Hey guys,
I wanted to update you on a few things I’ve observed over the last few months.
This is neither good news nor bad news – it just simply “is”, and you can consider it, draw your own conclusions and then act on it accordingly, based on my findings mixed with your own research…
Mini-Sites & Software Submissions Are a Short-Term Traffic Strategy
This may not be the case in micro-niches with no competition, but in the big-demand, buyer-filled niche markets where the real money is - my traffic stats are showing this pattern consistently, with the majority of my submissions and even my mini-sites eventually “losing steam” once they reach their peak.
The software/viral traffic strategy is much more skittish and sporadic. Some submissions literally haven’t changed in half a year. They still bring in x amount of visitors daily. Others have gone from being downloaded 800 times a day to a mere 6 or 7 times daily within a matter of 2 weeks. And it seems that the downloader & visitor profiles fluctuate as well, even if the actual “traffic” remains seemingly unchanged, as sales have often dropped in the midst of steady traffic.
Conversion with downloads can be skittish; all over the map (SEO is quite consistent, in contrast).
With the mini-sites, depending on the keywords being targeted (obviously), what I’ve seen happen is that even though it’s far more leveraged than “bum marketing” – and even though they’re DEFINITELY an easy way to experience an inital surge of true passive income for several months - they simply don’t have the “staying power” that the larger authority sites do, because once you stop your linking efforts, your rankings will (in time), begin to drop in markets with active competition.
Now, they won’t drop off the radar completely. You’ll always remain in the general “ballpark” for your keyword targets (unless your site gets banned or something), on the first few pages of the results, but what I’m saying is that it takes continual, ongoing linking efforts to ensure that your domain will actually HOLD its rank, otherwise you’ll end up in “left field” eventually, instead of the batting plate – where the majority of the action is.
And remember that the difference between “spot 1″ and “spot 4″ on Google’s first page of results for the main, high-traffic “buyer profile” keywords in your niche can literally be 3 times the traffic or more. Perhaps this is encouraging to some, while a looming threat to others…
And maybe that sounds natural – like that’s the way it should be. Of course, it only makes sense that the top-ranking sites in competitive niches have a variety of incoming links building in the background on a continual basis. But the problem presents itself when you have several dozen mini-sites out there, and you’re trying to somehow keep them all “pumping” like they were in their prime. This means that as time goes on, your workload and outsourcing costs would actually have to increase.
It may be possible – but it’s not feasible, and it’s not SMART.
What IS smart is making it natural and practically involuntary for your visitors and others in the market to LINK TO YOU CONTINUALLY FOR YEARS, without solicitation, without upkeep and really without doing a damn thing once the most important component to this intended result is intact…
And this ‘component’ is one of the foremost rules of success – a universal law that has always dictated the effectiveness and long-term results in ANY business for thousands of years: Delivering Considerable Value For Less Than You Ask in Return
This is why mini-sites, viral tools and otherwise “skimming the easy pickings” are always destined to either decline, or at the very best, hang by a thread. Whether this takes days, weeks, months or perhaps even a year or more – this is the reality; the inevitable end result.
Now, before you start wondering if I’m off my rocker, on crack, or otherwise “temporarily mind-altered” in some way to post such a contradictory article – seemingly contradictory, at least, to what I’ve preached in Confessions of a Lazy Super-Affiliate – I want to draw your attention to a very crucial course of action that I continually stressed in the later chapters of the book, and one that I’m stressing NOW:
Mini-Sites & Other “Easy Traffic” Strategies Are A Very Powerful Form of KINDLING
The results come relatively fast and there’s not much work involved – and the flames (results) can be big. They can really flare up, almost deceptively…
BUT -
At some point, your little campfire needs some REAL wood. Regardless of how much kindling you add to the fire, the effect will simply become more and more diluted – resulting in smaller and smaller “flare-ups”, until, eventually, that fire becomes a smolding pit of ASH.
Your web business needs to be fueled by REAL content. REAL value. REAL products. And REAL customers.
You need to reinvest your initial profits into building the framework of your authority sites, the goal of which is going to be to provide HUGE value to your niche, and truly building a barrier-to-entry around a certain section of the niche itself. These sites don’t necessarily need to be “large” but they do need to have a purpose, and something worthy of generating REAL “buzz” in your niche.
