Free WordPress Themes for your Minisite

A lot of WordPress themes are free online, all you need is time and patience to find the right theme for you. What I always think when I do this is that I don’t want to make my minisite look like a minisite. Why? Simply because people don’t trust minisites and with the amount of minisites out there, it does get people turned off when they see one. The solution is to use WordPress to cover the design up to either make it look like a magazine or a blog site which can retain the attention of your visitors. Here are the steps:

Step 1: Search of WordPress Themes

I always want my wordpress themes unique and uncommon to the eyes of internet surfers. So I do spend a few days looking for a good theme online, I usually think about how I would like it to look if I was a user and then look for an appropriate theme. Here are examples of how I search for WordPress themes:

• Free Unique WordPress themes
• 2010 WordPress themes
• TOPIC WordPress themes – TOPIC refers to the topic of the keyword you’re targetting (e.g. Printer WordPress themes)

Try to find the most unique theme that you feel suits your minisite well. Do think about what you’re going to be adding like images, ads and how contents and the layout will be done. What I usually go for is something that I haven’t seen much before on other websites or blogs. The more unique the theme is the better it will stand out.

OR you could also use WordPress’ recommended themes which can be easily done with going to “Appearance” > “Add New Themes”. The advantage with this method is that it only requires the click of install and it’s automatically installed in your WordPress Minisite.

**Note: When downloading WordPress themes, make sure to download from the original maker of the wordpress theme. Some contains malicious codes which allows hackers to hijack your site. Be careful when downloading.

Step 2: Assess the top 3 WordPress Themes

Upload your top 3 chosen themes in your WordPress folder (under wp-content > themes), and try to run each script. Check the following:

• Is it easy to post?
• Images in post easily displayed in homepage? (I hate having to add my own custom fields)
• Can you change the logo?
• Is this what your visitors want to see?

You need to go thru the theme by trying to post a simple one paragraph article with image. And if you can do that easily even display the image in the homepage then that’s the right theme for you, if it gets too complicated move on to the next theme. Choose one theme.

Step 3: Designing minisite’s Logo and Favicon

After choosing the wordpress theme, some have a built in logo that copies the Blog Name and Description you placed in the settings while some don’t. For those that barely knows how to design, I’d recommend sticking to the Blog Name and Description for the logo. If you’ve chosen the ones that need a new logo replacement, then some technical skill would be required. You need Photoshop or GIMP application to have a decent logo.

I’m not great at graphics and quite honestly I suck at it. So the best thing to do is to get nice looking logos from the website called LogoInstant which has some great graphics that can be downloaded (PSD) and used for free for whatever purpose. The best thing about it is that it is editable in photoshop so you just need to use the images to make yourself a nice looking logo for your minisite.

As for the Favicon for you minisite, all you need is to go to Free Favicon and submit the picture that you want as favicon and it’ll generate a favicon for you. You then need to go to WordPress, upload the favicon on your site (Media > Add New). Get the link of your favicon (check details after uploading and copy the link).

The link to your favicon should be pasted in the Favicon URL, and click save changes. Try to open the web page of your minisite and see if it shows up in your browser.

Step 4: SideBar Widgets

Most of the wordpress themes come with a sidebar widget, this is really useful and helpful for a Minisite. These are my recommended Widgets that you can add:

• 1 PPC AD (336×280 or 300×250) – best to have it on top of the sidebar. Drag “Text” to the sidebar and copy and paste the Google Adsense / PPC code for the ad to the text box.
• Pages
• Recent Posts
• Search
• Categories
• Tag Cloud

You don’t need to add all of them, what’s important is that the sidebar isn’t too short but rather something that stretches the whole page. You don’t need to add everything above, but instead add what you think that would fit.

This Post is part of the 6 post series on the Ultimate Guide to Making Money Online with Minisites using PPC

• Part 1 – Domain Name
• Part 2 – Installing WordPress
• Part 3 – Configuring WordPress
• Part 4 – WordPress Themes, Minisite Design
• Part 5 – PPC Ads (Google Adsense)
• Part 6 – Writing Minisite Contents

Other Articles you might also like:

1. Part 3 Configuring WordPress – Configuration / PlugIns : Ultimate guide to Making Money with Minisites using PPC
2. Part 2 Installing WordPress: Ultimate guide to Making Money with Minisites using PPC
3. Part 5 PPC Ads (Google Adsense): Ultimate guide to Making Money with Minisites using PPC

One of the best things about .PH and .COM.PH domains is that it somehow felt like the 90′s where a lot of premium generic keyword domains are still available for hand registration. Here I experienced how it would be like owning one of the premium domains and how it really ranks you high in Search Engines.

