One bigger site or several smaller ones?

[Rhyl Lightworks]

For the past two and a half years I have been selling from one general site, which now has over 500 products and growing. I have been wondering would it be better to split it into several smaller, more specialised sites? I would have to consider cost, search engine rankings, etc. I am a novice at internet selling compared with some people on here and would value your opinions.

[Comspec]

It looks ok as it is to me, but if you were considering adding loads more products and can see a 'natural' break in them - then maybe a 2nd site, linked, may not be a bad idea.

I am personally having my 1st site set up at present, albeit an informational site, then I hope to set up an ecommerce site in the next couple of months. I have considered a couple of sites to sell my 2 main ranges of products, but will try 1 out for a while first.

Mark

[Ender]

Very tricky question actually. I think it'll get harder for broader eCommerce sites to get traffic by the search engines as "niche" sites will dominate the rankings as more and more people sell online. Having said that there are lots of advantages to focussing all your efforts into one site.

Why don't don't you test the waters with a spin off site and give it 6 months to see what happens?

[GreatSEO]

Im with Ender on this one you are thinking multiple revenue streams (very nice) However i think you should test the waters.

Will several different sites incur several different further workloads, can you handle the technical stuff that goes with it etc etc.

I would suggest sitting down and doing the positives/negatives column and see how it all looks on paper this way you may find yourself with a better view of things.

Hope this helps

Regards

Dave

[Imagined]

I am definitely with Ender and David.

There also should be some market research and study what your users want before you go ahead and try something like that.

Study your users by:
- starting a optional survey.
- beta ideas testing with a selected study group.
- get user feedback, comments and testimonials.


If you do some research based on your users you'll easily find the answer to that question.


Michael

[Rhyl Lightworks]

Thanks for these comments. I've decided to stay as we are with one site at present, but do some research with a view to starting another later in the year, when I hope to have more time to devote to it.

[Advertistic]

I think the single large site is always better than multiple small ones.

Their are economies of scale benefits, and the reduced workload allows you o spend further time on marketing, etc.

[JustOneUK]

If you make a well SEO'd niche site and can rely on search engine rankings to bring traffic, then it is worth trying.

If you have to go the other route and actually advertise the new site.. then all your costs are more or less doubled.

James.