Either through:
1) A Function or Tool For Your Niche to Use For Free
2) Truly Great, Thought-Provoking, Inspiring or Controversial Content
3) Providing RARE Value in Some Other Way
4) A Combination of the Above…
After or perhaps simultaneously, you need to also reinvest profits into developing products that deliver real value to the client-base in the market. These can be feeder products, but eventually, the more you own – the larger your “fire”. So eventually, in time – your products will feed to other products that you own, and vice versa.
Products also give you more leverage, and once you have your own network of affiliates – alongside your mini-sites, viral traffic and of course your actual search engine rankings with the authority site – your “ownership” of the niche becomes more diverse – securely founded and self-perpetual.
Your traffic will no longer depend just on backlinks, meta-tags and algorithms. Instead, it will be a combination of SEO, word of mouth on forums/sites/blogs, affiliate traffic (which can be massive), viral strategies, press and eventually - even branding; recognition – and reputation.
Not just hanging by a thread…
Alright, alright – enough doom and gloom. Let’s focus on the positive. Let’s focus on the ADVANTAGE that we get by using mini-sites and similar tactics as “kindling”.
Why It’s Still SMARTER to Start Out With a Network of Mini-Sites Before Going “BIG”
The reason why I’m still stoked on mini-sites, viral marketing and easy “buyer-traffic” skimming tactics as an initial start to my niche “takeovers” – even after some of my most profitable mini-sites drop like flies down Google’s precious traffic ranks (results pages) – is because they’re the kindling.
They can be deployed quickly, they generate ultra-targeted TRAFFIC rapidly, and if they fail – then I move on to the next niche. If the fire flares up – then I know I can add some logs, stoke the fire, add more logs, repeating the process until I’ve got a fricken FOREST FIRE (of traffic) on my hands that I couldn’t stop if I tried.
Or that Google couldn’t stop if it tried – think about that one for a moment…
But if the “kindling” proves to be a dud – hey, save the matches for something else. Don’t waste your time on low conversions or traffic that just doesn’t arrive. To qualify that – your mini-sites need to be “SEO’d” quite aggressively at first, but considering the pay-off of the successes – AND the fact that effective product reviews that target product-related keywords will almost certainly equate to sales, it’s more a matter of how well the kindling burns…
But once that flame starts burning – and if it’s a profitable “flame” in a niche that you want to get a real piece of – then you need to fan the flames and start adding LOGS as fast as possible. Use the mini-sites to direct the “flame” to your authority sites and products until the wheels of momentum slowly begin to turn themselves.
Again – this will only work if what you’ve got is more than worth getting. This applies both to your “free” products (your authority value sites), and your actual products.
Combine this with all of your traffic efforts for your authority sites and products, your network of value, and eventually what you’ll begin to see is that your users, your customers and your affiliates will be outperforming you in terms of link-building and traffic generation.
(I haven’t even mentioned list-building here yet, but obviously, that’s a major factor in this as well.)
This is the beginning of your very own marketing “wildfire”.
But it all starts with the kindling.
It’s just that the kindling has a purpose.
To be the start of something infinitely BIGGER.
All the best in 2008, folks. Make sure that you consider what’s being said here, so that you’re not just drifting from one “flare-up” to the next, trying to somehow hold on to a sinking ship.
Sincerely,
- Chris Rempel
P.S. I’ve made the first comment on this thread, which briefly shows you just how “painful” it can be to watch your kindling take its inevitable path if you don’t start properly leveraging that flare-up traffic…
42 responses so far ↓
1 admin // Jan 10, 2008 at 6:11 pm
Alright, here goes:
What prompted this post?
Well, I just watched an $800/day income stream wither down to $290/day, at best.
Still nothing to complain about – I know – BUT, even at that figure, it’s still hanging by a thread.
And it’s frustrating as ____ when you’re simply in the “spectator” position, which I am currently because of my travelling around Europe, Egpyt and Asia since early November.
In total, I’ve maybe had about ONE WEEK of solid internet access, which has left me only with time to check and respond to urgent emails – and, of course, check my mini-sites’ sales stats, which have taken a steadily downward tumble since late December.
But it’s been a humbling reality AND a pressing reminder of what I already know (and practice in other niches – albeit less profitable ones).
You need LEVERAGE.
To truly succeed over the long-term, you NEED to have enough value to motivate others to join you in your direction and ADD to what you’re already doing.
