Niche Sites or Authority Blog - Which is the Best Make Money Online Model?

Is it just me or is there a bit of a debate going on at the moment amongst the Internet Marketing community about whether multiple niche sites or having a single authority blog is the best model for making money online? I have been following the niche sites route recently, but I have been starting to wonder if this is something that I want to pursue over the longer term and whether it is actually the best way to make money. So I thought I would set out my thoughts here. It seems that both models have strengths and deficits, so let's look at these shall we:

Niche Sites

The principle behind making niche sites (usually with Wordpress) is simple; put a small number of articles around a small tightly defined niche (preferably one that does not have much competition) and include some affiliate links. I doesn't matter if this niche only has a small search volume, as long as it has some. Promote your site with articles, social bookmarking, etc. Then leave it alone and move onto the next one. The idea is for each site to make just a couple of dollars a day, but obviously if you make enough of them then you can make a good income. A slight variation of this is rather than use a single website for your niche you can use a series of linked Squidoo lenses.

Advantages

• Technically easy to do
• Does not require a specialist knowledge around a particular subject.
• Only a small amount of content required per site

Disadvantages

• Tends to mean that you constantly looking for new niches to exploit and having to research these.
• Over time your traffic to your site will decrease meaning that you will need to add fresh content in order for search engines to find you again.
• There is no opportunity for you to build a relationship with your visitors meaning that people will visit once and probably never return.

If this is a route you wish to follow and don't know where to start then why not try The Niche Site Blueprint. 

If you want to use Squidoo to make money (like I am currently doing) then I recommend One Week Marketing. If you are not sure if this is for you, then you can download the first chapter free to give you an idea of what it is all about.

Authority Blog

The principle behind an authority blog is that you sell yourself as being an authority on a particular niche. Unlike the niche site model, you aim to form a relationship with your readers, providing regular, consistently good quality content around your chosen niche. The theory here is that you build up the type of relationship with your readers that they trust you and your judgement, and as a result they are more likely to buy products via affiliate links on your blog.

Advantages

• That you build up a relationship with your readers meaning that sales are more likely.
• That you are not dividing your time between multiple projects, instead devoting it to one.
• With constant new content being added the search engines will rank your site more highly

Disadvantages

• That you "put all your eggs in one basket"
• That you constantly have to come up with new and interesting content

If you are looking to start an authority blog that brings in a real income like the probloggers do then the best coaching course out there is Yaro Starak's Blog Mastermind. 


At the moment I am mostly pursuing the niche sites/Squidoo route, but I am wondering whether in the future I should be looking at devoting my time to an authority blog. My main issue is what niche would be authority blog cover? More to the point, what am I really an authority on?