One (very) large project or a bunch of smaller sites - where to focus on?

[Iron Mike]

Hey, say you have a very good idea (more a bright, detailed vision) for a (big) new project, you'd like to put all your effort into it, you are hot for it!

Pros:
- might become a leading site in its niche and therefor could be VERY profitable
Cons:
- Its risky, could be a failure, you never know...
- all work and time bound in one project for a longer time (say 6-8 month)
- no profits for a longer time (say 4-6 month)


On the other hand you have a lot of smaller projects in queue. Sites are overdue, need to be done soon.

Pros:
- diversification
- almost safe (small) profits
Cons:
- lots of time and work bound -> no time to develope the BIG THING


I think the easiest way would be to focus on the smaller sites, take the profits, and go for the big site then.

But you all know, the internet changes fast, what is hip today is gone (or saturated) tomorrow. Plus there's the vision, the flame inside one's heart: you want to be creative NOW, even though it's irrational to do it right now...


So, what would you do?

[Iron Mike]

fuck it, i go for the big thing. no risk, no fun haha!

[MaxCandy]

Investing time, is like investing money:

some high risk, high reward,

some low risk, low reward,

the percentages all boil down to your passion, your age and appetite for risk.

[EukerVoorn]

We're doing multiple small sites and are happy with that. The main advantage is that full site rips don't affect you as much as when you would have one big site. We stopped with the access to all sites with one account so if they rip the content it will be of one site only. Yes having to maintain multiple sites and dealing with different payment providers is more work so you have to be a bit more organized. But I enjoy that and like discipline.

[wehateporn]

The great thing about creating the small sites is that it's like mining for gold (or perhaps bronze). Once you've created 20 you'll see which ones are doing well with little effort.

The thing I like about a big site is if you can make it into a brand; if you create a brand that's well known around the world then it's a clear winner.

If I was starting I'd first of all do the mining with the small sites, then once I found a great converting niche I'd build up a brand/big site within it

[ilnjscb]

It looks like small sites win

[fuckyou/payme]

I used to go with one big site, these days a bunch of smaller sites, mixed in with bigger sites

Both have pros and cons and there's no way to say for certain which is better for each individual

It's based on the type of individual you are - are you more passionate, 'real', good with quality, but bad with management, especially micromanagement, numbers and work ethic? Bigger sites and less of them is the way to go

If you're more mathematical, nerdy, GOOD with numbers and generating traffic, then tons of sites is the way to go.

/no more advice for awhile

[Iron Mike]

interesting opinions, thank you