Acro.net – Technology Rants & Raves by Acroplex®

After reading Rick Schwartz’s latest blog post about how Google AdSense closed down his account over minisite content, I had an obvious question: why did Rick pay TENS of THOUSANDS of dollars for 10 minisites?

The term “minisite” was coined as an obvious bait for the domain community, sometime in the past year and a half. It indicates a quick and dirty development of a web site, often with no graphical user interface, with no custom images and with content of dubious quality. Creation of such “mass developed” minisites is aimed at those with a very small budget that want “something” to go live, in order to monetize it via the placement of AdSense ads or ads from other networks.

There are several such firms that provide development of small web sites, catering to the “minisite” domain gang. Quality of work varies – however, a minisite is a minisite and it does not really qualify as true web development.

With parking revenue dwindling, panicking domainers often opt for the cheapest alternative, not considering long-term results and consequences of pushing out badly executed content. The alternative option would entail the following elements:

• A proper business plan
• A budget
• A development expert
• Time

However, all these elements can be addressed, as long as there is proper focus on what one is trying to achieve.

If the need is for short-term cashflow, minisites *might* work – until Google pulls the plug as in Rick’s case. If the need is for long-term revenue from the development of web sites that actually provide content and add value to the Internet community, the answer is simple: full-fledged web development.

So get your paper pads and pens out and start outlining your next project. Big or small, it does not matter. What matters, is quality of work and control over its execution. So hire a true web development professional. Mass developed mini-sites stand no chance.

The news floated since just two days ago but it has just been confirmed: Flair Polos – a New Jersey manufacturing corporation with embroidery factories in Taiwan, China and North Korea, purchased MassDevelopment.com for the sum of $6.75 million dollars, in what appears to be the largest sale of 2009.

In a recent article in DNJournal, mass development companies were reviewed by editor Ron Jackson; after reading the news, Flair Polos assessed that none of these companies made the cut when it came down to picking a brand name for mass development. MassDevelopment.com was the sensible choice: keyword relevancy without resorting to black hat SEO – the price was a hefty one, but definitely worth it.

Flair Polos has an annual gross revenue of $2.3 billion dollars, one of the biggest textile exporters to the US from East Asia. The company intends to capitalize on the hot market for mass domain development, which has recently exploded and mass develop web sites for its range of men’s, women’s and children’s clothing lines.