Here’s an example mini site created by Minisites.com.

Site by Minisites.com

I was excited last week to read that DN Media Corporation teamed up with Nat Cohen of Telepathy, Inc. for a new mini site service called Minisites.com. I’ve been impressed with both of these companies. DN Media has launched successful products including PushtoAuction.com, and also sold DNW.com to me.

I’m rather particular when it comes to mini sites, since I’ve been creating them for over five years. So I decided to put Minisites.com to the test on the domain name KansasCity.us (see picture).

Minitsites.com delivered. It created a good theme relevant to Kansas City, including a stylized skyline of the city using the colors Kansas City is known for. The theme is clean and easy-to-navigate. Minisites.com wrote five quality articles covering the basics of the city. The site also includes a sitemap submitted to Google and a Google Adsense-compliant privacy policy (including the latest guidelines about interest-based advertising). Meta keyword and description tags are well written, too.

Keep in mind that creating a mini site is just the foundation for making money. Minisites.com creates a good foundation; you need to do the work to promote the site. Some simple steps include writing articles and distributing them to online article sites as well as building other back links. Minisites.com does basic link building with each site and its “Big Mini” package includes more link building. But keep in mind it’s an ongoing process. Minisites.com also provides you with a login to add more content to your site in the future.

There are two types of domains I’d recommend building mini sites for. The first are domains with solid keywords but low traffic. For these you’ll need to work hard to get links to them. The second are expired domains you picked up that already have backlinks. You’ll want to get a mini site up on these before parking them to keep them from being de-indexed. You might also use a mini site to show “intent to use” your domain name.

The field of mini site creation companies is getting crowded, but MiniSites.com should be on your short list. It also earns bonus points for using such a good domain name for its service.

© DomainNameWire.com 2009.

Review and rate domain name parking companies at Parking Judge.

• RT @ViralURL has a system to build your twitter followers list virally! Check it out http://ViralFollowers.com/dnmoola/vu #

Powered by Twitter Tools.

DNForum barely tops NamePros in survey.

A survey of 401 domainers says that DNForum is the best domain name forum — but just barely. Of the survey participants who selected a choice, 47% voted for DNForum and 42% voted for NamePros. DomainState came in third with 11%, and AcornDomains received 2%.

But other than deciding which forum is “best”, there are some other relevant questions that I’d like your feedback on.

Are domain forums as relevant for discussion as they once were?
I didn’t include any of the exclusive domain name forums in the survey, but many people wrote in Domain Boardroom. Why do many people prefer Domain Boardroom to mass market domain forums? I think a lot of it has to do with the degradation of meaningful discussions at forums. Apparently a lot of people have nothing else to do other than pick fights on forums all day.

That’s not to say these forums aren’t helpful. I stopped by NamePros today and saw several threads whereby I was able to guide people making decisions.

Are domain forums still a good place to sell domains?
Domain forum0s are certainly struggling in this category. Blame the massive amount of crappy domain names listed for sale. Three or four years ago the inventory was mostly good, now it is 99% bad. Forums are starting to segment the junk with “high priced” sections. For example, NamePros has a moderated section exclusively for domains over $1,000.

What do you think? Are forums still as useful as they were in the past? Are you spending more or less time on forums?

© DomainNameWire.com 2009.

Review and rate domain name parking companies at Parking Judge.