How Many Websites Do You Need for Affiliate Marketing?

Quick Answer: There is no specific number of websites that you need for affiliate marketing, but it is better to start with one site, gain experience, do the hard work, learn from your mistakes and then move on to building one site after another. Let the experience and results guide the way.

Whether you’re a beginner or a pro in affiliate marketing, one question that always pops up is, how many websites do you need for affiliate marketing?

As you can likely imagine, different individuals may have different ideas, so if you are here in search of how many sites exactly? I will share the details that would enable you to make a good decision.

A difference of opinion exists between:

1. Having multiple affiliate websites in different niches
2. A single big website.

Let us see what affiliate marketers have in their minds when they are on one side or the other.

Working On Multiple Affiliate Sites

This is technically a conventional go-to strategy. There were times when affiliate marketers would run multiple sites. Each site generates a reasonable amount of revenue. The number of sites can vary from two to two hundred or even a thousand.

This diversification results in creating several income sources that are important for a sustainable business. If any affiliate partner drops your site or a change in Google algorithm puts you back, you have other sites to get it going.

Google changed its algorithm with updates of Google Panda and Penguin in 2011. Many affiliate marketers were doomed when they lost their ranking after these changes. This was where the concept of multiple sites got into the trend.

Working On a Single Authority Site

The other explanation is to build an authority site that would generate enough revenue. This model sounds less complex as all you need to build is a single site. But it involves extensive research in the beginning to find a suitable niche.

Then the real hustle begins where you need to make your site useful for the visitors. Not only do you add worthy content consisting of hundreds of pages but you also optimise your site. Undoubtedly, when done with consistency and perseverance this model is sustainable.

Now the question arises, what is an authority site and how is it different from other niche sites? Well, there is no certain answer to that but a site with 10,000 monthly views and at least 20+ top 5 Google rankings can be referred to as an authority site.

The Modern Age Requirement

Google is typically a prime source of the majority of on-site traffic. In recent times the algorithm of Google has changed, causing small websites to become non-existent. Previously, the performance of these micro-sites was remarkable, thanks to unrefined Google algorithms.

Now Google avoids showing small sites to users. Thus, the numbers of monthly views these sites have are never enough to earn a decent profit. The only chance of their survival is if they somehow manage to attract targeted visitors through some other source.

This briefs you to not waste your time and money on building multiple sites that are just good enough. Instead, work properly to find that perfect niche and then there is no looking back. This is ideal even if you are new and thinking of stepping into the world of affiliate marketing.

How To Succeed at Affiliate Marketing With 1 Website

Writing an article and posting it regularly may sound easy, but it requires consistency that only a few can incorporate. Affiliate marketing is not an overnight success, so you must initially wait weeks or months to see any signs of your first earnings.

In the beginning, this business would not be secure. Invest back into your site whatever money you generate in the beginning. There is a quote, “Greed keeps men forever poor”. Avoid it at this stage as you are in the process of creating an asset.

Outsourcing is the best tool to re-invest in. It would help you reach your goals of making a high authority site faster and lead you to automation.

Although engine searches are a vital traffic source, you may explore other ways to get the audience on your site. You may test out social media promotions in this regard.  

Is a Single Authority Site Enough?

One might think that growing a website niche to a high authority site is the only job he has to do. Well, this doesn’t sum it up. Remember the core rule, “more the sites more the money”. When you see that you are completely outsourcing your first site and yet making a profit, this is the time for you to start another niche site. The goal is not to make numerous small websites but to create several high-authority websites.

Creating an online business involves patience. Focus your time and energy on your website; in the end, the efforts won’t go in vain. Just as with any other business, it also involves the risk factor. Bear in mind there is no shortcut to success.

The Bottom Line

The multiple sites model is workable for a very small percentage of people. These are the ones with all the available resources. They have an automation team to tackle all the necessities.

The problem is not with the resources but with the search engine algorithm. New algorithms give less priority to micro-niche sites.

The power has shifted from affiliate marketers to the companies that run search engines. Now micro-sites are hard to rank; hence they do not generally earn you what you are looking for.

Therefore, it is better to stick with the idea of an authority site and later opt for diversification.

And that’s the exact method we teach here in our free Commission Academy training course.

We teach you step-by-step how to build an authority website in any niche & then how you can automate it so that you can grow your empire by launching additional authority niche websites alongside it.

So if you haven’t yet checked out our free training, we highly recommend you do so before you leave.

But either way, we hope this post has proved insightful & helped you better understand how many websites you need to succeed with affiliate marketing.

If you have any further questions or comments, don’t hesitate to leave them below.