on your income from one source.

And why would Adsense ban someone with 100 sites? As long as the sites have substance and provide value, they aren't going to get you in trouble. Everyone worries about having too many sites and getting banned by Adsense. Adsense doesn't say, "Hey, this guy has too many sites, lets ban him!"

They ban people who are making MFA's and not providing value. I'll go with Crew Chief on this one. People getting banned by Adsense are or have broken the rules at some point. I have yet to see someone who was following the rules lose their account.

[bgmacaw]

Originally Posted by Jacob Martus

People getting banned by Adsense are or have broken the rules at some point. I have yet to see someone who was following the rules lose their account.

Well, some people did get kicked out of Adsense a couple of years or so ago when they cracked down on the Adsense Arbitrage method. They were following the rules as they were at the time but Google changed the rules on them. Unlike bans for click fraud and such, they did get paid what they were owed up to the banning.

Overall though, I do agree that generally it's going to be something like click fraud or other significant violation that will get one kicked out of Adsense. Basically the real rule is bring them honest traffic that converts well for advertisers and STFU about how you're doing it.

[paulgl]

Originally Posted by ttomp13

I wanted to do a quick post here...

That's not exactly a "quick post," if you know what I mean.
But I'll leave my comments at that.

Paul

[Jacob Martus]

Originally Posted by bgmacaw

and STFU about how you're doing it.

Yep, I got that from that post by Grizzly which I found from a link on one of your websites. Something like Adsense in 2010 where he talked about that.

[ttomp13]

Originally Posted by Jacob Martus

What part of me making more money is a waste of my time? How about DEFINITELY create more than 1 site. That way if your 1 site that is making money loses some ranking for awhile, you aren't F*&. Having more than one site protects you from being too heavily dependent on your income from one source.

And why would Adsense ban someone with 100 sites? As long as the sites have substance and provide value, they aren't going to get you in trouble. Everyone worries about having too many sites and getting banned by Adsense. Adsense doesn't say, "Hey, this guy has too many sites, lets ban him!"

They ban people who are making MFA's and not providing value. I'll go with Crew Chief on this one. People getting banned by Adsense are or have broken the rules at some point. I have yet to see someone who was following the rules lose their account.

I can respect your opinion, and if you're making money, you're right,
creating 100 mini niche sites is great. From my experience, it's a pain in
the a$$ to handle, and creating 1 big site is way easier, plus provides you
with the ability to actually create an authority site.

If you're worried about it, you can have some mini-niche sites and one big
site. I mean, it's NEVER a good idea to put all of your eggs in one basket
with this business.

On the other hand, you're saying that "They ban people who
are making MFA's and not providing value." Last time I checked, someone
who has 100 + websites is usually making those sites for AdSense. Lol
But, you can correct me if I am wrong on this.

In the end, there are always risks in this business. I have chosen to use
the methods I use, because I believe that it is what will work best for
me. If you think that making a new website once a week will work for you,
great. I've used this method and it does work, but I felt like creating a
new site every week was pretty repetitive and unnecessary. Especially
when I had to purchase a new domain for each site.

PS: CENTRAL FLORIDA IS WAY TOO DAMN MUGGY LOL

[bgmacaw]

Originally Posted by ttomp13

Last time I checked, someone
who has 100 + websites is usually making those sites for AdSense.

You need to check again.

Originally Posted by ttomp13

If you think that making a new website once a week will work for you,
great.

Only one a week?

[wordpresstrainingpackage]

Creating multiple-mini niche sites is good if you only want to be identified in those niches. In terms of income earning, there is no difference with creating one authority site to manage all the niches. I have also tried both and I came to realize that maintain one site for the different niches make me have time for other things. I no longer need to bother updating all the sites one by one. From a single site, you can do whatever you want and all the sites are update.

[Joseph Then]

I think the key to whether to have multiple sites or one authority site is: balance.

Yes, having multiple mini-niches has its good and bad. Having a single authority site has its own good and bad too.

I rather have 50 mini-niche sites + 10 authority sites in my portfolio than to have 100 mini-niche sites or 1 authority site.

To put it in another famous quote: "Don't put all your eggs in one basket"

[tiptopmovie]

nice post i love it

[coreytucker]

yea the thing that worries me is Google will label your sites as "MFA" when they see you have 50 of them. Then they realize you made the 50 only because you wanted to profit from adsense. Thats a worry of mine....not sure if the concern is legit or not though.

