Big site vs many small ones which is more effective?

by dna88
16 replies
Hi guys I'm just wondering is it better to build a big site that has blog posts targetting different keywords and parts of my niche or to have a series of small sites with my keywords as domain names and have those sites targetting specific audiences from my niche?

I hope you guys understood my question and how I put it...

Anyways I appreciate all input guys so please let me know which way you think is best for covering a niche.

David
#big #effective #site #small
  • Profile picture of the author DiMcdonald
    Hi David,
    Both can work. the thing is that you have to just try it for yourself as there are so many variables no one can tell you what will be most successful.

    The most important thing is to just get started on one or the other and focus just on that for 6 month and see how it goes.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[4158510].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author chensmith62
    Hi, as per my thought you would get more traffic from big sites
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[4158553].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Mushin
      Small sites - diversification of risk especially if organic traffic is your focus.
      Big sites - potential for large profits and as everyone knows 'authority sites' or quality sites are excellent for this post-Panda climate.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[4158609].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author Bompa
        Big sites offer more options.

        Google seems to favor sites with the most information, that is why
        the gurus preach 'content is king'.


        imo,
        Bompa
        Signature

        ~

        ~

        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[4158622].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author Nightengale
        David,

        It depends on what your business model is and how you're approaching it.

        Are you selling services, products or both? What is your niche? How specific is it? If it's a relatively large niche that you can drill down further in, then maybe building different sites for each sub-niche is a good idea.

        If you've already drilled down pretty deep and are just looking to build different sites for different keywords, then I don't think that's such a good idea. Blogging software like WordPress is very search engine-friendly and you'd do better to dedicate a separate page to each keyword.

        If you can give us more details, then we can help you further.

        Michelle
        Signature
        "You can't market here. This is a marketing discussion forum!"
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[4158644].message }}
        • Profile picture of the author dna88
          Hi michelle, the site I'm building sells or sends people to physical products.. As an example it would be like building a site on 50 inch hd tvs... Would it it be sensible to use keywords such as "sony 50 inch hd tvs" as a domain name for a mini site then to build a big site where sony 50 inch hd tvs is a blog post.

          This is just an example, the niche i'm in has a lot less competition then the hdtv niche, infact I'm ranking in the top ten for about 75 out of 150 keywords I've gone for with squidoo lenses, It's time to build a site now and I'm just deciding on wether to go for a big site or many sites for those keywords.

          David
          {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[4158877].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author No1here
    Originally Posted by dna88 View Post

    Hi guys I'm just wondering is it better to build a big site that has blog posts targetting different keywords and parts of my niche or to have a series of small sites with my keywords as domain names and have those sites targetting specific audiences from my niche?

    I hope you guys understood my question and how I put it...

    Anyways I appreciate all input guys so please let me know which way you think is best for covering a niche.

    David
    If you want my advice:
    1. If you're wanting to build a massive list then little sites are great. Might also want to set the auto-responder to where it sells a similar product but not as good as your main one or some (obviously) related products while, they need to opt-in so you might want to give/sell them something related.

    Main page focuses on high quality content with a strong, "lead by the hand" type of sales pitches.

    2. If you're only looking to sell a product from organic traffic then build the BIG authority site like everyone is saying.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[4158917].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author tomewer
    Broadly speaking, bigger sites offer higher returns, but it is a far more competitive market.

    You are more likely to be able to own part of a small niche.

    If you are relatively new to things, I would recommend starting small. Trying to tackle a big niche takes a lot of time, effort and nous.

    All the best :-)
    Signature

    Quit your job and work on your own terms: Leaving Work Behind

    Follow me on Twitter | Connect with me on Facebook

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[4158938].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Nightengale
      David,

      Based on your example, I'd say go with one site and make a different page for each product.

      Going with your example, your niche is TVs. That's pretty specific within the electronics niche. (If your niche is as specific as 50" HD TVs, then you might want to broaden it to TVs as I think 50" HD TVs is TOO specific. You can then branch out to other types of TVs. But if all you have right now is 50" HD TVs, don't worry. It's a good starting place. Just start there and then branch out when you can.)

      If your niche was "electronics" then I'd say create a different site for cameras, TVs, etc. and then a separate page for each make and model of each electronic item. Since your niche is just TVs, create just one site and create a different page for each make/model.

      This is a nice way to organize your business and to brand it.

      I agree with Chris Kent: keeping track of 200 sites could get very confusing and time-consuming. There's no need for that, especially when you're better served by branding yourself as an authority on TVs.

      I heartily disagree with No1here: a large authority site vs. a smaller, niche site has little to do with getting organic traffic vs. other types of traffic. Large authority sites AND small, niche sites can get organic traffic AND other types of traffic. In fact, narrowing your niche the way you have will help you establish yourself as an authority in your field.

