Mini-site experiment

[harkster]

Because of other projects I have been neglecting my mini-site development but stumbled across Drupal at www.Drupal.org while looking for a replacement to Joomla which has such a tough learning curve.
After looking at some of the things others are doing I decided to give it a shot using Drupal at www.DodgeTurbo.us.

In addition to Drupal I use a (free) rss script from www.neoprogrammers.com for building the news feeds.

Drupal +'s -- easy to learn, built in forum, easy to allow registered users to contribute content via 'my blog' should the site take off, easy to create SE friendly URL's and can be installed from cPanel

Drupal -'s -- not a large selection of templates, terms are a bit strange sometimes not as 'rich' as some of the other CMS packages but...

I would like some input from y'all such as good, bad, ugly or who cares or...

This took me about a day to modify a template to my liking and about 3 hours to populate with the current content not counting sitting and thinking time. I will be adding more stuff but the hard part is done. The thing I like about this is that in a flash content can now be added, deleted or moved. Off to submit to SE's and scatter some links about.

 

[highlifelight]

I'm still really new, and I have already learned that parking (by itself) seems to be a losing proposition. This mini-site development is fantastic, hark!

Now, if only somebody would be generous enough to post a short tutorial...

:lol:

Edit: I found at least one good article on creating sites like this, if anybody is interested.

http://www.netbusinessblog.com/2007/01/09/building-a-niche-minisite/

It does however leave out any rss replication from applicable news sources, which I think makes hark's work stand out. Has anybody messed with zFeeder for this purpose? It seems to be a lightweight option for this purpose.

http://zvonnews.sourceforge.net/

 

[NameClerk]

As for PPC-Sites.com - wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole. Duplicate content banning just waiting to happen.

If you feel these sites would be hit with a duplicate content ban, don't you think Hark's sites would be as well? Certainly, Hark's sites aren't the only ones using those RSS feeds?

Nice work Hark.

-Bill

 

[Shorty]

If you feel these sites would be hit with a duplicate content ban, don't you think Hark's sites would be as well? Certainly, Hark's sites aren't the only ones using those RSS feeds?

Exactly. All mini sites duplicate content and they all run the risk of being banned by search engines for it, or at least shunted down the rankings for it. The trick is to have a niche site where there is so little competition in the search engines that it appears near the top regardless.

I've not used PPC-Sites myself, but some of their stuff i've seen is quite impressive and worth the money. Having that many pages indexed is going to look good for you anyway, whether copied or not.

 

[whitebark]

If you feel these sites would be hit with a duplicate content ban, don't you think Hark's sites would be as well? Certainly, Hark's sites aren't the only ones using those RSS feeds?

Nice work Hark.

-Bill

It's not the rss feeds that are the problem it is the canned and copied text copy taken directly from article submission websites. Who knows how many websites are already using it? Google's last two updates have been detrimental to duplicate content websites. There is nothing suggesting that they will not continue to penalize them by burying them in the supplemental results or as I have seen first-hand - dropped all together.

And on top of that - it still looks like an Adsense eyesore. They are not very usable for the visitor. Many studies have been conducted on how people read text on the Internet and the way they have lazily formatted the text copy guarantees low readership and low user satisfaction.

It is far better to spend some money getting someone to write you three or four pages of content or just do it yourself. Your SERPs will increase, you avoid any chance of duplicate content penalties including being dropped, and you increase the usability of the site for any visitor.

As long as hark doesn't fall into the trap of copy-pasting already used text, he is on the right track.

 

[enlytend]

I'm with Whitebark on this ...

Per this frequently-ignored quote from the Adsense program policies:

No Google ad may be placed on pages published specifically for the purpose of showing ads, whether or not the page content is relevant.

A big gray area to be sure, but to me it's always seemed wise to keep pages from looking like they were built to display the ads (regardless of one's actual agenda ) and always offering some unique value for the visitor. I would personally stay away from anything, no matter how well-intentioned, that promotes itself as building sites strictly for Adsense revenue.

Hark, both sites look good, nice ad blending especially on the one site. Good luck with them .

 

[iMODO Man]

1. Mini sites with an rss feed i.e one thats constantly changing do not tend to get too badly affected in googles listings - provided the static text on the page/meta tags/page title and other html text isnt a duplication.

2. The two article "mini site" providers which seem all the range on this board are providing either a hard code code or a hard coded feed. Both of which show duplicate content of 000's of other sites.

Who knows how many websites are already using it?

Go see for yourselves. Here

 

[harkster]

I just popped in to see what is going on. There are several things I would like to reply to but am busy with a client site update. Process and upload around 4000 images for an upcoming auction.

Some of the things being discussed here are why I named the thread Mini-site experiment. Yes there is a danger that at some point in time rss feeds may become a problem but if that happens there will be some big sites hit as well.

