How to Grow From a Mini-Site Into an Online Empire

Whether  you a beginning a new online enterprise or supplementing 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.  Most of my competitors have small websites.

5.  It’s not as difficult, time consuming or expensive to build a smaller website.

6.  My spouse told me that I’m not allowed to build a large site.

One could easily put together counter-arguments in favor of a larger site, but that’s not what we’re discussing here, is it?

The rationale of all of those six is valid.  Well, maybe not the one about your spouse; I can’t know about that one unless you write me to tell me.  However some of the other reasons are valid only if you do the necessary research before you begin.  The third rationale is accurate, however, you must recognize that you will need to do some periodic updates on your pages.  The fourth reason is niche specific, and I don’t know what niche you are in; you’re the expert on your niche, so I’ll take your word for it.  All other things being equal, reason 5 is self-evident.

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.  If any of those terms are unclear, I suggest that you read that article prior to continuing with this one.

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.  There is a particular way that I suggest you go about achieving that dream.

1.  Hang onto that original list of keywords that you constructed (or out-sourced to be constructed for you).

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 small group of keywords meet the standards suggesting that they imply commercial intent on the part of the searcher, the implement your second mini-site.

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.  As soon as that new site is showing signs of improved search engine attention and increased traffic, continue going through the same process until you have as many sites as your keyword list dictates.

After a while you will find that you have covered 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.  Only after you have maximized your traffic and conversion rate should you begin to consider launching an attack on the next niche.

A good online business takes time.  Learn, so that when you act, you will be acting efficiently…oh, and be patient.