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Pros and cons of setting up a subdomain

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Author: seo
Post Subject: Subdomain: Pros and Cons

What are pros and cons of setting up a subdomain(s)?
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Author: domainaddicted.com
Post Subject:

When you use subdomains it hard for people to remember the domains.
Author: htmlmaster
Post Subject:

As in subdomain.yourdomain.com or subdomain.yourhostname.com?

The former is fairly useful, as some people would rather type a subdomain than a /folder/, but the latter is highly improfessional and unpopular.
Author: seo
Post Subject:

quote:
Originally posted by htmlmaster
As in subdomain.yourdomain.com or subdomain.yourhostname.com?

Former. This site is a great example.
Author: iatbm
Post Subject:

just look at yahoo.com and about.com .... they are successful ... why you should be with subdomain
Author: highpeak
Post Subject:

Hi

Use of a subdomain, or a few sub-domains to separate out distinct subject areas on a website could work very well in terms of SEO. Since each subdomain is a website in its own right, each having its own index.htm page. This way the site is sub-divided and optimised differently depending on what you want to promote.

However, on the flip side, I have been able to achieve similar results by using
websitename.com/category1/index.html
websitename.com/category2/index.html
websitename.com/category3/index.html
etc etc etc
each folder optimised and promoted to the subject area.
Author: Ant
Post Subject:

i do occasionally use them if they are site specific, for example forums.mainsite.com but would never use them to house separate projects, always use a new domain name for that.

Ant
Author: seo
Post Subject:

quote:
Originally posted by Ant
i do occasionally use them if they are site specific, for example forums.mainsite.com but would never use them to house separate projects, always use a new domain name for that.

Ant

... maybe I'm a bit cheap. Whenever I think about setting up a new site on a new domain, I think about the cost of registration.
Author: Ant
Post Subject:

But it's next to nothing, a few dollars, well worth it in my opinion.

The initial launch period is the hardest of all, trying desperately to get people to come to your site, every little advantage helps and a domain looks far more professional and permanent, more encouraging.

Ant
Author: ewwharhar
Post Subject:

quote:
Originally posted by Ant
i do occasionally use them if they are site specific, for example forums.mainsite.com but would never use them to house separate projects, always use a new domain name for that.

Ant


I agree with that, exactly, if I were to start a new project, i would never use a subdomain, unless its something related like articles.site.com, or what Ant said
Author: frankcow
Post Subject:

pro: if the main site is penalized in google, the subdomain can still operate independantly

con: more maintenance, isn't included in sitemaps
Author: seo
Post Subject:

quote:
Originally posted by frankcow

con: more maintenance, isn't included in sitemaps

Most maintenance, yes. I don't worry about sitemap. It's that not difficult to create a couple of sitemaps.
Author: frankcow
Post Subject:

but the fact is that you need to create a sitemap for each one, which is a pain, especially when you have a lot of subdomains
Author: seo
Post Subject:

quote:
Originally posted by frankcow
but the fact is that you need to create a sitemap for each one, which is a pain, especially when you have a lot of subdomains

... what software do you use to create sitemap?

I used GSiteCrawler ( http://gsitecrawler.com/ ) to create sitemaps, and it's really easy to create sitemaps. Once I make a couple of clicks, I can just run on the background. I just wait for a while, and once it's done, I just upload a newly created sitemap.
Author: frankcow
Post Subject:

I use a free online tool: http://www.xml-sitemaps.com/

it's free for up to 500 pages
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Managing Multiple Sites

Author: capebretoner
Post Subject: Managing multiple sites

I have talked to a number of webmasters over the months that have over 100 sites.

My question is how do they manage it? I have 5 sites at the moment and I am having a horrible time working on all of them. Just not enough hours in the day. I am actually thinking about cleaning house and keeping just a couple.

The only thing that I can think of, especially with the people with over 50 is that they simply have a core and then a lot of related sites that they may check out or drop by every month or two
Author: seo
Post Subject:

