Thursday, February 9, 2012

Are Many Small Sites Better Than One Large Site?

The most common question I get from beginning marketers has to do with finding/choosing a niche or area to market. Next on the list usually has to do with building many small niche sites vs. one or two larger, long-term sites in more competitive areas.

Many people choose both approaches. But until beginners have some success, I suggest beginning with the small niche sites which have little competition. Either approach can be very profitable. However, in the beginning a new marketer needs quick feedback to confirm the strategy and methods work. It's important to know as soon as possible if there are flaws with the methods or the strategy. Otherwise, without the quick feedback, a lot of wasted time and frustration can occur.

Again, either a large number of small niche sites or one or two large sites in highly competitive areas can earn good income. But when a beginner with no prior experience begins building and marketing a site in a large and competitive area, it can take many months of hard work before having any indication the methods are correct.

Therefore, I try to guide my new students toward smaller niches where they can quickly learn the basics and see some results. Of course "success" with many small niche sites may only mean $20 to $30 a month. In most cases there is a very low glass ceiling and it's not hard to quickly market and maximize the potential of these niche sites before moving onto the next. After the beginner has shown proficiency with driving traffic to an optimized page with their chosen keywords, it's usually time to think about investing time and focus into larger areas.

Of course, before moving into these bigger areas, it's important the new marketer's personality allows for it. I have known some students who only wish to stay in the small niche areas. Their plan is for finding good niches and building sites for them on a regular basis. Eventually, they'll have many dozens or even 100+ of these small producing sites. Some personalities aren't able to and/or don't enjoy having to focus a long-term effort on just one or two sites; many personalities thrive on beginning and completing projects rapidly.

On the flip side, having to create many small niche sites drives some people crazy. Again, this depends on the person's personality usually. I can't very well "make" a person go against what feels comfortable. Therefore, I'll go with each student's "flow" and help them succeed no matter which path best fits them.

Ok, all that being said, many of us (including me) find themselves somewhere in between. I have many tiny sites and a few in larger areas that I focus far more time and effort on. I for one have just enough ADD in me to keep the tiny-niche-site-side of me going. However, it is the large sites that produce the best for me. The 80/20 rule applies here.

Here's how I usually progress with advice to my students:

Learn the ropes with a small niche site or two and then begin investing regular and consistent time in a site that has huge potential down the road...even if seeing results in that big area will require much time and work. It's OK to continue building small sites along the way if you wish. But let's be sure and begin a long-term project that offers great potential.

All things being equal (and of course they never are), 2 years of X amount of work on a site focused toward a well selected and competitive area will almost always produce more results than the same X amount of work focused on well selected, small niche sites. You might read that last paragraph again just to make sure that important concept is clear.

But again, all marketers must go with their own flow and not force strategies upon themselves which feel uncomfortable.


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Visit Steve Weber at his website for more info about building an online business. He offers plent of free tips and tricks for download. http://www.WeberInternetMarketing.com


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