Useful small site versus verbose large site?

[rfashanu]

a friend suggested putting adsense on some of my websites on 11/31/07.. i did and as of 5 minutes ago i have generated just over $500 from 7 websites in about 24 days...

after reading the TOS i am trying to figure out how to create really good content for visitors to a couple sites i plan on building. I noticed a lot of people promote more and more content, but then i wonder if it is possible to provide what your visitors want without having them go through pages and pages of content...

I tend to focus on mini sites (5 to 10 pages) with useful tools that people can actually use..

What do you think is more useful to visitors.. a small site with useful tools or a large 1000 page site with loads and loads of content..

[BigDave]

The most useful site is the site that has what you want to find, and allows you to find it.

One advantage that large sites have is return visitors. For example, webmasterworld is a large site. You came here to look for an answer. Why didn't you got to smallorbigsite.com? Because it's a big site with lots of answers and an active community.

But if your small sites provide the information that people are looking for, and you rank well, then that's fine too. If you prefer to go that route, then do it.

[rfashanu]

BigDave, thanks for the response... I initially built websites for various businesses i started, and learned a lot of things the hard way and through a lot of research over the course of 2 years. As of now, i consider myself somewhat of an seo and have been pretty successful getting my websites to rank on all 3 major search engines..

As a engineer i have also developed processes and automated a lot of steps required for my sites to get good rankings.. However, as an engineer i am also not the greatest writer and tend to prefer more concise information.. However, i do see your point in regards to forum sites like WebmasterWorld as they provide a central point for finding information.

I know of a number of pretty good niches and hope i am able to provide tools/content that visitors to the site will like, even though my sites will be small...

I am also extremely new to Adsense but see a lot of potential if done right..

[jomaxx]

I agree with BigDave, neither type is better. What's your core competency, the thing you do better than anyone else? Focus on that and let the site design decisions follow naturally.

[rfashanu]

thanks jomaxx, i really appreciate the advice

Merry Christmas to everyone

[thegreatpretender]

Actually, for generating that kind of money, you should be the one giving tips here :)

Merry Christmas to all!

[buckworks]

Consider the time required for management and maintenance when you're deciding what approach to take.

Give careful thought to how you can take best advantage of automation and delegation, so you don't end up with a site that owns you instead of you owning the site.