Morning Folks!!
Timing is everything. I wrote the following post Sunday before the aeiou.com announcement. It relates to another recent post when I
DARED to ask the question, “Are minisites Dead?” This post goes on to talk way more than minisites. Fasten your seat belts. I should be pissing off many on this one.
Now remember, I wrote this a few hours before the announcement that I knew nothing of.
Mini Site companies all the rage?? Then Where are They?
If mini sites are so hot and the alternative to straight PPC
you would think they would want to have some exposure at TRAFFIC. The only one
there on display will be Rick Latona’s AEIOU.COM. But where is the competition?
Where is the choice? Where is you guys???
Just a little aha moment for me. The first thing I would ask
is why not go to the show in which PPC rules and your target is taking business
from them? So what say you guys? Why are domainers going to New York, looking
to develop, and the guys that can help them do that are sitting on the
sidelines?? Sorry, but I just don’t get it.
I know if there were 5 guys selling mini sites and
developing larger projects that I would sit and talk with each one and see how
they could help me. So I am surprised that this marketing opportunity is being
lost and I think domainers will start looking beyond mini sites as a result.
JMO.
(That was the post I wrote on Sunday and was going to post yesterday but had other fish to fry. Now a bit more)
So with the closing of aeiou.com I will ask again.........
Are Minisites dead? I think first you have to ask if they
were actually ever alive? Did they ever work? I think it can be a starting
point. Bit really not much more. The results many times pointed to are category
killer domains that would have success if you put a naked clown and an “Enter
Button”.
I think we know the fate of the mini site. My suggestion
would be this. Change the focus to mini BUSINESSES. A business has to be
started on a profitable foundation and idea. It does not have to be
complicated, complex, heavy. It needs a game plan and THEN build a site around
the game plan. We have sites looking for businesses. It is ass backwards. You
can’t do zillions of them. You just got to start going down the list and
isolate your empire. One business at a time based on your category of traffic assuming you have traffic. Some may take 5 minutes to create.
Some 5 days. Some 5 weeks. And if you hit something, 5 years.
How do you know the difference between a 'Mini site' and a 'Mini Business'.....easy, something I learned from Shaun Pilfold. It has a CASH REGISTER! You collect money. Maybe in a mini business you can use the cash register of a partner. But traffic needs to be talked to, sold to and then led to a cash register not a link to somebody else unless they are paying you more than you can make yourself.
And lastly just a note about traffic. Some say they don't have any. I would tell them one thing, stop buying crappy domains and you would have traffic. No traffic? Why are you even looking at these domains in this economy if you have no traffic unless you are at the stage it does not matter and then this part of the post would not apply to you anyway as you already know? You will never have traffic with a plan like that. Get rid of the liabilities. Get rid of them. Don't even worry about selling them. Get rid of them all in bulk and buy one gem. 10 gems. Crap is crap forever and a day past that. It is nothing more than styrofoam in a garbage dump. Not to insult anyone but let me give you a visual of the guy with really crappy domains. Imagine that vagabond in your town with the supermarket cart full of his worldly possessions. It's all junk, but it is all he has. So I feel bad for him, I feel bad for folks if they are in this category. The ONLY thing I can offer those souls is a roadmap to where they would like to go. But they can't climb the mountain if they refuse to abandon the supermarket cart.
PPC companies should not be too gleeful. Just ONE NEW ALTERNATIVE and the next title could be 'Is PPC Dead?' I could see the entire sector being wiped out like a house of cards. Don't get upset with me guys. We love you. But you too see your vulnerability. You too see the dangers and perils that a new solution could bring to an already weak and suffering sector. Of course the guys sending you the traffic are suffering more. They don't have the ability of adjusting the bottom line if the bills are a bit heavy that month. But if I were you and domainers didn't care, then I would do the same. So I see both sides. But there is a tipping point. If that tips the wrong way, game over. Record profits from Google on the top and record lows for payouts at the bottom. Must just be coincidence!
Hey, these are tough times. Tough times deserve tough talk. The face of this industry is changing. No balls, no glory.
Have a GREAT Day!
Rick Schwartz
CORRECTION: WhyPark.com will be exhibiting at TRAFFIC. I guess they win just for showing up.
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