I rest my case.

Thanks for the comments. Only reason I mentioned wannadevelop mainly was that he is doing something different than the rest – for the record, everybody claims to be God’s gift to SEO so whether someone makes that claim or not it does influence my decision to say try someone else. I rarely get wrapped up in anything I read online and these guys are no exception but I do think their public display of SEO knowledge from various articles I have read is far superior to many – but again it’s just my opinion.

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Mark,

No opinions on these – sorry – we tried xSite once but it wasn’t for us – some like it, just have no say either way

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Scott,

That’s half the problem – I think many domain owners simply have no idea what to do and waiting for someone to tell them is the only possible next step they see so yes, many are just waiting for someone to announce the next big thing. Like any industry, there are more followers than leaders.

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AGG,

I think there are suckers in every aspect of any industry. Whether it’s the person who pays 4 points for a mortgage loan, doesn’t question the $495 processing fees when buying a new car or paying $35 at Network Solutions for a domain.

One of my main issues with mini-site providers (in their CURRENT form) is they don’t seem to challenge themselves to look better than what’s available for free. In fact, they spend more time trying to justify the cost by defining the time, work etc when they could spend that time creating more options or at the very least …

MORE EXAMPLES OF QUALITY WORK on their websites.

Judge a book by its cover – and when buying a mini-site, when choosing a designer the ONLY real way to judge an initial purchase is to see their work in action.

Most of AEIOU’s case studies all look the same. The very first showcased site for minisites.com is Rockford.com – a spammy looking site that does not indicate any correlation of being a wordpress site or indicative of any real talent for design. With that said the next two get better (and I will give credit when credit is due) vintagewines.com is a pretty good mini-site but also none of these sites showcase any kind of “wordpress power” which was claimed above so for those who know design, understand wordpress and even beginners who have searched different designs and are now looking for some help the examples showcased DO NOT show the kind of skill that people are selling. Its not to say they don’t have it – just not showcasing it the right way.

Again, its constructive criticism – like it or not – but if you want more support from the domain community than showcase more, bigger and better projects – even if they are your own domains – doesn’t matter, we want to see your work so we can make a decision based on that. Show me your best 4 sites (which happen to all look the same) and you quickly get blacklisted from getting any respect as a custom designer.

Now, there is an obvious value to providing this service to some but in order to get industry wide support why not think and create templates or sites that MOST domain owners would want – unless that’s not your target market?

If not, then who cares and ignore all of us who may say what you don’t want to hear but I can honestly say that if tables were turned many mini-site providers (if they were smart) would not buy their own mini-sites (in their CURRENT form .. say again .. in thier CURRENT form) if they were simply domain owners and not providers. Of course, one will never know the real answer to this question but that’s my guess.

Where is the answer?

Not sure, but we will find out when people come together and make someone rich but its not today. The door to riches is open … and waiting for someone to walk in.

Why are people/companies that own undeveloped/parked domains offering mini-site development for others?

I know. Because people that own domains who have no idea how to make a website are suckers! Or they are just lazy!

If there services/mini-sites are so amazing then why are they wasting their time doing it for others. Trust me, it is not because they like helping others.

Thanks.

Are we all sitting for the next big thing to come by and jump on??

wannadevelop.com: “I don’t want to single out anybody… But all of the mini sites builders / mass development services out there totally miss the mark when it comes to SEO. Even the basics aren’t included. It’s too bad.”

Except for you, right? Give me a break!