I’ve been giving some thought recently about building an authority site. A site on a topic that I know and love. That I will have an interest in writing an article on based on my interest, experience, thoughts and desires. Something that does not seem like chore to update and promote. Something that reads like my heart is in it.
I’m exhausted from building niche sites and blogs. I have plenty splashed around generating some money that makes me happy. Now it’s time to focus on one site. I do not want writing articles to be a drag. I want to be able to write 1,000 words and it seem like an extension of my thoughts and not just some reworded PLR or hastily researched garbage. Maybe I’ll do videos. Promotion should be fun because I like my topic and site. Making comments will not seem forced or fake. I won’t mind building a Squidoo lens or Hubpage to support my site. Ezine articles should, and will, be fun and easy to do.
I’m going to focus on this project for a while. The ups and downs won’t be so disappointing because I really like the topic. Who knows if it will make money. I’m just going to keep writing and building and see where it takes me. It will be a relief to focus on ONE THING for a while. Building multiple niche sites is simply unsustainable. I’m exhausted and bored. I’m ready to have some fun.
If I am going to put in all this work I want it to be sustained on this one site. Each day I have to write Ezine articles or make comments or build a Hubpage or write new posts just to support shitty little niche sites. Imagine if all that effort was directed at one single site. Each day a new Hubpage pointed to the authority site. Or a new article was written to submit at Ezine articles. Imagine if after the end of the year you had 100 articles on your hobby/authority site at Ezine.
This project will not be a money maker for a while though I expect good things to happen in a year or so. I expect there to be many changes. Tests. But I can tell you that I won’t be sitting around the computer looking at the Google Keyword tool trying to game the system. Backlink games? No thanks. Maybe people will organically link to the site simply because it is fresh, relevant and real. Maybe they won’t. Guess we’ll see.
I still have some niche sites that I will need to maintain. I can’t simply walk away from my previous efforts. But moving forward I am working on bigger things. You may disagree but Google prefers bigger things.
I had planned on not writing anything about this effort. I’m not certain it does me any good to open myself up to criticism anymore. I believe this shit is getting harder and I stand by that belief. It’s why building something I know and love is how I believe I will be able to sustain a relevant presence online. The niche sites are getting crowded out whether you choose to believe or not.
I was going to simply link to Ben’s site as he discusses authority sites and Google in his latest opus. Basically save me some time until I started writing what I thought would be a quick intro to his post. Now I’m close to 600 words of crap again. Anyway, read his post:
22 responses so far ↓
Sam // Oct 2, 2009 at 12:54 pm
Many of my niche sites have 20+ posts on them and I keep adding slowly. Especially if a blog is doing well, I add to it to try to make more money and get more searches. That way eventually they might all have some authority of some kind. The ones that do poorly I just let sit there though.
Rusty - Fitness Black Book // Oct 2, 2009 at 1:08 pm
Splork,
This is a smart decision. I got out of the “build multiple sites” to sell affiliate products game about three years ago. I decided to build an authority site about my true passion, fitness.
I was able to walk away from my job this past March and I’m on track to make a 6 figure income in 2010. It took me about 2 years to get to $3,000-$5,000 per month, but now the site is a powerhouse.
You are right about having all of your articles and satellite pages pointing at one domain and pages within that domain…it allows your site to rise above the clutter.
I used to do bum marketing and try to use the power of other authority sites to rank for a competitive keyword. Now I can post to my blog and rank on the first page of Google in minutes…my site has more pulling power than most of those other web 2.0 properties now.
It is a great feeling!
Rusty
Freelander Parts // Oct 2, 2009 at 9:40 pm
and here is the thing, what Rusty is pointing out about rising above – it is going to become more and more true. as time goes on the microniches will see more and more competition from the same crappy sites, but the real sites will rise up and outcompete them. it is just a matter of time before only authority sites make any money.
