My Ultimate Set Up for Self Hosted Mini-sites

[wags]

Hi All,
I have been developing websites for the past 10 years mainly built upon the wordpress platform, recently i have been buying a few domains with traffic, backlinks etc and having a go at making a few quid from parking them, but even though i have made a few quid i wasn't happy with not being able to drive traffic to the sites and optimize them, so i have tried to incorporate the best of both worlds.

The following will hopefully make life a lot easier for anyone who would like to develope their domains rather than park them , and may even entice people who think they do not have enough time to develope their domains.

This is not a guide to installing wordpress and i am not going to go into the technical details of installation of files, changing A records and name servers etc as i want to focus on the main benefits of this over other development strategies, although i would be more than happy to reply to any questions regarding installation when im available.

Ok so lets get going

For my hosting i use hostgator shared hosting as it is completely compatible for the mini site setup ( not all hosting providers have the features needed )

I have used wordpress to build the mini-sites as i can make use of the great multi-site feature where you can create unlimited sites from only one wordpress install, once this is set up i can create a mini site in under 2 minutes and can control all my sites from one dashboard.

The wordpress plugins i have chosen are as follows:

Google Analytics MU - This plugin lets you add separate Analytics I.D,s for each site we add giving us are tracking data

Auto Redirect 404 in 301 for Trashed Posts - This plugin allows you to automatically produce 301 redirects to the home page, i use this for redirecting old backlinks to my homepage from seach results where the page no longer exists.

WordPress MU Domain Mapping - Maps any blog on a WordPress website to another domain, this is what i use for connecting my domains to each mini-site.

Thats all the plugins you need really, i have installed the great wordpress SEO plugin but this is optional, if your interested in adapting a more indepth on page SEO strategy its worth installing.

Choosing a Theme:

I have spent the last 2 weeks trying to find the right theme, in the end i created my own as i wanted my mini-sites to resemble a parked domain page for CTR reasons

My mini-sites are one page only as there is no added benefit from having more than one page, search engines rank pages not websites and i could focus all my effort on building more backlinks and driving traffic ( if i want to ) to my adsense optimized landing page with no added distraction for my visitors giving in a sense a parked domain experience without using a parking company.

my adsense code is hard coded into my theme ( very easy to do ) so as soon as my site is added all i have to do is add a bit of content, i will probably add between 200 and 300 words of relevent content with my chosen keywords to keep google happy with me.

Summing up:

I now have a complete network of single page mini-sites where i can track all my visitors, drive traffic if i wish, create new backlinks, with a CTR to resemble a parked domain and keep the majority of revenue, and have a new site ready in under 2 minutes.

Here is an example mini-site from my network cheap-autoinsurance-quotes.com

Wags

 

[wags]

UPDATE: I have replaced the plugin "Auto Redirect 404 in 301 for Trashed Posts" for a plugin called "404 Redirection" which works better

 

[SearchEngineZ]

So, do you redirect each of your domains to a subfolder of the Wordpress MU site?

Are there any negative SEO consequences to this?

 

[Name Trader]

You example takes quite a few seconds to load the page. So long that I almost went away. I also never saw any ads, in Firefox, Chrome, or Konqueror

 

[wags]

So, do you redirect each of your domains to a subfolder of the Wordpress MU site?

Are there any negative SEO consequences to this?

Hi, you can choose your sites to be created on sub folders or sub domains, to use the domain mapping plugin you need to use the sub domain option then simply add your chosen domain name to your created mini site, all domain names need to be parked on your hosting account

No negative SEO affects bat all its a legitimate way of adding a domain name to a website

Wags

---------- Post added at 08:18 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:15 AM ----------

You example takes quite a few seconds to load the page. So long that I almost went away. I also never saw any ads, in Firefox, Chrome, or Konqueror

It loads instantly for me, i have put a different mini site up now try again, i would be pleased to get your feedback

thx wags

 

[decades80]

Sorry but youve said you were developer? I dont see any result on your site... If you put the "wrong" traffic to your car insurance adwords adds you will get chargeback soon...

 

[wags]

Sorry but youve said you were developer? I dont see any result on your site... If you put the "wrong" traffic to your car insurance adwords adds you will get chargeback soon...

I buy domains with relevent traffic and backlinks, adsense ads are relevant to my content and coming from relevant sources which is what google asks for when adding adsense to your webpage

Thx wags

 

[AcornDomains.co.uk]

I buy domains with relevent traffic and backlinks, adsense ads are relevant to my content and coming from relevant sources which is what google asks for when adding adsense to your webpage

Thx wags

It's not quite that simple. I have added adsense to mini site pages just to be told by Google that I do not meet their content quality guidelines for ad placements.

You can't just throw up a few words and an add, it has to be real content.

Acorn Domains

 

[wags]

It's not quite that simple. I have added adsense to mini site pages just to be told by Google that I do not meet their content quality guidelines for ad placements.

You can't just throw up a few words and an add, it has to be real content.

Acorn Domains

Hi i have visited your website quite a few times in the past, nice site. I totally get where your coming from, i had problems with adsense removing ads from domains because it did not meet the requirements, this was because i had coded my adsense ads into the header and sidebar which made them visible on all pages 404,s etc, so this time my ads only show up on my home page

Wags

 

[KwelX]

It's not quite that simple. I have added adsense to mini site pages just to be told by Google that I do not meet their content quality guidelines for ad placements.

You can't just throw up a few words and an add, it has to be real content.

