Small Business | Forum « separate pages or domains?

separate pages or domains? (18 posts)

Topic tags: domains, pages

Dea Irby said
1 year, 4 months ago:
I have a variety of subjects that I deal with that are in totally different categories, i.e. cooking/recipes, parenting, being your own unique self, spiritual lessons, creative writing/script writing… Should I have a different domain for each or would a different page on the same blog work? Do I need a different domain for each book I have written/am writing?
@deairby | # | Top
Heather Murray said
1 year, 4 months ago:
That’s a good question. When I worked for a company some years ago, there was a point during which management brainstormed to find new income streams. When some of the ideas got too far away from our main business, the director would remind us to “stick to the knitting.” That’s what comes to mind when thinking about this question.
I think much would depend on how generic the domain name was. On one generic domain, of course sub domains could be created for each category. But if the chosen domain name is too specific to a particular category, then I think less success will be achieved.
Just my opinion.
@clusterwebdesign | # | Top
Paul Wylie said
1 year, 4 months ago:
@deairby You could use an add on domain for each vertical that is different from your core. e.g. http://books.your-site.com (site for all your books), http://cooking.your-site.com (for all your recipes) and so on.
@ptwylie | # | Top
Warren Veach said
1 year, 4 months ago:
@deairby
I agree with both @clusterwebdesign and @ptwylie .
Diversity is good, but too many unrelated topics on one site could be confusing.
Paul’s idea of using add-on domains for things that are off catagory and placing links to those topics would work.
@warrenveach | # | Top
Rich Brooks said
1 year, 4 months ago:
@deairby
A) How do you find the time?
B) If you do have the time to write on such disparate subjects, I’d recommend different domains entirely UNLESS there’s a overreaching theme to tie them all together.
Google tends to like sites with focus, and send less traffic to sites that are dilettantes.
@rich-brooks | # | Top
Debbie Lynn Butler said
1 year, 4 months ago:
@deairby When visitors land on your Web site page, you want them to find what they are looking for AND to take the desired next step. With such diverse topics, it may be less confusing to visitors if you have different sites.
@debbielynnava | # | Top
Dea Irby said
1 year, 4 months ago:
A) I never sleep! @rich-brooks
@deairby | # | Top
Dea Irby said
1 year, 4 months ago:
Is a sub-domain the same as an add-on domain? @ptwylie @warrenveach
@deairby | # | Top
Warren Veach said
1 year, 4 months ago:
@deairby
Subdomains are the third level domains that are used to organize your web site content.
They are just like folders under your root directory. But they will have a special URL to access.
http://www.yoursite.com is the regular URL with out a subdomain.
http://products.yoursite.com is an URL with subdomain “products”.
Here the:
.com is the first level domain
yoursite is the second level domain
products is the third level domain
An add-on domain is just like having a separate web site.
[ consider your addon domain name as addondomain.com ]
There are 3 ways of accessing an addon domain:
1. addondomain.com
2. yoursite.com/addondomain
3. addondomain.yoursite.com
Accessing the addondomain.com will display that very domain name in the address bar of their browser, so its similar to a separate web site.
@warrenveach | # | Top
Chris Allen said
1 year, 4 months ago:
@deairby It is possible to utilize a single domain for a variety of topics. An example of this would be Lifehacker.com as posts vary in topic, but have an overarching relationship to the purpose of the site which is providing tips to get things done. Sites like this also benefit from utilizing common CMS features such as post tagging and post categories to help organize content in a way that it can be filtered and/or searched so it can be accessed quickly and easily. Plus it provides an SEO benefit as well.
But as @rich-brooks mentioned if the topics you write about don’t share that overarching theme, then perhaps grouping topics that do work well together into a couple of unique sites (possibly even utilizing second level or add-on domains) would be a better approach. Because a clear message as to the type of content a website is providing is definitely best.
@sketchgraphx | # | Top
Dea Irby said
1 year, 4 months ago:
“clear as mud!” no, really, thanks. The only real over arching thread is me and I’m thinking of getting my name as a domain then I could put the others under it. Do you have to buy sub domains or add on domains like you would a regular one? @sketchgraphx @warrenveach