This happens when you deliver something that people want.
It can be in the form of great content, a great product, a cool program – whatever – it needs to be “linkworthy”.
This way, all you need to do is “drop it on top of the kindling” and let the flames build and build.
And you can bet your “behind” that as much fun as I’ll be having in Phuket, Thailand for the next 3 weeks, I’m also going to be taking major advantage of the first hotel we’ve had with a GOOD, reliable wifi connection and a decent workspace.
Travelling from one place to the next every 2 or 3 days for 3 months is starting to take its toll…
Anyway – whatever.
This isn’t a sob story.
It’s a reality check, and it’s a POSITIVE reality check at that.
Finally, keep in mind that with the mini-site traffic network in place in your niches, you have a major, major advantage over someone who’s just starting out “cold turkey” with an authority site or a product.
First, you have test traffic.
Second – you’ll already know which keywords are translating into sales for your affiliate promotions.
Third, you have seed money and MOMENTUM – a hot-burning “flame” that’s ready to ignite the *real* fuel.
While many of your competitors are either trying to build one “kindling fire” after the next, eventually watching their results decline – OR – trying to light a 4 foot log with their zippo – you’ll be taking progressive and natural steps towards creating your own FIRESTORM of traffic…
…One that feeds from so many sources that it makes extinguishing next to impossible.
Do that this year.
I will be too
-Chris
2 Hayley // Jan 10, 2008 at 7:30 pm
Chris, amazing amazing post. Thank you.
One question that’s been on my mind since the last chapter of the book, though, is basically this:
You have all these mini sites, but how can they all feed to one authority site if they’re all for different niches? Say you’ve got a dog training site and a spyware site. How can you make this kindling for the same fire?
How do you leverage traffic from wildly different niches? Do you mean pulling the profits and reinvesting into one niche that you see does well, in which you make a *new* site to be the authority site? Or do you reinvest profits into one mini-site in order to grow it into an authority site?
Guess I’m just not making the connection somewhere
Thanks again for all the value you contribute for us readers.
3 admin // Jan 11, 2008 at 1:17 am
Hayley,
What I’m talking about is using all of your mini-sites in ONE niche to funnel traffic to your actual resources – products and authority sites.
So let’s say in the dog-training niche for example that you had 9 mini-sites, each about a different “buyer angle” or keyword topic cluster. You would then take advantage of their traffic while it was still climbing or peaking to initially populate your REAL business assets, while making easy money in the process.
This is on a niche-by-niche basis.
The network of mini-sites that I was referring to here consisted of 4 different sites in the same niche, where my authority site is still in development and therefore not yet promote-able.
Make sense?
Cheers
-Chris
4 Rich // Jan 11, 2008 at 5:59 am
I guess the lesson from this is how the importance of a constant flow of links attributes to business. Even if you have an authority site with a cool Web2.0 service attached to it – you will still have a product (and link) life cycle.
It’s with an authority site, the life cycle will be so much longer than with a mini-site because of the amount of content and pages in the site and the “services” that it has are so much more link worthy, which mean that it’s likely to keep on top of competition. I’ve created authority sites before and I have to say the killer difference is the community aspect to them. If you can make a popular forum or Myspace type addition to your site, the battle’s half won.
I think the underlying truth about this is the fact that the mini-sites you create are not entirely “self perpetuating” but do require constant investment and upkeep to ensure their success. After using Linkvana for several weeks now, I can say that outsourcing your link building efforts can be a lot easier and cost effective if it means the difference between $800/day and $290/day.
Also, because the USP of the mini sites is so weak in that you just add a bit of value with content, you have to rely solely on their competitive advantage for their success. Because that competitive advantage is their SE positions, then losing that will directly relate to your sales. Affiliate marketing is very tough in this aspect because unless you build your sites as “self-standing” entities or “mini-authority” sites which recommend products as a secondary form of marketing, it is very hard to differentiate yourself from the competition.
The easy solution for you now I would say Chris would be to boost that site up in the SE’s again with Linkvana. It’s done wonders for one of my new sites in particular, and I’m sure it’s helped a few “older” ones up the ranks. I think your strategies are still solid, and the mini-sites strategy will never die because it simply adds assets to your business which can be harnessed by any project you want.
Good luck with the problematic site and hopefully all will be well very soon.
Rich
5 victor // Jan 11, 2008 at 6:21 am
Great post Chris.
