Yahoo and other directories will ignore you. And response from search engines will be limited. Their visitors are not looking for sales pitches, so yours may not show up.

Many who demand that a mini-site be only a sales pitch and order form are excellent marketers who have been quite successful. Thus they have a large list of followers, many interested in reselling what is offered. They produce a sales letter, announce it to their list, and sales follow almost automatically.

Since few have such lists, options are reduced to advertising. Personally I feel pay-per-click search engines are best starting point. GoTo.Com can bite pretty hard with their fees. While less significant, there are many smaller engines of this type that can be used for experimentation. For a list, see

You Can Lose A Lot Very Quickly

If your mini-site is generating say $200/month and it's costing you $100/month to advertise, you're in a risky position. For one, you need to commit serious time to make sure your advertising costs remain reasonable. If you don't, you may take a look one day and discover you're spending $300/month to generate $100/month. Not exactly profitable.

Only when confident that an $M investment will consistently yield $N, will you be able to delete tracking time factor from your costs. What M and N need to be will vary with individual. However, many will be content with spending $50/month for $150/month profit, provided results can be expected to be consistent for a reasonable amount of time.

The Potential Is Grand

A good mini-site can be a steady income producer. It's something we all should consider doing. For myself, models above seem insufficient. I prefer what might be called a themed mini-site. While evidence is not conclusive, there are indications that search engines like such sites.

In this model, beyond sales pitch there needs to be good content closely related to theme. I haven't tried this as yet, but plan to do so. I like fact that I can generate hits from search engines with this model, then experiment with advertising and pay-per-click search engines to generate even more targeted traffic.

The Best Starting Point

Just go and sign up at BizMinisites.Com (Or read sales presentation at ) It's not much over $3/month, and you don't even need a domain name.

There's no better way to go. It's an offer that can't be beat. It's brain child of one of my favorite people, Sydney Johnson, author of "Make Your Net Auction Sell." (See for my review of this outstanding work.)

Is This For Everybody?

Yes and no. Skills are required. If you do not have them and do not have time to develop them, then I'd wait a time. But this aside, answer is yes. Here's what you need.

> Go for a one page site with an order form, then work with pay-per-click search engines to generate hits. If you lack bucks, pass on GoTo.Com in getting started.

> If you go for a themed mini-site, in addition to above, develop search engine friendly content pages. (For notes about building content pages that rank well, send any email to contentpage@sitetipsandtricks.com .)

In either case, risks of time and costs are minimal. And potential is unlimited. So take shot! _________________

For an earlier article on mini-sites, please see

Now choose your short-term goals - daily and weekly ones. Make up a "to-do today" list and a "to-do tomorrow" list. Check yourself regularly to make sure items on these lists get attention they need and are completed each day. At end of week, check off your weekly goals.

Okay, now you've met your goals, so what? Well, meeting your goals should make you feel very good, and you should highlight that with some kind of reward system.

We all know we can't spend profits of our work before we even make them. It is indeed possible and appropriate to meet goals before we make money. However, what profits we do make need to go right back into business as advertising, new software, web hosting, and like.

But we can reward ourselves when we meet certain goals. Short- term and mid-term goals can be rewarded non-monetarily.

For completing a short-term task that's been haunting you lately, don't go out to eat. Rather, have a nutritious snack, watch a TV show, or read your favorite section of newspaper.

For mid-range goals met, go to Ebay and price a set of golf clubs, let's say, or look at car ads. Perhaps you could get out photos from a recent vacation and dream of your return to spot. Use photos instead of notes posted as reminders of meeting your goals.

Long-term rewards can be monetary, but don't break bank. Hold off on making any major purchases out of your profits until later. Instead, take family out to eat at a moderately priced restaurant, go to a football or hockey game, or have friends over for cards and snacks.

Keep your tunnel vision active by chipping away at your goals. Remember, short-term, mid-term, long-term goals are avenue to success.