Minisite Development Domain Selection Tips
I have had several (dozens...) of emails in the past week asking various questions about developing minisites, using wordpress for minisites, revenue on my minisites, and how-to create minisites.
As most people will tell you, I do respond to each and every email rather quickly most of the time, if I miss one its because Outlook may of been a little aggressive filtering it to junk mail.
That said, I thought I would do a few posts this week about various minisite development topics and how I choose between doing the Minisite development myself or if I outsource and also what names I choose and why.
First things first, when do I choose to build compared to outsourcing to someone else? This comes down to a couple factors, the largest one being time to be quite honest. I have a very demanding sales job that I do along with my Domaining. People ask why do both? Well I actually like the field I am in and the job I do so I use outsourcing based on using my time more effectively (if you really want to get an idea of how to work effectively read 4 Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferris). I would expect the majority of domainers work a full-time position while domaining part time, outsourcing is the key if you plan to develop any of your domains if that is the case.
The second big one is the type of site I want built, I have zero graphic skills or graphic creativity, I admit that freely, if I want a simple minisite with simple text content that can be SEO'ed I have that process down to minutes for the site creation. I create those on my own, if it is a site I think could use more of a designers touch and a nice logo then I outsource.
That said, one thing I have learned from experience is make sure the minsite focuses on keywords that have a decent PPC.
I will give a really good example of this, I like to use certain domains for testing various SEO work and Google Adsense optimization. A few months back I purchased KingCobras.org. I recognized ahead of time that the site would not have high PPC values but it was a name that receives quite a few searches per month (approximately 22,000 for exact match) and would be perfect for what I was testing (SEO on images). The site is not pretty by any means but I was able within a month to go from a couple visitors a day to 200 to 300 a day (pageviews are higher obviously), it has leveled now in the 100 range due to lack of attention but can easily be rasied back up to that level. I was able to get a reasonable CTR but the earning per click was a measley 3 to 6 cents. Once again, expected, but it just goes to show to anyone just picking terms to grab traffic if you are looking for dollars and not cents per day pick your content and terms. Thats the point right, to make money:)
Now as far as that site goes, it gets good traffic, I now have a base to build revenue from, there are revenue models that I know will actually make some money off that site and they will be implemented in the near future and I will report on this.
Now, lets go the opposite direction, a site that gets much smaller search volume but pay per click is much higher. WomensBikeShorts.com. Exact match searches are around 2,900 a month which is much lower than the KingCobras.org site so traffic is lower, BUT revenue is much better on a per day average. Why is that? Well its because it is a product people are looking to buy, when people search for a term like Womens Bike Shorts they are looking to buy a product, when they search for King Cobras they are researching. Big difference between what people will pay per click between those 2 intentions.
So, to circle back around to selecting outsourcing or for that matter minisite topics. Its about revenue, if you are looking for high pay per click terms look for services or products, develop your site to match the terms that bring the biggest payback. I would rather a site that gets 20 unique visitors a day getting 20 to 30 percent CTR with 30 cent clicks than a site getting 200 visitors a day with 10 percent CTR getting 3 cent clicks.
All those factors need to go into your decision process when choosing a name for development, deciding if the outsource cost is worth it, or if you want to do it yourself.
I will be posting later this week with an exact how to of how to launch simple Wordpress Minisites that have been proven to have solid CTR for those times when you cannot justify or just do not want to outsource your domain development.
I look forward to your next installment of
Developing Mini Sites… etc…
~Patricia Kaehler
http://www.DomainBELL.com/WhatsNew/
Very nice post, interesting to see the diferences between two type of domains when developing them.
Great information Bruce. I took a double take when I saw womensbikeshorts.com. Turns out I used to own it. Great job with the development.
I think I have a few names you have stuck in your list before:) You may see a few more get a mention in the blog soon.
Yeah, I went back through my sales history and noticed that. Small world, I had no idea.
Hi Bruce,
It’s great your discussing the “Next New Thing” in domaining, which is already here. Domain development. No more “buy and park” laziness. Now is when you gotta work!
Don’t forget about companies like AEIOU.com, DevHub, Minisites.com and WhyPark.com. Each of these companies have a track record, with different approaches to domain development, but all are definitely worth the investment to try. Each can be tested with a minimum cost of $99 – $250 at the standard level service.
Since I’m involved with WhyPark.com, I prefer our system, pricing and benefits. I think our three years headstart on the rest of the pack is advantageous, and it proves very beneficial for our customers, now and in the very near future.
I advise, really, I endorse and recommend, every serious domainer to spend $99 and open up a 100 domain development account at WhyPark. Test out our services at that level, and see how it flies. What’s great about WhyPark is that you can hire outside content developers to work on your sites at Whypark, or hire WhyPark’s expert management team to build you a domain you’ll finally get indexed and making money. PPC is good for those one word wonders, but for domains that need organic search love, try out WhyPark or the other domain development companies.
Thanks for writing about this important direction for domain investors. Keep up the good work. (by the way, I don’t see a link to my Successclick.com blog! Want to exchange? My blog was rated “most read in March of this year).
peace
Stephen,
Check out my post http://brucemarler.com/mini-sites-compared/ , it compared a few of the minisite development options available.
Thanks for the great comments, I actually am a Whypark customer and will be using them on some of my upcoming sites, so already spent the $99:)
As far as link back, contact me with the contact me link at the top of the page.
Great comments!
Bruce
Bruce,
Nice tips. I have been thinking about building out minisites and start doing something with some good domains in my portfolio that just aren’t getting the income I want. Keep up the good posts.