Profitable minisite development blueprint?

[RSK3000]

Thanks to Springer, who shared the following link in another thread about minisites, which I thought was worth more attention/ discussion.

The link is from a forum principally about internet marketing
6 Months Later: $300 Daily w/Adsense (Lessons Learned)

The author of the post 'shares' his blueprint for minisite success. I thought it was very interesting, but at 32 pages long it took me a few evenings to get through it. Its well worth the read and I think a lot of forum members will be encouraged by it.

In broad terms the post proposes............

1.) pick a niche that is not over exploited, but has reasonable search traffic
2.) build a simple minisite, with up to 20 pages about the topic and monetise with Adsense
3.) write articles and submit them to article databases such as Go Articles with author link back to site
4.) keep at it until the site ranks well, i.e. first few top spots in Google for that keyword

Move on to the next domain and start again. Anything from 25 - 100 sites in exploitable niches means you can give up your day job.

Obviously there is more to it, but for those of us that have been developing sites for a while, there is not that much more to it.

Its a very time consuming strategy, and many people have argued in other forums that spending the same length of time on a smaller number of authority sites may be more profitable.

Has anyone else read the thread? What do you think?

 

[rob]

Thoughts:

- time consuming therefore is reward worth it?
- not long term sustainable
- not defensible
- I would hate to be reliant on google £, mainly due to seeing how quick they turn off adsense accounts (not mine!)
- what is the exit? (if needed)

I do agree with:
- need for a strategy/long term plan
- avoiding forums as they eat time

 

[springer]

I found the thread very interesting and it took a few nights to read it through also! A number of people on that forum are reporting good results (eg http://www.warriorforum.com/adsense...w-you-can-really-reach-100-day-w-adsense.html)

The strategy does involve a big risk, relying on Adsense as the main money earner.

It is also rather risky, as the recommended position for adsense is below the page/post title. This must not be done in a way that suggest the ads are part of the site content, otherwise it is bye bye adsense account.

Of course, you could add some affiliate links in also.

From what I gather, the author of that thread is essentially writing product reviews. The success of this is all about making the site look ugly (no header), so that the visitor attention is drawn directly to the adsense ads.

If you want the thread in PDF: The X-Factor Adsense $300 a day thread PDF|clickbump.com

After reading the thread. I threw up a real ugly website, no header, and put the adsense unit in a prominent place. Currently on page 4 of google but getting a few clicks a day from not many visitors. I can see how it would work...

 

[accelerator]

I much prefer affiliate links to AdSense.

I do agree though that a large number of targetted niche sites is a good idea, and better than relying on a single big site.

Rgds

 

[rob]

It is also rather risky, as the recommended position for adsense is below the page/post title. This must not be done in a way that suggest the ads are part of the site content, otherwise it is bye bye adsense account.
...

From what I gather, the author of that thread is essentially writing product reviews. The success of this is all about making the site look ugly (no header), so that the visitor attention is drawn directly to the adsense ads.

Yes - its quite spammy / dodgy. It works for now, but wont in X months / years time.

 

[RSK3000]

I think its easy to criticise but people have been reporting good success with this type of strategy.

Here is a post from a few years ago saying something similar.
From A to Z – the 7 steps of building profitable web sites | OBannons Leap

While here is Jown Chows view..
Big Sites Rules, Small Sites Drool | John Chow dot Com

which is similar to this one.
SEOmoz | Five Reasons Why It's Better to be Big & Popular than Small & Niche

I think the point is that there are different ways to make good money by building out your domains. Not all of domain names can be developed with a minisite because you have to rank well in Google to see any return. However, part of the reason I posted the link here is that we have been discussing how to make a £1.00 a week

http://www.acorndomains.co.uk/mini-sites/15996-making-domain-earn-1-week.html

......and this is probably the nearest to a working formula for domainers that we are likely to find.

 

[springer]

I posted the link here is that we have been discussing how to make a £1.00 a week and this is probably the nearest to a working formula for domainers that we are likely to find.

Agreed. I think there is a good chance of making that £1 a week.

Interestingly, here is a follow up to "XFactor" approach, which appears to be easier to implement. Essentially, a one-page site with good content of 300-1000 words with privacy, contact, about page. If the site gets ranked well then great, you should be seeing some return. If it doesn't get ranked then not to worry just forget it and try another.

The clickbump method? all your questions answered...

After a few months of having sites that are working, you could then perhaps develop and concentrate on those ones a bit more.

 

[WaftyCrank]

Many people say that affiliate payments are better paid than Google Adsense. When you build affiliate websites, do you go to each 'e-tailer' and sign up for individual affiliate accounts or do you use an affiliate company such as tradedoubler or the like to ensure all your affiliate bonuses are kept in one pot for easy withdrawal?

I've recentlt come out of a web business sector which was my main source of online income. Now I want to make use of some of my better domains to try and build traffic, monetise them and earn some £££. My problem is that my only experience of this sort of thing is with Google Adsense which is unpredictable as far as longevity goes (from Google's point of view).

I'm really starting from the ground up and could do with some pointers (job one will be checking the links posted in this thread).

 

[WaftyCrank]

Also while we're hovering around the affiliate subject, should I be considering investing in www.theaffiliatecode.com and is clickbank.com the way to go. God I feel like such a n00bie

 

[accelerator]

Many people say that affiliate payments are better paid than Google Adsense. When you build affiliate websites, do you go to each 'e-tailer' and sign up for individual affiliate accounts or do you use an affiliate company such as tradedoubler or the like to ensure all your affiliate bonuses are kept in one pot for easy withdrawal?

You sign up with the affiliate networks like Tradedoubler, buy.at and Affiliate Window, and then sign up with the merchants (e-tailers) through them.

That said, some merchants do run their own independent affiliate programmes as well, where the networks aren't involved.

Rgds

 

[WaftyCrank]

Cheers accelerator much appreciated. Would you opt for the direct route through th e-tailers or use networks to consolodate potential affiliate income?

 

[accelerator]

Cheers accelerator much appreciated. Would you opt for the direct route through th e-tailers or use networks to consolodate potential affiliate income?

When you are just getting started, I would use the networks, it's easy and straightforward. Using independent affiliate programmes is more hassle and only worth it if you can get a good deal for a big niche site you run (IMO).

Rgds

 

[techtimmy]

In part of the Xfactor thread the writer mentions if his keyword rich domain is taken then he just buys the same domain name but with shop or store added on the end.

I was labouring under the impression that we needed exact keyword domain matches in order to get the main benefit from the search engines, not ones with an extra word attached.

What's the correct stance on this?

 

[springer]

In part of the Xfactor thread the writer mentions if his keyword rich domain is taken then he just buys the same domain name but with shop or store added on the end.

I was labouring under the impression that we needed exact keyword domain matches in order to get the main benefit from the search engines, not ones with an extra word attached.

What's the correct stance on this?

I would say to go with the exact keyword domain. If that is not available then just forget it and move on.

 

[accelerator]

In part of the Xfactor thread the writer mentions if his keyword rich domain is taken then he just buys the same domain name but with shop or store added on the end.

I was labouring under the impression that we needed exact keyword domain matches in order to get the main benefit from the search engines, not ones with an extra word attached.

What's the correct stance on this?

Well, it's true to say exact match will be most preferable for SEO, but it's not available, I just buy the next best thing and get on with building a site anyway. If it's a good keyphrase you still want to target it even if you can't use an exact match domain.

Rgds

 

[HZC]

Some great help here and im going to take a lot of this into consideration when building my first minisite.