New Minisite Design & Layout

[davidjoseph]

Would love to hear everyone's opinion on the new minisite I made: DWI Lawyer NY

Any feedback is most appreciated!!

 

[Biggie]

home page has nice look, but don't you think you can squeeze in a few more google ads

Good Luck

 

[south]

home page has nice look, but don't you think you can squeeze in a few more google ads

Good Luck

Indeed.

Actually, I think it violates their TOS. Only three sets of adsense per page are allowed methinks.

 

[davidjoseph]

haha you can only have three google ads units per page (the "menu bar" are google links, not google ad units)... do you mean I should use different units to get more ads? or are you being sarcastic and think that I should remove some of the ads?

---------- Post added at 05:16 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:12 PM ----------

"AdSense publishers may place up to three AdSense for content units on one webpage. You may also place a maximum of three link units and two search boxes on each webpage" ... from google: https://www.google.com/support/adsense/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=9735

 

[south]

I never use that many, but I take that back. you might be allowed 3 + 1 link unit the way I'm reading it.

But yes, you really should lose some of the ads & put some content in.

Edit: Yes, was just reading up on it too. You are correct. Still... It's a bit much.

 

[Melly]

I would definitely do less ads and more content. The center ones make it very unattractive. Just because you are allowed to doesn't mean you should.

Overload otherwise looks ok.

 

[davidjoseph]

Does everyone find that fewer ads results in a higher number of clicks on ads and / or a higher price per click? I have found that on several sites, I get a higher click through rate with more ads actually. Perhaps my price per click isn't as high as it would otherwise be though, since the ads that show up higher on the page earn more generally (so the less ads you have, the more higher priced ads you are likely to have).

 

[DN BROKER]

this is a knock off template, ive seen this same design on a template that is given away by a mini site guru, now it may be you both have the same vision... what ever the case is, your design is poor. I thought you had something special to show.... two thumbs down.

Good luck with it.

 

[davidjoseph]

Hope - it is not from "mini site guru" or anywhere else, I made it myself and optimized it in various ways for SEO... it is only a day old, but I will let everyone know how it does if anyone is interested. What is an example of a mini site design that you do like?

 

[DN BROKER]

Hope - it is not from "mini site guru" or anywhere else, I made it myself and optimized it in various ways for SEO... it is only a day old, but I will let everyone know how it does if anyone is interested. What is an example of a mini site design that you do like?

From experience, I assure you your mini site is not going to do well. Their is no money in Adsense for these poorly constructed templates, put your energy and focus on development. This is for everyone, development requires more then your time, it also requires you to spend money on quality Premium PHP Scripts! - The days of PPC are over, unless you own Lawyer_com - you got no chance in this game with this cheezy template. SEO you applied, are you serious? Please do more research on what SEO is and what steps take you to the top. SEO is not going to help you at all, unless you dedicate serious pages to your domain name, meaning FULL OF CONTENT!

Again, Good luck. Oh not to mention how awful of a domain name you own. Their are other various combinations available in .com - don't know why you decided to go with .net.

 

[davidjoseph]

So you are basically against the concept of mini sites then. If you spend loads of money and time on every website, then I would not consider it a mini site. Of course I do not expect a mini site to do as well as a full blown, completely built out site with tons of fabulous and unique content... however I have quite a few "mini sites" that do not have tons of unique content and do pretty well. For example, Acne Stories consistently makes decent money for me, and I have not added anything to it for quite a long time... and I did not spend more than a few hours putting it together. I think it all depends on your goals - do you want lots of websites that make $20 a month, or do you want only a handful of websites that make much more money each? I have other websites like my Dr Oz website which makes many, many, many times the money of my mini sites each month, but I have lots of unique content that I add to there because I really love that site.

Hope - what are some examples of your sites? are they truly mini sites? or are you more of a fully built out website person? Also, what in your opinion is a better .com name?

 

[DN BROKER]

So you are basically against the concept of mini sites then. If you spend loads of money and time on every website, then I would not consider it a mini site. Of course I do not expect a mini site to do as well as a full blown, completely built out site with tons of fabulous and unique content... however I have quite a few "mini sites" that do not have tons of unique content and do pretty well. For example, Acne Stories consistently makes decent money for me, and I have not added anything to it for quite a long time... and I did not spend more than a few hours putting it together. I think it all depends on your goals - do you want lots of websites that make $20 a month, or do you want only a handful of websites that make much more money each? I have other websites like my Dr Oz website which makes many, many, many times the money of my mini sites each month, but I have lots of unique content that I add to there because I really love that site.

Hope - what are some examples of your sites? are they truly mini sites? or are you more of a fully built out website person?

You got to ask yourself one simple question, are you in this game to sell domains or develop to sell? Mini Sites dont sell for much or anything!

Good for you that you are managing to earn $20 a month, I like to see a screenshot of the year 2009 if possible to determine how many clicks vs traffic you get. For my own research.