Robert // Oct 2, 2009 at 11:59 pm
Yeah! I had been composing a comment to one of your earlier ‘burnout’ blog posts about this very thing. I’m not a “do what you love and the money will come” horseshit advocate, but it is easier to sustain an effort if you do anything – blog, tweet, website, whatever – that is something that juices you. Good luck. Please keep sharing your journey with your readers. I think you’ll be surprised with how many of us that resonates.
Wan // Oct 3, 2009 at 8:45 am
Hi Splork,
When you are talking about creating an authority site, how many unique articles in total do you intend to have? 500? 1,000? Or upwards of 1,000?
Wan
Julie @ Write for eHow // Oct 3, 2009 at 9:17 am
I love your idea for all the reasons you mentioned and one you didn’t: authority sites provide more value for the reader (in general anyway). All the niche sites that are put up only with the idea of making money just don’t provide much value and I’m not comfortable with that.
Congrats on your decision and good luck!
bk // Oct 3, 2009 at 11:30 am
Damn, I if I built an authority site on a topic I enjoy I would be an online Porn Lord.
yamanote // Oct 3, 2009 at 12:50 pm
Hi Splork,
I think that this is a great move, and one thing I highly recommend in getting the right domain – ideally a short generic exact match keyword.
Barry // Oct 3, 2009 at 12:51 pm
Splork,
You’ll probably extend your web life by decades by reducing the pressure to build crap sites. I have an authority site that ranks on the first page of Google, MSN, Yahoo and Bing for a whole bunch of keywords and phrases. It’s a massive effort, and has been for the three years I’ve had it, and I don’t make a lot of money on it, but it sure is fun. I have a bunch of crap sites that make the money, but they are a real drag, as you point out. I’ve “met” a bunch of good people along the way, which is a definite benefit.
Please tell us what the site is and keep us up to date on your progress and your thinking as it evolves.
You can see the site on your screen if you are interested.
Cheers,
Barry
Marc // Oct 3, 2009 at 12:59 pm
Looks like the storm clouds have lifted since your last post. Whew! What a roller coaster of a blog.
David // Oct 3, 2009 at 1:41 pm
Not a bad idea, but I would offer the caveat that this is fundamentally no different than building a niche site. Your authority site has to be on a remunerative topic and one without too much entrenched competition.
Chance X. Delaney // Oct 3, 2009 at 8:34 pm
bk // Oct 3, 2009 at 11:30 am wrote: “Damn, if I built an authority site on a topic I enjoy I would be an online Porn Lord.”
And why exactly not? The two words most people think of when you mention “Internet” to them are “porn” and “scam” (e.g., Internet Marketing crap).
I think I’ve just found my (ahem) niche.
(At least porn is less hypocritical than “Internet Marketing Riches While You Sleep”.
Splork // Oct 3, 2009 at 9:37 pm
Thanks for the support guys. I’m going to keep this little project under wraps for now. I don’t need the added pressure of if not meeting both mine and possibly your expectations. I honestly do not expect anything to come of this for a year or more.
Julie, I had that mindset of producing quality content after the scraper sites of ‘04-05 came crashing down. For whatever reason i started back down the path of building crap the last couple of years. It has been both aggravating, exhausting and monetarily mostly satisfying. But I cannot sustain it. Too much life to live without all the hoops and shit it requires. I just can’t do what folks like Ben, Court and Griz do. I’ll be poorer for it, I’ll remain in the cubicle life indefinitely, but spending every single moment on the web is just not for me. If I was single I’d quit my job but I’m responsible for others so it’s not like I feel comfortable bailing to chase Adsense, Ebay and affiliate bucks solely.
bk – there is a lot of money in porn. I’ll leave it at that.
David, you’re right. For me, the only thing that separates an authority site with a niche site is the amount of time you put into and how big you make it. You could make an authority site on anything. I’m certainly not building a site on a top level target like “fitness” but have dove down, say into a niche of fitness like “yoga”. It’s large enough to have worldwide interest but is something that i have half of a chance at being successful. But the important thing is that I like the topic.
yamanote – already got the domain. I was pleasantly surprised to get what I did.