@deairby | # | Top
Chris Allen said
1 year, 4 months ago:
@deairby You’ll have to check with your hosting provider and see if the plan you have or will purchase from them includes the ability to add sub domains or add-on domains. Sometimes very low level hosting packages may not include the option to add additional domains to your primary domain name. Hope this helps!
@sketchgraphx | # | Top
Erik Deckers said
1 year, 4 months ago:
@deairby Tell us a little bit more about what you want to achieve with each topic or book. Are you trying to sell actual books to people? If that’s the case, get a domain name and create a landing page or a mini-site and optimize the bejeezus out of it.
Are you writing a blog, and you want people to know you for those things? Then create a single blog, with a short list of categories. Set the main page up so people can either click to read your entire blog catalog, or could click a button that will pull up only those posts.
Only consider subdomains if you’re trying to drive people to a single site, like cooking.deairby.com. Even then, consider the mini-site as an additional traffic source that sends people to the sub-domained website.
@erikdeckers | # | Top
Dea Irby said
1 year, 4 months ago:
Thanks for the feedback, Erik. So, here’s what I’m looking at: I already have a multi-category blog (recipes, travel, tea, spiritual lessons, parenting) and have published a cookbook. The blog is named after the restaurant (The Baron York Tea Room Cafe) I owned (closed now). The cookbook has recipes and stories from the restaurant and a bit of history about my little town in the north Georgia mountains. I am moving away from GA where the restaurant was and moving to NC where no one knows who or what “The Baron York” is. The next book (The Flavor-Infused Life: Being Your Own Unique Self) is based on tea and what life lessons can be learned about being “your own cup of tea.” After that, I’ve got a spiritual book/memoir (Holding on to God’s Coattails) followed by a parenting book (Straight Arrows) since I have birthed! eight children with the same husband.Does this give you a picture of what I’m working with? The gift shop part of the tea room was moved to a consignment booth and may possibly become an online store when we move…(another website need). @erikdeckers
@deairby | # | Top
Chris Allen said
1 year, 4 months ago:
@deairby From what you have described above I would say that you should be fine with the multi-category blog you currently have for posting your thoughts on recipes, travel, tea, spiritual lessons, and parenting, especially if you are having success with it currently. No sense fixing something that is not broke and working well for you.
And I do agree with @erikdeckers that dedicated microsites/landing pages for promoting your other upcoming book releases would be the way to go, as this is now common practice for promoting all types of products and services. After all, the benefits of microsites/landing pages is that they are faster to design/develop, more cost effective, they are measurable when utilizing a unique URL, and they are focused, making it easy to point people directly to your product or specialized service.
Does this help clear things up a bit?
@sketchgraphx | # | Top
Susan Newman said
1 year, 4 months ago:
Okay, I’m going to be the fly in the ointment here.
I really think that the topics need to be shuffled and what goes together stays and what doesn’t gets it’s own site.
What I have learned about how people find you via google etc, is the specificity of your subject, title, description and keywords and when that site is 100% on “brand” with what you are talking about, they like it and in turn the public finds it too.
The more specific you can be in the name of your site, so it is original and stands alone, the better to attract the people looking for you.
Susan
@sndinc | # | Top
Kathy Pop said
1 year, 4 months ago:
I agree w/ Susan, like topics together on separate sites. Depending on what your main domain is, would a subdomain (which are free) work? I have several general domains and use subdomains for sites within that niche. Otherwise using a different domain- especially if you want the SEO benefit from it.
What are your stats telling you? If you’re getting plenty of traffic, then don’t touch it, if not, well then tweak, make changes.
there a site w/ a free service that can give you quit a bit of insight about your site it’s woorank.com. There’s a whole bunch more that do similar things too.
Contact me anytime if you need more help or just want to brainstorm some solutions.
@kathypop | # | Top
Dea Irby said
1 year, 4 months ago:
thanks, Kathy, I’ll check out woorank.com @kathypop
@deairby | # | Top