If they're trying to manage 100 forums or 100 blogs, ok, that's tough. That's challenging, but if they're talking about 100 sites, any sites, then it's manageable. For example, I have the followings domains and subdomains:

http://www.ooen.net/
http://column.ooen.net/
http://forum.ooen.net/
http://store.ooen.net/
http://store.ooen.net/uk/

http://directory.ooen.net/
http://news.ooen.net/
http://home.ohcnetwork.com/
http://forum.ohcnetwork.com/
http://store.ohcnetwork.com/uk/

http://store.ohcnetwork.com/
http://directory.ohcnetwork.com/
http://healthnews.ohcnetwork.com/
http://forum.efinancialdistrict.com/
http://directory.efinancialdistrict.com/

http://store.efinancialdistrict.com/
http://store.efinancialdistrict.com/uk/
http://news.efinancialdistrict.com/
http://www.yetanotherfcw.com/
http://blog.yetanotherfcw.com/

http://forum.yetanotherfcw.com/
http://store.yetanotherfcw.com/
http://store.moviedvdstore.co.uk/
http://directory.yetanotherfcw.com/
http://news.yetanotherfcw.com/

http://blog.investmentintech.com/
http://www.johngrishamunofficial.com/
http://column.politalx.com/
http://news.politalx.com/
http://store.politalx.com/

http://store.politalx.co.uk/
http://blog.ecommunitydevelopment.com/
http://forum.ecommunitydevelopment.com/
http://store.ecommunitydevelopment.com/
http://store.ecommunitydevelopment.co.uk/

http://news.ecommunitydevelopment.com/
http://news.allthedestinations.com/
http://store.allthedestinations.com/

That's 38. All these could be hosted on 38 different domains. I could claim that I have 38 sites then. I admit that some of them look rough, but ... if you're talking about just 100 sites, any 100 sites, managing them all alone is conceivable.
Author: capebretoner
Post Subject:

That is true,

I suppose that some of these people could be counting turnkeys and such which would mean that it would not be as big of a deal.

I have a few sites and since I spend a lot of time working on making them better I don't have a lot of time to make new ones.

Actually right now I feel that I have too many sites and am not making enough money to support all of them, but oh well. Maybe I will just sell some of them off at a loss and spend the money on a good vacation.
Author: seo
Post Subject:

quote:
Originally posted by capebretoner

I suppose that some of these people could be counting turnkeys and such which would mean that it would not be as big of a deal.

You can manage even sites like forums without much difficulty if you're making some money. If you spend $40 - 50 or so, you can get 300 posts or so from a paid posting service. That's sufficient to keep making new posting in one of your forums daily.
quote:
Originally posted by capebretoner

Actually right now I feel that I have too many sites and am not making enough money to support all of them, but oh well. Maybe I will just sell some of them off at a loss and spend the money on a good vacation.

I'm thinking about selling one of my sites as well. I need some cash.
Author: frankcow
Post Subject:

which one are you thinking of selling?
Author: hotrod1
Post Subject:

It depends on what type of site it is you are trying to maintain. Alot of sites now adays can be left on auto pilot where you won't have to touch them for long periods of time and others need constant attention.
Author: seo
Post Subject:

quote:
Originally posted by frankcow
which one are you thinking of selling?

Hmmm ... maybe the travel site? If the price is right, maybe the health site as well ... It's not that I'm tired of developing these sites. It's simply a question how I manage my business finance, and it would be ideal if I have cash with me in the coming months.
Author: frankcow
Post Subject:

are they sites with unique content or are they forums?
Author: seo
Post Subject:

quote:
Originally posted by frankcow
are they sites with unique content or are they forums?
You can take a look actually:

Travel site

http://news.allthedestinations.com/
http://store.allthedestinations.com/

Health site:

http://home.ohcnetwork.com/
http://forum.ohcnetwork.com/
http://store.ohcnetwork.com/
http://directory.ohcnetwork.com/
http://healthnews.ohcnetwork.com/
Author: frankcow
Post Subject:

Are you selling the TLDs as well?

do you have any traffic/revenue numbers to show?
What are you asking?
Author: seo
Post Subject:

quote:
Originally posted by frankcow
Are you selling the TLDs as well?

do you have any traffic/revenue numbers to show?
What are you asking?
I haven't really thought about it quite frankly. Also I'd personally like to keep them all. I need to check a couple of things. If I can get things that I plan to get done done without having a financial problem in the coming months, I won't be rushing to sell these sites. If anyone's interested in buying, then I'll discuss it casually, but ... no specific price is set yet.

Good webmaster, seo forums to find resources

Author: seo
Post Subject: Second best webmaster website

What's the second best webmaster website and why (the best webmaster website is obviously eCommunityDevelopment , so I don't ask ...)?
Author: rmwebs
Post Subject:

Well i would say whichbb.com but i dont think thats allowed Razz

Um...its gotta be either theadminzone or namepros
Author: seo
Post Subject:

What do you think about sitepoint? How about Digital Point forum?
Author: altyfc
Post Subject:

I was going to suggest Digital Point. Sitepoint is good also, though. And so it's Cre8asite, but unfortunately I don't find the time to get around them all these days.

