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Individual Review Sites Vrs Authority Review Site

by SlowlyMan
20 replies
I've been developing a strategy for a new site and I started to think. To date I have been creating Dedicated niche review sites. "best audio""best dog collar" etc.

With the cost of SEO and Google appetite for content I've been thinking about an authority review site. "your best source for reviews dot com" then creating sections under that domain for "best audio""best dog collar" etc

Anybody have experience with one technique over the other in regard to conversions?

My concern with a authority review site is too much info for searchers to page through and just leaving the site. With a single niche site, you put the product front and center for the searchers.

Thoughts? Thanks
#authority #individual #review #site #sites #vrs
  • Profile picture of the author thedog
    Originally Posted by SlowlyMan View Post

    I've been developing a strategy for a new site and I started to think. To date I have been creating Dedicated niche review sites. "best audio""best dog collar" etc.

    With the cost of SEO and Google appetite for content I've been thinking about an authority review site. "your best source for reviews dot com" then creating sections under that domain for "best audio""best dog collar" etc

    Anybody have experience with one technique over the other in regard to conversions?

    My concern with a authority review site is too much info for searchers to page through and just leaving the site. With a single niche site, you put the product front and center for the searchers.

    Thoughts? Thanks
    I'm with you Slowly man... people like easily digestable chunks of information.

    I prefer to focus my sites on individual types of products.

    That said, there are authority sites out there making a killing... some of them with pretty thin content.

    You can always link up your related sites, probably best to have them on different hosting accounts though.
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  • Profile picture of the author kvnkane
    some of my individual sites such as "dog collars" make daily sales and i dont have to touch them. ive started creating a authority site now to see if i can do the same, no sales yet but im hopeful
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  • Profile picture of the author solado
    I set up an 'overall' product website as opposed to indervidual and its doing me quite well, its easy to post new content as there is a wide variety of information and products to write about... not making me a killing but its a new site.
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  • Profile picture of the author davidtong
    I prefer authority sites for long-term sustainability... I find that micro (single brand or single model) niche sites may be easy to rank for but they're not really that useful to the user either (regardless of how much $ it puts in our pockets)...

    With a large site, each additional post can be a micro-niche site by itself when it ranks.

    A good example of a large niche site would be dpreview.com (now owned by Amazon).

    They rank #1 for practically all models of digital cameras for their individual reviews, but the main domain ranks #2 for "digital camera"...

    Odds of your authority site getting booted out of your serp by a thin niche site is rather slim as well.

    Overall, it's up to your patience and goals. There's no right or wrong way... Of course, it depends on the niche as well, but I don't think there's a product niche that doesn't have a lot of competing products that warrant an authority site format.

    If the product you promote is a bit technical (let's say cameras, computers, hifi, etc.), your thin niche site might not convert at all as buyers will almost always want to see expert opinions and quantifiable charts and data sheets that thin niche sites don't provide...

    The cheaper the item, the 'thinner' the site most of the time.
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    • Profile picture of the author SlowlyMan
      Originally Posted by davidtong View Post

      I prefer authority sites for long-term sustainability... I find that micro (single brand or single model) niche sites may be easy to rank for but they're not really that useful to the user either (regardless of how much $ it puts in our pockets)...

      With a large site, each additional post can be a micro-niche site by itself when it ranks.

      A good example of a large niche site would be dpreviews.com (now owned by Amazon).

      They rank #1 for practically all models of digital cameras for their individual reviews, but the main domain ranks #2 for "digital camera"...

      Odds of your authority site getting booted out of your serp by a thin niche site is rather slim as well.

      Overall, it's up to your patience and goals. There's no right or wrong way... Of course, it depends on the niche as well, but I don't think there's a product niche that doesn't have a lot of competing products that warrant an authority site format.

      If the product you promote is a bit technical (let's say cameras, computers, hifi, etc.), your thin niche site might not convert at all as buyers will almost always want to see expert opinions and quantifiable charts and data sheets that thin niche sites don't provide...

      The cheaper the item, the 'thinner' the site most of the time.
      Did you type that addy correctly? the link brings me to a design site
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    • Profile picture of the author LMC
      my man. good post.

      Originally Posted by davidtong View Post

      I prefer authority sites for long-term sustainability... I find that micro (single brand or single model) niche sites may be easy to rank for but they're not really that useful to the user either (regardless of how much $ it puts in our pockets)...

      With a large site, each additional post can be a micro-niche site by itself when it ranks.

