addon domain concerns?

[mjnet]

i have an existing site (wpress) with blue host. i plan to set-up or create more websites as addon to my main domain so as not to incur addtl hosting fee.
the websites content will not be related at all. what concerns should i be mindful of?

[Lloyd Buchinski]

I use the DirectAdmin control panel and it handles add on domains a lot better than Cpanel, so it might depend on what you are using, but just a bit. An add on domain should be a completely independent domain, and it is at least for me.

In Cpanel you have this odd situation where you can type in addon.primarydomain.com as if the add on is a sub domain of the primary domain, and that url will take you to the add on domain. There have been a couple of threads from people who wanted to block that.

That does NOT work with DA. All your domains are accessible from a single folder, so that sub domain arrangement will just not work.

But even with Cpanel it still should be independent. I tried looking this up a few times and even wikipedia just had a brief paragraph about add on domains. It said practically nothing, so maybe no one knows. And if they don't know, there can't be too much difference.

best wishes,
lloyd

[Kat Bartone]

I talked about this with Hostgator not too long ago. I have my hosting with them, and have a slew of addons plastered onto my primary domain.

Seems that if you ever want to upgrade to a reseller account later and peel some of those addons off to make them standalones, you'll have to pay a fee to have it done.

Also, if your addons will be blogs rather than standard HTML sites, it's trickier to move them (again, if you wanted to change it later to a standalone) than it is to move a plain HTML site.

My impression is that all else is pretty much equal.

Hope this helps,

Kat

[mjnet]

thanks guys. will have to check with blue host for fees in the event i move to a standalone .
one more, did you encounter issues with google (indexing, etc)?

[Laura B]

Originally Posted by Kat Bartone

Seems that if you ever want to upgrade to a reseller account later and peel some of those addons off to make them standalones, you'll have to pay a fee to have it done.

Also, if your addons will be blogs rather than standard HTML sites, it's trickier to move them (again, if you wanted to change it later to a standalone) than it is to move a plain HTML site.

Kat

Yes, this is what I've just run into, having recently become a reseller. Moving my blogs from add-on to standalone is giving me fits.

[AllyW]

I use BlueHost and have quite a few add-on domains, have never had any problems (at least not any problems that I didn't cause myself ). Have not tried to move any of my domains to standalone, so can't comment on that. If you buy your domains thru BlueHost, they're instantly available to you. Only decision you have to make is whether to put WordPress in the root directory or in a /blog directory. I've done both and it's worked fine both ways. I really like BlueHost.

[mjnet]

Originally Posted by AllyW

I use BlueHost and have quite a few add-on domains, have never had any problems (at least not any problems that I didn't cause myself ). Have not tried to move any of my domains to standalone, so can't comment on that. If you buy your domains thru BlueHost, they're instantly available to you. Only decision you have to make is whether to put WordPress in the root directory or in a /blog directory. I've done both and it's worked fine both ways. I really like BlueHost.

this is where i am currently stuck right now... root directory- is this your wp-content folder?

[AllyW]

I am not good at terminology, usually screw it up, so let me explain what I mean. The very first domain you buy and set up on BlueHost will be what I'm calling your root domain -- firstone.com -- then when you buy a second domain-- secondone.com -- it will be an addon to firstone.com. Both are complete, separate domains, but BlueHost will forever more consider firstone.com to be your top level, mothership domain. No one but you will ever know the difference, and it will only matter to you when you're FTPing and moving files around. It shouldn't be a problem. (I have 17 addon domains, trust me on this one.)

Oops, didn't really answer your question. Okay, your new URL is secondone.com -- you can either install WordPress in secondone.com or you could install in secondone.com/blog. If you put it in /blog then people who want to go to your blog will either have to type in secondone.com/blog or your will have to have this in your links. Done this way, you could put up a static page (index.htm) that would appear if someone did not type in the /blog. If you put WordPress directly into secondone.com, then the first thing that everyone will see when they type in secondone.com is your blog. No static index.htm page. Which doesn't mean you can't add static pages, you can, but you'll need to link to them from the blog. Unless you have very specific plans, you'll probably be happy whichever way you pick. And it can always be changed.

[jyzackoh]

Hi Sir/Madam,

I tried to reply to your PM but I am unable to do so because I do not have enough posts.

It turns out that the addon domains are alright. I did some research and found out that the top ranking sites of George Brown are also on bluehost. If he can get his addon domains to top rankings, I'm sure it's alright.