My recommendations to dotPH

Marketing support

Everyone in the Philippines has started to love our country more, people are becoming more patriotic towards our country (unlike before that it was only about US or imports). It would be nice if they can sponsor events, make print ads or do more promotions to raise awareness on why use .PH or .COM.PH. You do have a Why.PH, why not expand it to offline print ads to get the support of more people to invest or to develop their websites with your domains. We’d love to see more promotion and ads to encourage people to get into .PH.

Unregistered domains list

Andre have told me about a website that used to list all the unregistered domains with traffic before. What would be nice is if dotPH could release a website like that but instead on focusing on traffic, it would be all the dictionary word domains listed in it. That way you promote what is still unregistered and encourage or entice people to register it first. Developers are constantly on the look out for domains they can use on their projects (which they don’t have an idea on what to name).

Lower Registration / Renewal Fees

Registration Fees are really high, I understand that with high fees comes more quality and serious developers. But the problem is it attracts domainers like us into it and discourages a lot of developers in the process. A lot of web developers I know of, have a great plan on how they intend to develop but are discouraged by the registration fees compared to .COM or .NET. It would be great you can lower fees (but I’m not saying that you should drop it down to .COM prices) or do a promotion once in a while to encourage more people to join. I’ve also had a message from disappointed domainer, that he’s about to lose his big client since he can’t use his prepaid credits (as a registrar) to renew his domains. (I still am waiting for a reply from dotPH for this matter) But if this is so then it is unacceptable as we did pay for it a lot.

Payment Options

In the Philippines, a lot of people still don’t trust the web. They think of the web as a dark place that is full of hackers and their data is always at risk. But the great thing is that Paypal is doing a great job getting them to purchase online. It would be nice if dotPH could start to accept different payment options which can really help them decide faster.

Advancement of system

Right now, as a registrar, you need Internet Explorer to go to the admin. But I use Ubuntu and MAC, I feel that it would be great to have a cross browser support since when I purchased my registrar credits the person I spoke to said that you’re working on having it work on FireFox. I’m not saying that you should be able to make it like Godaddy’s (which if you can, that would be really really great), but, at least, show us that you’re improving the system and it would be easier for us to use it. Just imagine owning 100 or 1000+ domains and try changing the nameserver one by one.

Other Articles you might also like:

1. DotPH releases new Registrar Console, different browsers are now compatible and multiple nameserver editing!
2. Observations with my dotPH investments in .ph and .com.ph domains
3. dotPH using unregistered and unused (.COM.PH, .PH, .NET.PH, .ORG.PH) domain names for online advertising for companies

One thing that Domaining and web development don’t mix is that with domaining (buy and develop is my technique), it became like mass production into minisites. Although earnings was great, it wasn’t something that was easily scalable as SEO practices do change a lot and you’re pretty much in the mercy of Search Engines (so if they black list you then you’re left with no traffic).

Making Great and Useful Websites

Making Great and Useful websites for users is a very good win-win-win (user-search engine-web developer) situation, it is pretty much what Search Engines would rank highly and visitors would highly appreciate. But Domaining is time consuming and so does web development, and to balance up our time, I could only do one each time especially if the website is supposedly a good website than a minisite. So we’ve decided to do now is to focus and really develop a great and useful website, putting a temporary stop in domaining and dropping some domains that I can’t maintain.

It’s great that I finally remembered why I started in this business, sometimes we do tend to forget why and how we started and that’s just going to lead us to worse situations. I guess, at the end of the day, it comes down to our passion and what we enjoy doing.

Other Articles you might also like:

1. Focus on Making Great Contents for Minisites – Hiring Professional Writers
2. I will Develop Great Websites, Knowing oneself
3. Making Websites for Women is Profitable (Thru PPC and Affiliate marketing)

When I first started domaining, it was pretty much a me, myself and I sort of thing. It was difficult at first as you need to acquire domains, as well as, try to sell and do web development to get some revenues going. But then I started to hire people and made myself a team.

Domaining as a Team

What I noticed for a lot of domainers is that they love outsourcing the work to others or buy premade scripts and simply focus on buy and sell of domains. But as I am a domainer that buys and develops, I started to find that a one man team isn’t going to work. Starting up a team, I was faced with challenges such as finally working with others and getting their inputs and suggestions in web development. I guess being a lone wolf to a pack is really going to be a big difference but being in a group has more advantages. What’s great is that I finally am freeing up my time in web development and could focus on the bigger picture while my team can help me do things while under my control.

I finally have a great and reliable team now, I believe we’ll be releasing a lot of interesting websites soon.

