My Mini-Site Examples

[whitebark]

EDIT: Updated and expanded version available:
Mini-site for the domain investor

There has been much discussion about how to best monetize our domain holdings. With so many parking companies paying less to domain owners, and/or with domain owners looking to maximize their holdings, the mini-site - adsense - made for adsense (MFA) idea has become more prevalent.

There are some companies floating adsense websites for as little as $10. IMHO you get what you pay for. I've been stressing the need for those who create websites to avoid the potential pitfalls associated with many MFA websites. Specifically duplicate content, unattractive ad clutter and low user satisfaction.

Google has been leading the way in addressing MFA websites for their users. Let's face it - nobody likes to use a MFA website. The most novice of computer user might not take much notice - not initially, but increasingly people will hit the back button rather than surf the website and click the ads. That is especially so for more seasoned Internet users. As the Internet continues to age, that phenomenon will only become more ingrained.

Google has firmly established supplemental results as one method of dealing with duplicate content. (read further on google's supplemental results on the google adsense blog to learn all the intricacies associated with it) Another method that they have employed is unfortunately dropping websites all together. And for anyone who has had this happen to them knows it can be a long hard process with no guarantee of success in getting your domain re-listed. This eventuality if it does befall you can also take away from your domain/website's overall worth when it comes to time to sell.

Google loves original content. So take the time to create some- even if it is just a few paragraphs per page. When compared to duplicate content google will place your effort above those who simply copy-paste text content.

I have seen some of my earlier small websites take a real hit on google over the past two updates. Even some of my larger websites whose articles are too full of quotes or press release material have seen those articles dropped into the supplemental results. And unless you have a very narrow niche website having the majority of your content in the supplemental results will do you harm when it comes to getting eyes on your website.

So with all that in mind i created today my quick example of a 'mini-site'. It was done in three hours this afternoon in between eating, surfing here etc - that is uploading files, installing db, editing files, testing, and finally making three quick articles. The site is built on postnuke CMS (which is honestly too much for the average mini-site but I just like using it as it is easily scalable later). www.getrichfast.ca

Doing it this way I help myself avoid any problems with google, I get original content for all the search engines, don't immediately turn users away with an obvious MFA website, and most importantly - is easy to build on later. Users can add comments (more content), sign up and partake in the forums if they wish and I can in a matter of seconds post more content.

For those not familiar with php, databases etc and want something simplier to work with - you can achieve nice results with many of the open source templates floating around the web. An html template example I made last week: www.securitysuite.ca

Just be sure to follow the other steps above and in about the same amount of time you can have yourself a nice functioning website without worry of what's coming down the road.

 

[blatant]

Thanks this very helpful, I am going to save this! Rep+

 

[ArtfulWebSites]

Well Said!

Whitebark,

Very well said. You make a very well-reasoned argument for original content mini-sites. Rep points given.

I would be curious to know how these sites perform traffic-wise and click/revenue-wise once they have some history. How are you promoting them? Are they newly regged domains or did they have a prior history? Do you have other domains and monetizing techniques (parking, for example) that you can compare them to?

Looking forward to you sharing your experiences with us.

Thanks.

 

[Varon]

Very nice work WhiteBark. And a very valid point about MFA's. Your templates are to the point and interesting.

 

[spinoza]

well said and well done

Well said and well done.
I couldnt agree more, and I love what you are doing with your minisites.
The problem for someone like me is that I cant build them like you....
are you considering doing it for a fee?
if you do, let me know.

 

[advaita]

Excellent mini-sites Whitebark. Are you sure none of the content is duplicate? Did you sit and write it or use stuff you had already written? Do the ads get any clicks ? I have just started blogging and l although I appear to be getting a few readers, nobody bothers clicking on any of the Adsense ads.

 

[harkster]

Hey WhiteBark,

I been reading what you have to say regarding mini/ppc-sites and don't know if I should thank or cuss you but will definitely be giving rep :tu: .

It is starting to look like my www.DubaiFestival.info may be on the verge of becoming more than a basic mini-site. Time/traffic will tell. Someone clicked something today.

 

[kubativity]

I agree. Original content is the way to go. I use a combination of original content and rss newsfeeds. It seems to work well. One good method I use for creating original content is rewriting something you might read somewhere else like wikipedia. Basically, do a high school homework assignment and post it LOL.

I love what you did with you site!

 

[advaita]

Kubativity - does that approach work? i.e. does it bring in any money from ppc?

 

[mskdhero]

Kubativity - does that approach work? i.e. does it bring in any money from ppc?

I've also taken content from wikipedia, but I always rewrite at least a new intro and ending. So far my sites that I have done that with are doing ok at least in the search engines. Not too many supplemental results.

 

[whitebark]

sorry for the late reply!

I have updated and expanded upon the original post. I of course rewrote it to avoid duplicate content penalties.

See update here:
Mini-site for the domain investor

Whitebark,

I would be curious to know how these sites perform traffic-wise and click/revenue-wise once they have some history. How are you promoting them? Are they newly regged domains or did they have a prior history? Do you have other domains and monetizing techniques (parking, for example) that you can compare them to?

Thanks for the kind words.

The websites in the first post are not old. One as the post suggests was done that day. It's already been indexed and have seen the first search engine born traffic to it. Can't ask for much more in the first week.

