Single Niche sites or combined?

[agua]

OK - I've just re-read the article on Choosing a Site Topic by Chris and have a dilema.

I am in the process of building some small (some less than 20 pages) niches sites, which are all related in a general category (ie - they are all about health), but they are not related in the sense that one is about teeth, one about feet and one about beauty.

They all have there own niche monetization opportunities and could possibly be expanded if (when) I get enough traffic.

I also intend to find more small niches to keep expanding the portfolio.

So it would be possible to create a large site encompassing all the niches - but I'm thinking of keeping them as separate small niche sites with their own domains.

So what do you think?

[KLB]

Chris may disagree with me, but I think it is better to build one larger site than several small but related sites.

[Shawn]

I agree with KLB.

[Chris]

No no, own domains.

It'll make promotion easier and you can always crosslink the "agua health network."

Think of the perspective of a directory editor. They're much more likely to give you 3 listings in the appropriate categories for 3 domains. Than 3 listings in the appropriate categories for 1 domain.

You'll also be able to better focus homepage anchor text.

Now, if they were more closely related one site would work, but teeth and beauty aren't what I'd call closely related.

[Todd W]

I'd go with seperate domains.

If I want x I goto x.com if I want y I goto y.com, etc and if your domains are easy to remember they most likely will get return visitors for that specific niche than someone remembering "SoandSohealth.com". My .02

[paul]

It has nothing to do with SEO, but I sleep better with multiple sites held by multiple legal entities. In the event of a lawsuit, divorce, or other uglyness I really like not having all my eggs in one basket.

[Cutter]

I don't think one is specifically better than the other. There are numerous pros and cons to both. As long as you have a strategy, and can execute it consistantly you'll be ok.

One advantage to multiple sites is the ability to target different audiences. This isn't important in all markets, so think about it.

For me, I like to have different sites. Like stocks, you have some diversity when it comes to the search engines. Testing out new ideas has less of a chance to cause catastrophe.

[agua]

Thanks for all the input - definitely food for thought.

I have decided go with separate niche sites. This was my original plan and I'm going to stick with it.

However - there does seem to be scope for building a "larger" site for lots of small areas of the niche which don't warrant their own site - this will give me the opportunity to test, diversify and gain experience of setting up and maintaining a "larger" site.

[AmbulanceBlues]

It was strange. I recently came up with an idea that has given me a similar dilemma and I was pondering it when I wandered over here and saw the first post in this thread. I'm definitely going with multiple sites.

What's bugging me is the infrastructure. Some or much of the content will be of interest to more than one of the sites in the "network". I didn't think I should have my visitors clicking around to different sites for similar articles because I'd also like to have forums/communities on these sites, only competely seperate from one another. I also didn't want to mirror all of the articles on each site and get a duplicate content penalty.

How should I handle that situation? I'm also confused about the exact mechanics of mirroring content or only blocking bots from seeing the mirrored articles, but that's a technical problem I'll figure out.

Any ideas?

[Chris]

I wouldn't put the same content on two different sites like that.

[Blue Cat Buxton]

Why not have the content on the specific niche sites, but have the community and forum as the link between them (and by link I mean a branding type link and not neseccarily web site linking structure).

That way you only have to work on building one community but will have a multiple stream of visitors to sign up to that community.

So in Agua's example there could be a single health forum/community portal, with a teeth section and a beauty section, etc. Have a common brand, but a unique color scheme, say for each section.

[AmbulanceBlues]

Why not have the content on the specific niche sites, but have the community and forum as the link between them (and by link I mean a branding type link and not neseccarily web site linking structure).

That way you only have to work on building one community but will have a multiple stream of visitors to sign up to that community.

So in Agua's example there could be a single health forum/community portal, with a teeth section and a beauty section, etc. Have a common brand, but a unique color scheme, say for each section.

That makes more sense than what I was going with. I think more modularity in general would probably solve the problems I was having. Maybe I can just put an article search function on each site or something like that.

Thanks