I stop with mini sites a while back, they are a waste of time. PPC pages with SEDO earn me the same amount or in some cases more! These mini sites may get you few extra indexed pages, but in todays market people are smarter then they were in 1997-2005. They don't click on ads like they did in the past, cause they did not know its an ad. Now they skip the site all together the minute they notice your site is nothing bud ads and few silly poorly written paragraphs.

If you got yourself a few sites that are making you $20+ a month or even the reg fee per year, then you are doing good for youself. I rather buy a domain name and flip it for $%,%%% - $%%,%%% profit. One domain I sell earns me more money then your domain earns in 1 year. The faster I get the cash, the more domains I can flip.

The market is 99% flooded with mini sites or some other form of wordpress cheesy sites. Development is expensive, 1 well developed site will earn you more cash then a thousand mini sites.

At end of the day, a end user will pay you more then your mini site can earn you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[davidjoseph]

I knew your name looked familiar Hope... I read this thread of yours days ago (http://www.dnforum.com/f578/how-find-end-users-your-domains-thread-381264.html) which was very interesting... but yes, you seem to be focused on buying names and selling to end users, as opposed to putting mini sites on them. Right now I am trying a variety of different methods (parking some names on SEDO, putting mini sites on some, and focusing my main effort and time on just a few select websites) and testing all of the strategies out. In this thread (http://www.dnforum.com/f578/how-find-end-users-your-domains-thread-381264.html) you said that you are trying to sell names to end users for $100's (which is not more than my mini sites are tending to make in a year), but you may be putting in less time (depending on how much time you are spending sending out e-mails and researching end users). Have you successfully been able to sell any names that you hand registered for $X,XXX - $XX,XXX? I would think that an end-user would be more likely to pay that kind of money if you had decent traffic and indexes in search engines, or have you found otherwise?

 

[George Verdugo]

cool

 

[MAllie]

I don't know about all that template stuff, because I'm probably nearer to the type of user these mini-sites hope to get - that is, someone who isn't au fait with the technical aspect and just wants the service. But to me the site has a nice, clean, authoritative, 'Don't worry, leave it to us' kind of feel - blue is traditionally the colour of trust.

I just think it would be better not to drink and drive in the first place.

 

[Biggie]

The days of PPC are over, unless you own Lawyer_com - you got no chance in this game with this cheezy template.

You got to ask yourself one simple question, are you in this game to sell domains or develop to sell?

PPC pages with SEDO earn me the same amount or in some cases more!

sorry, i took these out because they either contradict each other or confuse those who may not know.

perhaps you can elaborate

as for seo, it ain't rocket science and i've explained it in a few threads in the Newbies and Beginners section.

i've also illustrated by example how to acheive #1 ranking for keyword domains in a very short time. using simple, proven methods of page building.

so i have to throw my thirty-five cents worth in here, to draw contrast with some of those opinions.

minisites have value because they provide a landing for a domain, other than a parked page or "under construction' page.

it can also signal, confuse or provide further interest to a potential buyer in that stage.



a buyer looks at it and may determine that because of the limited pages...it may still be in process of development and they can "understand/visualize" an/the "expense" of undertaking that venture.

so when an offer/if an offer is made, if one can convey that expense along with the potential....they stand to increase the roi.

a minisite can also show creative intent to develop a domain in case of 'reverse hijack' attempts, c&d, urdp's, wipo's etc.. it shows work was involved and assumes an expense for maintenance.

i could go on...


imo...

 

[davidjoseph]

For anyone interested... I started this website literally 2 days ago... and already on the 1st page (3rd item) if you google "dwi lawyer ny"

 

[Biggie]

For anyone interested... I started this website literally 2 days ago... and already on the 1st page (3rd item) if you google "dwi lawyer ny"

congrats on your achievement!

 

[MichaelJ137]

For anyone interested... I started this website literally 2 days ago... and already on the 1st page (3rd item) if you google "dwi lawyer ny"

I'm no expert, but that seems LEGIT to me David, nice work. Whether that is hard to accomplish or not, at the end of the day, your on page 1, so who can really knock you for that? If your on page 1, item 3, probably worth full blown development. imo

 

[Daniel Yankee]

Want to add something to discussion:

In my recent experience, minisite approach works GREAT in terms of domain sales.

I've been with Sedo for years and have 4 out of 5 Seller ranking, so I'm not new to the game. A couple of months ago I've transferred majority of my portfolio to one of the ministite development sites.. and boy do I have a blast! My sales went up more than 4 times.

I see mainly three reasons:

1. My domains DO get indexed better and start showing up on Google - this leads to more offers

2. They look like 'developed' sites - I get higher initial offers

3. I receive offers directly, not anonymously like with Sedo - which helps me identify the buyer and come up with the right price. And if buyer refuses - I CAN ALWAYS GO BACK and renegotiate.

- Dan