Acro.net – Technology Rants & Raves by Acroplex®

The Bible tells us of God resting on the 7th day of his creation of the world – if only God was aware of the way things would evolve.

Life no longer holds a resting moment, as every instance of the seven-day week is filled with work of some kind.

If it isn’t the newest trends and events we need to keep up with, it’s projects that have tight deadlines and “want it yesterday” attitude from the clients.

The Internet solidified all the liquidity of life, shredding our privacy, our private time, our resting time – forever taking away whatever piece of Eden was left in the human nature, several eons after its exodus from the proverbial garden.

On the 7th day, God rested – apparently he laid down with a good book in hand, not interested in reality show television, not having peer pressure to attend the NFL premiere, not eager to participate in online drama about minisites versus full scale development.

God knew better – and us, humans created in his image, should learn to rest too.

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.