      Also, list-building has more to do with the way you promote your site than with it's size. A couple of tips for you:

      1. Create a squeeze page and offer a freebie (like a free tip sheet: "How to Get the Best Deal on a TV" for example). Make the squeeze page your homepage. You can either force people to submit their name and e-mail before they can access the rest of the site or create a "soft" squeeze page by putting a link to access it without submitting it. (This is what I did.)

      2. Put an opt-in box offering your freebie in the upper right-hand corner of EVERY page of your site. As you build on your promotional efforts, people will start coming in to different pages, depending on what they were referred to, so they might not always see your home/squeeze page. You want to grab as many names and e-mail addresses as possible.

      Why? Up to 99% of your web visitors will take a cursory look and then CLICK away, never to return. Yet, according the to Direct Marketing Association, people don't buy the first time they hear of a product or service. They make their purchase after 7 or 8 contacts.

      So, the fortune is in the followup! If you're not following up, you're leaving money on the table.

      I get a bit irritated when people here offer "listbuilding" as a business (in response to questions about how to make money online). Listbuilding is NOT A BUSINESS! It's a BUSINESS STRATEGY that EVERY business needs to employ, no matter what product or service they're selling because every business needs to follow up. Grrrr!

      </end rant>

      3. Send out weekly e-mail newsletter (e-zine) to your list to stay in touch. It doesn't have to be complicated. A simple tip of the week will do it. A regular e-zine will help you establish yourself as an expert in your field which will help you a lot.

      Now, with your keywords:

      Use your keywords in your meta tags, page content, etc. Use them in your ads, articles, etc. Ads, articles and other promotional strategies are where you create based on the type and number of keywords you have.

      You can also buy keyword-specific domain names. Just re-direct the domain names to the specific pages of your site.

      I hope is this helpful!

      Michelle
      Signature
      "You can't market here. This is a marketing discussion forum!"
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[4159275].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author dna88
        Michelle, that answer was awesome and a lot of help, thanks for taking the time to explain so throroughly. I really do appreciate it.
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[4159542].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author dna88
        Thanks guys for your thoughts and contributions, all of them have been very informative. It seems the majority are saying big site works best so thats my mind made up on that aspect of my business. It's one blog post at a time to build up that authority site..
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[4159679].message }}
        • Profile picture of the author Spyder77
          Originally Posted by dna88 View Post

          Thanks guys for your thoughts and contributions, all of them have been very informative. It seems the majority are saying big site works best so thats my mind made up on that aspect of my business. It's one blog post at a time to build up that authority site..
          This is what I'm doing too: focusing my effort on building one quality, authoritative site one post at a time. I also spend some time optimizing it and building back links to it. My efforts are centered around this one site though.

          Where I'm not spending any money on it for advertising or outsourcing, I know its going to be slow going for awhile on the traffic and income side - but I'm thinking long term, and once it crosses a certain threshold for profitability, I'm then willing to start spending a bit on advertising and outsourcing some of the more time intensive grunt work involved (like link building, where I do it by hand its time consuming).

          Once the site is well established (this is at least a year down the road) I plan to diversify by expanding into other sites in other niches, and the big site will be an asset then too as I can leverage it in different ways to help grow the start up sites.

          I've also come up with (and come across) other ways to leverage the site, once established, although the interesting thing was that I never thought of any of these things until I began building it. Since then the ideas have been coming faster than I can implement them.
          {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[4161795].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Spyder77
    Just before finding this forum, I read an article on John's Chow's blog where he compared the merits of many small sites versus one big one. He sided heavily in favor of the single big site.

    He made some good points but I wasn't totally convinced. The biggest drawback I see in having solo big site is that if any of the potential things that could kill it (or its income source) happen, then its back to square 1. Kind of like investing your entire portfolio into one single stock: big potential payoff, unless it tanks along the way or after its established.

    I think the ideal would be some level of diversification. One larger authoritative type site combined with a network of smaller sites in other niches based on different profit models and/or revenue streams.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[4159304].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author harrymcclaire
    yup, as said by many..

    both can work.

    u just gotta find which one works for you.

    not to mention u need to have things running right too as both may not work out at all if u are getting the basics wrong.

    but if you got it right already and thinking which is better than u have to see, if ur big site can only earn you $150 a day after optimizing the best u can and your small sites are getting u $30 a day after optimizing then u can build 10 small sites and get $300 a day rather than a big site.

    i know u will be thinking then build 2 big sites, but big sits are not easy to make and maintain.
    Signature
    Photo Proof of results
    979 clicks, 177 sign ups, 2 sales
    = $133.08 of CB commissions!
    Within 1st day of blast!
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[4159533].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Deepikarajpal
    preferably big site is better then old it have many benefit over small site as you need to focus on one site promotion not think of promoting all one simultaneously also chances to get ranking on big is sooner then small sites
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[4159627].message }}

Trending Topics