There has been a bit of chatter about the new MiniSites.com site developments. One example is the test put on by DomainNameWire of the domain KansasCity.us.I must say that I agree that the site does not look spectacular. I think the site will need a lot of content to become anything special, which will take quite a bit of time. That said, it is good to see more of these sites with at least something useful developed on them, rather than being parked.
Looking into this site reminded me of a geodomain we built out recently. A couple months back we acquired WaimanaloBeach.comfrom Rick Latona. Being a mini geodomain based in Hawaii, it works well as a complimentary site longer term to Lahaina.com.
We built out a mini site in WordPress. I must repeat, I think WordPress is a great tool and that our development continues to get better. The design on this looks much better than many of our 2008 attempts.
We created the content on the back of main Waimanalo keywords. On top of the text content, we built the site around images and video, something that works great for a destination domain. The traffic has been solid.
While there is much more that must go into this domain to make it really work well for the area, this is more of a longer term play for us. The location of Waimanalo Beach is a strategic real estate play (a poor town nestled between Hawaii Kai and Kailua), which may or may not work out in the long run. Once Lahaina.com gets much larger we would to expand to other areas of development in Hawaii as well. This mini site will do quite well to hold over until we are ready to make the next move with that site.
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THANK YOU FOR SHARING THIS !!
I’ve been a big part of the discussion on this and this example is EXACTLY what the providers should be promoting to showcase thier work now – and not the same designs or spammy looking sites. Although it sounds like you added a lot of the content afterwards it doesn’t matter – very hard for most people (especially newbies) to see what something can become with a foundation.
Before and after case studies – more visual imagery from designer showcases to show what they can do – these are what theie websites need to show, not theory or words in blogs about what they can do – showcase the hell out of thier work.
In fact, this post is the single best example of why some people can find value in mini-sites I have ever seen. It doesn’t solve my mass development arguments or cost-benefit for large domain holders but for those who want a base to build a good site on – perfect…..
Like I always say, give credit when credit is due and thank you for sharing this.