My Mini Sites – The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly

Thanks for a great post, Elliot…probably the best post I have read this week.

…and I believe EasternCaribbean.com still has great potential with more content.

Hi Elliot !

Very Nice and Honest Post, WELL DONE !

Thank you , for sharing.

Thanks for Sharing Elliot, What were the factors in selling your minisites.

Was it based on the domain value, revenue or traffic?

I am selling CheapRims.us, just now site does about $30 per month and most traffic from Search engines.

Had a couple low ball offers from forums but really wondering what price you would look to sell a site like this.

Regards,

Rob

Glad to hear Old Johnny worked out for you. I figured it may be your best option. Can you tell if the “Designs” clicks are your bread winner?

While scanning the Domaining.com articles last week, I stumbled across EPIK.com which utilizes the DevHub platform and just recently announced a low-cost development service. I submitted my portfolio and have several dozen domains which were accepted into their system. I’m reviewing those and will select a few of those with the most potential for their paid development service as a test. The links…

http://www.epik.com/blog/

http://www.epik.com/services/index.php

Elliott …

Some mini sites can work really well.

Here is a mini site anybody could make and ” make millions ”

like Michael Mann likes to say.

The trick here is to work your mini site daily

http://bit.ly/favorite-mini-site

Wonderful post, E.

Although I’m always confused why you waste your time on such domains that generate such insignificant revenue (even if fully developed).

Your smart. Make some real revenue by investing in bigger domain names, developing, and possibly flipping.

Or, as I’ve mentioned before, start an elliot-branded domain auction (perhaps a niche one that is only for names with mini sites).

You’ll always just be making pennies otherwise….

@dcmike

Most of my revenue is from the sale of higher value names, which I generally do in private. This doesn’t take a ton of time, and to be quite honest, it’s not entirely fulfilling. Developing a website is more fulfilling, as is blogging. A mini site might not be the most profitable thing but I did enjoy the process.

Additionally, TropicalBirds.com started out as a mini site, and now it’s full blown. It’s just a bummer that I am not a big fan of birds and that the Adsense revenue is low.

Great post Elliot and thank you, thank you, thank you for being honest on traffic and revenue….so much we read is inflated it’s scary…

I too have had different experiences….4 aeiou sites that did nothing to brag about InEarHeadPhones.com, AllLasVegasDeals.com and one other. Also did VisitDisneyland.com thru them as a geo site and as you know I am a SEO guy and wasn’t overly pleased with the optimization of the tags…..

I recently begun testing minisites and they recently put up WeddingTuxedo.com, AcidRefluxRelief.com, BuyMultiVitamains.com, KosherWineShop.com and AllDietBooks.com – these literally went up today, LOL so I’ll let you know how they do…

THe minisites/microsites I have done with my team include: FoodCouponsDirect.com (top 3 of google for food coupons), AllPrintableCoupons.com (first page of google for printable coupuns), BabyCouponsDirect.com, AllPizzaCoupons.com, AllCerealCoupons.com, etc., etc. – again, as an SEO guy (my company is PrimeVisibility.com) these sites get hundreds of thousands of views and make good money…..and the best part is the link building is/was minimal…..

So what does this all mean? To me, minisites and microsite DO WORK – they just need search engine optimization, link building and good onpage optimization elements…..

Enjoy your weekend and thanks again for sharing!!!
@AndrewHazen

Elliot, I wonder who “optimized” this jewel of yours, JerusalemVacations.com. Let’s look at the meta tags:

[meta name="keywords" content="Jerusalem, Jerusalem Israel, Jerusalem Vacation, Jerusalem Vacations, Jerusalem Flight, Jerusalem Hotels, Jerusalem Sightseeing, Jerusalem Attractions, Jerusalem Vacation Package, Jerusalem Apartment, Jerusalem Apartment Rental, Jerusalem Vacation Home" /]

Now, in case you didn’t know, that’s called keyword stuffing, by means of repeating the same keyword. You gain nothing and have a lot to lose with Google. Now, assuming that you didn’t know that, didn’t your supposed SEO wiz kid know that basic rule? But wait, that’s the guy without a portfolio.

Every domain stands on it own. Every site stands on its own. Too many people trying to compare apples to oranges. Nothing is exactly alike in the equations. Each is unique.

Each form of monetization has pluses and minuses. Some things have transparency, most do not. That makes it even more challenging to analyze.

Have you ever seen traffic stats match up between monetizing platforms? I’ve never had that happen yet. One company shows 100 uniques average while another shows 150. One company’s revs always picks up at the same time each month while another is consistent throughout.