Other Articles you might also like:

1. Domaining moves towards domain name development
2. My Experiences in Domaining, Domain Name Development, Minisites
3. Can Domaining make you Rich?

DropGrabs have recently posted this and what’s really great about it is that it lists really high paying keywords with some at $29 + per click. A lot of it are still unexplored and I’m sure it would be a great place to start.

High Paying PPC Keywords and Phrases

Making money with Pay Per Click (PPC) is all about generating traffic and knowing the Cost Per Click. With DropGrab’s research, you’ll find that it would be the best place to start investing in domains or to add to your portfolio. The only thing that you’d need to research on is the number of competitors to really get a good traffic to earn good money. Remember Traffic is the key to earning money online,

It’s really great that domainers are sharing these types of data and that’s what I love about the domaining industry.

Other Articles you might also like:

1. Domain Name Keywords + Quality Content = high search engine traffic
2. To invest or not to invest in Typo Domain names
3. PH Domain Names: Why invest in PH Domains? PH Domain name Club

As .PH and .COM.PH costs around $25 per domain for me each year, I’ve decided to keep a few of them that are performing well or the ones that have a huge potential according to searches. I can’t afford to renew them each year (as they don’t earn enough for their registration fee) as I want to invest that money elsewhere, where the Return of Investment is much faster.

Dropping .PH and .COM.PH over .COMs and .NETs

.COMs and .NETs are simply the king of the web and that’s proven, it’s the best for minisites which is pretty much what I do. However for ccTLDs like .PH and .COM.PH, minisites are simply something that can’t really earn much so you’d really need to develop it into full blown websites. Some of my .PH and .COM.PH that I’ll keep are the ones that I have plans to develop into a bigger and better websites and can’t risk it being taken by others. However, I’ve learned investing in gTLDs now and I clearly know what to do to get the big bucks or at least a Return on Investment in just a few months and I’d be more focused on building those as traffic is generally higher and clicks earn me more. As for my ccTLDs, development has started by my team and am starting to develop different websites for different communities which I expect to launch in a few months time. This time I have to go back to being a developer first, which I forgot as a domainer, quality over quantity and focus and love your website project.

It’s been a learning process for me and it’s been a costly process of trial and error, but I’m starting to see where my company should focus and where it will be in a few years time. I’m glad I explored my options well and have finally been clear as to what to do.

Other Articles you might also like:

1. I’m dropping some of my .PH and .COM.PH domains
2. GeoDomain Names: Big opportunities in Domain Name Investing
3. Advantages of investing in Domain Names

As I started to focus on contents, not only for search engines but also for human visitors, I’ve started to see a huge difference in traffic as well as PPC revenues. I’m starting to see almost a 4X revenue increase in my PPC revenues.

It has been a struggle for me to achieve it and have tried and tested many different methods to achieve it. It was only till recently that I finally learned what I have to do to get it done.

Content is King

The problem with a lot of PPC revenue websites is that their content are not that polished and the worse part is that it is designed for SEO and not for the humans that is the one who’ll be clicking on the ads. Recently, I made a decision that I should focus less on building new websites but instead focus on a few and really put quality contents in the site. It might take a while before you see the effects of it on SEO, but sooner and later traffic will start to grow and revenues will start pouring in. It might look like a sacrifice but it actually is helping yourself.

The greatest thing is that it’s not only about the revenues, but I’m starting to see a lot of people finally appreciating, commenting and thanking us for the wonderful content. Now that’s something money just couldn’t buy.

Other Articles you might also like:

1. 2010 PPC Revenues starting to increase?
2. I’ve completely stopped buying domains and start focusing on developing
3. Where are the Filipino Domainers?

Andre has then amassed a good number of premium domains and is ready to make it all happen. One of the best examples are Boracay Philippines and Restaurants Philippines (up coming project), which really carries a huge potential and could be worth a lot in the next few years.

So Andre, How did you get involved in Domaining?

This I do not remember exactly but once I started earning some money from my work doing web development back in 2002-2003 I started buying some PH Domains with traffic. Back then there was a list on Unregistered.ph of the Top unregistered PH domains with traffic. Some were bought already but I found a few that were available and bought them for an expensive $70 each. Other people were also browsing the list so when I went back at a later time to look for more domains, a lot were taken. I think I only have 1 domain left from that time but it was a gold mine. DotPH took down that site in 2006 I believe but I wish I had gotten a lot more domains there earlier, someone made a lot of money off that list

What’s your experience in Domaining like?