The other - security suite is about a month old, it is also well indexed and all pages are free of the supplemental results. It already ranks number one on google.ca for its main keywords - security suite and ranks well on google.com, yahoo, msn and their country versions.

I only use link directories or other simple link building campaigns including heavy use of my other websites to promote any and all new websites I make. Each new website you make gives you more room to advertise your others. It becomes self-perpetuating. Operating your own link directories is also a bonus because you can easily link to sub-pages and give them all featured links for maximum impact.

Truth be told - the best CTR mini-site I operate is also the ugliest thing ever to be ftp'ed to a server by me. But where it fails in aesthetic appeal it makes up for it with niche keywords and the all important - original content.

Excellent mini-sites Whitebark. Are you sure none of the content is duplicate? Did you sit and write it or use stuff you had already written? Do the ads get any clicks ? I have just started blogging and l although I appear to be getting a few readers, nobody bothers clicking on any of the Adsense ads.

Thanks.

All content was written by me except for on getrichfast where I posted the scammers email.

I'm a university student so I do recycle some of what I write - and why not? It's already done, it's mine and it's original! I've even bought other students papers from classes I don't have, but have a website need, and used them as content. As long as it's original, interesting and on-topic it works. Sometimes you have insert more keywords in the text copy to ensure you get the desired keyword density but that takes very little time.

Give your website some time. I don't expect anything for the first three months. Use that time to conduct a link-building campaign, and write more content.

Parked domains will sometimes get a higher CTR, but over the longer term can't compete. You might get a 30% CTR with a parked domain, and only 5% with a mini-site. But where you do better is the numbers - would you rather have 30% of 1000 visitors a month, or 5% of 10,000 a month? And a parked domain has to share revenue with the parking company, not so with the mini-site!

 

[thaiboy]

Thank you a lot! very helpful since I'm new to adsense.

 

[whitebark]

Thank you a lot! very helpful since I'm new to adsense.

You are welcome and if you have any questions feel free to ask.

 

[lazyleo]

Exactly Roy! I am also seeing many people using MFA site which look good no doubt but slowly the end users are realising that and its not good. I started creating sites for myself with domains which were performaing very poorly in parking , i used wordpress instead of the CMS you used IMHO wordpress is easily modifible and works great with SEO. And my earning on some domains which got no traffic almost increased ten-folds . Now i also create websites for people using my personal experiences. Glad you wrote it down in a very clear manner rep is the way i will show my appreciation for your help to others.

Kindest Regards
Kenny G

 

[Badger]

Nice work Roy

I may steal some of that for the hard coded 1plus article template being built...

j/k

 

[GIANTWEED]

Very good thread!

So does each mini-site have a separate website hosting plan? If you set up 5 mini-sites is the first step signing up for 5 hosting accounts...well...right after the 5 domain names are bought! :gl:

The thing about parking it with sedo or 1plus is that it is free...but maybe a mini-site is the way to go...if the hosting plan gets paid for within the first few months...

Or am I way off on how the process of making a mini-site would work? Isn't it basically a website...with a hosting plan?

%%-

 

[lzy]

Nice article whitebark.

Btw, DubaiFestival.info looks pretty awesome, created with Drupal ya?

 

[harkster]

Nice article whitebark.

Btw, DubaiFestival.info looks pretty awesome, created with Drupal ya?

Thanks. I need to put some time in writing content but got off on another project.

Does www.holdemplay.com look like a mini-site? Original design took about an hour but since that damn IE wouldn't render properly it took another half a day of tinkering and design compromises to get it going. The content is in the public domain and the addition of the rollovers keeps it from looking like duplicate content.

 

[TestCase]

So does each mini-site have a separate website hosting plan? If you set up 5 mini-sites is the first step signing up for 5 hosting accounts...well...right after the 5 domain names are bought! :gl:

The thing about parking it with sedo or 1plus is that it is free...but maybe a mini-site is the way to go...if the hosting plan gets paid for within the first few months...

Or am I way off on how the process of making a mini-site would work? Isn't it basically a website...with a hosting plan?

What you want to do is get yourself a small Reseller hosting package to start. You then break up your account among your domains. Reseller accounts start as low as $20 per month (probably even lower depending upon features, but I really don't know).

There are TONS of hosting groups out there and they all offer reseller packages of some sort. Shop around and compare, and then once you find a few that you're interested in, BE SURE to ask your fellow NP'ers if anyone is familiar with them and can provide an opinion/first hand experience.

If you are interested, I'll also provide you with a referal to the hosting company I use if you PM me. They're not the cheapest, but they have EXCELLENT customer service - something you'll really appreciate once you experience your first major hosting problem. I can also recommend a good webmaster forum for you to da a little research on (Would post it here but I can never remember if it's OK to do so... )

 

[canswift]

Don't use black background!

Does www.holdemplay.com look like a mini-site? Original design took about an hour but since that damn IE wouldn't render properly it took another half a day of tinkering and design compromises to get it going. The content is in the public domain and the addition of the rollovers keeps it from looking like duplicate content.[/QUOTE]

Holdemplay.com looks an interesting layout. I'm sure the content is interesting too, if only I could read it! Light typeface on a black background is well known to be much more difficult to read than dark on a light background. Most people will hit the back button after squinting through half a paragraph. Don't want you to ruin all that work just because you think this looks "cool"! All the best, CanBrit