Some sites work quickly some take years to become profitable. Some come out of the shoot zooming and then fizzle out. I’ve had gorgeous sites do crap and ugly sites do great. Go figure. I’ve never believed beauty sells on the Net. Look at the Drudge Report to validate that point.

At the end of the day though if you don’t try everything out there you’ll never know what will work best for you. Some ways might make you more money, but also involve more work. You might not like managing your own server, trust me, that alone is a full time task. Or writing your own PHP code. Sometimes it’s more profitable to pay people to do things for you so you can spend time what you do best while others do what they do best. Some people like investing a lot of time in learning so they can do everything themselves.

However you go about it and whether something works or doesn’t, you make money or you lose money, the game is all about growth and profits and you can achieve neither without investment of time and risking money.

Maybe you’ll have 5 companies develop 100 sites, 99 won’t amount to anything to write home about, but 1 of them will be found and bought by an end user buyer for a huge amount of money, simply because by developing it you got it well indexed in Google and that’s what led to the buyer finding it. That one big score might put a ton of dollars in your bank and make the entire 100 site investment well worth having done it.

The key here is you can’t look at each success or failure, but rather the entire end result of everything you do. Most times in business and investing, things fail and don’t succeed. It’s those little winners you get though out of the mix that cover all your losses and get you the big payday.

Ask any really wealthy entrepreneur how many things they did that failed. Most will tell you 9 out of 10 bombed. But that one deal that hit, made them rich beyond their wildest dreams. And this is what business and risk taking is all about.

Re your comment on TropicalBirds.com- right on point.
It’s not just about technology and seo skills. You need to have passion for the subject to grow it into a profitable business. The main reason is that you have competitors who ARE passionate and they will eat your lunch on Google, enlisting advertisers and in every other respect.

ps. Saw this quote on Twitter today, made me think of the Domainers daily dilemma:
“If you have more than 3 priorities then you don’t have any.” -Jim Collins

Where I am coming from: I started in marketing/website “development” a decade ago and became a “domainer” by accident recently through research and acquiring domains for SEO purposes. I have collected a few hundred domains, mostly niche keywords that are developed and make money through affiliates.

I have read with interest a few domaining blogs and the experiences of domainers with development/mini-sites.

What I find interesting is that many of the development/mini-site “failures” are for sites that are at best halfway developed. I don’t see any off-page work, for example. I don’t really see the point of developing a keyword domain and then having 0 or 1 backlink. many mini-site failures seem to be poorly optimized for search. I understand making money primarily from domain sales and not wanting to spend much time or money on development, but if you are going to develop why do it halfway? If you aren’t going to rank in search, maybe a parking page is better ( not that I’ve ever parked a domain, which would make 0% sense for me).

I don’t know. That’s just where I’m coming from as someone who does the “domain+content+links=$$” thing.

Great post Elliot and thanks in sharing your thoughts and examples of things, the good, the bad and the ugly.

Like when you post your mini sites, what you do and its about roi. How much were these names making at parking companies and traffic. Not much. Its an opportunity and sounds like you have some private advertising prospects coming to you as well. That’s great and acheive even a better return.

Like everyones comments and Kevin leto summed it up perfectly.

There are risks to anything but imo its fun to do and keep the content fresh. Its hard at times to do this and especially if your managing a few sites.

Minisites.com looks like a great platform and heard good good things about them but price is a bit high for any domainer or someone who has tons of type inn traffic names.

I told myself earlier this year I would be doing sites and form them on my own. Either haven’t had time to learn wordpress yet or something else going on. Really need to learn new tricks and keep learning new things. Plus save some money if I can form couple nice templates great and test things on my own skills.

I like how tropicalbirds started off as a mini site and now look at it. That’s the opportunity for mini sites.

Owen stated the neglected factor in the equation

that Kevin mentions. PASSION. Matt Drudge took a

crappy domain name (I used to mispell it often) … he

took a SINGLE page and an UGLY one at that … but he

was FOCUSED and used his PASSION as his competitive

advantage. Question: Can you have the winning ”

COMPETITIVE PASSION ” for 100 domains simultaneously

? … 10 domains ? … 2 domains ?

I think these SEO guys here have good points. Because most of my successful PPC sites all have a fair number of links to them, including dmoz.org which is now in partnership with Google’s Directory. Another thing about the links is they have to come from sites that have related content, or else the link is not nearly as valuable. But I’m no SEO expert myself, an amateur at most

Elliot said “and the owner took down the site right away and parked it.”

