Last Post In 2010...Does This Method Still Work?

I know many people who are still running mini niche sites and they're very profitable. Probably not using that exact format as that relic of a post. But also 250 websites? Good God that's a ton of unnecessary work.

- Matt G.

Its definitely not dead but it was not as easy as it was 5 years ago.

For those that are nimble, educated, and talented this is still a possibility.

But you are still at the hands of Googles every whim.

And a algo change can be painful,



- Robert Andrew

Dead. I want to say "Dead as dinosaurs," but since the latest theories inform me that dinosaurs didn't die out as we thought, but merely evolved, often into birds, I'll have to stick with "Dead." In person, it would be "Dee Ee Ay Dee", with more than likely a nostalgic look on my face. Since we're tapping keywords at present, dead. Or his method, at any rate. In fact, with certain twists which would take me a good 2 or 3 hours to relate, it was - what the heck - "Dee Ee Ay Dee" in 2010 when he posted.

Going back 10 to 15 years, the ordinary chaps, as opposed to the web innovators, the chaps in other words practicing mostly affiliate marketing, would be part of a rather snooty clique, and when asked what they did, at conventions say, they'd deliver the answer with "SEO" and a wink, the wink being to let you know that they earned far more than you did or indeed could dream of doing and likely, and often did, drive a much better car and even had a nicer espresso machine in the kitchen, which again they often did. To my shame, I was one such person, though I avoided the snootiness and I've always been quite happy with instant coffee. The trick in those days, as you've read, was to put together a website around one clearly defined product, optimize the website for it with content and other SEO maneuvers, and then offline-SEO the bejeebus out if it until it ranked in positions 1 to 3, page 1. On average, you wanted to earn $1 a day; in practice, the figure was more like $5 to $10. 100 sites, 250, 500, 1,000. Knew one particular chap, who I imagine had a wonderful espresso machine, with 10,000 sites.

Is the model still viable? Absolutely. But the mechanics are almost entirely different to those you'll read about in that post. And I mean even if you wear a black hat, which you shouldn't, unless of course you literally wear a black hat and then I suppose we'll let you off. As long as it has a certain New York baseball team insignia on the front, you're good. Point is: things have changed. Google has, like the dinosaurs, evolved. It ranks differently. It ranks according to factors like content and social signals and, given that Google has been doing it even longer than the snooty clique with the snooty espresso-makers, it's wise to "gaming" the system.

My best advice to you right now, by all means consider setting up sites based on one product or one type of product, but generate traffic using modern and still yet to be extinct principles. And this isn't a criticism of you for digging up an old method, not at all. Many old methods still work, and many like this one just need refinements. Give it a bash. You too can make us jealous with your espresso machine!

Cheers - Tom

I would say that the 100's of niche sites are over. A lot has changed with Google since 2010. The person in the post mentioned that each site only has 1-3 articles on it. And he outsourced everything. My advice would be to build up 1 solid site at a time, and understand why it's profitable and productive. Until you understand this, you will continue to search for a "fast-money" solution that is old, dead, or a spin-off of something that is old and dead also.

They're not dead, but running hundreds of them is hit or miss.

You need the money to put up quality content, and actually make the sites link worthy or you're going to be chasing the whims.

I ran a portfolio twice that size and wouldn't do it again.

The 4,500 articles and 45,000 links I had spread across 450 sites would have done a lot better on 45 sites. Or even on just 10 sites.

OLD: 450 sites, 10 articles each, 100 links each

NEW: 45 sites, 100 articles each, and 1000 links each.

Niche sites aren't dead. Hiring Filipinos to write content at $1 per 1,000 words and slapping together a 10 page site in 30 minutes is dead.

Churning through public link building networks and enjoying the ride for months and months is dead.

Setting and forgetting niche sites is pretty much dead. Not completely, but they require maintenance.

The post you linked to is the same strategy I used to churn out 450 sites. It doesn't work anymore.

You need to build real sites, targeting low competition keywords in the search engines, providing content that solves people's problems, entertains them, enlightens them, something of value.

You can keep them on the smaller side if you pull off the content, 5-10 pages still rank fine. 20 pages of decent content is easy to rank in today's algorithm.

Start learning how to build your own PBN, and then start buying links from people with their own PBN. If you're going to buy links you need to know how to build a PBN or you're going to waste your money.

If you want to, build a small one for yourself, but I've found the hassle to steadily build it out isn't worth it to me -- when I can buy a link for $10 with the same strength with a 5 minute email, there's no point spending 10 hours putting together 10 PBN sites.

Check it out: http://lmgtfy.com/?q=650+credit+score

A few of my niche sites have died. Mostly they're the ones in niches the little guys shouldn't be in, like finance or software.

I have done better in "lower value" niches. The key here is content quality - I actually took off all the junk posts from one of my Panda/Penguin hit sites and a couple of years later traffic came back really strongly - surpassing the 2012 peak!

There's always space for QUALITY sites

This means that you not only have to pay attention to the VALUE your content brings to the table...

You also have to pay attention to the CONTEXT of your site and how it INTERACTS with other niche players.

Cream will always rise to the top and SPAM SITES will always be on the knife's edge.