Whether you a beginning a new online enterprise or adding to your already existing business with an Internet presence, the size and scope of the firts website you choose to build will be among your first decisions. A large site might become what is known as an authority site; that is certainly advantageous. At the other end of the spectrum, a highly focused mini-site has its own share of benefits.
Here are some reasons that you may decide to build a mini-site, or have one created for you:
1. I have heard that a mini-site has a good chance of ranking high in the search engine listings even with a small number of external links.
2. It seems logical to start on a small scale and add other mini-sites as I am ready to grow.
3. I won’t have to come up with as much content for a mini-site as I would for a large site.
4. I’ve noticed that most of the other businesses with whom I’ll be competing have small sites, and it seems to work for them.
5. It is easier and cheaper to build a mini-site.
6. My spouse told me that I’m not allowed to build a large site.
Anyone could easily construct a list of advantages for larger sites, as well, but that is not the focus of this article.
All of those reasons are valid. Actually, I have no idea what your spouse said or what the implied threat was for disobeying. The other reasons make sense only if you conduct the all important preliminary research. The third rationale is accurate, however, you must recognize that you will need to do some periodic updates on your pages. Reason number 4 is niche specific, so I’ll take your word for your belief that it is true in the case of the market in which you are competing. If we hold all other variables constant, the fifth reason is a slam-dunk–self-evidently true.
In a different article I have addressed the vital nature of detailed keyword research for a mini-site. If you go through that process properly, the first reason is true because you will be optimizing for just a few, closely related semantically, long-tail keywords. I recommend that you read my earlier article prior to continuing with this one, if any of those terms are unclear to you.
That leaves the second reason pertaining to starting on a small scale and adding more mini-sites within the same general niche over a period of time. Here’s how I recommend you go about that:
1. Keep that original list of keywords on your desktop–the list that you hired expert keyword researches to build or that you carefully built yourself.
2. You have already set up your first site for closely related keywords in that list that have long tails. At this point, examine the master list for another small set of closely related key phrases; they, too, should have long tails. Repeat the competition analysis, as described in the previous article. If this set of keywords meet the same standards applied to those you used in the first site, then it’s time to begin mini-site number two.
3. Using article marketing, a few directory listings and other external link building, begin your promotion with site number two (while still continuing your work on the original site’s promotion).
4. Once that site is on its way toward improved search engine rankings and increased traffic, repeat the process for site number 3…and so on.
After a while you will find that you have conquered all of the viable keywords in your niche. At that point, pause in your empire building efforts, so that you can focus on testing and revising to increase your conversion rates as much as possible. You may decide to take on a new, preferably related, niche, but not until you are sure you have maximized your traffic and conversion rate.
A good online business takes time. Be patient and act intelligently, and you will definitely succeed.
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