I think most buyers do not use the developed site so why develop?

My thoughts on mini site development… mini sites are just place holders until a buyer comes along. The appearance of a developed site gives the potential buyer the impression that the site is developed and/or of value to the owner.

This gives the owner a better negotiating position. That’s why you put up mini sites.

Since the sale of a domain always brings in more revenue than parking or adsense, people should develop solely for preparation of the sale of the domain unless the owner is planning to start a business.

Develop your sites from the buyer’s eyes. Make your domain look valuable. Loading it up with ppc or adsense just makes the domain look whored out to a potential buyer.

Make that potential buyer think you love the domain and have long term plans then you’ll have the upper hand in negotiations.

NEVER leave any domain dead or at your registrar’s default page. You’ll get an email from a potential buyer like “I see you are not using your domain ______.com so I’d like to offer you $50.

So, develop just enough to raise the sales price of the domain.

Elliot,

I bet if you never developed and just focused on what you are great at, buying and selling domains, your ROI would be much higher. However, Rob is right on with this statement he quoted below:

“My thoughts on mini site development… mini sites are just place holders until a buyer comes along. The appearance of a developed site gives the potential buyer the impression that the site is developed and/or of value to the owner.”

Thanks, Jim

@ Jim

Perhaps it’s true to a degree, but the mini sites aren’t expensive to do. I also mostly put mini sites on names I was trying to sell quickly but haven’t for some reason.

Buying and selling great domain names at great prices doesn’t happen every day. There are a lot of people trying to do the same thing as me, and it’s not a simple process.

I have a lot of additional time, and I am glad I have developed my prime assets (like Burbank.com, Lowell.com and Newburyport.com). The revenue I am making from advertising isn’t very much comparatively, but my blog advertising was fairly insubstantial last year, and that has grown, too.

I could work a lot less than I do and not develop, but it’s not nearly as fulfilling to me.

LOL @ acro

You conspiracy theorist idiot…

Keyword stuffing is done on the page it-self somewhere towards the end by blackhats and tricksters, usually it is hidden by using CSS to match the color of the text font to the background of the website itself so it is not immediately visible.

You pointed out the META TAGS keywords, which really we do not even bother with anymore. For Elliot, we did it because it doesn’t hurt and only takes a few minutes.

Stick to designing your crappy logos and banners and keep your mouth shut regarding things you have no clue about.

Yours truly!

[...] Do yourself a favor and if you’re interested in domaining and building minisites, be sure to read Elliot’s blog [...]

Hi there,
I have just discovered your site. I am relatively new to all this so it is always great to find more information from people who have been doing this for a while. Thank you so much for providing examples of your mini sites. This has helped me to see whether i am going about things the right way. Glad to say that I am doing things slowly but surely.

I have just started to invest in my own domains and so look forward to reaping the rewards in a few months time.

Thanks again.

Mikey, it will take you a few decades to reach my level. Until then, keep being the laughing stock of the industry. At least, be a man to admit you have zero skills and no portfolio, Mr. keyword stuffer.

You are an idiot. What else is there to be said?

The domain ranks at the top over at yahoo, msn and will shoot up over at Google as well with time.

Elliot should ban you from this site, and provide me with your IP so that everytime you visit my website I can re-direct you to a nice site called GAY.com

You guys are both acting like third graders.

Another great post Elliot, thanks for sharing your experiences in this regard. That said, I do not believe you wasted any time even in the instances you thought you did. It’s all an integral part of the learning process as well as the “Test Everything” theory. A lesson learned will save you time and money in the future.

My career is in hospitality marketing and when it comes to TobagoVacations.com and AthensVacations.com I believe the low numbers are due more to what’s going on travel wise right now as a result of the economy. Geo domains seem to be at a slump and travel is way down all over our top destinations here in Mexico. It has been very noticeable this year. The names are great.

As someone in the advertising field, I believe these two minisites can greatly benefit from more of an ethnic “look and feel”. UniqueInk.com includes great imagery and the human element, and that gets people’s attention. It sells and you’ve already proven that. Your vacation sites just need a little more flavor easily done with a change in background, colors and a photo here and there.

In hospitality marketing we have to sell the destination, we have to sell the water, the blue skies, the activities and the great feeling you get from being on vacation. Emotions and the human element are key.

[...] used mini sites successfully and unsuccessfully before, and I think the Michael Jackson website is a good example of an effective mini site, albeit [...]