[wendymay1]

Thanks for this information as I have never thought of having multiple niches sites on 1 authority site. Makes sense.

[BestwaY]

i have a big website alexa Rank 12000 But Google Put My Site In SandBox then Dropped In alexa Rank And Visitors I want to say U Must Have more Than one Site to be safe

[DrGUID]

I have a big site with all kinds of diverse topics on it from fish to databases. It's OK but if one subject gets wildly popular then you get database ads all over your fish pages (or the other way around). A big site is very useful for launching side projects though.

[jijaybajay]

How many pages do you think will be counted as authority sites?

[darthtoon]

I agree with the OP - have found it best to focus efforts on one site.

[sabun]

Yes, and it's easier to focus and optimize just one website than trying to run an entire network. A good authority website can bring home more money than a bunch of third class websites.

[Fernando Veloso]

Why people insist in use the "Best" ideology?

What's best for YOU might not be the best for ME or others. Maybe you suck with niche sites, maybe WE don't understand big sites.

BUT please, understand there isn't ONE way: there ARE several ways.

[paulgl]

Originally Posted by coreytucker

yea the thing that worries me is Google will label your sites as "MFA" when they see you have 50 of them. Then they realize you made the 50 only because you wanted to profit from adsense. Thats a worry of mine....not sure if the concern is legit or not though.

Google does not label sites as MFA. They label sites as good-decent for adsense, and
those that aren't. Google would actually love you to make 50 sites that are
great for adsense. Why people see the opposite is beyond me. Contrary to popular
belief, google needs websites to show adsense. And lots of them. And needs a
continuing new supply.

seems in most of these cases, the length of the post is exponentially
proportional to the number of posts one has made.

Paul

[Mohsin Rasool]

Originally Posted by Joseph Then

I think the key to whether to have multiple sites or one authority site is: balance.

Yes, having multiple mini-niches has its good and bad. Having a single authority site has its own good and bad too.

I rather have 50 mini-niche sites + 10 authority sites in my portfolio than to have 100 mini-niche sites or 1 authority site.

To put it in another famous quote: "Don't put all your eggs in one basket"

Nice take on this subject. I was also thinking in the same lines.
For the topics I am really committed I want to create authority site to cover whole market.
But for sites in Niches I am not much committed I do not want to build big site, just mini site is good and easy to manage or flip if I need to.

Regards,
Mohsin

[Nick Stuart]

New here but my view is it obviously depends on what you are trying to achieve. The real question is how much time you have, ie if it is only you there is only so much time in the day but you have a team to delegate to then you might want some niche sites as well. At the end of the day it all comes down to cost effective use of you time not something I have done that well over the last 2 years.

[jeswarrior]

I strongly advice people against building that many minisites. You'll get frustrated and quit IM for good. Management of that many minisites, especially with Google's tantrums is not easy. Authority site is better. Use your head. You cannot handle effectively that many minisites. If you outsource you will go in the hole. Use your head. Domain renewal time then comes up and you get farther in the hole thousands of dollars. Also adsense has banned a ton of people for having a ton of sites under one account. At least that's what a lot of banned adsensers have claimed. Somebody asked the question why Google would ban a user with 100 sites. Why would they delete Adword accounts that make them money. Why would they use a stupid quality score which keep advertisers from spending millions on Adwords... They have a lot of money in the coffers and can have the luxury of doing so.

[Mrs S]

I'm not sure that I'd go so far as only having one website - but if I could do things over I'd try and limit it to between 5 and 10. I have so many domains knocking around with different strategies that I've been testing out that I can't keep track of them all!

[bgmacaw]

Originally Posted by jeswarrior

I strongly advice people against building that many minisites.

I strongly advise people to follow this advice...

...especially if they're thinking about competing in the same niches I am.

[Jacob Martus]

Originally Posted by jeswarrior

I strongly advice people against building that many minisites. You'll get frustrated and quit IM for good.

To that I say: Winners never quit, and quitters never win. Failure is a stepping stone to success. I started out by building lots of minisites and I'm still around. Sure, I made plenty of mistakes but I learned a tremendous amount along the way.

Originally Posted by jeswarrior

Management of that many minisites, especially with Google's tantrums is not easy. Authority site is better. Use your head.