I just flew into Bangkok yesterday
But fly back to Hong kong for two months I think. Traveling and working is a great combination!
I was wondering somehting too. If you build your cluster of little niche sites do you all link from them to your autothority site or you also link from them to eachother? And do you use different hostings for them or do they share all the same IPs froma reseller account for example?
Cheers Chris, enjoy your trip
6 admin // Jan 11, 2008 at 12:26 pm
Hi Victor:
Yes, Yes, Doesn’t Matter.
As in, yes, I link from my mini’s to the authority site.
And yes, I inter-link my mini-sites to eachother, too.
As for hosting, I couldn’t be bothered, really. I’ve yet to see that linking from the same IP (but different domains) makes any SEO difference – but I’ve never extensively tested it, either.
If you’re paranoid about it, you can use another host. But remember that actually the main thing here, even more important than the link-love is actually the TRAFFIC.
Propogating your authority site & resource with USERS that will then, if they find it valuable and well worth their time, spread the word NATURALLY…
Thanks!
-Chris
7 admin // Jan 11, 2008 at 12:32 pm
Hi Rich,
While I can sort of agree with you on the life-cycle element of authority sites and so on over the course of several years, I don’t really see that happening if you’re keeping a pulse on the market, adding new & engaging content, leveraging your lists and in general developing more marketing channels, more feeder products, and cross-promoting from related niches.
Web 2.0 stuff is great, and the user-driven content involved can be a major advantage, but the ship still needs a captain that controls where it’s going; makes sure it’s going forward.
It’s more work, for sure – but it can happen sequentially over time. It doesn’t need to happen all at once…
Cheers,
-Chris
P.S. I’ve already got my LV account pre-loaded with literally hundreds of outsourced posts for the sites in question, along with various other link-building tasks.
But still – it’s just a band-aid. Short-lived, maybe extending the results by another couple months or so until they become “contenders” rather than the “dominators”.
My primary focus is on the expedited launch of the authority site and free service that will make an actual “splash” in the niche…
8 Roy // Jan 11, 2008 at 2:56 pm
man I am tired of reading about all this marketing advise, I need to make money here and now… I am tired of being so broke and eating one meal day
9 flaminglacer // Jan 11, 2008 at 2:56 pm
This is, without doubt, one of the most authoritative posts I have read on this subject. Excellent. It bears out everything I have been banging on about to my colleagues for months. You have demonstrated exactly my point far better than I could. Thank you.
10 admin // Jan 11, 2008 at 3:10 pm
Roy, that’s good.
It’s action time then. Maybe the dreaded J-O-B is needed for a while to make sure that your bases are covered, while you work hard, taking action on what you’ve learned.
Target buyers. Then build on it.
Flaminglancer – glad to hear it
Cheers,
-Chris
11 Michael Koski // Jan 11, 2008 at 4:15 pm
Chris,
I am surprised at how fast you say this drop off in income came. I am new to this form of marketing, and after reading your ebook have put together my first two sites. The first one is just starting to get search engine traffic.
I am wondering if somehow your sites got penalized by google? Maybe the grey hat/3 way link program got detected?
I can understand a dwindling, or tapering off, but a 60% hit in daily sales/earnings in just a couple weeks seems suspicious?
Michael
12 Jeff // Jan 11, 2008 at 5:52 pm
Chris,
Just so you know, so far, out of all the ebooks Ive read, and all the so called “gurus” I have listened to; Your Lazy Marketer book was the only one I didnt want to throw into the trash bin. It was the only one that I have seen so far that is not a bunch of rehashed junk. Considering all the others are saying not to start with a minisite, or army of mini-sites, but to start with the main site and work from, there. So Glad I came across this.
Ciao
Jeff
13 mike // Jan 11, 2008 at 6:30 pm
Thank you for the post Chris… a VERY important message I think.
As someone about to embark on said strategies, one thing niggling at the back of my mind is…
Even if you outsource *all* your content and promotion you still have a point at which you could end up having spread yourself to thin to actually be ‘effective’ (competitive) in any of your niches…
So if this is the case, and I’m not missing something, what would be considered the right/realistic amount of (successful) mini-sites and/or authority sites to end up managing?
Also, correct me if I am wrong, but the way I see it a true authority site is more like what Ed Dale calls a “day-job site” and just one can suck up all your time.