Aaron
Author: seo
Post Subject:

quote:
Originally posted by altyfc
I was going to suggest Digital Point. Sitepoint is good also, though. And so it's Cre8asite, but unfortunately I don't find the time to get around them all these days.

Aaron
I spend less time at those forums nowadays. It's partly because I acquired some knowledge and partly because they basically cover same topics over and over. No offense, but too many of discussions (if I can call that) have no freshness.
Author: rmwebs
Post Subject:

I used to visit sitepoint alot, however its become too much of a dictatorship...i remember the days when it was free to post in any section and the members were polite to eachother...now its just a mass postcount war.
Author: seo
Post Subject:

Sitepoint was much more egalitarian.
Author: altyfc
Post Subject:

I guess this is a problem with very large boards. The more members you have, perhaps the harder it is to steer the board in the direction you want, and it's dictated more by the members.

Aaron
Author: seo
Post Subject:

quote:
Originally posted by altyfc
I guess this is a problem with very large boards. The more members you have, perhaps the harder it is to steer the board in the direction you want, and it's dictated more by the members.

Aaron
I'd love to be dealing with a problem like that rather than dealing with problems of getting the forum up and running and creating an active and vibrant community.
Author: altyfc
Post Subject:

The grass is always greener on the other side! I kind of agree that I'd prefer to have those kinds of problems but I also anticipate that there can be a lot of difficult issues, too... persistent spammers, trolls, abuse, etc... but all this going on in VOLUME. What happens if you go away for a week's vacation?

Aaron
Author: seo
Post Subject:

quote:
Originally posted by altyfc
What happens if you go away for a week's vacation?

Aaron

Well, hopefully, money you make from the forum will cover the cost of one (or more) full time staff Smile .
Author: altyfc
Post Subject:

True... I wonder if it's as straight forward as that, though.

Aaron
Author: seo
Post Subject:

If the forum has serious traffic, then you can run banner ads enabled by a 1st tier ad network. I think that actually generates good revenue.
Author: Rooted
Post Subject:

I'm partial to DnLodge.com since I co-own it but if I was to pick one that I don't have a vested interest in I would go with Webmaster-talk.com. It was the first webmaster forum I ever joined and it seems to be one of the better ones. Sitepoint is good for some things but Webmaster-talk has always seemed more friendly and a bit less hectic.
Author: rmwebs
Post Subject:

I jut thought of another i like: dnforum.com

Its a premium forum, i myself am a platinum member. Its very professional and weeds out all the spammers and kids as the minimum membership price is around $60

Web promotion using MySpace

Author: iatbm
Post Subject: Anyone using myspace.com

to market sites ?

I think about this seriously. I have account with some friends. When I get 100 friends I will start marketing as hell every 2 days hehe through bulletin and pms

Anyone using it to share some experience ?
Author: seo
Post Subject:

I did think about something like that, but I haven't heard that anyone's getting any solid result doing it.
Author: iatbm
Post Subject:

well I have 12 friends now. What I did was just look out for people with niche interest and send them invite. Almost all accepted Wink So when I get 100 I will start promoting. I hope it will work since I heard myspace is also good marketing tool if you use it right. I am still learning myself this myspace thing.
Author: seo
Post Subject:

The only thing I know about MySpace is ...

Tila Tequila
Author: iatbm
Post Subject:

what is that artificial creature .... I do not see 1% woman in there Twisted Evil What is she some kind of singer ... pop star or what .... ohhh I see her heart is broken now Rolling Eyes
Author: seo
Post Subject:

quote:
Originally posted by iatbm
what is that artificial creature .... I do not see 1% woman in there Twisted Evil What is she some kind of singer ... pop star or what .... ohhh I see her heart is broken now Rolling Eyes
She's apparently by far the most popular person in MySpace. I just found out about this about a month ago ...
Author: domainaddicted.com
Post Subject:

For myspace promoting to really work you need a lot of friends, xx,xxx atleast
Author: iatbm
Post Subject:

Interesting is that I got mentioned my soccer forum at some page and the owner said he saw it on myspace and I didn't even advertise it hehe Wink ... I just mentioned it in my profile. Already I got visitors from myspace and that page .... and btw I have 12 friends .. what will be when I have xx,xxx
Author: seo
Post Subject:

How do SE see your profile page? It indexes your page, right?
Author: iatbm
Post Subject:

Ups I do not know that my page is still to new probably. It isn't there now ... thanks for reminding me... will look for this now !
Author: ewwharhar
Post Subject:

I sometimes just add random people, and I get a billion comments saying "Thanks for the add Smile, who are you? o.O?"

