Some sites just don't need managing. If you have really good "evergreen" content, you just put it on the web, and it will manage itself.

Let me put to you this way, you need many ring tone and dating sites to make it big or only one Google, does not matter who owns how many sites, what matters is what you can manage well.

If I am an expert on for example classic cars, I might be able to manage 5 sites about classic cars. But perhaps I am not capable of managing only 1 site about the East-African Purple-Grey Tilly-Dilly Butterfly, because I am not an expert on butterflies. What I mean is that if you know a lot about a certain topic, it's more easy to manage sites about that topic.

[edited by: martinibuster at 5:32 pm (utc) on May 4, 2008]

[edited by: MFKaHB at 5:47 pm (utc) on May 4, 2008]

What does this have to do with Adsense?

Mmm. Good question. Perhaps the OP could comment on that.

as i also need to make a lot of money :P.

That's what it has to do with AdSense.

I have 162 sites. 15 make money (enough to pay for domain registration and hosting). One makes enough money to support my family and a few employees.

Sometimes I wish I only had the one site, but I probably wouldn't have the one site if I had not tried so many different ideas over the years.

There is at least one member here with more than 1,500 developed websites (most running Adsense), but that does not mean they make a lot of money, dataguy probably earns more from that 1 website he mentions.

Quality is better than quantity. All you need is one or two good sites that brings in steady targeted traffic, and you will make it.

I run one quality site. May be starting another on a related topic.

You may be tempted to write just for $$, but if that is your only motivation, why would your visitors want to come back to your site? Write on something you are qualified to write about.

Maybe off topic, but what would be the reason for running several sites on the same topic, instead of running one quality site that is the best at what it does?

>Maybe off topic, but what would be the reason for running several sites on the same topic

I can think of a few reasons:

- Not putting the eggs in one baskett
- Trying to get the most commercial use out of one topic
- Filling gaps before your competitors do
- The first site gets too big
- The second site is used for trials with ads or affiliate programs
- Etcetera...

Maybe off topic, but what would be the reason for running several sites on the same topic,

There are quite a few reasons and MFKaHB listed several however my main two reasons are:

1. Geo-targetted establishment of a site i.e. specialising in niche products from a specific zone, the main ones in my case are Brazil, China, India, Italy, South Africa, Turkey etc.

Quite simply my customers feel more comfortable dealing direct with the actual supply office rather than with a generic .com address.

If you've never tried it, don't knock it, and do not under-estimate the difference it makes to one's company image that the supplier perceives their customers' business as being important enough to warrant their own dedicated regional web site.

2. Establishing an authority site for one specific product. I have done this for several of my exclusive product lines and all have many back links including trade sites and Wikipedia "possibly" because of their uniqueness and in-depth knowledge.

Sure they could have been created in an all-encompassing site however I like the authority-keyword-domain approach, people definitely remember them.

what would be the reason for running several sites on the same topic, instead of running one quality site that is the best at what it does?

One reason is if you are both a developer and domainer sometimes you concentrate your domains in certain categories or a niche you have knowledge about.

I run a handful of sites. But that means nothing. Some sites take me an hour per month to operate. One other site keeps me occupied for several hours a day.

I had one website that I developed with several hundred pages - it was pretty wide ranging buit all releated to one theme. I realised i would give better user experience (and more adsense potential)if I started brand new focussed websites for some of these niches.
I have about a dozen domains

10+

I own 3 sites and several pathetic attempts.

Uhwebs

Maybe off topic, but what would be the reason for running several sites on the same topic, instead of running one quality site that is the best at what it does?

A quick answer would be Google truly penalizes well structured larger sites. The deeper in your site's navigation structure you go the more pages you will have that are "supplemental", indexed slowly. etc. What's funny is that's where the best content is.

Some might argue that "deep" links compensate for this, but there is a strong tendency for inbound (and even internal) links to go to the home page.

So one reason for multiple sites is avoiding a deeply nested navigation structure. And this is one reason some own many sites (domains that is). In some ways Google has encouraged web developers to create multiple sites instead of one well structured larger site, even within one topic.

I run about a dozen sites, most related to the same topic. Since it is a passion, it is easy to manage them.

However -- the MOST FUN I have had is a recent project that I have NO knowledge about, but find fascinating, and could read about for hours on end.

I found a friend who is an expert in this topic and I pay him to write for his own website, which I now basically own and run for him. He wants nothing to do with the "web work" and he can use the immediate cash. I am happily investing in this very personal and in-depth content -- it also can't be easily swiped due to the writing style and how it is woven in the fabric of his own life stories, etc. Great ads for the niche, too!

I am constantly on the look-out for friends who have expertise in a marketable area -- but he's the first one to get serious about writing regularly for me.

I have one big site that accounts for 75% of my income -- and the other 12 or so account pretty equally for the other 25% of it.

I like the idea of not having all my eggs in one basket.

YM

I have three sites that form one unity at the end. Although I have read above that Google penalizes a larger site, next year I will combine those three and I will use just one domain for all. For me it will be imposible to split it in domain.es, domain.it, domain.eu etc

I had a multilanguage site with distinct sections in each particular language. The content was unique and in non-english languages I am not facing serious SERP competition.

While hosted on the same domain google would, sometimes, have trouble displaying ads in a proper language. I hesitate for some time but after some time I decited to move each language to a separate domain name and the issue is (more or less) completely gone.

I did suffer an initial loss of traffic as it took 3+ months for the new sites to get indexed (the original sites did drop from the index quite quickly). To sum it up, after 9+ months I am seeing ~20% increase in CTR. The overall revenue increase is ~15%. The content is static.

I've really been thinking of starting a second site, similar to the first but on a specific niche that seems to do well on my site... I'm really interested to see how it will perform!

14

revenue from each

40%
30%
20%
5%
4%
1% the rest

~450 sites all together, across a wide range of topics.

11 that are online (I assume we are not counting the dozens or hundreds of domain names we own that just sit there)

1 makes 70% of my money. 3 others earn 20% or less. The other 7 pretty much share the rest.

Between 75 and 80. Not all of them are monetized.

I have around 15 websites and at one point, I had AdSense on most of them. At that time, one site provided around 95% of the income. After reading some of the threads here on Smart Pricing, i removed AdSense from all but the top performer. Since then, revenue has skyrocketed. I'm not sure if the revenue gain resulted from removing AdSense from the weaker sites, or if it's related to the many "glitches" we've experienced over the past 6 months or so. Nevertheless, I'm keep things the way they are.

I agree with Tim. We pulled Adsense from the low performers. I have about 30 sites I work on a regular basis. Some I work more than others; they just require more time. The website I work the least on, makes the most. Newer sites take more time each week, and obviously make less money. But, when they have high impressions but low earnings, it is better to pull Adsense. Since doing it, my earnings have skyrocketed as well. But, too, I pulled excess advertising, leaving less to click on, driving prices up, and increasing my ctr on some sites. I have actually done about a dozen really important things to increase earnings thise year. It was the combintation that turned things around.

Making websites is a little bit like gambling - it takes a while before you hit the jackpot. That's why it is very rare to see somebody having like 10 websites and each making 10% of the revenue.

What's quite funny about my websites is that the first website I made earns 75% of the revenue. The next websites I created are earning very little or nothing. If somebody had told me that when I was starting, I would probably have resigned then:)