Having an idea on the scale of things, I feel, would be a huge advantage for me.
Thanks again for your consistently honest and matter of fact approach!
Mike
14 Rip // Jan 11, 2008 at 7:41 pm
Chris, are you saying that link building for a particular site eventually reaches a point of diminishing returns?
Why can’t you just resume the amount of money/effort/time you put into the link building for your mini-sites when you first started? Do you have to double or triple these efforts every few months to maintain your search engine rankings or something?
15 terry // Jan 11, 2008 at 8:34 pm
Hi Chris,
I think what you are saying is that there “ain’t no free lunch” and if you want to survive in the mini site market or any market on the INTERNET you had better be prepared to work your … of f and constantly be one step ahead of the competition or mother Google. I think I would take my chances with the competition, Mother is tough.
I think other so called “guru’s” need to cut out the instant millionaire crap and start telling it like it is. This is a Tough business and just like any other business only the fittest and determined to suceed survive.
If your not willing to cook, get out of the kitchen!
Thanks for being a breath of fresh air and continue telling it like it is.
Terry
16 tony nguyen // Jan 11, 2008 at 9:38 pm
thx. glad I read this post.
17 Dexx // Jan 11, 2008 at 10:10 pm
I agree with Terry on the Guru comment, however the fact is “instant” sells.
Instant weight-loss, instant wrinkle remover, instant-money…
Same thing that powers lottery ticket buying…instant millionaires! People know they have a crap chance in hell of winning, but they also know SOME people HAVE won…and it fuels their hope that they might be next…
18 admin // Jan 12, 2008 at 12:42 am
Hey guys,
A few people here have expressed that “authority sites” take too much time, or that they’ll be the equivalent of a day-job, which would then (allegedly) put a ceiling on your income.
No, No, No!
That’s NOT how it happens…
Your “authority site” could be ONE PAGE.
Or 1,000.
For example, the Overture Keyword tool is one page that, because of it’s free and (relatively) useful purpose, has no doubt seen MILLIONS upon MILLIONS of visitors.
No upkeep or interaction is required on Overture’s part. All they do is provide data from their search engine user stats.
And yet it gets TONS of traffic because the word gets around. People use it, recommend it, and re-use it.
It’s not held hostage by SE rankings.
There’s some other one-page-wonders out there as well that get *millions* of visitors because of some function or purpose that they perform, for free.
Those are authority sites – and they can be AUTOMATED.
Now, the other thing here that a few people seem to be missing is that it gets EASIER when you’re working with real value.
People link to you “just because”. You don’t have to kick and scream to get links – because you’ll get them naturally. Continually. For years to come.
By the very nature of the internet, your site will always be (eventually) a major player in the marketplace.
And you don’t necessarily have to keep adding content or anything every day – if you’re building a content site.
Heck, if it’s not worth hiring a blog-poster or article-writer for $10 per quality entry say, every two days (that’s a whopping $150/mth), then you are in the WRONG market.
But after a certain point – and if your site has “evergreen”, useful content – you could literally stop adding new stuff and your overall popularity would still continue to grow as a result of OTHER people.
And I won’t even begin to get into the advantages of product creation and recruitin affiliates.
I simply need to finish off by saying this:
Leveraging the efforts of others by providing
1) Great content that others will link to or talk about
2) Profitable affiliate programs
3) Sites that users can become a “part of”
Is the KEY to creating a self-perpetual, ever-growing internet empire.
Yes, you really can just build a whole crap-load of mini-sites and you WILL make consistent income for quite a while – and it won’t entirely disappear, either.
It’s just that it won’t grow, you’ll get shuffled around in the SERPS a bunch, and it will be difficult to DOMINATE a market and make a fortune.
It’s easy money – but the BIG money is in providing BIG value.
Stay tuned for mynext blog post…
-Chris
19 Internet Marketer Apprentice // Jan 12, 2008 at 1:07 am
I have assumed that will happen, what you claim is happening to your minisites with its traffic and sales dropping slowly.
Any kind of business, in my opinion, if not watched carefully or have been neglected even for a few days will tend to suffer a downward spiral. That is why keeping my hands on my business – even when we’re overseas – has been my primary objective eversince.
I guess this is applicable for both online and offline business. But, that’s just me.
