I am not certain if there is a clear definition that explains the difference between a niche website and an authority website. So let me explain what I believe the difference to be. First a niche website is small in the sense of the number of pages it contains. While an authority sites is jam packed with content, tools, and has a lot of pages. Generally a niche website is focused more on long tail keyword or a micro-topic. For instance an Authority Website might be about camping, while your niche site is focused on tents. The idea is that it is easier to compete for keywords for a micro-niche than a broad subject like camping.
I have been experimenting with niche websites and have to say that I am not all that happy with the results. It is awesome to be able to rank fast with keywords and place high on Google in a short amount of time, but I am not seeing a lot in terms of financial gains. There are many factors that play into this like monetization strategy, bad research, picking the wrong niche, and targeting the wrong keywords. So I make adjustments and test different things, but still am not seeing the kinds of returns I would like for the time investment.

I am not saying that niche websites are a bad idea. Lots of people do well creating niche websites and own hundreds of them. The strategy of building it, add content, and leave it alone doesn’t sit well with me for some reason. So the plan of creating hundreds of websites that earn $25 per month is not a great plan for me. I like authority websites and I like working on and growing my sites.

I think niche websites sound good in theory, but I really don’t believe they preform that well until you convert them into authority websites. Just to be clear I consider performing well the following way.
1. The site generates enough money to make up for your financial investment in 3 months or less.
2. The site generates $100 a month consistently for 2 months in the first 6 months.

It is important to set goals like these for every website that you build. It helps you justify your investment both in time and money. In addition it gives you criteria to base decisions on about the future of your website.

What am I getting at? I think your niche website selection needs to be more than just about keyword research and competition. If you are serious about making money through a niche website it has to be about a topic that you like and can slowly work into an authority website. I am sure many will disagree with me on this, because a lot have had success by targeting micro-niche keywords and never touching the website after developing and populating the site.
Anyway, this is just something I have been thinking about and noticing with my own progress. I have a few niche websites that I have no passion for that rank well, but I dread working on.

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