Content is best and original content IS indeed king. My problem right now is that I can produce one of these sites in a few hours but my writing skills suck big time and because of this I make of use Wikipedia type stuff but no caned articles. I can't justify the 10-20 cents a word to have content written for these projects when the failure rate is so high. I been using rss feeds for some time as a way to have the spiders (hopefully) see fresh content as in www.TopZuneSites.com. I often find myself clicking to read something as I am doing maintenance or whatever when I would not think of going to Google and doing a news search or having a desktop feed on that subject.

Now for Adsense ad placement. I recently read somewhere about having your ads blend in the content and believe they are right on. In fact I had a site with big glaring Adsense which overpowered the content (A 120+- page site with loads of usefull content) and when I changed the colors and moved the content where your eyes will see the ads while reading. Ad background same as the page and link/text colors which are used site wide. The click rate went way up.

Must get back to paying work.

BTW just looked a bit ago and DodgeTurbo got some clicks yesterday. I hope it wasn't someone here clicking just for the hell of it. Has been visited by BigG, MSN and an unidentified spider.

 

[whitebark]

Hark you just wrote five solid paragraphs - that is one page already done! It's easy! Like you said - take a wikipedia article as a starting point if you must and go from there.

How long did it take you to write your latest response - two or three minutes? Don't sell yourself short!

 

[mlmleads]

Whitebark your argument against PPC-sites is no more valid than the same argument against ANY website period, adsense or not IMO.

The fact that a site can lose rank or drop all together is just a fact of life.

So if you are going to rely on PPC for a steady income stream diversify, diversify, diversify. (Use multiple ad feeds, Google, YPN, Bidvertiser, etc..)

Try multiple developments. Make a few mini sites yourself. Who cares if they look bad at first? With practice comes some experience and eventually can turn out nice sites.

The best part of mini-sites is you can do anything you want to keep people coming back. If you have a site selling golf equipment. Put a flash game on it.

If you have a site about NASCAR put a free email service on it for the racing fans.

There are a lot of ways to get a ton of people to come back to an otherwise "worthless" site.

With these virtual nick knacks will come natural relevant inbound links as well.

GL and remember that in life but especially in web SEO nothing is always or never.

 

[iMODO Man]

Yeah, or black hat the whole process (if thats your bag).

Example taken from the whypark example site:

The advent of the computer, as anyone can tell you, certainly brought with it benefits of such proportions we could never have previously imagined them. But, as with anything, the good always comes with the bad. The computer, while handing us the world, has also exposed us to the dangers of it. Part of the danger, exclusive to the operation of computers, is exposure to viruses that can wipe out our hard drives, render our software unusable, and in some cases, completely eradicate normal function of our computers. For most of us, who store personal, professional, and even legal information on our computers, virus exposure can be devastating. Luckily, most people employ the use of antivirus software that protects our computers from attack

Now translate into french and back again into english

The coming of the computer, does not import to us everything, though certainly brought with it problems of such proportions we could not never have imagined previously. But, as with every issue, the bad is outweighed by the good. The computer, while we are transmitting to the world, has also exposed its dangers. Part of the danger, exclusive to the operation of computers, is the exposition of viruses that can eliminate our hard drives, create unusable software and, in some cases, completely eliminate the normal function of our computers. For mostly of us, that store personal, professional and legal information on our computers, virus exposition can devastate wellbeing. Fortunately, most people employ software antivirus tools that protect our computers of the assault

Now thats original content. You may paypal me your donations for that little snippet of gold.

Either that or, for all you guys that think you can buck a multi billion dollar industry with really lame (what id call "grey hat") techniques, simply realise that you CANNOT monetise the stuff dogs do in the street without realising that your "mini site" pavement to gold is something the major seach engines have thought about long ago and made strong provisions to combat it.

Im not posting this stuff anymore, no-ones listening..

 

[whitebark]

Whitebark your argument against PPC-sites is no more valid than the same argument against ANY website period, adsense or not IMO.

Huh?

Anyone who wants to disregard what I have said in regards to duplicate content can do so at their own free will. Don't act surprised when you get no inbound traffic from the search engines, and when you get stuffed into the supplemental results or dropped all together. If your domain has natural or existing expired traffic you might do alright.

Internet users are sick of adsense websites, and the search engines are responding by doing what they can do - making them unseen as best as possible. Your average everyday website doesn't have to worry as they don't litter their page with ads, use rss feeds in place of real content and fill out the rest of the site with duplicate content. And if they do, then they are not making a real website now are they?

And of course that could apply to any website using just about any advertising program - I never contended otherwise - I just want to make people aware that they should understand what they could expect from using duplicate content in their pursuit to make a 'mini-site'.

