There is no simple answer to the question of whether an authority site or a mini site is better. It can be profitable to keep your mind open, as it allows you to consider more possibilities. Below are some criteria you can use when deciding whether to focus on mini sites or authority sites.
When you’re creating an authority site, remember that you’ll need patience and time in order to reap the benefits you’re hoping for. Of course the entire process, and time required, will be determined largely by the market you are in and the degree of competition on the first page. You can certainly compete in a crowded market – if you are willing to do what it takes to win. Work on optimizing for long-tail keywords, not those that are just a single word, and then focus on building backlinks that point to the inner pages of your site. What you will also discover is you will rank for very long tail keywords by the truck loads. However, don’t expect those results immediately, as they do take time.
Years ago it was possible to get a highly optimized minisite ranking very well, but that is not the case now in 2010. The attraction of minisites is they are easy and fast to build, plus the profit realized will be much faster than with an authority site. An authority site represents an investment of time and some money, so the mindset is totally different. When it comes to SEO and high rankings, then the authority site is much like a dinosaur that moves very slowly. The future reward of an authority site is that if it ends-up in position number one, then it is a whole new ball game with monetizing and profits. If you are getting a lot of traffic, then you can monetize it with advertising space that you sell. Much of your success with that model depends on different things. If you can rank highly in a competitive market with a lot of traffic, then you can do well with selling banner space. But you are not limited to selling ad space.
Overall, you can’t make a simple judgment about whether a mini site or an authority site is better. Of course we also understand that line of thinking, but we would suggest that you diversify your marketing and avoid living your business life according to Google’s terms. You always have the option, of course, of creating a variety of sites and testing which ones perform best.