An alternative to parking

[Sussexite]

Here's an idea that I've been thinking about as an alternative to parking.

What do you think - has anyone tried it?

1. Write a 5 page site - let's say it's on eg Coventry or Carpet tiles
2. Create a Google custom search of around 100 - 500 sites which have been hand checked by you as being highly relevant to the search term ie they are all in Coventry or they all sell carpet tiles etc

Bill the site as "the hand checked search engine for Coventry / Carpet tiles. Powered by Google, and hand checked by us."

It's honest and adds some value.

Any thoughts?

 

[AuthorityDomain]

Not a bad idea, although not sure it would be worth the effort

You'd need to maintain the list of sites as they could change/give 404 etc

The idea of parking is to make revenue from clicks. I don't think it would convert as well as there would be lots of relevant sites that aren't sponsored and get clicks.

I would say it would need some split testing to see if it would work better than your existing parking options

 

[SkinnerSkinner is verified member.]

That's a little thin for a mini site for google to like now.

I debated something similar, which was an evolved idea I had from something Doodlebug was talking about. He went into Geo's in Hull I think, and was planning a sort of directory (as I recall, I could be "borrowing" more of his idea than I remember).

I was thinking a 5+core (contact/privacy/cookie/legal/disclosure/etc) making up around 10 basic pages, then have "inner" pages, so if I had CoventryTown. I would have "inner" categories for Plumbers, Joiners, Carpet Tiles, etc.

Each inner page would contain 3 paid for "premium" links, and paid customers could have a custom page (powered by the blog tool in wordpress).

My idea for a search box would be a jquery autocomplete with thumbnails of the site on the search box with links to relevant local sites, take a look at this example http://qpoit.com/marcofolio_demo/apple_search/ (the source code is on http://www.marcofolio.net/webdesign/a_fancy_apple.com-style_search_suggestion.html).

I considered charging a low price like £1-2 per month for listing in the auto complete, and £5 for the inner cat pages per month, and £10 for the custom pages.

I was unable to secure the domain name I wanted for this so I dropped the project, with just rough notes.

Its probably more work than your planning or was thinking, but maybe you can glean an idea from it like I did from Doodles posts of the time

 

[SystregSystreg is verified member.]

I debated something similar, which was an evolved idea I had from something Doodlebug was talking about. He went into Geo's in Hull I think

@ Skinner, I think you mean GoldDiggerGuy who's from Hull and has a lot of associated geo names.

 

[SkinnerSkinner is verified member.]

My mistake, was def Hull domains I wrote in my notes.

I try to note where I came up with idea's from, in case I want to revisit it and see how they got on

@ Skinner, I think you mean GoldDiggerGuy who's from Hull and has a lot of associated geo names.