Wan – here is what I have started on. I went to Nichebot and ran a keyword search of the basic top level keyword of the topic. In the general Wordtracker search it pulled the top 50 keyword phrases. Just a simple search. I am going to write an article on every single one of those keywords. Regardless whether I can realistically rank for them or not. I know enough about each one to have a conversation with anyone about them. I’m going to write like I’m talking to you about what the keyword is about. Simple enough. Then after a few months I am going to go into the keyword stats and see what the few people are finding my site are using. I’m going to write articles on that. I’m going to go to Yahoo Answers and see what questions are being asked and answer them. I’m going to look at monthly magazines and see what is going on and write about it. Commentary. I read them anyway. My plan is to make some videos down the road. For extra exposure and cash I am going to write Hubpages and Lens on good keywords. They will help bring in a little money as well add needed backlinks. I realize keyword research won’t go away. It will just be a little different. Instead of finding the perfect keyword to write an article about I will be searching for any keyword to write about. If it’s getting traffic I’m writing an article/post about it.
And that brings another point. This will be a blog. I thought about it but if this is going to be an ongoing activity then it has to be a blog. My niche sites are mostly XSP. This is going to be a blog and I’m going to buy a premium blog template system. I want something more than just a free theme on top of WP.
Rusty – you are where I’d like to be with this one site one day. We’ll see.
There are a lot of folks out there laughing their ass off because they are making shit loads of money with niche sites. I’m just one less competitor in their never ending quest to sling as much shit as possible. I get that. I’m just sick of that model for now. I would like to wrap my head around ONE THING for a while and see how it goes. I am tired of building for acne one day and promoting for gardening the next. Trying to post something on fan belts one day and get backlinks for shoelaces the next. Keeping 100, 200, 500 niche sites going is simply unsustainable.
R Color // Oct 4, 2009 at 7:20 am
Splork, I’m doing what you are doing now and am beginning to see results. I started in April. I have a site that is well on it’s way to authority status. It has authority links from relevant sites. It ranks on page 1 for multiple keyword phrases. Some of them are two word keywords. They are all pretty much buying keywords too. Once you get to around position 2, you will see a huge increase in traffic. Any other position brings in trickle traffic(for me anyways). I’m actually fluctuating on the SERPs right now for a number of terms on page 1.
The point i’m trying to make is that I had someone stealing my content and was also using my backlinks. My site slid down the SERPs and I seriously thought about quitting. When you are moving up and getting to around 40 visitors a day and then boom you go to 5 or less, it’s a horrible feeling. It feels like you wasted your time getting to only 40 a day. How would you ever get past 100 or 1000? I didn’t feel like keeping up with some dude who just looked at my work and coasted past me. I got creative. The one thing this person did was he used only automated/minimal means. He only wanted to signup for something then post his links. I think he was Russian. He wasn’t able to do any extra work and that is where I got him. He can’t really ever get the backlinks that I have gotten now. So I don’t even have to worry about him stealing my content, because he doesn’t rank for it. Now I just sit and wait and see what traffic comes in from whats on page one and I only go after those keywords. I now plan on doing multiple things with my site in the future that could bring in money. Am I at Griz’s level? No. I think I am getting there though. It all depends what topics you decide to chase. Some are so easy it’ll make you sick.
Don’t get discouraged from your new venture at any point. Think long and hard if you run into an obstacle. It took me a month before I did anything about my problem and now my site is growing pretty steadily.
Kay // Oct 6, 2009 at 3:04 pm
Hey Splork, love coming to your site for a nice dose of reality in making money online.
I’ve also noticed the authority effect on one of my sites which is why I’m going to switch gears and focus on just one large site per niche rather than a bunch of sniper sites. The mini sites are still good for building up the farm though so not all is lost.
