Whole/broad market or confined market when building an authority website?

[AbdullahKaragoz]

I have bought two courses about building authority sites. (I don't want to reveal which course they are).

The first one says that when you'll start building an authority website, you should choose a very broad/whole market,

(e.g. electronics, games, health, fitness, relationships, business, foods etc.)

so that your website will be very scalable in the long run.

The other one says that when you'll start building an auhtority website, you should avoid too much broad market,

and instead build 10-30 sites that covers a more confined market (e.g. mobile phones, PCs, TVs etc. instead of "electronics"),

so that you can focus better on each individual market.

I have been a bit confused. What is best: Building one big authority site on broad/whole market, or building a couple of "small" authority sites?

[wfhblueprints]

Personally I prefer to have fewer sites rather than more...simply because I find it easier to keep track of what I am doing....

Your best bet would be to do the following....

Set up a blog which is aimed at targeting a general market, but then focus on a very specific area of the market....and as you develop the site go adding different areas of the market....

Hope Ive made some sense...

Regards

Chris

[Nikolas]

I prefer option two as well. Take as example 37signals. Those people create very simple apps that work well, and that's why their products have more than one million subscribers.

Trying to takeover a whole market is much more difficult than being the best in one particular niche.

[xprimus]

Originally Posted by wfhblueprints

Personally I prefer to have fewer sites rather than more...simply because I find it easier to keep track of what I am doing....

Your best bet would be to do the following....

Set up a blog which is aimed at targeting a general market, but then focus on a very specific area of the market....and as you develop the site go adding different areas of the market....

Hope Ive made some sense...

Regards

Chris

I second this, the fewer sites you focus on the faster you will get results.

[sgoerger]

It's really a fine thing, trying to figure out what the 'right' number of sites is, or the niche 'width' you want your site to target. It really comes down a lot to your personal preferences, your plans, and your particular talents. But overall I would say that a slightly narrower focus than something huge like 'electronics' is the way to go, so I would vote option #2 if I were going to build an authority site, probably.

[AbdullahKaragoz]

Thank you everyone, but still, I'm a bit confused

The first sounds like to trying to build the next "Wikipedia" or "about.com",

And the second sounds like to building small niche sites which I often hear that Google doesn't like niche sites.

[ry6782010]

Originally Posted by AbdullahKaragoz

Thank you everyone, but still, I'm a bit confused

The first sounds like to trying to build the next "Wikipedia" or "about.com",

And the second sounds like to building small niche sites which I often hear that Google doesn't like niche sites.

Not getting ranked on the first page of Google/the number #1 spot for your niche site(s) doesn't mean Google hates these types of sites. It means you need to build quality backlinks, and, also choose the correct keywords. If you do decide to want to build 10+ niche sites, I would honestly look at Spencer Haw's website Nichepursuits dot com. He's built 50 or so of them, if not more, and those are his main income.

Anyway,

I'd say focus on one large authority site that targets a particular niche, and, as you get better at catering to that niche, maybe you could branch out into related fields that target that specific audience.

[sgoerger]

You're thinking in the wrong scales. An 'authority' site in this context is more like the ones you think Google doesn't like. What you think of as a 'niche' site is probably more accurately called a 'mini site' or 'mini niche site'. If you can make a bigger niche site with 30 + articles, some regular activity, etc, then Google will never bother you so don't worry. And if you go the 'mini' route, there can still be a lot of perks to it, as there are still plenty of things about those sites that Google DOES like, such as relevance...