There are definitely places to learn and improve, and finally leaving comment on a blog can be a pleasure too. Gosh, I read alot often but confess that I end to leave (and come back often) without any single word.

@Mikael,
“….. But I honestly believe that it is still (incredibly) easy to create niche websites (even without leveraging any current websites that I own). It will take effort, time and hard work (by someone) but it can be done”

Damn true! Time & hard work for sure, may be not on hurting yourself trying to outdo the bests. Leveraging in a fair and clearly credit attributed may end in something… a matter of choice, from the easiest to the more challenging. Tools and means are out there!

@Dan
“…. the advantage of being small is being fast and agile … look for ways to do things differently,… it costs little or nothing to experiment…”

You’re probably right here, but at all costs, you’ll have to hold tight, as Alan has written, … hope that it could turn to be easier in the (short) long run.

@dylan
“I agree ….that both big mega site and many mini sites can work. It depends on what kind of person and publisher you are.”

Ok! I guess that it need time, efforts and a strong mindset. Optimistic, … Yeah!

@ Martin
“50 is the new 10…. it’s all about relevancy … between categories, posts, pages and links… Start looking at building tight, relevant, content rich sites that are regularly updated and you’ll do well”

Depends on what means “building” in this case, but I fully agree Martin.
May be “(re)distributing” should apply too! This route sounds to me …

Thanks all for your comments and Alan for opening doors too (you should definitely blogchat with Scott @ publish2.com) on many topics for the benefit of everybody.

However, if the site is established my experience is that Google is getting better at delivering ad revenue.