Deciding what type of development is best for your domain is a challenge most domainers face. New companies such as Epik, MiniSites.com and WhyPark offer alternatives to domain parking without having to face some of the challenges of custom web development. How you decide which route is best boils down to the following components:

The Focus

What are you building? Custom development is a good route if the focus is to build something (like a brand, a business, an idea, etc). However, if you are wanting an alternative to domain parking with monetization as the core focus; prepackaged development such as mini sites and portals are a good alternative IF the traffic and eyeballs are there.

The Budget

Custom web development is obviously more expensive than parking or platform development. Platform developers are set up to handle large volumes at a fast pace because of the platform itself. Custom development slows the process down because of the many areas that need precise focus. Platform development can actually handle most needs while custom development comes into play mainly when the need for customization outweighs what the platform can offer.

The Time

Again, due to the platform itself; platform based development can handle much larger volumes than custom development. Custom development can be very time consuming depending on what factors come into play. How this becomes an issue is when domainers believe that custom development is the golden egg alternative to parking. While monetization and revenue is important in any type of development, revenue can take longer to produce going the custom route.

The Experiment

As a rule of thumb, if you don't know what to do with your domain: leave it parked and do nothing. Never start any type of development on an "experiment" basis. Instead, consult with companies who offer various solutions so you have a general idea of what best fits your domain goals. There are limitations, downfalls and trade offs with any development route you can take.

Some Recommendations

The three companies I mentioned: Epik, MiniSites.com and WhyPark are all good providers of platform development. I have spoken with the founders of each company on numerous occasions and each not only have good alternatives to parking & custom development but a sound company structure, passionate outlook for their products/services and posses the ability to grow within the domain industry.

If you do happen to need custom development or graphic design, see the "Products & Services" menu tab above or my portfolio here. As always, feel free to contact me for any web development consulting needs you have.

Comments (4)

Juan June 12, 2010

Thanks for the great post.

Keral Patel June 13, 2010

Well if a guy is serious about development and is in this for a long term then custom development is the way to go.

Todd June 13, 2010

Interesting article - thank you.

Michael June 15, 2010

Thanks Tia for bringing up the topic. I think that there is a problem inherent in the "mass domain development" industry that preys on the uninformed and those who think that there is a quick and dirty method of getting traffic for domains that have little or no direct navigation, and it can be summed up in two words - "Duplicate Content". These mass / cheap domain developers keep battling it out over price and how many sites can be developed quickly because that is the lowest apple on the tree, anyone can reach it, yet domainers keep thinking that they can throw $50 at a domain and think it is going to get tons of traffic and they are going to make all kinds of money. Granted, sometimes it works, after all there are tons of undeveloped niche markets, but regardless, it takes time to research the potential of a domain and know how to position it for development, never mind all the other tasks involved in actual development. Google does allow a certain amount of duplicate content before they start penalizing the site, but ANY content that has been taken from another site is DUPLICATE, and the allowed ratio must be achieved for that duplicate content to actually ADD any value to the site. In order for these domain developers to make any money, they have to employ cheap, broad strokes, which means wordpress and plugins, which goes back to a point you made about focus - employing these methods is an exercise in broad stroke SEO (which, if it is a plugin, they aren't doing any SEO anyway) and if you can't micromanage the granular SEO on every single page, then it is just a waste of time and money. Why would Google ever give a site credit for content when they can see who wrote it and when, knowing the developed domain didn't come up with it. Even Epik says on their services page, "For those sites that desire original content, please contact us". Domainers who want value from a domain need to really redefine their paradigm, and either buy fewer domains knowing that each one will take a little more time and money to develop, or get their heads out of the clouds and see things for what they really are.

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