Going back to the minisites and the uncertainty that you said it may suffer, what I’m doing was to combine your findings (success in doing minisites) with Charles Heflins (The Master Plan) theory, in that I started with an authority site (a blog) and created folders of minisites where I feature affiliate products I’m pushing to sell.
It’s my focus right now, Chris – your lessons and The Master Plan. Whether that’ll work or not still remains to be seen. It’s a long shot, but hey, that’s how business is, right? You take risks.
Enjoy the rest of your holiday.
Manuel
PS. How’s the water in Phuket? I sure damn miss Bangkok and its cuisine, man!
20 admin // Jan 12, 2008 at 1:19 am
Hi Manuel,
I do have other authority sites (the purpose-serving kind) that have remained untouched both in terms of updates AND traffic.
The rankings hold because of the backlinks, which just keep on coming…
…because the sites are USEFUL.
What I’m saying is that by providing value in such a way that doesn’t require your continual oversight (in profitable, competitive markets) is going to perpetuate the process FOR you.
The mini-sites are still ultra-profitable, and they’re an easy way to see some sales, for sure.
But like I’ve said in this post – you just need to set things up so that others can promote your site for you, due to its value (or as affiliates promoting products in your network of traffic).
Starting off with the mini-sites is still smart, in my opinion.
It’s just that once they’re getting good traffic and sales, it’s time to segway that traffic to something that the visitors will actually talk about – sparking the process of word-of-mouth and natural, perpetual GROWTH.
It’s win/win/win.
-Chris
P.S. Phuket is really nice. The weather here is great!
21 Hani // Jan 13, 2008 at 5:55 am
Chris, are you sure the drop in traffic isn’t due to the seasonal changes?
Dec is a terrible time for online marketing historically.
I’m not doubting that in a competitive niche others will come in agressively and keep you at your toes
Just wondering whether you’ve jumped the gun on this one due to seasonal changes.
Hani
http://www.internetmarketing2.com
22 admin // Jan 13, 2008 at 6:02 am
Hi Hani,
I’m afraid there’s no seasonal gun-jumping here, this time
But in all seriousness, since the real money in this business is actually BUILDING a business (authority sites/brands/products that leverage other people’s efforts) – the message still applies.
Even if all these sites bounce back, which they probably will at some point, this post is still a much-needed prodding for each of us to start leveraging value and incentive (affiliate programs) as a natural progression to the initial “kindling” strategies.
Thanks though,
-Chris
23 Alex Miller // Jan 14, 2008 at 6:27 am
Hi Chris,
Sorry if this sounds like a stupid question, but when your authority site is built, is that supposed to help rank your mini sites? Or is the authority site supposed to take over and become your #1 traffic source?
Hope your having a great holiday!
Alex
24 Hani // Jan 15, 2008 at 1:00 am
I believe Chris is advocating the authority site to be the main money making machine. But you can always link back to your mini sites to keep the page rank within your sites.
One thing that I’m curious about is whether having multiple sites on the same server pointing to each other (or to the mother site). I believe Google reduces the value of the link if they’re all on the same server.
Maybe Chris has a way around it.
Hani
http://www.internetmarketing2.com
25 admin // Jan 15, 2008 at 1:11 am
Alex & Hani,
As Hani said, the main purpose of the authority site is basically to “take the torch” from the kindling sites and then run with it from that point.
The mini-sites will probably still get consistent traffic, even if it fluctuates over time – but the authority site should, from that point on, simply grow and grow in momentum.
Over time, the beauty of having a site that has heaps of authority is that EVERY NEW PAGE you add is going to get RANKED – highly – for almost any keyphrase, within a matter of days.
Your minisites won’t have this kind of trust – not if they’re just scraping traffic off the top from buyer keywords, etc (which is still SMART, by the way, it’s just that you can use it as a stepping-stone phase that leads to building actual authority).
As for links originating from the same host or whatever, I’ve yet to see ANY negative effect by linking to my other sites.
Google would only expect that, and it’s not against their TOS, not by a long shot.
The links MAY be “discounted” in value according to search results, but I can’t confirm that, and really that’s more just speculation.
Remember that the original and REAL purpose of text links are to send your visitors somewhere, anyway.
So when you link to your authority site from the minis, it’s more about the initial “word-spreading” and propogation for your authority site.
Make sense?
Good
-Chris
26 Alex Miller // Jan 15, 2008 at 8:10 am
Ok Chris – I now get what you mean.
