How Many Niche Sites is Realistic?

It's another What’s Up Wednesday! Today, I’ll be discussing how many niche sites are practical to have as an affiliate marketer without stretching yourself out too thin. The idea behind this is the more sites you have, the more money you make. Let take a look to see if this hold true. The season which includes Halloween, Thanksgiving, and especially Christmas is known to be the biggest and most profitable time of year. It's a great time for both vendors (retailers) and affiliate marketers to make money, but how about you? Experienced affiliate marketers are putting together (if not done already) specialty niche sites that cater to this time of year. Popular toy sites, top video game sites, whatever product is (or will be) in big demand this upcoming season.

Multiple niche sites?

Which brings up my first topic for discussion, how many niche sites should an affiliate marketer own? I’ve heard the more site you have, the more money you can make! I myself currently have 10 active sites altogether with 9 sites that cater to a particular niche. 5 of those sites are focused on specific products sold by Amazon, 2 sites focus on Clickbank vendors, and the remaining sites are peppered with a dash of independent affiliate programs. To be honest, this is actually too much for me because I suffer from headaches due to issues that can easily become nightmares. Everyday I check each of those sites to make sure they are up and running. If not, I have to troubleshoot why a site is having an issue, then focus on getting it back up running again which sometimes has taken hours, even days.

Keeping up with all of them

Another big issue is making sure to keep fresh content on each site which is a chore, especially for a one man band. I’ve tried a number of automatic posting plugins in the past that were supposed to keep things updated, but they really don’t work as promised and have actually created more work for me, even ended up penalizing some of my sites. I have used PLR products and have even hired review writers for some of those sites, just to find out that I still had to take time editing the content, even add to it to make the article or review work for me. That’s not to mention coming up with graphics along with adding in my links. But this doesn’t answer the first question posed above, how many?

The short answer is one!

Okay, let me expand upon and qualify it. I’m talking about having one central or main site. The one that is used to brand you or your company (or both) and what you are about (offer). This is the site where you put in most of your time along with your heart and soul. Everything else beyond that is extra or fluff. Once you have established and determined the amount of effort and time needed to keep up with your main site, any time you have left in your workday can then be applied to additional (niche) site(s). I got this all backwards when I started out. I jumped into the ‘popular’ and ‘done for you’ niche sites because I was lead to believe that it’s easy and where the big money could be made, just to become quickly disappointed when it didn’t work out that way. Since then, even though I have stubbornly held on to some of those niche sites, I have come to discover it is far better to focus on one main site, build it up, and then expand from there. So the long answer is, the number of sites depend upon what you (or your company) can comfortably handle, and how diverse you want to become.

Does having more site mean more money?

The second question this topic brought up is, do you actually make more money by having more sites? It’s based upon the philosophy, the more the merrier. For me, it hasn’t helped make more money having multiple sites. In fact, it has cost me more money and time than the other way round. I have found that I do better when focused on doing one thing really well before moving or adding on. I have made the most money when I am focused and stay focused. However, I know other affiliate marketers who have successfully managed a 100 niche sites (or more) with each site producing several hundred dollars per year in affiliate sales. Not much when you consider each site, but when combined helps them make a noticeable amount ($250 x 100 = $25,000).

Final Thoughts...

As you can see, this again becomes an individual thing. It really comes down to how well organized and motivated you are. How well you stick with things, and how much you enjoy doing it. It also depends if you have other members on your team to help. With the most profitable time of year rolling around, it is tempting to jump in by adding more popular niche sites to your online portfolio. It also adds more work and time that you might not have to spare. As always, you should weigh the benefits vs the risks before making a rash decision. But done right, adding an extra site could be the boost you need. ;)