If you read the adsense terms of service - it is only a matter of time before they fully put action behind their words. That is no made for adsense websites - something else that should be considered when spending money to buy these canned websites. Save your money and invest a little time and money and have them done right the first time. You will make much more in the long run. And if you get your domain banned from using duplicate content - good luck selling it for what you think it's worth.

Im not posting this stuff anymore, no-ones listening..

I hear you Chuck - I suspect you hold a number of websites yourself.

 

[highlifelight]

Quick question on minisites though: What is the most economical way to host such a dinky domain?

 

[NameClerk]

Quick question on minisites though: What is the most economical way to host such a dinky domain?

Many hosting providers allow multiple domains to share the same hosting account. This allows you to have as many websites/domains as the account's bandwidth and diskspace limits allow.

-Bill

 

[harkster]

How long did it take you to write your latest response - two or three minutes? Don't sell yourself short!

Nearly half an hour. First, I am a c5-c6 quadraplegic and type with a pencil entwined in the fingers of 1 hand (43 years post injury -- ain't complaining -- just a fact of life). That is why some of the things I post seem disjointed as my mind is much faster than my 1 pencil hunt and peck system. It is sort of like a problem trying to sync your laptop with your box. When I type something and go back to read it never makes sense/flows and I have to rewrite it (usually several times) but as I say 'THATS LIFE IN THE SLOW LANE'.

Since some commented the Dubai site was dull and the theme wouldn't let me do a header image like I wanted I got pissed and completely changed it using another theme.

 

[enlytend]

type with a pencil entwined in the fingers of 1 hand

I could see that making content (or post) writing quite a chore! Have you ever considered (or tried) voice recognition software like Dragon?

 

[daled1]

Artful

So would you say the ppc-sites are a big improvement over 1plus?

Is that cuz of higher clickthroughs and more traffic?

Is the only way you promote these sites via directory submission?

I have about 10 sites at 1plus that I've submitted to 40 directories each as my only form of promotion and they rarely get clicks, 5-10 a day in total. I don't see much advantage in having a better website as ppc-sites look like they are, if it's super hard to get visitors.

 

[ArtfulWebSites]

So would you say the ppc-sites are a big improvement over 1plus?

Is that cuz of higher clickthroughs and more traffic?

Is the only way you promote these sites via directory submission?

I have about 10 sites at 1plus that I've submitted to 40 directories each as my only form of promotion and they rarely get clicks, 5-10 a day in total. I don't see much advantage in having a better website as ppc-sites look like they are, if it's super hard to get visitors.

daled1,

The PPC-Sites are a big improvement over ANY parking for several reasons:

- they look phenomenally better than any parking pages, including 1Plus
- they have actual content, much of which is dynamic (updated daily)
- you have TOTAL control of ALL the code on all the pages
- you can further customize to your heart's content
- you get to keep 100% of your ad revenue
- you are free to promote them any way you want (no parking TOS)

The down side of PPC-Sites:

- you have to provide and/or pay for hosting
- not all content may be "unique" (but, you could fix it yourself)
- not all content may be relevant to your topic (but, you could fix it yourself)

I have submitted the sites to over 200 search engines and over 150 directories each, but it has only been done within the last week. So, I have not yet fully realized the benefit of those promotions. I am looking forward to more exciting times for: ShopsInLasVegas.com and GolfAndBeer.com.

I plan to get more PPC-Sites as time and budget permit.

I hope this helps.

 

[globefrog]

Hi Artful, I have successfully recieved my first batch of PPC-Sites.com pages. Here is an example: www.freealldebt.com

I have a bunch of other sites I plan on getting done with them, Ones I dont have much time to do anything with yet (I have around 5 projects on the go).

I will take the time to customise some content on these pages and make them as unique as possible and promote them.

I love PPC-Sites efficiency and the system in general. Not to mention great customer services and timely responses.


Cheers,
Aaron

 

[texasgamer]

ppc-sites is the best thing since baked bread. I am a believer! Where else can you get a site that is this good looking for less than $20? Even if it is duplicate content, it is still worth the money just for the template, the custom logo and banner and all the layouts. There are alot of people that struggle to do this type work and have to pay hugh sums to freelancers. You can insert your own written content and then BAM you have a nice site!

And Hark I really like the way you blended the adsense in on dodgeturbo.us
but I think if you could do something with that banner....

 

[ArtfulWebSites]

Hey Guys,

In the inimitable words of Inspector Clouseau: "That is what I have been saaaying!", despite all the nay sayers out there. Their designs are so clean, neat and attractive.

globefrog, your FreeAllDebt.com site looks great, and what a great name. Let us know how it performs. Was it previously parked?

texasgamer, I agree with you 100%. The graphics alone are worth it!