So if we take your niche that you’re working on as an example.
Say you built a registry cleaner mini site, an antispyware mini site and an antivirus mini site – that’s the niche pretty well wrapped up in terms of minisites.
I suppose you could subsequently build a substantial authority site that helps the user solve all of these problems – maybe a fantastic ‘manual’ to get rid of all these issues, explaining the need to in the first place etc….or whatever.
Am I on the right lines?
Thanks,
Alex
27 admin // Jan 15, 2008 at 8:53 am
Alex,
Along those lines in a general sense, yes.
Each of your mini-niche sites could be promoting say, an authority site like ThePCPortal.com (example name) that covers every area of PC optimisation, including reg repair, anti-spyware, anti-virus, privacy controls, defragmenting tutorials, “undelete” tutorials, and so on and so forth.
You could get a TON of long-tail, valuable traffic by identifying and explaining some of the major bugs, viruses and adware out there on a sort of “database” of keywords.
You’d have a site with several thousand pages, depending on how far you’d want to take it.
The other thing with this kind of niche is that there’s ALWAYS news, blog-able happenings, new viruses and so on that you can create content for on a regular basis.
But yes – that’s the idea. Build one huge topical mother-site that does it all.
I’d suggest sticking to one general niche per authority site, but I can point you over to TopTenReviews.com and WikiPedia.org as two examples of sites that have HUGE presence on the web and span a large number of topics.
-Chris
28 Alex Miller // Jan 17, 2008 at 5:44 am
Ok chris, well understood now. Indeed, sites like toptenereviews.com must be absolutely raking it in due to having so much presence and recommending/reviewing so many products!
That is one monther of a site!
Quick question if I may, on the topic of blog links – I see your site has many links from blogs on wordpress.com and you have a permanent link on them.
How do you go about doing this? If you outsource them on GetAFreelancer.com – which I assume you do, do you phrase the project so that it says you want say…..50 permanent links on blogs, because that is different to just postings isn’t it?
Thanks a lot Chris – your help is invaluable.
Alex
29 admin // Jan 18, 2008 at 2:08 pm
Hi Alex,
Lately I’ve been experimenting a bit with “CommentKahuna” and with a link-building service that does “dofollow” blog commenting on relevant posts.
It’s too early to tell if it’s worth the effort – I’ll keep everyone posted.
Thanks!
-Chris
30 The Mad Webmaster // Jan 20, 2008 at 4:34 am
Chris,
Thanks for the great post!
This is one of the reasons I chose your eBook as “eBook of the month” back in November on my site.
Your integrity shines through again and again.
Your focus on content in development of main hub site is really what can sustain you in building a business.
You found a trend, pointed it out to the rest of us, when in truth you could have kept your mouth shut and let the rest of us learn the hard way.
Proud to be associated with you.
Paul
“The Mad Webmaster”
31 admin // Jan 24, 2008 at 7:01 am
Thanks so much Paul, I appreciate the comment.
You’re right – it’s so important to create assets of value, both for your visitors – AND, for down the road, when or if you want to sell your business for a boat-load, based on your client-base and consistent revenues.
‘Kindling’ (mini-sites) is the best way to start, because it gets things going easily and quickly – it’s also a good way to subliminally beat procastination (which most of us default on) because it seems, feels and, well – IS – lazy
But traffic diversification within the niche and leverage (affiliates, word of mouth from actual users, user-created content, etc.), & list-building are required for long-term and stable success in most niches.
In niches where list-building is irrelevant, your resources at least need to have value (authority), and it’s a good idea in that case to create products and then build a “list” of affiliates.
You want to build things so that eventually it would take an entire internet meltdown to make a dent on your traffic.
Not just a Google update, or some other isolated variable.
Take care,
-Chris
32 auctarb // Jan 24, 2008 at 2:30 pm
So not to beat a dead horse:
Your authority site is a Theme Park and the Mini Sites are the individual rides? I’m just trying to envision the schematic. Thanks!
33 admin // Jan 24, 2008 at 10:18 pm
Auctarb,
That’s a great metaphor
Yeah, something like that.
Another one is:
Your mini-sites are the street kiosks and your authority site is the mall.
