Posts Tagged ‘mini-site’

I know most people out in domain land either like or disagree with mini-sites. Why is it that people prefer parking or another alternative to mini-sites? That answer in based on a domain to domain basis along with an opinion to opinion basis.

For one lets look at positives of mini-sites:

Unique Content: This is probably the top thing that people like about mini-sites. Regardless of your stance on everything most people can agree that content is KING and will make your site stand out above the rest.

Search Engine Inclusion: This just stacks on top of the unique content idea. It allows you be included in search engines without any type of penalties, unless of course your content is not unique.

YOU Control Ads: You can control 100% of what goes on the website. If you want adsense or an affiliate banner its up to you to decide. Rather than depending on crappy paying links that get randomly thrown up on your domain.

SEO: On top of the inclusion and unique content, you get to SEO your site, any way you want. This can mean submitting to directories or PPC campaign with one of the major advertisers out there.

Now lets look at some negatives:

CMS: Yes i said it the content management system. This can turn out to be a pain in the butt if you have to update every other month. Some alternatives to this are WordPress MU or straight HTML sites.

Work: You know the thing that usually stresses you out and sucks to do. You have to WORK to make your mini-site worth anything.

Search Engine Discretion: You put your work on the line with search engines. If they find anything they don’t like they will throw you out like gum that lost it’s flavor.

Decisions: They do suck. Although most people can make them pretty fast and easy, sometimes it’s simply not that easy to choose how to run the site.

So from my stand point i think the positives out weigh the negatives. Yes you can argue you will be updating all the time blah blah blah but you get to control whats happening. I can promote the content and site whenever i want. Plus i think they are fun to make and you learn a lot about whatever the subject the domain may be. I have learned everything from credit fraud to guitars. So if you have not jumped on the bandwagon yet just ask around for some advice.

Feel free to add to this or express your opinion.

Have you heard of it yet? Well this is the new coming of parking and some companies are on top of this already. This is what i have been talking about in my evolution of domaining posts and such. With PPC down and parking companies struggling to keep their customers its time for a change.

What sparked this post was, i was over at domaining.com checking out the new nav bar they have up there and came across “MFA” (Made for Adsense), which is under the parking tab. I saw VentureNames.com along with aeiou.com. Thinking that VentureNames.com was offering similar services to aeiou.com i wanted to find out the specifics of the service. What i found was something that i have not particularly seen in the past.

So I opened the page up and was presented with some templates. Thinking that these were just ready to use adsense optimized templates i was just kind of shrugged it off and started reading. Well what they offer is something i have not seen to date. They have about 6 templates at the moment that you can choose from for your domain which are adsense optimized along with SEO. Now here is the kicker, you put in all the meta tags, descriptions, title, content, and even videos for the page, along with your adsense ID number. Also they provide you with Google Analytics. So basically they are offering a service which allows the “Lazy” domainer to create a unique optimized website.

Pretty amazing if you ask me. This is the type of stuff that parking companies i think will strive for in the future. I also know of another company that is pushing the boundaries for parking as well. Its called iMODO.com. They have been revolutionary from the start. The thing that sets iMODO.com apart is they basically offer a fully optimized webpage, notice i did not say parking page, for its customers. This comes complete with social networking tools and forums for the specific domains. They update the content and everything on the page. You just build it with their tools. You can even offer an opt-in email list to keep users coming back. This type of environment is pretty much as easy as it gets when it comes to uniqueness in the “lazy” domainers mind. Plus this type of webpage allows for repeat visitors to come back to a meaningful page rather than a page filled with links that lead to advertisers.

These companies are leading the pack in my opinion in the domaining world. As i have said in the past the domaining world is changing and everyone is realizing content is king. Even Diddy knows this and has said it on his past episode on Working for Diddy or whatever its called. Check these companies out and give them a try and let everyone know what you think about them. Leave a comment here if you want and we can discuss this.