It’s an interesting experience, for generic TLDs, a lot of money can be made just by buying and selling, the market goes up and down and the industry keeps on growing. I can understand why people park domains since a lot of the big domainers just have a sheer number of domains, its the only logical solution to monetize them. We prefer to develop a few key domains and just park the rest or sell it. We’re not heavy into the parking business nor do we have thousands of names, a few hundred good names here and there. I feel its a tough industry if you just domain since you have to stay on top of the latest trends, sales, happenings as there’s so much competition with other people trying to get valuable domains. There are niches and there are domains expiring every day, but the more people who get into this industry, the harder it becomes. It was much easier a few years ago and way easier but more risky and expensive during the dotCom bubble which is where most big domainers made their killings. I tend to look at domaining like real estate, buy a good property, hold on to it, then sell it or develop it and then sell it or turn it into a business.

As for the local market we’ve been invested in it for 5 years with our generic domains and we’re still holding onto our portfolio, I see the PH domain industry and the internet industry in the Philippines growing and booming even bigger in the coming years.

For gTLDs we have made some big sales, for local just a few profitable sales and little bit of income from parking. Locally, parking is not that viable, you need a lot of traffic since most parking services get their ads from Google or Yahoo and such ads and there may not be enough Philippine ads for PH domain parking. We plan to develop our local PH portfolio and make them in to blockbuster websites which make good money.

—- End of Interview —-

Thank you so much Andre for the time, I hope this was very helpful and inspirational to those who are looking to start up in Domain investing.

Other Articles you might also like:

1. Interview with a Fellow Filipino Domainer – King.net
2. Interview with Bruce Marler, Expert Domainer and Developer
3. Love your domain names, conflicts of a domainer developer

So Emil, How did you get into Domaining?

My profession in IT consulting. I’m a Consultant back home doing network and security for International consulting firm in Makati. When I started travelling abroad, I had noticed extreme increased in online activities, started buying domain names, and more outside of dot com. Though I highly recommend to other EntrePinoyship (don’t check the domain name, it’s taken) to start in dot com investment. When they understand the business, then start to branch out with other extensions e.g. .net .org .info .biz .us .etc and, diversify in web consulting, designs, buy and sell.

How’s your experiences in Domaining?

I started domaining as a hobby, it’s fun and slowly transition to a full-time business. Of course in every business there’s up and down, you just need to know when to minimize your losses.

How well have you made money off Domains?

It’s not polite to discuss in details. Let’s put it this way. I have an excellent yearly bonus. My domain names are self-sufficient and will use them for my early retirement. I hope this help. Let me know if you have other questions.

What advise would you give for a newbie domainer?

I recommend to start in dot com domain names, and find your niche. For example, real estate or travel related domain names. Simply because you can get advertisers from local travel agency, good PPC rate, and lots of affiliate programs in this industry.

Do you buy or sell domains? Or Buy and Develop Domains?

I mostly buy and develop to a simple cms website to establish traffic. I sell some domains to generate funds for a new project or for a family vacation.

Which Domain Extensions would you recommend?

For newbie, start with dot com but if you have a local target .PH should be ok. Over crowded na kasi ang dot com (Dot Com’s over crowded).

—- End of Interview —-

Thank you so much Emil for the Interview opportunity, I hope that it could help people start their way into Domaining. Check out Emil’s website at King.net

Other Articles you might also like:

1. Interview with Andre Tanner, Great Local Filipino Domainer
2. Interview with Bruce Marler, Expert Domainer and Developer
3. Filipino Affiliate Marketing Expert – Interview with Ian Fernando

What’s even worse at times is that your family or friends don’t really get it and find it weird about what you do (LOL!). They’re like, “Oh right so you do websites. I want a website for my business, how much for one?” or the best one I heard is “You’re the guys that invest in brands and make money off them right?”. Being from the Philippines, we’re so known in outsourcing that every company does it or so does everyone think.

So you’re a Domainer

What I normally tell them is that I’m a domainer and what I do is invest in domains. I would go on and explain what I do and they say yup yup while really not having an idea about what I do. What’s even more bizarre is that when my parents see me working, they’ll tell me to stop playing computer games (LOL!). But despite this, I still choose to be a domainer, simply because I believe in the opportunity that its going to give me. Maybe people would not understand what we do but that’s other successful entrepreneurs had to go thru before they were successful. End of the day, you’d need to believe in it and keep going to be successful.

Domaining will always be something that I’ll do whether it is part time or full time, it’s exciting and promises a huge opportunity with little competitors. I believe it’s about learning the game and keeping at it to be successful.

Other Articles you might also like:

1. Love your domain names, conflicts of a domainer developer
2. Maybe I’m a Developer more than a Domainer
3. Domain name first then Brand / Product / Service or the other way around? Conflicts of a domainer developer