My question is to all internet marketers around here.. If you had to choose between the two - Would you spend your time & effort in developing: 1) a single authority site or 2) many smaller sniper sites ? And also reasons for making that choice ?
Well unless you make your website totally custom and not on a CMS like wordpress Joomala etc then it would be worth maybe a million in the future because its unique. Many smaller sites is a good idea too because then you can just make alot of money on ads you put on those cheap little random sites.
This depends on the kind of market you are in. One big authority site is perfect for people who want to build their expertise in only one field or niche. If there's one thing you can do well and you want to make it your business, take this route. It's easy to set up, doesn't require a lot of resources and is relatively cheaper to run. You could also concentrate all your efforts here and become a respected guru in a specific field instead of being the internet marketer who juggles with multiple industries and never quite achieving expert status. The disadvantage is that if you made a mistake in your choice of niche, a single authority site can fizzle out like a short matchstick. When it goes, it goes and there's nowhere else you can turn to or fall back on, unlike a multiple niche website where there are other things going on for you.
Authority sites - Quality have always its values Small sniper sites values have gone - What about panda update
depends on a lot of factors. if you want to play it safe and you believe you have it in you to be an interesting blogger or to collect valuable info/links/content, then doing a single authority site might work. be aware though that this is a long and painful process, and it is only very few people who are actually able to make a living doing this in the end. in contrast, making many targeted sites without authority, but with lots of content and targeting of specific niches, is MUCH faster and MUCH more profitable - however it carries an increased risk of potential Google damage in case of a Panda-like update. but - there are always ways to make yourself less vulnerable to that.
Tora is on the mark. An authority site can be a really tough project to pull off, but it will have more long term stability. You could study the big bloggers like Ramit Sethi and Tim Ferriss in this regard, and keep your eyes peeled for others to model. With the little sites (as Tora explained) can be knocked out with a Google slap. So, be ready to look into other income sources to fall back on. For example: once you have sites that rank really well, start approaching offline businesses and help them with their online presence. That way when the next G-Slap comes along (which it will), you will have a fall back plan to keep food on the table. Hope it helps!