Dilemma - Invest 100% into 1 site or 50% in two sites

[smartuner]

Okay guys here is the story. I am running my major website for about 7 months now and I am starting to get a steady amount of traffic and what is more important a steady increase in income.

I am now struggling to decide if I rather should start building a second website or if I should invest all content creation and link building efforts into my one major site?

I am also building a sports betting site on the side so in theory the question is should I run 3 websites where I spent 33% of my time each or should I really invest 100% in only one website.

I tend to go with having three websites just to no having all eggs in one basket and maybe be on the safer side in case a Google algo update kills on of the sites.

What do you guys think? Do you have any erxperience and what would be your approach?

PS: maybe this is important my main website has currently about 300 indexed pages

[wonderpunter]

1 great site or 1 mediocre site and 2 spammy ones...

[UTG]

1 great site or 1 mediocre site and 2 spammy ones...

Why wouldn’t he/she be able to build 3 great websites? 50 hours each month per website is more than enough to build a website that isn’t spammy or mediocre if you do the right things.

I think that it is a good choice to not be dependent on one website. Too many things can happen (algo updates, negative seo, hacking, etc) that might influence the income. I would rather have 10 websites that generate €2000 each month than one website that generates €20000 each month.

You should do what you believe is best for your business in the long run. Generally I would say that it is good to have multiple revenue streams. If you believe that you can build 3 good websites then go for it!

[wonderpunter]

Why wouldn’t he/she be able to build 3 great websites? 50 hours each month per website is more than enough to build a website that isn’t spammy or mediocre if you do the right things.

I think that it is a good choice to not be dependent on one website. Too many things can happen (algo updates, negative seo, hacking, etc) that might influence the income. I would rather have 10 websites that generate €2000 each month than one website that generates €20000 each month.

You should do what you believe is best for your business in the long run. Generally I would say that it is good to have multiple revenue streams. If you believe that you can build 3 good websites then go for it!

If you build one great site then algo and negative SEO are not a problem, if you want to be an authority then you need to be better than your competition.. which is the guy working 16-18 hours daily on his site.. If you are working alone.. then 1 great site.. making the 20k per month so you can hire two more people to build 20 sites if you want to look at it that way..

[RacingJim]

I would say do 2-3 sites, definitely. All eggs in one basket is very risky indeed in any business.

[MrBinaryAff]

If you are going for 3 websites and they are all under same brand: casino, poker, betting then I don't see a problem at all - that's perfect!

But I would go for spending 50% of the time on main website and 25% of other two.

[Syndicate]

I would be the same as Wonderpunter. One big site !! But it would obviously depend on the subject, as some things have a cap!

300 indexed pages is still relatively low. Maybe look when you have 3000

[Triple7]

Why wouldn’t he/she be able to build 3 great websites? 50 hours each month per website is more than enough to build a website that isn’t spammy or mediocre if you do the right things.

I think that it is a good choice to not be dependent on one website. Too many things can happen (algo updates, negative seo, hacking, etc) that might influence the income. I would rather have 10 websites that generate €2000 each month than one website that generates €20000 each month.

You should do what you believe is best for your business in the long run. Generally I would say that it is good to have multiple revenue streams. If you believe that you can build 3 good websites then go for it!

It's also easier to make 10 sites that make 2k than make one that makes 20k. I read here things like be an authority. It's the same like making a brand. That talent or be the right man at the right place or etc is not given to everyone. There's no place for thousands and thousands of authorities. Once you see your project has reached its limits, it's sometimes better to start up extra projects instead of putting all your effort and time in something that just reached its limit.

[casinoplanet]

I suggest to focus on 1 main website, but a second one can be useful to test new lay-outs, content etc.

[DanHorvat]

Developing the 2nd website is the key move in any online entrepreneur's career. Sticking with your first site is like sticking with your highschool girlfriend.

I personally have a portfolio of ~15 websites, and the portfolio expands and contracts as I purchase or develop new websites and sell or abandon the old ones. I'm pretty fast by now, I can develop a new project, plus a full business plan, in two days. And this is far more exciting than watching the grass grow (monitoring traffic of one website and worrying about the low conversion rate).

If this is what you want then go down that route.

1. Keep developing a site until you're happy with it.
2. When the job comes down to routine maintenance only (no further development), delegate the day-to-day management.
3. Rinse and repeat.

[TheGooner]

It is very interesting to see the split in approach - between main site / multiple sites I suspect it just reflects what each person has done so far to be successful in the industry. What is missing in the various testimonials is of course the indication that people have been successful in their approach

When you get a single large site, then it is easy to make changes and promotions that are read by 10,000 plus visitors every day. There is scale and volume that means is it worthwhile to make changes and keep it up to date - this provides easy motivation.

You also gain the benefit of scale. A large site gains many links, a lot of traffic, and a lot of SE benefits when compared to smaller sites. SEO becomes set and forget and Panda / Penguin and serps rankings are non-events. You can concentrate on content and writing about stuff that interests you rather than all the technical mumbo-jumbo - and running updates over 100's of small sites that no-one reads.

When you have multiple sites you have completely different projects, which does make it easier to buy, sell and trade parts of your portfolio as Dan as said, and the idea that you can concentrate on the growth phase is interesting. However the battle with SEO, and gaining authority status is much harder - as each site is invariably much smaller as not as well maintained or linked as a single main site.