Do not worry. =)

Hope I Helped!
Zack

[mjnet]

AllyW - hay,,, cute dog you have --- thanks! just have to be good with this ftps! ha ha

Zack - thanks. i know,i do worry every little bit!

to all, i now feel better.

[mmcqueen]

mjnet,

Even though your add on domains won't be related topic wise it shouldn't matter. Each add on domain is treated as a separate domain and will be indexed as such.

Good luck,

Michael

[grumpyjacksa]

Originally Posted by AllyW

I am not good at terminology, usually screw it up, so let me explain what I mean. The very first domain you buy and set up on BlueHost will be what I'm calling your root domain -- firstone.com -- then when you buy a second domain-- secondone.com -- it will be an addon to firstone.com. Both are complete, separate domains, but BlueHost will forever more consider firstone.com to be your top level, mothership domain. No one but you will ever know the difference, and it will only matter to you when you're FTPing and moving files around. It shouldn't be a problem. (I have 17 addon domains, trust me on this one.)

sorry to throw a spanner in the works here....

but if you type secondone.firstone.com - your new site will come up....

so your add-on domain actually becomes accessible as a subdomain as well....

and it seems google treats those the same as folders (which is what they are)...

since your add-on domain is just another folder inside public_html.

i created a new blog a while back - and then i added two minisites on add-on domains - and everything slowed down....

so i added noindex to the two extra ones yesterday - and i guess i'll see the results in month when google has taken note.

then i'll know for sure. until then,it's all speculation - we never know how google does things....

pj

[DogScout]

Yeah, I have found disallowing the 2nd domain via the 1st one in the 1st one's root robots txt, will prevent Google finding the site twice with different IPs

[Kat Bartone]

@Dogscout, good tip.

Do you happen to know the code for that offhand?

And I'm assuming that what this does will be prevent google only from seeing the second as a sub of the first, but it won't prevent google from seeing the second as its own entity - is that right?

Thanks,

Kat

[Lloyd Buchinski]

Originally Posted by grumpyjacksa

sorry to throw a spanner in the works here....

but if you type secondone.firstone.com - your new site will come up....

so your add-on domain actually becomes accessible as a subdomain as well.

Yes, this is the situation with Cpanel. Didn't know which control panel Bluehost is using. This does not happen with the DirectAdmin control panel.

All your domains are in the 'domains' folder in alphabetical order with no special status for any of them. No tree or root directory structure. You do have a double click quicker access to your first domain but only because they set it up that way.

This is one part of an issue that annoys me a bit. After about 2 years of reading posts here I decided to go over to WHT and research a host there, and then heard of DA for the first time. It took more than 20 hours of info loading and then decided to go with a host that offered it, and am really happy with that choice.

I'm just getting a wimpy little site going and put up a page about it, at DirectAdmin Beats Cpanel, for anyone that wants more info about DA, pretty general and summarized.

Incidentally that one is one of my add on domains, and the 'first' domain (primary doesn't really apply with DA) is mainlytext.com in case anyone doesn't believe that you can't access it with the sub domain arrangement and would like to try.

That did happen in a thread before, when I was told 'that's what an add on domain is, a sub domain.'

[LilBlackDress]

I also have bluehost and about 20 or so add on domains. I do not know why they do this. Though it has never caused any problems just looking at all of the add ons is confusing.

A few comments;
If you buy your domains thru BlueHost, they're instantly available to you. Only decision you have to make is whether to put WordPress in the root directory or in a /blog directory. I've done both and it's worked fine both ways. I really like BlueHost.

I have heard that you should keep your domain name purchases separate from your hosting for a number of reasons. I do. I have never had any trouble adding an add on domain. However, I am not sure if there is an impact to my site or not

Does HostGator have the same add on situation where you see all of the addons in your account?

I like BlueHost but the Postini anti spam pop up I get everytime I go on there is annoying and now they have added the Upgrade your WP. So if I have done it manually I have to go into each site and reset it to get rid of that pop up.
Hello Bluehost I am not in kindergarten!

[CS]

Originally Posted by DogScout

Yeah, I have found disallowing the 2nd domain via the 1st one in the 1st one's root robots txt, will prevent Google finding the site twice with different IPs

Hi DogScout, do you mind show us the script how to disallowing the 2nd domain via the 1st one in the 1st one's root robots txt.