Link out to a banned domain

Author: iatbm
Post Subject: Never, Never !

Link out to banned domain in google. Before you write <a href .....> make sure page is properly indexed in google. Check this many times since it is very bad to link to not-quality banned sites
Author: seo
Post Subject:

What if the site is brand new?
Author: iatbm
Post Subject:

It should be indexed in couple of days if you make soe offsite SEO!
Then just wait and see. Site will not be banned if it is quality site in my opinion just be careful. This is business we have here!
Author: htmlmaster
Post Subject:

If it's a new site then I wouldn't link to it anyway (at least in an exchange). Why do a link exchange with a brand new site with a PR of 0?
Author: seo
Post Subject:

quote:
Originally posted by htmlmaster
If it's a new site then I wouldn't link to it anyway (at least in an exchange). Why do a link exchange with a brand new site with a PR of 0?
Link exchange? Sure, you wouldn't do it. But there are instances that you can't really avoid it, aren't there? For example, your member's making a reference in your forum?
Author: iatbm
Post Subject:

I would not do link exchange anyway. I prefer one way links.
Author: htmlmaster
Post Subject:

quote:

Link exchange? Sure, you wouldn't do it. But there are instances that you can't really avoid it, aren't there? For example, your member's making a reference in your forum?

That's why it's so important for forum admins/moderators to have really good SEO knowledge. It isn't much to worry though. Most blacklisted sites are only attacking other websites via spam which most bulletin boards tend to block well enough.
Author: www.CompuForums.org
Post Subject:

Plus, you can always append the "nofollow" attribute to your links.
Author: Zerabira
Post Subject:

Has anyone anywhere shown any positive proof that linking to another site can negatively affect your site?
Author: seo
Post Subject:

quote:
Originally posted by Zerabira
Has anyone anywhere shown any positive proof that linking to another site can negatively affect your site?
There is no 100% concrete absolutely positive proof because you can't really see the inside of Google. However, there are a couple of examples that make you suspect about this strongly.
Author: ewwharhar
Post Subject:

quote:
Originally posted by www.CompuForums.org
Plus, you can always append the "nofollow" attribute to your links.


Yes, I can easily do that with phpld directory, theres an option for it, but I don't do that because no one would submit their sites, and I reject new and "spam" like illegal sort of sites
Author: SKETCHi
Post Subject:

Well... I always link to my brand new sites and my older, high PR sites never seem to be penalized in any way. Outgoing links aren't nearly as important as incoming. My new sites jump up to PR4+ within a few months because I link them all together.

Web promotion using a mini-site

Author: SKETCHi
Post Subject: Thoughts on Mini Sites

Mini Sites are little one page, easily created websites that contain information on a subject or a product to sell. They are turnkey, meaning there is nearly no updating after you complete the creation of the site. It's basically like writing a report for a high school class, but you place it on a website and throw ads up with it.

I've decided to give them a try and I wanted to know if anyone else has any experience with them.
Author: killbalance
Post Subject:

I love creating mini sites into my main website, it helps build traffic, and content, so in turn in makes the main website even bigger
Author: rmwebs
Post Subject:

I used to create mini sites & sell them...it gave me a little bit of cash to buy stuff from ebay and amazon with Smile They are a good idea and can make you some nice money from adverts.
Author: seo
Post Subject:

SKETCHi,

Would you show us some example?
Author: SKETCHi
Post Subject:

I haven't really got an example yet heh. I just made one, which isn't up yet Very Happy.
Author: seo
Post Subject:

This is kind of a mini site " John Grisham Unofficial "; the site is still under construction though.
Author: iatbm
Post Subject:

I think it is better to go with one site on some subject and make it proffesional reference with lets say ... at least 500 articles on the subject. Those articles must be unique and you will get lots of visitors from SE .... I have only 50 page website in one of the most popular niche ... and i get almost 300 unique visitors a day + 50 returning visitors since my site is really a great reference ( It was mentioned in academic web sites and even in newspaper ! ) and I am making quite good revenue.
Author: seo
Post Subject:

quote:
Originally posted by iatbm
I think it is better to go with one site on some subject and make it proffesional reference with lets say ... at least 500 articles on the subject. Those articles must be unique and you will get lots of visitors from SE .... I have only 50 page website in one of the most popular niche ... and i get almost 300 unique visitors a day + 50 returning visitors since my site is really a great reference ( It was mentioned in academic web sites and even in newspaper ! ) and I am making quite good revenue.
How did you make this site? Did you use any template? Did you use any script?
Author: iatbm
Post Subject:

It is really crap looking but great reference hehe .... i used snews publishing system from http://www.solucija.com and quckly coded css/html template of really terrible look Wink .... nothing special .. it really doesn't matter ... content is the king
Author: Zerabira
Post Subject:

Has anyone had much success with these types of sites? Do you have to run loads of them to make any significant cash?
Author: seo
Post Subject:

quote:
Originally posted by Zerabira
Has anyone had much success with these types of sites? Do you have to run loads of them to make any significant cash?

