Don’t Trust Mass Development But Appreciate Epik — Why I

My past experiences tell me you need to have a plan beyond Google.

The prior week I wrote an article regarding how some sites on Epik’s platform were de-indexed from Google but how I thought the firm would be OK. A number of commentors disagreed, which is fine. But let me explain my take.

I’ve written a number of articles regarding Epik as they’ve launched fresh services. I don’t believe I’ve ever “endorsed” Epik as a product. I’ve cautiously watched the firm. I say “cautiously” since the firm has walked a fine line between being a platform vs. a “mass development” service. I like the former, not the latter.

As I’ve blogged regarding ahead of, I have tried mass-producing sites. Back in 2004-2005 I used some software to develop expired domains I’d purchased. That was ahead of page rank got deleted on expired domains and ahead of Google learned how to weed out such sites. It was awesome. At one point my network was making more than $1,000 a day.

But then Google contacted me. Not their search side, but Adsense. I was monetizing my pages with Adsense and they stated my pages weren’t of the quality required for the program. Frankly, they were right.

I then tried a number of other approaches to mass development. Some worked for a short while, ahead of Google caught up. So I learned that most of these things work only for the short term.

So now that Epik has experienced the Google hammer, I actually feel better regarding its prospects. Ahead of I kept thinking to myself “when will Google catch up”. Now that it has, Epik will be forced to take a different approach.

For many firms this would be the end of the road. Every other “system” I’ve used to create sites has ended up just disappearing following Google caught on. But instead, Rob Monster and Epik are saying “OK, here’s what we do next.” That’s promising. And frankly, it ought to make people sleep better at night knowing that there’s something beyond Google for Epik sites.

Perhaps Epik has made it seem too easy for clients — just let us create a site and then watch the money roll in. What it needs to do is advertise Epik merely as a platform. It’s a platform to create an online store or directory, but it also requires elbow grease. Clients don’t have to reinvent the wheel with backend technology, but they do need to invest the time in creating real content.

It’s the same thing with so-called mini sites. If you create a modest web site with five pages of content and then don’t do anything with it, it will wither on the vine. The mini site ought to only be a starting point.

Regardless of where Epik is one, two, and five years down the road, the domain name industry ought to support the firm’s efforts…and those of all its competitors. That people are investing their own money to find a development solution is to the benefit of the entire industry.