1 main site or all different domains

There are arguments for both sides, but I personally like a single domain even if products are in different categories. I think it's going to be harder and harder to get mini-sites to rank in Google.

If one product really takes off on your main site, you can always create a mini-site with a product-specific domain around it and then ideally appear twice in the search results!

I like authority sites personally. I have always wanted to make one so go with a single name.

I have both types and am about to start another authority site myself. I agree with the above mentioned on having one larger site and getting more love from google especially after this last change.

Why not building one big site and multiple niche websites that cover highly targeted sub niche keywords--the same sub keywords as on your main website.

That way you can link back to your authority website from your minisites. So, your main site gains authority for your main keyword while your niche websites network gradually dominate your sub niche keywords. This can create really stable income.

Granted, it's time consuming, but it is worth the extra efforts imo.

Thanks everyone.
I gained some new ideas about this topic.
think i'll go and give it a try.
got some categories and products researched already.

I could be all wet here but I put up a site 10 days ago, am on page 1, position 5 (google) and am making sales (no black hat).

Seems like if you have the product name in the URL you rank faster. Does anyone know if there is any validity to that?

This is how I (usually) do it:

1. Find a fairly broad, though still focused, keyword phrase in my niche and make sure it gets a decent amount of searches with minimal competition. This is always the hardest part. For example, healthiestdogfood.com. (Just an example.)

2. Register a domain for the phrase if it's available. I don't care if it's .net, .info, etc.

3. Do proper on-page SEO, incorporate LSI keywords, etc.

4. Throw some backlinks at the site and get it to page one. If the phrase has low competition and the website has proper on-page SEO & backlinks, with a little patience it should hit page 1.

5. Once the site is ranking well I can move on to keyword rich folders. For example: healthiestdogfood.com (Again, totally random. I don't even think it's real!) Quick tip: Adding "review" to the end of any product phrase in your niche will generate a fair amount of searches.

Repeat the process of proper on-page SEO and backlinks with your folders. Over time these will start to rank. In addition you'll start ranking for all sorts of keywords and phrases you never would think you'd rank for.