Cheers,
-Chris
34 auctarb // Feb 9, 2008 at 1:09 pm
Finally got the bugs worked out on the Software scenario. Found a different .exe convertor (shareware trial) that does many pages of a site into one .exe. Since then I’ve made several 1 page applications with the requisite affiliate “plug.” CGI was a bitch until I found you had to force ftp to do ASCII vs Auto, and also to take that extra CR out of the last line when saving. Promosoft was a bear as well – proxy conflict with my VOIP router. Unfortunately Tucows has about a 3 year queue for the freebies, but I’ll pay once I find a winner. I was amazed at the google page 1 results even from the promosoft sites. I stole about 7/10 positions for the keyword phrase (used in the title of the application). A few more adjustments to market targeting and keywording and maybe we’ll get a kickoff.
35 Jeremy Hier // Feb 21, 2008 at 6:32 pm
Hi Chris,
Amazing thread. I just learned about you from CBU, I’m considering joining.
My background has been to create sites like this:
http://www.powerfulportablegenerators.com
and
http://www.best-telescope-guide.com and make money from adsense and affiliate links.
It has been a long road and not too profitable, so I’m looking for a better strategy.
Authority sites have long term ranking power,
try telescope reviews, I’m in the top 5. But the site does not convert well only in Dec.
What about combining authority sites and mini-sites in this way.
From what I understand each mini-site promotes a specific affiliate program, what about making each specific affiliate program a category on the authority, basically creating many mini-sites but they reside on the authority site with all the related pages of the mini site linking together and not to another mini-site section of the authority site.
You build the site one mini-site section at a time on the authority site.
Does this have any merit.
Thanks,
Jeremy
36 Jeremy Hier // Feb 22, 2008 at 8:04 am
Hi Chris,
I see now that you have answered my question in another post.
Does your book teach how to make the transition from mini-sites to authority site.
Thanks,
Jeremy
37 admin // Feb 22, 2008 at 9:37 pm
Hi Jeremy,
It does cover the transition, in a sense.
Generally, “authority” is merely defined as content (or a function) that can stand on its own merit – where users would actually go out of their way to mention it on forums, etc.
This includes sites that organize information, offer valuable tutorials, tools, etc.
“Authority” can also be established by being attractive in some other way – attracting visitors naturally via word of mouth due to controversy, humor or other related attributes.
But other than that, use the same keyword targeting techniques as the mini-sites.
Cheers!
-Chris
38 AuctArb // Feb 25, 2008 at 11:55 am
Hey Chris:
What’s your opinion of selling a .exe packaged script on ebay? Not to infringe on the script writers, but if it is part of a more attractive .exe application for $1.99 or so, Initially, it could be a great traffic/popularity gauge.
Also, I’ve noticed skewed results with imbedded counters in the .exe applications. Not only do they count the initial downloads, but also every time the same downloader runs it – especially the fun ones that say “play again”?. Obviously there’s the requisite affiliate plug along with the program. Only way to interpret those is uniques vs repeat visits.
39 eliseo // Mar 30, 2008 at 8:23 am
Hi Cris,
How much do i need to spend to follow your guide in the book and how long to set-up the system. Lastly is it for beginners. Thanks
Eliseo
40 admin // Mar 30, 2008 at 10:55 am
Hi Eliseo,
It’s a whopping $29.95, at http://www.thelazymarketer.com (the home page)
Set up time ranges from a day (in regards to making a mini-site) to 2 weeks depending on your experience or outsourcing budget.
Software creation and submissions have the same time-frame range.
It’s not for beginners, in that you need to have a grasp of marketing basics and HTML before “Confessions” will be actionable.
Please don’t purchase it if this prerequisite isn’t met, unless you’re picking it up for future use.
Sincerely,
Chris Rempel
41 mia roman // May 3, 2008 at 5:11 pm
Hey Chris – LOVE your eBook – GREAT deal for a measly $29.95.
Quick question – the mini-sites – do you recommend a certain CMS to create with???
I was thinking of creating the mini-site using wordpress as the cms on one of my domains – do you have any other suggestions on that…
thanks, M
42 admin // May 5, 2008 at 3:19 am
Hi Mia,
Well, pretty much anything that’s
1) SEO friendly and
2) Easily editable/customizable for maximum conversion
Will work just fine.
Blogs typically (in their NORMAL layout) don’t convert as well as basic HTML pages, but they can be modified to include above-the-fold promotions, opt-in boxes, etc.
Thanks for your comment, btw
Cheers,
-Chris
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