Splork // Oct 6, 2009 at 7:35 pm
Hi Kay. Thanks for reading. I’m spending all my time right now trying to get this “authority site” up. Sniper sites aren’t for me either. Though for now I am taking it a step further and spending 100% on one site. We’ll see if it does anything. I can tell you right now it is a lot more relaxing stealing time during the day figuring out what I’m going to write for one topic. I’m still writing posts and haven’t released it to the search engines yet. I bought a premium blog theme and have tweaked it a bit to suit me. I’ve created a Hubpage that I’ve yet to publish but is on a main keyword. I’m trying to get a full site built before I let the search engines index the thing.
bk // Oct 7, 2009 at 11:12 am
Naked ladies and pickle juice……aaahhh just practicing my spam for authority site. Move along
Spikey @ Affiliate Journey // Oct 7, 2009 at 8:56 pm
Splork,
This is a good decision for you I think. I spent about 2 years building adsense/PLR re-written sites etc. When I finally had the ah ha moment and broke it down to only 10 or so good sites I saw my income go up…
Now I’m down to really only 5 or 6 sites and again income is going up even more. As we become experts in a niche we can market much better to that crowd.
Of course niche will still have something to do with it in terms of does that market spend money online….
I wish you the best of luck in this endeavor!
Cheers,
Spikey
Robert C - The Wholesale Guy // Oct 7, 2009 at 11:44 pm
Splork..
Welcome to the party my friend. Authority sites are worth it – if done right – and I am sure that will not be a problem with your skills..
Dont’ get me wrong. Me likes the niche sites, and work on a few. But, I like to have authority sites in the mix as well..
Think of Bankaholic.com. The guy took two years to build that blog – and supposedly sold it for 15 million to Bankrate.com? Supposedly..
1 Man Sells Blog For 15 Million Dollars..
http://www.problogger.net/archives/2008/10/02/1-man-blog-sells-for-15-million-dollars/
That is some nice “bank” as the young folks say. I only hope that it is true – and not just another trumped up story about online income..
But the real question is, can you be the next 15 million dollar man Splork?
Get go’in..
You got a lot of work to do..
Would be nice to see you in the headlines someday..
On hale it up…
Robert C – The Wholesale Guy
Splork // Oct 8, 2009 at 7:57 am
Thanks Spikey. We’ll see how it goes. I’m actually looking at focusing more on a few of my better producers as well. I can’t simply drop all my niche sites but if I put more effort in just a few then maybe I can increase the payout. But trying to maintain and build hundreds of these things is/was killing me.
Giving it a go Robert. I don’t know if the niche I’m trying to build to “authority site” (is there a better word for that?) will work out. The competition is fierce and frankly the niche doesn’t feel that successful if you know what I mean. But I am going to work it and see what comes of it. Lessons learned on this one may serve me well on any that I try to do in the future.
There needs to be another term for whatever it is I’m working on because any site from one page to a hundred pages can be an “authority”. What I’m trying is to focus on one thing and not bounce around from site to site trying to promote and maintain. I am simply trying to see if all the collective efforts that I do for multiple sites on a daily basis can make a difference on one site on a topic that I like without much regard for the perfect keyword phrases.
As a matter of fact I still keep coming back to the possibility of outsourcing little niche sites. I have no interest in building (more) niche sites at this time but I would have no problem in tasking someone to write/rewrite 40 articles, of which 25 to 30 are used on site and the rest are used for AMA, Hubpages, Lens and Ezine. Probably should have done that before I got too burned out to give a shit.
Franck Silvestre // Oct 9, 2009 at 10:04 am
Hey Splork,
By all means, go for it. Why not just doing what you like?
Those who say that we can do money from what we love are missing the boat…
Franck
the Body Guard marketer
Splork // Oct 9, 2009 at 11:16 am
Hey Franck. Yea we’ll see how it goes.
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