DevHub is a website development platform I have been experimenting with and which I had written about once previously. DevHub allow developers to drag and drop content sections onto a blank webpage in order to build their site piece by piece.

The jobs section of DevHub incorporates feeds from both Careerbuilder and SimplyHired. Currently, I have just one job listings site utilizing the DevHub feeds -> ChicagoJobs.biz.

ChicagoJobs.biz was monetized over the past year using PPC ads alone (at Parked.com). This was distinctly different from the current set-up in which job openings are now posted in different job categories and specific to the greater Chicago metro area. The test here is to see how traffic patterns increase as a result of bringing relevant content to the ChicagoJobs.biz site as opposed to simply displaying general jobs-related advertisements.

The economy has obviously been heavily impacted by terrible job losses. Consequently, online job search has become a frequent daily activity for jobseekers.

Various jobs domain name sales include: Job.us ($35,225), TheJob.com ($15,000), Job.mobi ($43,600), AnalystJobs.com ($3,650), MediaJobs.de ($4,486), GeneralJobs.com ($3,200), BrooklynJobs.com ($8,000), AerospaceJobs.co.uk ($4,900), MiniJobs.ch ($6,963), JobsinMaryland.com ($4,388), PsychologyJobs.com ($10,000), LegalJobs.co.uk ($39,392).

Site Development

From a personal point of view, I like the internet experience to be easy and convenient. One of my pet peeves in navigating a website are ads which hijack control of the browser and which momentarily interfere with your viewing experience.

Examples of irritating ads are:

• Pop-up’s -> an ad that opens on top of your target window blocking your view
• Pop-under’s -> an ad which is open on your computer but under the target window
• Floaters -> an ad box which dances across the PC screen blocking your view
• Drop-down’s -> large video or text ads which open when you scroll over them
• Auto-Play -> a video ad that plays automatically when you arrive on the page
• Blinking -> The old neon green strobe ad which screams “Over here, look now!”

These ads are annoying and interfere with your visitor’s experience. Patrons typically come to websites looking for specific content. Bombarding them with advertisements actually discourages repeat visits and can undermine user loyalty by wasting users’ time.

Many of the information sites I enjoy display their ads to the left or right of the main content. This allows users to focus on the content they were seeking without being hammered with intrusive advertising.

Another important consideration for domain developers is designing a logical & intuitive layout to the site. Content sections benefit from substantial empty space between sections as well as visual prompts (simple graphics or color coded text) to help users distinguish different topics and site areas.

Many of the geodomain and local newspaper sites are switching to the WordPress format. These sites usually organize and display content sections in a clean manner avoiding clutter and thereby increasing viewer satisfaction.

Google for some time now has allowed Adsense partners to customize the appearance of Google ads. I recommend avoiding the placement of Google ads at the top of a page or in the middle of a content section unless the ad is out-of-the-way and inconspicuous.

In closing, do your quality domain name some justice. Even if it is only a parked page. Disable pop-up and pop-under ads, and keep advertising subtly blended into the background or on the sidebar. As has been said many times before … “There is only one chance to make a good first impression”.

Site Development advertising

I have been experimenting with DevHub which is a free website builder for non-technical web developers. DevHub is user friendly and allows you to easily drop content sections into a webpage.

Most of the content sections are monetized. Several of my favorites are hotel booking, the local business directory, and the ability to sell products and select which ones you want to include on your site (like computers, ipods, luggage, etc.).

Working with DevHub is a positive experience in that the web design interface downloads to your browser, is drag and drop, and displays the results of your design choices almost instantly.

The revenue split is likely no better than typical PPC earnings, but that is not a priority for me. My primary goal at this point is to give several of my geodomain sites some shape & structure and content that would be of use to site visitors. If you are a geodomain developer, I believe the DevHub content options work quite well for city and state locality-based domain names.

So far, I have four sites built on DevHub. They are …

• www.Bentonville.US
• www.NewportNews.US
• www.Norfolk.US
• www.Lubbock.US

I’ll be adding a few others and comparing the different design layouts to determine which one or two seem to have the most appeal to users.

.US Domain Names, Site Development