Domain Names - Necessary?

Either one will work. I used to use subdomains quite a bit....so a domain might be gardenlady.com and I might have subdomains of gardentools, roses, indoor plants, perrenials, etc. I would pay for one domain and use reseller hosting so I could manage the domains. To me, it was a question of organization. One domain for garden topics, another for pet topics, etc. - niches in the same category.


The downside was each subdomain is treated as a separate domain so you have to work on them just as with any site. The hosting is slightly higher but you only register one domain.


The alternative to using subdomains was using folders and I did that, too. There are pros and cons for both. I'd be interested to know how marketers set up similar sites now - it's been several years since I worked on sites and wonder how much has changed.



I would NEVER choose how to set up multiple niche sites based on the cost of a domain. For less than $20 you can register a domain for a year....if a site doesn't earn enough to pay for a $20 domain and $10 of hosting...that's a hobby.

Two things:



Subdomains
Subdirectory


Subdomain acts as a separate site - url would be, for example,


www.roses.gardenlady.com
or
www.gardentools.gardenlady.com




A subdirectory (folders) would be a folder OF the doman and would be found as,
www.gardenlady.com/roses
www.gardenlady.com/garden-tools



One of the reasons I used subdomains was that I could use words like


houseplants.gardenlady.com
roses.gardenlady.com



What would be the chances of getting a domain name that is 'houseplants.com'? Like none?


It's been several years since I was running those sites so others here may have other preferences or advice...I'm that rare internet marketer - retired.

I'm not sure if one is necessarily better than the other unless the main domain name already ranks well.

I can't help but think of companies like Hayneedle.com and Wayfair.com, both of which originally started as dozens of separate microniche websites that were later combined into a single domain with subdirectories.

It's easier to rank individual microniche websites. That is, until you create a more all-encompassing website that the little sites all re-direct to. Once the power of all of those little, well ranking sites is transferred to the "mothership", additional niches are easier to rank on the main website as subdirectories (folders) than they would be as new start-up niche sites.

Domain names are extremely critical in my opinion. The domain name needs to convey exactly what your are all about.

I have been fortunate to have several domains during my 25+ online career and some of them are still generating offers to buy them.

I realize you are using 'what ifs' but there is a difference (to me, at least) between....


gardenlady.com/tools
gardenlady.com/roses


and


mrenterprises.com/pettoys
mresnterprises.com/iphonecovers


The top one is IN A broad NICHE and focuses on subniches.


The bottom one, to me, says "I sell anything i can sell". Pettoys and iphonecovers are not related and 'enterprises' says nothing except 'I'm in business to make money'.


It may be a minor point but when you are attracting a specific audience you need to focus on THAT audience rather than try to attract everyone and hope someone buys something. Does that make sense?

Your gardening site should have a name that reflects
what it is about.

If you are serious about your website business, then
stop looking for ways to save money on domain name
registrations and hosting, otherwise your customers
won't take you seriously.

This really matters if you are planning to build a list.
People aren't going to give their email address to a
spammy looking website.

If you are concerned about plug-in costs, find ones
that provide a license for several sites.

You are putting the cart before the horse about
having multiple sites if you don't even have a single
site developed yet.

You should develop your website in an organized
manner just as if you are writing a book that has a
table of contents and chapters, except you will be
developing a silo structure. If you don't know what
a silo structure is, don't worry about it and carry on.

If you are going to develop a gardening website,
your TOC should be something like this:

Fertilizer
Potting Soil
Hydroponics
Garden Tools
Growing Herbs
Growing Orchids, Tomatoes, or Avocado Trees
Seeds (collecting, storing)
etc.

Once you have your topics organized, develop your
content and place your affiliate links within the content,
side bar, or both. I prefer to place them in my content,
but you can do whatever you like.

For a long time i was put off promoting my blog on facebook, thinking it might be blocked, but looking at this for eg you put a bitly link or clickbank link because many users are promoting similar links it triggers something that might block in a alogrthim, but the good thing about your domain name, you are the only one that has this domain name, and it comes with official hosting from a reputable source, and in a sense passes all the checks for any platform that you are posting on, so yes a domain is a great thing to have, i hope this makes sense to you.

Yes, Domain name is so important. And its necessary.