I *still* don't understand multiple hosting!! :(

[Bounderby]

For some reason I cannot grasp the concept of hosting multiple sites, although I have read other responses and tried to get my head around it. Perhaps the problem is I only have one site so haven't actually had to do it yet.

I have a domain on hostgator's baby package. I thought I could buy more domains, and host them under the same package - because it says 'unlimited domains'. I have since come to understand that I can only really have www. domain1. com, and any subsequent domains would be domain2.domain1. com. Am I correct so far?

Then I read one poster said he had 7 sites on one account, which made me doubt myself again. Perhaps he meant a reseller account? If I want, say, 10 completely separate sites/domains, is what I need to do buy a reseller package, then buy 10 individual 'baby' packages through that?

Could somebody please put me out of my misery, I just can't grasp this.

[AmyBrown]

Hostgator refers to them as add-on domains. This tutorial may help: http://www.hostgator.com/tutorials/c...don-domain.htm

Your domains will be available on the internet as domain1.com, domain2.com, domain3.com, not only as domain2.domain1.com.

There's no need to buy a reseller account to have multiple domains on Hostgator.

[new2ebiz]

You can log into your account and look for the domains section and it shows 'addon' domains. Here is where you add your additional domains. I'm sure somewhere hostgator has a video on that. It would be hard to describe it in words.

Hope this gets you started.

[Jesus Perez]

Add On domains offer you the capability to have more than one web site on your hosting plan. You will of-course already have a main domain on your account (the one that you set up your hosting account with in the first place).

To have an add on domain, you will first want to register (or point an existing domain you have already registered to our servers) another domain name. Then you will need to use the Add On Domain feature in your web hosting control panel.

When you add an add on domain, your control panel asks you for a user name and password. It uses the username to create a directory within your public_html directory which will house all files relating to that domain. The password allows for independent ftp access to that domain's directory and files.

Now this is the really good part ... an add on domain has the benefit of its very own URL, i.e. addondomain.com. So, anyone wanting to visit addondomain.com will see that very domain name in the address bar of their browser, so its just like a separate web site. An add on domain uses the space and bandwidth available to your main domain.

In addition, an add on domain has its own CGI and FTP access, its own email accounts and web stats (which includes AWStats which seems to be the preferred stats package for our clients). You can also create sub domains for your addon domains (i.e. subdomain.addondomain.com)

However, each add on domain does not have its own control panel. You can access stats and add on domain configuration using your existing control panel for your main domain (stats access is available using the sub domain stats link in the Web/FTP Stats section of cPanel).

Each add on domain also counts as a sub domain (which brings us to the next question below), which means that each time you add an add on domain, you create a sub domain.

Source: View topic - What are add on domains?

[abs007]

Excellent reply

Just to add that the main domain is referred to as your primary domain.

I was a little confused when I got the same baby package at hostgator and couldnt figure it out for the life of me. The best thing to do is get yourself a new domain and add it on as your add on domain.

you can have your own email accounts for it also.

[peter gibson]

Here's a question I've been asking about all over the place. How does an add on domain affect SEO for each individual site?

In other words, if I add an addon domain to a baby package, is it considered any less relevant to the search engines once I start a backlinking campaign? Will any potential "bad neighborhood" links to one domain effect the others PR and SER position?

[Bounderby]

Thanks for all the replies!
Does this mean therefore, that the people buying reseller accounts, are properly hosting for other people?

Are there any downsides to add on domains? $8 a month seems cheap for 'unlimited' sites.

I have cleared the first hurdle, which was evidently confusing add on domains with sub domains! Hurrah!!

[Jesus Perez]

Originally Posted by Bounderby

Thanks for all the replies!
Does this mean therefore, that the people buying reseller accounts, are properly hosting for other people?

Are there any downsides to add on domains? $8 a month seems cheap for 'unlimited' sites.

I have cleared the first hurdle, which was evidently confusing add on domains with sub domains! Hurrah!!

Reseller plans create a "cpanel" for each domain.
Your baby plans use one cpanel to manage all domains.
That's the only con. If you ever upgrade to reseller, migration is a pain.

[peter gibson]

Originally Posted by BlueSquares

Reseller plans create a "cpanel" for each domain.
Your baby plans use one cpanel to manage all domains.
That's the only con. If you ever upgrade to reseller, migration is a pain.

So there's no SEO bleed between addon domains in a baby package?

[Jesus Perez]

Originally Posted by peter gibson

So there's no SEO bleed between addon domains in a baby package?

Unless you're running a blog/link farm with hundreds of sites interlinking, don't worry too much about the SEO implication. Naturally, Google wants to see backlinks from various C class IP's. But the occasional back and forth link between owned domains is expected.

Besides, there are faster ways to build backlinks. ArticleMarketingAutomation, Linkvana and Firepow's Content network in particular come to mind. Powerful tools.

[peter gibson]

Originally Posted by BlueSquares

Unless you're running a blog/link farm with hundreds of sites interlinking, don't worry too much about the SEO implication. Naturally, Google wants to see backlinks from various C class IP's. But the occasional back and forth link between owned domains is expected.

Besides, there are faster ways to build backlinks. ArticleMarketingAutomation, Linkvana and Firepow's Content network in particular come to mind. Powerful tools.

OK, cool. Thanks greatly BlueSquares, and do you know you are the first person to give me a straight answer on this question? I actually had thought this was the case, but I didn't want to waste time throwing another domain on my baby package without verifying.

I'm checking out Linkvana and Firepow Content Network as well. Cheers mate!

[Jesus Perez]

Originally Posted by peter gibson

I'm checking out Linkvana and Firepow Content Network as well. Cheers mate!

Check out ArticleMarketingAutomation and Firepow first. I believe both have free trials. I personally use both and can vouch for the integrity of the owners. Both of them really, really know their stuff. Solid online basics that, although boring in repetition, yield results.

[peter gibson]

Will do. I've heard of firepow before actually, I think Steve (100.00 per day adsense guy) mentioned that he swears by the product.

Bounderby, sorry to temporarily hijack the thread.

[Bounderby]

I have purchased my second domain and set it up as an add on domain, so thanks for that.

My next question is, how do I get Wordpress to it? The primary domain runs WP and it looks like the files are in the public_html folder. This is also where the second domain folder is. I.e. public_html/wp-admin and public_html/domain2.

Any ideas please?

[Bounderby]

Ok never mind! After playing around in the FTP thing, I did it in 2 seconds using Fantastico from the CP.

Everything is so user-friendly, if only you know where to look

[Sam101]

Originally Posted by Bounderby

I have purchased my second domain and set it up as an add on domain, so thanks for that.

My next question is, how do I get Wordpress to it? The primary domain runs WP and it looks like the files are in the public_html folder. This is also where the second domain folder is. I.e. public_html/wp-admin and public_html/domain2.

Any ideas please?

Originally Posted by Bounderby

Ok never mind! After playing around in the FTP thing, I did it in 2 seconds using Fantastico from the CP.

Everything is so user-friendly, if only you know where to look

Yep, when you login to the cpanel, it will ask you in which domain would you like to work, out of the multiple domains that you would have. Simply select the one where you would like to work and then use Fantastico to install any of the free software that you would like to install.
To know how it is all structured, simply go to the File Manager and you can see the entire directory structure there.
Hope this helps