That sentence doesn't make very much sense. Managing minisites doesn't work because Google throws temper "tantrums"? How are the two related? And what makes you think Google throws "tantrums"? Use my head? WTF?

Originally Posted by jeswarrior

You cannot handle effectively that many minisites. If you outsource you will go in the hole. Use your head. Domain renewal time then comes up and you get farther in the hole thousands of dollars.

I beg to differ. I could definitely "handle" that many mini-sites, especially if they were all EARNING me money! Money is the biggest motivator. 50 sites making me money is reason enough to not sleep if that's what's required.

Originally Posted by jeswarrior

Also adsense has banned a ton of people for having a ton of sites under one account. At least that's what a lot of banned adsensers have claimed.

In every case that I've seen where someone has lost an Adsense account, it is because they were breaking the rules. Many people fail to even read the Adsense TOS. If they did, they wouldn't make stupid mistakes and lose their account. Adsense doesn't care if you have 2 sites or 500 sites if they are good quality sites providing value to the user and ROI to the advertiser.

Originally Posted by jeswarrior

Somebody asked the question why Google would ban a user with 100 sites. Why would they delete Adword accounts that make them money. Why would they use a stupid quality score which keep advertisers from spending millions on Adwords... They have a lot of money in the coffers and can have the luxury of doing so.

I don't know anything about Adwords, but I reckon the same thing I said above applies to Adwords customers. I could however be wrong. But either way that has nothing to do with the discussion at hand. And you bet Google has money in the coffers, but you can also bet they want more. Who doesn't?

I don't know where you get grounds to give out advice like this, but you should really not. It may give people the wrong impression about a great program like Adsense.

I love Adsense. I like how it works, I like building advertising driven websites. I like being a "partner" with Google. Something about going to the bank with a check from big G puts a smile on my face. Probably because I made the money with no help from anyone else. I couldn't tell you why.

But I encourage anyone considering the Adsense path to follow it through. Just read the freaking TOS and follow the rules. Build sites that you are proud of and that you would show your friends and family. Combine those two things and the right attitude and strategies and you will do great.

[Groovystar]

I just only have my one site, my forum. My blogs and stuff, are separate, I tell my friends about them and of course link to my forum on them but I don't go out of my way to plug them or anything. My forum is doing well, it is not a big money maker but I don't worry. An authority site does not get built overnight!

[Reverb]

Who's going to tell all those people making a lot of money with several mini-niche websites to not "Waste Your Time with More than 1 Website", ha. I can see some of the points from the OP, but different methods work for different people. Some are good at building authority sites, and some are not. Try different things and then go with your strengths. There's no one-size-fits-all strategy.

[Adway]

ttomp13, I hope more people take your advice. The more people leaving the "multiple" mini-niche site arena, the more room for me to make money :-)

Both mini-niche sites and super sites can be very lucrative.

If a new internet marketer is just getting started with niche site building, I really really don't recommend going with a big site.

The great thing about establishing multiple niche sites is that you get to try out a lot of different niches. You eventually (from experience) start to notice which niches are okay, which are dead, and which are simply gold mines.

Its best to start with multiple mini-niche sites and see the results you get. If you see one of your sites going in the right direction, go about building that niche site into a monster site by adding "more" quality content revolving around/in the niche your website is targeting.

Starting out with a big site that holds multiple niches should be viewed as a long term project. It is something an internet marketer should launch after he/she becomes comfortable with building, optimizing, and ranking niche sites.

[seohacker]

I think having more websites means having more opportunities. It doesn't take TOO long to manage one website. So why not create others when you have the capacity to do so? It also helps to build up your rank in SERPs when you interlink them

[thebrewer]

For my two cents worth it all depends on how much time you have, your level of ability and budget. I think that if you are new to internet marketing keep the number of sites you have low under three say.

It will take sometime till you to start making money in many instances simply through trial and error. You can get a lot of information on this site for example but your still have to find your own way. Don't keep buying the latest product by the gurus and following their lead as you will never get anywhere.

After you become more adept online and have started to developed strategies plus have money to re-invest then with out-sourcing and other online services it can be possible to manage multiple websites.

If you have too many sites to start off with then you spread yourself too thin. Once you have found success then it can be a case of rinse and repeat and then even maybe getting into multiple adsense sites.

