Why we built a publishing network of niche sites instead of one big blog

Some time back I started thinking differently about how we build websites for ourselves. Instead of one big site that tries to talk about everything, we're now building a collection of smaller sites — each one focused on a single subject. Not because it's trendy, but because in practice it just works better for SEO and for the actual quality of what gets published.

The whole idea sits on one thing: topical authority. Google understands your site better when it sticks to one topic. A hundred articles about kitchens on a kitchen site simply outrank a hundred scattered articles about kitchens, bikes, marketing and cats on one general blog. That's not a secret. But in practice, most content sites still ignore it.

Why not one big site

A lot of content sites cover too much. Marketing, business, lifestyle, tech — all in one place. You know the type: thin articles, no through-line, barely any links between pieces. Google sees it too. And rankings barely come.

What we get with the network approach:

• Real depth on each topic, not flat 600-word filler
• Topic clusters, with a hub page and supporting content around it
• Authority within a niche, instead of a little of everything
• Different content formulas tested side by side on separate sites

That last one might be the most important. Every site is also an experiment for us: does this tone of voice work better, this article length, this internal linking pattern, this publishing frequency? With multiple sites you've got multiple dials to turn.

Which sites we run

This isn't a full list (more come along regularly), but it gives an idea of the kind of subjects we take seriously.

For marketing and promotion we're running Play2Promote, where online promotion and digital marketing strategies come together.

For online communities and digital interaction we have BlueVillage, a place where tech and community building meet.

Around internet services and digital tools, we run a few projects: Soonlive, SiteIdeals and Gringopapi. Different subjects, same approach.

Architecture and renovation is a field we've been in for a while. There we have a few sites focused specifically on the Leiden region: Architect Leiden, Renovatie Architect Leiden and Architectenbureau Leiden.

For sustainable architecture, a fast-growing search volume, we run Duurzame Architect and DuurzameArchitect.

Other niches and some more experimental concepts: Verlanglijstje, Snel-Live, VervangendoorAI and NogEven.

Informational content about animals and pets goes on Dierenboek. Not the fastest ranking curve, but a topic we want to keep writing about long-term.

And alongside those, we have a few more loose digital concepts like Pacbloxs.

How AI changed our work (and where it hits limits)

Honestly: without AI tools this whole network couldn't exist at this pace. We're a small team. For research, structure, readability checks and first drafts, we lean on LLMs heavily. That doesn't save us 10%, it often saves a factor of 3 to 5.

But — and this is the "but" most content shops don't have — every article goes through its own quality filter. We check:

• Is it factually correct? (LLMs still hallucinate)
• Does it read like a human wrote it?
• Is there real information density, or is it fluffy filler?
• Does the SEO structure and internal linking actually hold up?
• Does the tone match the audience of that specific site?

Anything that feels like it just rolled out of a model gets pulled offline or rewritten. That, in our view, is the difference between a network that still ranks in two years and one that collapses six months from now when Google ships its next core update.

Not a sprint, a multi-year project

What we're building here is deliberately not a content factory chasing quick spikes. The idea is to build knowledge platforms that are still relevant in five years, on topics we're personally interested in.

In practice that means: calm, consistent publishing. Adding a new niche site whenever we find a gap big enough to be worth filling. Adding new topic clusters to the existing sites. And measuring a lot — what works, what doesn't, what deserves more attention.

What's coming in the next stretch? More articles, a couple of new sites that are in trial mode now, and (if we can pull it off) more transparency about what a specific site actually earns per month. We're working on it.