I think you may be confused here. I do not offer mini-site development. This is a simply a review I did for this service. I run a blog where I teach new and experienced domain name investors how I make money with domain names.

Thanks for your comments and keep them coming!

Best,

Morgan

Since you decided to join forces with another experienced mature professional, may I suggest a more mature response to potential client needs because your statement above could imply that if you have a large portfolio and if you do not have 75-100k we can’t help you. And… that you should have known better than to invest in those names because there is no value to them unless they are developed and that to think that you could do so for less than a particular number that 2 guys picked, is a “fault” of the investor.

Morgan, welcome to the business world..

Five years ago that might have made sense, but not today. Just look at http://www.devhub.com or http://www.squidoo.com. Websites from each capture first page Google search result listings in plenty of different categories. However, the business model is revenue sharing based. I’m looking for something else.

The alternative to the “mistake” I made would have been paying hundreds and in some cases thousands of dollars today for many of the domains I began purchasing at reg. fee more than five years ago. As my inventory grew, I knew I was creating an operational nightmare for myself. But had I passed on the opportunity to grab sufficient inventory to launch more than 1,000 websites, I’d be kicking myself today for not having gotten busy when I saw the handwriting on the wall. I take full responsibility for my purchases. I’m just not content believing the major players in our industry are unable to advance the domain business in a way that allows everybody to profit. With the economy in free fall, the domain industry currently has the chance of a lifetime to bring real end users on-board.

While tens of thousands of unemployed workers from the ranks of middle management ponder the possibility of taking what’s left of their retirement nest egg to launch a $150,000+/- fast food franchise, where are the print, radio and TV ads, infomercials and weekend seminars explaining how for the price of a conveyor pizza oven and hood exhaust system, each one of them could purchase a shot at independence in the form of a turnkey website with a high traffic domain name to boot(!)? What would it mean for these temporarily sidelined wage earners to begin the next chapter in their respective business lives virtually debt free with the lion’s share of their savings still intact?

So please don’t tell me what can and can’t be done. IMHO, your efforts might be better spent lobbying the domain industry to educate the public on the potential rewards wrapped-up in a domain name. Would you agree that end user interest on a massive scale couldn’t come at a better time?

As for me, I have no doubt that what I’m looking for can be successfully designed and deployed. It’s just a shame that a dozen separate portfolio owners may spend upwards of 1.2 million dollars reinventing the wheel when those same resources could be used to create a custom CMS that could benefit our entire industry. A CMS that would be good for the registrars, domain owners, advertisers and above all else, for the site visitors. It’s not about turning a cheap, quick buck. It’s about using innovation to take our industry to the next level. It’s about showing concern for where we’ll be in a quarter century instead of next quarter.

40-mpg automobiles were said to be an impossibility until it was time to make it happen.

Well it’s time.

If you bought so many domains that you can’t afford to develop them all, then that is your mistake. Saying that $100 for a developed site with unique content is too expensive is absurd. If you have full-scale development, just the design alone can cost $x,xxx to $xx,xxx. Good luck even getting a logo for $100.

There are no shortcuts to development. The first page of Google is reserved for the best sites with those keywords. You can’t expect to be considered the BEST with a crappy design and scraped content. That is why a good, automated mass development service will never exist. You have to put in the time or money if you want to be the best, you can’t just expect to change your name servers, enter your domain into a control panel, and hit the first page. If you think that you are delusional.

Once people realize that, there will be some true advances in this industry.

I do have to say that having a CMS tool to develop these sites would be an incredibly lucrative venture. The only problem is where does the content come from? WhyPark has a great CMS system that auto-generates nice-looking sites that monetize well however they get their content from content-networks.

How do you get fresh original content on your site that nobody else has for a good price?

I’d be interested to hear more of your thoughts as I can see you put a lot of time and good thought into this comment! Thank you and look forward to continuing the conversation!

Best,

Morgan

It’s not about his “personal views”, it’s about how he acts and carries himself. If he goes around slandering people who are already very successful in this business, what makes potential customers think he will respect them?

I don’t care how good a product is, if the people behind the company are immature punks, I’m not going to buy their product.

So Morgan, can you link us to a few sites that Mike has done for you? I’d be really curious to see the finished product. Thanks…

I’m going to repeat what I just said for the “domain efficiency challenged” mass development companies:

EVEN AT $1OO PER SITE, THE COST IS NOT FEASIBLE WHEN A DOMAINER WANTS TO DEVELOP A PORTFOLIO CONSISTING OF THOUSANDS OF DOMAIN NAMES.

$100,000 for 1,000 domains? That ain’t gonna happen!

I know of dozens of domainers who are in this same position. Are the companies offering mass development services unable to understand that for the kind of money we’re talking about, they could develop a custom, template based Content Management System specifically for domainers?

For a cost far below $100/site, these template could be created in multiple configurations to include content, banners, Adsense, affiliate product sales, rss and reader comments spread over four or five pages. Wer’e talking cookie cutter CMS that draws from similar concepts of squidoo.com and devhub.com, but without the revenue sharing and restrictions.

Produce an open source modular based component CMS with global editing capabilities made for domainers, and we’re off to the races! You’d think Rick Schwartz would have come up with this years ago. NOTE TO RICK: Domain King is a nice title, but deliver us a workable, manageable domainer CMS and you will forever be remembered as the Domain Messiah!

As much as I tip my hat to the “old school” domainers for the unprecedented success they have achieved in this industry, today’s domain market bears little resemblance to the domain gold rush days between 1995 and 2003 when the vault doors were often swung wide open and a vision of the future gained admittance to a treasure trove of domain riches.

Today, domains with meaningful type-in traffic are largely unavailable and when available, largely unaffordable. Has anybody performed an analysis to determine exactly who is enjoying the benefits of the domain reveniews being generated? I wouldn’t be surprised if 99% of the total domain sales/income dollars are generated by 1% of domainers.

What about the rest of us?

If my revenue speculation is anywhere near accurate, why do the guys on top talk as if we all have all the same opportunity. We don’t. How about offering a little assistance for the domainer who is much more likely to own a portfolio containing hundreds or thousands of domain names with comparatively low traffic counts. If they’re fortunate, at all, perhaps two or three domains display exact Google search counts approaching 10,000 per month.

From my vantage point, it’s no longer about TRAFFIC, instead it’s about TRAFFIC CONSOLIDATION. Acquiring multiple domains is a necessity, but generally, still not enough without more. The type-in traffic is non-existent and parked pages aren’t much better. There are all these major “old school” domain registrars, and the best they seem to offer is a fancier form of revenue based on what? More parking! Doesn’t anyone realize that the success of the “late comer” domainer is also the success of the existing major players?

It’s time for the major players and companies in this industry to lead the way and transform this industry by creating first rate, enterprise CMS web development tools that will empower the other 99% of domainers to successfully participate in this business.

Thank you.
Mark

As the the bad reputation of Mike (not mentioned in your comment but in a previous comment) I’m not sure where this is coming from. Mike runs a very reliable and lucrative business – as for his personal views – this is a different topic that I don’t think has anything to do with whether or not his business creates a good product for a fair price.

I think most people think that Clinton was the best President we have had in a long time – I doubt that means we all think people should cheat on their wives, but at the end of the day if you do a good job – isn’t credit due?

Thanks again for your comment Reese!

Best,

Morgan

As always I appreciate comments from my readers and welcome further discussion!