[FreshPLR]

Very interesting arguments both for and against minisites. What would have happened if the founders of Ezine Articles had decided instead to have a number of minisite article directories in diverse niches?

[Western Grizzlin']

After reading the posts, I'm right where I was when I started: both ways are fine!

[carlo_sim]

Originally Posted by Admiral.W

ttomp13, I hope more people take your advice. The more people leaving the "multiple" mini-niche site arena, the more room for me to make money :-)

Both mini-niche sites and super sites can be very lucrative.

If a new internet marketer is just getting started with niche site building, I really really don't recommend going with a big site.

The great thing about establishing multiple niche sites is that you get to try out a lot of different niches. You eventually (from experience) start to notice which niches are okay, which are dead, and which are simply gold mines.

Its best to start with multiple mini-niche sites and see the results you get. If you see one of your sites going in the right direction, go about building that niche site into a monster site by adding "more" quality content revolving around/in the niche your website is targeting.

Starting out with a big site that holds multiple niches should be viewed as a long term project. It is something an internet marketer should launch after he/she becomes comfortable with building, optimizing, and ranking niche sites.

I agree with this one. You could try to build mini - niche sites first then once you see the winners, slowly make them bigger. =)

[Reverb]

So my mini-niche websites that keep adding $'s to my AdSense account are a waste of time? I don't think so. Any thing that returns more than what it costs in time and/or money is not a waste of time. I'm sure plenty of Warriors have profitable mini-sites. Everyone has different experiences.

[lost2find]

if it is a single site,what will be helpful?

1.product1.mysite.com (subdomain)

or

2.mysite.com/product1 (sub directory)

which one will be helpful?

[Steven Carl Kelly]

Originally Posted by bgmacaw

Yes, I hope many people take your advice.

Agreed. I hope that lots and lots of potential IMer's follow the OP's advice.

[Steven Carl Kelly]

Originally Posted by jeswarrior

Management of that many minisites, especially with Google's tantrums is not easy.

Really? I don't find it difficult.

Originally Posted by jeswarrior

You cannot handle effectively that many minisites.

I didn't realize I was so ineffective. I've been fooling myself!

Originally Posted by jeswarrior

If you outsource you will go in the hole. Use your head. Domain renewal time then comes up and you get farther in the hole thousands of dollars.

I outsource. I have over 100 sites. My annual domain bill is around $1,000. I'm not having any problems earning six figures per year.

Originally Posted by jeswarrior

Also adsense has banned a ton of people for having a ton of sites under one account.

Really? I must have slipped past the Google checkers. Do you have any proof to support this claim?

[Oseye]

Originally Posted by ttomp13

Single Websites with Unlimited Mini-Niches Can be Great!

I vote on this one . I have analyzed a lot of blogs and the most successful I have seen were not just in one niche. Want a proof? Check the AdSense earnings of this website amitbhawani.com/blog/monthly-income-report-june-2010

What is his niche?
* Tech
* Auto
* Health
* Career
* Jobs
* Franchise
* Travel
* Tattoos
* Games
* Proxy
* Downloads

I know this is an extreme example. But it shows how one can cover different subject and concentrate on profitable topics without having the website looking abandoned. The latter is the destiny of 100 of websites created for "high paid keywords".

Originally Posted by ttomp13

Multiple Mini-Niche Sites Can Be Good.

However, I would like to be fare and show you another example of the guy who earns with AdSense snipers (over 130 websites) mikeiser.com/day-422-12-pages-up-end-of-june-totals
This is another extreme example I know.

You see, that both ways work perfect and everyone can choose the one he likes more.

[Profit123]

Very informative comment, I appreciate your perspective. I may need to rethink my approach!

[james7]

In my opinion also 1 website is enough to promote all the things. Only one website saves your maintenance time with registration fee.

[andyweb]

I have the same question as lost2find. If a main site is to have some number of mini sites or niches, would it be better to use subfolders that would be addressed as:

http://www.mysite.com/niche1/ (sub directory)

or sub-domains that would be addressed as:

http://niche1.mysite.com (subdomain)

????

Thanks for responses.

[discuontlens]

Nice post will definitely follow this....Thanks for sharing with us..

[nickgomes112]

If you wish to be identified in those niches, creating multiple mini-niches is a good idea. It doesn’t matter in terms of income earning.