      A good example of a large niche site would be dpreviews.com (now owned by Amazon).

      They rank #1 for practically all models of digital cameras for their individual reviews, but the main domain ranks #2 for "digital camera"...

      Odds of your authority site getting booted out of your serp by a thin niche site is rather slim as well.

      Overall, it's up to your patience and goals. There's no right or wrong way... Of course, it depends on the niche as well, but I don't think there's a product niche that doesn't have a lot of competing products that warrant an authority site format.

      If the product you promote is a bit technical (let's say cameras, computers, hifi, etc.), your thin niche site might not convert at all as buyers will almost always want to see expert opinions and quantifiable charts and data sheets that thin niche sites don't provide...

      The cheaper the item, the 'thinner' the site most of the time.
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  • Profile picture of the author Matt Ward
    Originally Posted by SlowlyMan View Post

    I've been thinking about an authority review site. "your best source for reviews dot com" then creating sections under that domain for "best audio""best dog collar" etc
    I think that unless you have an absurd budget, you need to at least have some sort of niche in mind when it comes to building a website.

    Imagine trying to start up a competitor to Wal-Mart; a store that sells almost everything, but you have a budget of $50,000. The store is never going to go anywhere and you're just going to fail. However, if you took that $50,000 and opened a niche fishing shop you might have a better chance of success.
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    • Profile picture of the author SlowlyMan
      Originally Posted by Matt Ward View Post

      I think that unless you have an absurd budget, you need to at least have some sort of niche in mind when it comes to building a website.

      Imagine trying to start up a competitor to Wal-Mart; a store that sells almost everything, but you have a budget of $50,000. The store is never going to go anywhere and you're just going to fail. However, if you took that $50,000 and opened a niche fishing shop you might have a better chance of success.
      Why do you think it would take a larger budget to start a single Authority site vers several individual sites?

      Using your analogy, wouldn't it be possible to open a store front and add merchandise over time. Gradually pushing back the walls as you need more space.

      Not being critical just curious why you have that thought.
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  • Profile picture of the author boxoun
    Stop targeting niches and focus on the niche market.

    Why would you review audio with dog products?

    Leverage the easy to get traffic and since you focus on the niche market you will get sales from products you would never had targeted based on seo competition.
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    • Profile picture of the author fiero
      Just add more pages (content).

      You know with micro-niche site your traffic is limited although targeted.

      Check your stats for incoming search terms and put up more content.
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  • Profile picture of the author Randall Magwood
    Go with the authority site. The longevity of it suggests that you will have success with it as your traffic count grows.
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    • Profile picture of the author SlowlyMan
      Really good discussion here folks. Thanks
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  • Profile picture of the author YasirYar
    I would personally not go for authority sites for two main reasons . It is MUCH harder to rank for an authority site, and a lot of people prefer visiting individual review sites as they have all the information they need in front of them.

    You can always link your sites to each other if they are in similar niches, or even otherwise. However, if you have a lot of time and resources to put into this project, then go for the authority review site. The potential incomes from such a site are considerably higher.
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    • Profile picture of the author CDarklock
      Originally Posted by YasirYar View Post

      I would personally not go for authority sites for two main reasons . It is MUCH harder to rank for an authority site, and a lot of people prefer visiting individual review sites as they have all the information they need in front of them.
      Why is nobody saying that it depends on the product?

      The OP uses one example that should be a review site (dog collars) and one that should be an authority site (audio).

      First of all, nobody is going to believe that you are an authority on audio AND dog collars. So just give that up; it's a stupid idea. You will be a dork and not make any money.

      So now that you know there have to be two sites, there's something else: you should probably not use the same name on both sites, and anywhere you use your real name should be about a niche that you can speak expertly about in person - just in case your next door neighbour happens to find it.

      Because he will ask you about it the next time he sees you. "Why, Bob, I did not know you were an expert in dog training. My sister's dog keeps chewing up her shoes. How can she stop that?" And if you can't give him a damn good answer immediately, HE TELLING ALL HE FRIEND ON THE INTERNET FOR TO NOT FOR TO BUY YOU PRODUCT. And in today's social-media connected world, that threat actually holds water; see the Ocean Marketing debacle:

      Penny Arcade - Just Wow!

      (TL;DR version - a marketing rep for a company tells an irate customer, in part, "you look like a complete moron swearing and sending your customer service complaints to a magazine as if they will post it or even pay attention" with the only problem being that the magazine sort of did on both counts.)

