As a newbie: build several sites or go with one large one?
 

Hi

It seems that several of you have many sites going, and I've been wondering, whether it's better to build many sites at a time, with a little less content on each, or to go with one site with lots of features.

For example, currently I translate all my content to finnish as well. Putting aside the ease of using JoomFish for the translation, should I just have two separate sites, one for the english speaking market and one for the finnish market? Now I just provide the users with an option to switch the language. What are the benefits / downsides (aside from the obvious link exchange potential).

Also I'm almost ready with my poker league management joomla component and the situation is the same: make a website specificly for people looking to host a poker league, or use it as a selling feature of my current site.

The way I see it: it's hard to get a new site going, so anything I can use to drive traffic is better spent on improving the one site. But I see people all the time that develop niche sites, one for each of their ideas, and just can't shake the nagging feeling that I'm overlooking something.

So, should I just improve my current site until I get it going and then branch out, or start doing several sites right now?

A large network of sites with equal content on each is always a good way to go. DealerDan's gaming network is a prime example of this at work. It's a great way to show different aspects and different niches while maximizing a lot of value for your work.

I would create several smaller niche sites. That way it will be easier for you to optimize it for keywords and not need to compete as much with the big guys.

The biggest mistake a new affiliate can make is to start a new site beofre the old stands on it's own.

Don't rush out and start something until yur new site can withstand days of not updating content, forums, that sort of thing. You will loose focus on you main site and it will happen over and and over again. You will end up like all of us with 10 domain names with 3 or 4 pages on them that have not been updated in months.

Stick your primary site and make a goal. Make that goal hard to achieve and when you reach it, then branch out.

Unless you have people working for you or more time than most. If you are a full timer than by all means go for it. But most newbies are part time.

Just thought I would add that starting subdomains for niches is a great idea too. You don't need a whole new site just because you want to focus on freerolls.

Take a look at Holis's drawdead.com Maybe the best example of af an affiliate site out there. He has done wonders with subdomains too.

wow thanks for the compliment sir :)

Thank you AceHigh :)

When I originally started, I focused on small niches but didn't brand them under a network. Since doing that and putting them under the Dealer Dan Gaming network, I've found it brings a lot more legitimacy to the network, and makes it more of a brand name.

Targeting markets individually with different sites is the best way to go IMO. This means that you can also try different things and see what's working out. Also while I expect it results in the same amount of work, it actually feels like a lot less work, and a lot easier to handle. Give each sites its own identity to begin with, then try and centralize it later on. Pick a market to target, and gear a site just aimed towards that, and you should be in good shape. I have nothing against "megasites" at all, and think it can be a lot of fun to build up a site that caters to everything, but I think starting out you should definetely be starting with smaller sites.

And I agree with losercore; if you can get a nice, simple domain name, using Holis's strategy is very good at getting the brand name across.

[quote=losercore]The biggest mistake a new affiliate can make is to start a new site beofre the old stands on it's own.

Don't rush out and start something until yur new site can withstand days of not updating content, forums, that sort of thing. You will loose focus on you main site and it will happen over and and over again. You will end up like all of us with 10 domain names with 3 or 4 pages on them that have not been updated in months.

quote]


Exactly what i did!