Perhaps I am not entrepreneurial enough.
- I don't want to create, build-up, and then sell. I enjoy the affiliation and revenue side too.
- I have not found partners that do a good enough job in maintaining sites that satisfy me.

I think that the approach should be determined by subject matter rather than a chase for a number of sites. I would not start another sports / casino / poker review site I would add onto GoonersGuide.com. But if my interest was piqued in other subjects, like finance or electronics then I would definitely create a new domain.

So I am left with the option of maintaining and overseeing a single main site on the subject matter that interests me and find it both satisfying and rewarding. I am on the side of a single site business, with concentrated effort on making it best-of-breed. I suspect that it is far more successful both in terms of readers and financials than 100 small multi-sites put together - and the single focus suits me.

But that's just one affiliates position.

[RacingJim]

Either approach can be great, but Gooner you do have the benefit of having been an affiliate for a looong time and your main site is old and really well trusted by Google so you are very unlikely to feel the wrath of any updates. For newer people who have 1-2 year old sites things can be a lot more volatile.

I would say definitely work hard on one main site at first, but if you can and if you can find the time, then do try and have at least a few other sites built and gathering momentum in case you fall foul of any Google animals or negative SEO tactics.

[Rostick]

While I totally understand the "don't put all your eggs into one basket" saying (and it's true), I have always been a 'one website man', focusing on brand building and putting my efforts to produce one great thing. Every time I build something on the side, I struggle with time. I can't say it worked out great for me with this approach, but not bad either.

If your main website is starting to kick off, I think you should encourage that progress. Maybe it becomes something great and than it will beat the revenue you can get from 100 low level websites. I would focus on the main website and try to make it as good as it can be. As your website increases in traffic / popularity, doors open, you can have partnerships with top affiliates, with bookies / casinos, promotions, etc. And, if you are successful, building secondary websites on the tail of the main website will than come easy.

Of course it depends, for example if your traffic is over 70% from google and there's no chance of building a community, maybe things stand a little differently, but not much more differently. If you know your business and don't overdo SEO, the risk to get penalized is very low IMO. If you are using shady google tactics, than go for the second website.

Overall, I would focus on building that one great thing (it doesn't actually have to be 'great'), the possibilities are so much better than with multiple low level websites. And if it doesn't work, you will probably have time and money to choose the different approach in the future. But if you choose to ignore your main website now, it will likely never have the chance to reach its potential again.

[Rostick]

If you build one great site then algo and negative SEO are not a problem, if you want to be an authority then you need to be better than your competition.. which is the guy working 16-18 hours daily on his site.. If you are working alone.. then 1 great site.. making the 20k per month so you can hire two more people to build 20 sites if you want to look at it that way..

+1

[wonderpunter]

As Gooner said, people will suggest what they do personally, but are they successful? anyone can build 10 regular sites.. Not everyone can build an authority site.. and even with 10 smaller sites they very rarely out rank authority sites on most of the money keywords, I will go so far to say one money keyword on my site brings me more traffic than the other 10,000 in my competition combined, why? because after the top 5 places there is little traffic left to share.. and when you rank for most combinations of that keyword it doesn't matter how many sites you pump out. you are not getting anywhere near us, So its never a case of x5 small sites make the same revenue as one authority ..

[Triple7]

Top 5, the word says it. Are only 5 places. Not everyone will be able to be in the Top 5 and remain there. If you can't, you gotta have some plan B.

[doovde]

I don't think anyone has really addressed the key issue behind this question.

Do you have the time and resources to build out more sites without your existing site suffering?

It's getting harder and harder to rank new sites in the serps and if you've already got an amount of authority and trust on a certain property then often it makes more sense to skew your time, energy and investment into that site - your short term roi is likely to be better.

On the flip side of that though you might find yourself in a situation where from a content perspective you've exhausted the niche your branded aged site is in and adding other types of content doesn't fit. If you don't see too much room for expansion on your first site then getting some help maintaining it, so it doesn't suffer, while your focus is elsewhere is certainly a viable strategy.

You said you already have a second site in the pipeline and are thinking of adding a third. Don't fall in the trap of starting projects and not finishing them before moving onto the next. Allowing that to happen can really burn resources.

Bottom line is both approaches work.

Best advice I can give is to make sure you finish any project you commit to starting. Don't allow yourself to end up with a bunch of half arsed sites and a godaddy account full of unused domains.

[sweetbet]

I would invest 80% into 1 big site and 20% into a string of market specific mini sites. The mini sites would consist of 20 or so pages each and would be promoted via social media mostly. That's how I've always done it anyway

[Parth84]

I definitely would like to go with just another site maintaining the first one or the main site.....

[RyanWeb]

Developing the 2nd website is the key move in any online entrepreneur's career. Sticking with your first site is like sticking with your highschool girlfriend.

I personally have a portfolio of ~15 websites, and the portfolio expands and contracts as I purchase or develop new websites and sell or abandon the old ones. I'm pretty fast by now, I can develop a new project, plus a full business plan, in two days. And this is far more exciting than watching the grass grow (monitoring traffic of one website and worrying about the low conversion rate).

If this is what you want then go down that route.

I tend to think along these lines.. As that is what I have done.. But yes I do find I have spread my resources thin at times.. It is much more work keeping multiple sites up to date and fed with fresh content, then if you only have one large site. I say there is no right or wrong way.. Do whatever works best for you. But this thread is an interesting read.