      So on to the question of what to do with different niches.

      Dog collars need to be a review site, because once you buy a dog collar you will probably have it for years. There is no damn point to hanging around on a massive site full of stuff about dog collars. WTF? Are you serious? Who cares? I just want a damn collar for my dog. I'm not going to bookmark your site and come back to it later when I get another dog, or refer my friends who have dogs to your site.

      Audio, on the other hand, needs to be an authority site. People who like high-end audio buy it over and over, and they want to go back to the same place over and over. They get insanely loyal. They don't just buy from you, they subscribe to RSS feeds and read new gear reviews ravenously. If you write good audio reviews, they will come back and buy from you again and again. They will send their friends to your site. They will tweet your sales and Facebook their purchases. And if your site only has three pages, you get NONE of that.

      It all comes down to understanding your niche and your customer. There's no one-size-fits-all kind of site.
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    • Profile picture of the author wayne60618
      Originally Posted by YasirYar View Post

      I would personally not go for authority sites for two main reasons . It is MUCH harder to rank for an authority site, and a lot of people prefer visiting individual review sites as they have all the information they need in front of them.

      You can always link your sites to each other if they are in similar niches, or even otherwise. However, if you have a lot of time and resources to put into this project, then go for the authority review site. The potential incomes from such a site are considerably higher.
      If it's a niche authority site, the opposite is true. It's much easier to rank for long tail keywords and you can often do that with zero link building to the page. However, a large authority site that is not topically relevant to dog collars will have more difficulty than a micro niche site targeted to dog collars - all things being equal.

      So, what's a niche authority site? They post on relevant topics to that specific niche and not on broader categories. For example, a dog training site could do very well selling dog training collars and could rank well for that term. it also makes sense for internal llinking purposes to link to your reviews on training collars, which will also help give your a push.
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      • Profile picture of the author SlowlyMan
        Just to be clear, the "best audio""best dog collar" etc. niches are just an example. Not the actual products I plan to promote.

        Although as CDarklock commented an premium audio site might have potential.
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  • Profile picture of the author SeoKnightsInc
    I think in this Idea you forgot Google for a Sec. Google is getting smarter and smarter. DO you think GOOGLE is going to rank a site with DOG COLOR along with AUDIO ? Google is already facing severe criticism over less relevant results nowdays. I have faith on GOOGLE that its not going to rank you at all for such different niches no matter how much content you have. Hope you remember what happened with EZINE ?
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    • Profile picture of the author davidtong
      Originally Posted by SlowlyMan View Post

      Did you type that addy correctly? the link brings me to a design site
      Sorry, corrected and removed the 's' at the end, it's dpreview.com.

      Originally Posted by CDarklock View Post

      Why is nobody saying that it depends on the product?
      Not exactly 'nobody'...

      Overall, it's up to your patience and goals. There's no right or wrong way... Of course, it depends on the niche as well, but I don't think there's a product niche that doesn't have a lot of competing products that warrant an authority site format.

      If the product you promote is a bit technical (let's say cameras, computers, hifi, etc.), your thin niche site might not convert at all as buyers will almost always want to see expert opinions and quantifiable charts and data sheets that thin niche sites don't provide...

      The cheaper the item, the 'thinner' the site most of the time.
      About the collar + audio thing... It still depends on how the silo structure of the site is... if they're structured in a way that it's still somehow connected (I dunno, dog training audio set, dog control audio whistle - do those exist?) they still fall into a theme.

      But I think that's going beyond the scope of thin vs. authority niche site discussion though and more on on-page SEO discussion.
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    • Profile picture of the author SlowlyMan
      Originally Posted by pbbiet View Post

      I think in this Idea you forgot Google for a Sec. Google is getting smarter and smarter. DO you think GOOGLE is going to rank a site with DOG COLOR along with AUDIO ? Google is already facing severe criticism over less relevant results nowdays. I have faith on GOOGLE that its not going to rank you at all for such different niches no matter how much content you have. Hope you remember what happened with EZINE ?

      Well, here is what got me started about this concept. On one of my niche sites one of my product reviews gets more traffic then the rest of the site combined. So I got thinking why wouldn't it work to put multiple niches under one domain. I should be able to get the individual niche pages ranked. The front page rank really shouldn't matter.

      Am I thinking about this wrong?
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  • Profile picture of the author CTWilliamson
    Personally I like small micro niches. I find it a lot simpler to rank on the first page of google with long tailed keywords and the traffic even tho less is far more targeted.
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