I kind of started one, but it's been under construction forever.
Author: Camron
Post Subject:

mini sites look like a great idea, i would love to see some come to the web

CMS, Content Management System

Author: iatbm
Post Subject: What CMS do you use ?

So what do you use ?

I use snews since it is really good one-file system and I can implement whatever I want into it. It is also very easy to template because you can use any HTML/CSS template !

So tell us what do you use and why !
Author: seo
Post Subject:

I actually never used any CMS unless I count blog as a CMS.
Author: iatbm
Post Subject:

Which blog system ?

I count blog system also as cms since it is content managment system Wink
Author: seo
Post Subject:

quote:
Originally posted by iatbm
Which blog system ?

I count blog system also as cms since it is content managment system Wink

Blogger. It's not the best blog software, but that's the only one I've actually used.
Author: htmlmaster
Post Subject:

I don't use a CMS, I just make a very basic one myself (without the admin interface of course, it just isn't necessary for me).
Author: iatbm
Post Subject:

htmlmaster : You mean basic one by just including elements of the page in one template with php include function ? .... or something more complex ...
Author: Zerabira
Post Subject:

I like my sites to integrate with my forums so I coded a basic cms that does that. I've been trying to cut out as much as possible 3rd party software because it often holds back site developement, i.e. I can't upgrade the forums until the cms gets updated also. Relying on others to get round to upgrading stuff gets frustrating.
Author: iatbm
Post Subject:

have you tried snews. I think there is no hold back in development with this little cms. Just check out its clean code Wink
Author: dojo
Post Subject:

phpnuke for one links directory and some articles about martial arts. Also used etomite for my webmaster articles but I have moved them into the forums and deleted the script. Was pleased with it anyway
Author: capebretoner
Post Subject:

My fav for a basic blog is wordpress

For a more indepth site I like VB with a portal mod.

Or if you are cheap PostNuke is good.
Author: www.CompuForums.org
Post Subject:

When I've used CMSes, I've always used PHP Fusion.
Author: frankcow
Post Subject:

I use Joomla for several sites, with an SEF component
Author: iatbm
Post Subject:

I am getting more and more temped with joomla. How would joomla work with gallery with download sections where users would submit zip files with image in the gallery. You know something like http://www.openwebdesign.org ?
Author: frankcow
Post Subject:

there are many components you could install that would easily give you this functionality

check out http://www.allcichlids.com

it runs on joomla, it has a chat component, a photo gallery component, SEF urls and a few others
Author: pfgannon
Post Subject:

Hey frankcow, love the site!
I'm a cichlid owner myslef, assuming thats your site would you be interested in starting a fish forum?

Get back to me via PM, so we don't take over this thread Wink

Making money using websites

Author: capebretoner
Post Subject: How do you make your money?

How do you, as a webmaster, make the majority of your income? Do you sell advertising? A PPC program? Affiliate programs? or other?

Mine is mostly other, I sell "vaultage", (if you are interested I can send you my affiliate link for this), and the rest I sell links on a couple of my higher PR sites.
Author: seo
Post Subject:

Contextual ad
Affiliate program
Amazon (Affiliate program)
Advertising

I'll start running banner ads in a couple of months hopefully.
Author: iatbm
Post Subject:

I make money from cpc programs, amazon and from python programming for my ex company Wink
Author: Rooted
Post Subject:

For me, it is client work. Lately, though, that has been very low and I'm probably making slightly more through PPC.
Author: capebretoner
Post Subject:

quote:
Originally posted by seo
I'll start running banner ads in a couple of months hopefully.


If you are talking about banner ads here, I have found that on webmaster themed sites you can get more cash via text ads. Especially if the site recieves PR after the next TBPR update.
Author: highpeak
Post Subject:

Hi

I make my money on cpc search feeds from espotting and mirago, also from ads by google. Make some money from affiliate links aswell.
Author: seo
Post Subject:

quote:
Originally posted by highpeak
Hi

I make my money on cpc search feeds from espotting and mirago, also from ads by google.

You can't run espotting, mirago and AdSense simultaneously, can you? How do you use three different program?
Author: highpeak
Post Subject:

I use these 3 providers, but I do have different sites in which to use them