Micro Sites = Mega Mistake, Why You Should Focus on One Site

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When making money online, people think that they can create small niche sites that generate $1 a day, and replicate this 1,000 times in order to make $1,000 a day. Although this sounds great in theory, it is definitely not the best approach to take. The business model is not sustainable, scalable, nor feasible in many cases.

The best strategy, especially for people new to the Internet world and to the whole concept of making money online, is to create a large authoritative site that they can pour all of their time, energy, and resources into. I know I know, you’ve probably heard the phrase, “Don’t put your eggs in one basket,” but can your Internet websites and businesses really be compared to eggs? Eggs have Mother Nature on their side and were created to hatch and create life. On the other hand, your business in most cases was born for failure from the start with competitive predators everywhere out to eat you alive. Unless you’re willing to make an extraordinary effort and go against all odds and oppressive forces, your websites will indeed fail. So knowing all of these things, how can you go around popping eggs everywhere without giving them the warmth and attention they need in order to hatch and take off? Focus on one site at a time - and you’ll have a greater chance of success.

Not convinced? Below we’ll go more in depth into the advantages of creating a mega site rather than smaller micro sites.

Mega sites have more SEO potential

Having a background in SEO, I cannot help but spell out the advantages a mega site has in terms of SEO potential. Would you rather build links to a huge site or to 100 small and meaningless sites? Who would want to link to a miniscule site with little or no valuable content? A large authoritative site on a single domain will have a much easier time gaining links and gaining popularity in a niche or topic of interest. As a result, this leads to higher search engine rankings, more traffic, more loyal users, and more revenue. After all, isn’t this what we’re after?

Focus for the Kill

I have a confession to make. The mischievous boy that I was growing up, I used to massacre poor and innocent ants minding their own business outside in the summer heat. How did I go about committing this horrible crime? Easy. I used a magnifying glass and direct sunlight to focus and intensify the solar energy so I could wreck some serious anthill havoc in a matter of seconds. Pretty evil, eh? Well aside from sparking my guilty conscience, this story does have a point. The key lesson here is FOCUS. In the same way that I used the magnifying glass to direct all energy to a single intense point, you as a webmaster should be doing the same thing in your business. Direct all of your energy, resources, and time into one project. By doing this you’ll gain much more focus, increase productivity, and do some serious damage to your money making goals. One site at a time people. Focus, focus, focus… ZAP!

Specialist or Jack of all trades?

Who would you rather go to for web design services? Someone who designs anything and everything - from ice sculptures, children’s book covers, thrift store underwear, and oh occasionally websites OR someone who has been specializing in web design for the past 10 years? I think the choice here is obvious. Although the example is a bit extreme, I think it translates into the realm of making money online as well. By having multiple sites that touch upon a variety of topics and niches, you dilute your expertise - both in perception and in reality. When people see your blog on parenting and then see your blog on rap music, there’s a bit of cognitive dissonance here. What are you really good at? You lose a lot of credibility and people tend to trust you less because they are unable to associate your name as an authority for a specific industry. Michael Jordan playing baseball? Talk about recipe for disaster. Furthermore, spreading out your sites to cover a variety of niches limits your time for research in each. There are only 24 hours in a day and you’ll never have the time to gain the knowledge and expertise necessary to become an expert in more than one field.

For people just starting out to make money online, I think the point of this article is clear. Focus your attention and resources into a single site you can be proud of. Put all of your blood, sweat, and tears into it and give it your best shot. What happens if it doesn’t work out? Simple. Just try again with something different. Researching niches is extremely important to minimize risk but let’s leave that for another post. For now, just learn to focus and you’ll see greater gains faster.