Acorn Domains

Wise words. Welcome back :D

 

[fm1234]

posted by wags:

My mini-sites are one page only as there is no added benefit from having more than one page, search engines rank pages not websites

Not only is the first part of that statement incorrect, but the second part explains why. After ten years of developing you've never seen an SEO benefit to having more than one page to a website?


Frank

 

[wags]

posted by wags:


Not only is the first part of that statement incorrect, but the second part explains why. After ten years of developing you've never seen an SEO benefit to having more than one page to a website?


Frank

Hi Frank , perhaps you could go into more detail .

I must admit i could have worded what i said a bit better, i was refering too "off page SEO" and yes the mini sites are one page only as far as visiors are concerned as all other pages redirect to the home page frank

Wags

 

[ibidu]

As regards minisites your example is not a very impressive minisite at all and the only way that I can see that site being visited will be through backlinks or if you drive traffic to it yourself. It would be interesting to see what sort of CTR that site will achieve?

Anyhow, thanks for sharing....you've still taken some action and you will get some marks for that

 

[decades80]

Yeah your page is nothing more as a parked page. When Google robots discover this you will get deindexed. So Goodbye your "SEO"

 

[wags]

As regards minisites your example is not a very impressive minisite at all and the only way that I can see that site being visited will be through backlinks or if you drive traffic to it yourself. It would be interesting to see what sort of CTR that site will achieve?

Anyhow, thanks for sharing....you've still taken some action and you will get some marks for that

Hi ibidu,
what i am trying to achieve is an alternative to using a parking company where the only traffic comes from existing backlinks and type in's, the CTR is greater on parking landers so i wanted to keep my mini sites to one page only to give it the same feel, i know that on page SEO is going to suffer but i would be able to create new backlinks with keyword titles improving rankings for these, which will also improve page rank if the baclinks come from the right sources, i have had good CTR so far on some days i have had 1 visit 1 click but time will tell, also i do not have to share my revenue with the parking company and i also know that every visit will be shown in my analytics data.

wags

---------- Post added at 11:44 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:41 AM ----------

Yeah your page is nothing more as a parked page. When Google robots discover this you will get deindexed. So Goodbye your "SEO"

"Yeah your page is nothing more as a parked page"

this is what i am trying to achieve, you should have read the post properly

"When Google robots discover this you will get deindexed"

Its already indexed and getting crawled, there is nothing wrong with a single page website, there are thousands and thousands of product splash pages that are indexed by google and remain indexed, so perhaps you could put some facts to your information.

wags

 

[enlytend]

You won't get thrown out of search - search and Adsense are 2 different products.

You do risk trashing your Adsense account. Page I saw violated a couple of their policies (like the one about not placing ads on pages "published specifically for the purpose of showing ads." You'll fly beneath the radar for a while, but all takes is one big advertiser or agency with a personal rep to see it and bring it to someone's attention.

Most advertisers opt out of having their ads on parked pages for a reason.

 

[fm1234]

My mini-sites are one page only as there is no added benefit from having more than one page, search engines rank pages not websites

Not only is the first part of that statement incorrect, but the second part explains why ...

Hi Frank , perhaps you could go into more detail .

I must admit i could have worded what i said a bit better, i was refering too "off page SEO" and yes the mini sites are one page only as far as visiors are concerned as all other pages redirect to the home page frank
[/quote]

Perhaps I misunderstood what you said -- it sounded as if you were saying that there is no SEO benefit to having a site with more than one page to it.


Frank

 

[wags]

Hi Frank , perhaps you could go into more detail .

I must admit i could have worded what i said a bit better, i was refering too "off page SEO" and yes the mini sites are one page only as far as visiors are concerned as all other pages redirect to the home page frank

Perhaps I misunderstood what you said -- it sounded as if you were saying that there is no SEO benefit to having a site with more than one page to it.


Frank[/QUOTE]

Hi Frank, it was my fault i should have made myself clearer, also i cant see there being much benefit from having a 5 page mini site or a 1 page mini site so thats why i opted for the latter, i wanted to make it as easy as possible to create lots of mini site parking alternatives

wags

---------- Post added at 07:42 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:33 PM ----------

You won't get thrown out of search - search and Adsense are 2 different products.

You do risk trashing your Adsense account. Page I saw violating a couple of their policies (like the one about not placing ads on pages "published specifically for the purpose of showing ads." You'll fly beneath the radar for a while, but all takes is one big advertiser or agency with a personal rep to see it and bring it to someone's attention.

Most advertisers opt out of having their ads on parked pages for a reason.

Hi there, this was my greatest concern as i know that adsense should not be the main focus of your website, but where is the line drawn,google sais that you are allowed 3 ad units per page, i have only 2, my content is relevant to the ads and my url etc which in turn would send relevant visitors to the advertisers offers.

I assume google has some kind of algorithm which alerts them to adsense heavy pages which do not meet the criteria

wags

 

[Name Trader]

The page loads a lot faster now. I'm from Philippines. The ad above your title is for an online shoe company. The ad to the left of your text is for an online classified ad company. Both from Philippines. I don't think you will get many clicks from here. I hope you get better matching ads from other countries.

Also. Where is you privacy statement? I thought that was a must for adsense? Or is that only for Search?

 

[wags]

The page loads a lot faster now. I'm from Philippines. The ad above your title is for an online shoe company. The ad to the left of your text is for an online classified ad company. Both from Philippines. I don't think you will get many clicks from here. I hope you get better matching ads from other countries.

Also. Where is you privacy statement? I thought that was a must for adsense? Or is that only for Search?

Hi stub ill check out the privacy policy , the ads are 95% insurance ads from my end, could it be to do with your browser cache

Thx wags