Which is more ideal: using one domain or multiple ones to brand a product?

8 replies
Hey guys!

I'm in the midst of starting a business in which I'm writing, recording, and selling guided meditations. These meditations will be on varied subjects including weight loss, sex and relationships, healing from illness, general relaxation, etc, etc.

I don't want to put all the recordings on the same site because different meditations are going to attract people with different needs. I also think it would be inappropriate to have, say, meditations about healing from cancer on the same site as meditations about enhancing your experiences in the bedroom.

So, I was thinking of using a separate domain for each--yet each domain would be similar. As an example, I could use domains like VisionHealing.com, VisionConfidence.com, VisionWealth.com, etc, etc and create a "Vision" brand.

(I'm not actually using "Vision". I have another word in mind. I'm just using these domains as examples.)

Each site would have links to the other sites and I'd also include links to the sites within blog posts. In a sense, I'd be creating a blog network.

Multiple domains and multiple sites keeps things separate, but it also brings with it much more work to juggle all these sites.

What do you guys think? Is it better to have one domain? Are there many benefits to having more than one domain and site? And is there a way to set things up in which all these Web sites can be managed with ease? Technically, the Web design will be pretty much the same as will the set up of the Web store. It's the idea of doing one blog post per week for multiple sites that freaks me out.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
#brand #domain #ideal #multiple #product
  • Profile picture of the author dvduval
    In my history of developing sites I have found that most of the business is going to come from one main site. I tend to focus on one site per business that I am running. Creating optimized micro sites does not seem to work like it did in the past, and following that route may leave you with a large bill for domain names without revenue to match.
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    • Profile picture of the author WendyWallace
      Originally Posted by dvduval View Post

      In my history of developing sites I have found that most of the business is going to come from one main site. I tend to focus on one site per business that I am running. Creating optimized micro sites does not seem to work like it did in the past, and following that route may leave you with a large bill for domain names without revenue to match.
      Thank you! On the one hand, the idea of having one domain feels like the easiest thing to do, but yet I can't quite wrap my brain around how to keep the products so separate that people looking for one product won't be turned off by another.
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  • Profile picture of the author imoffersonline
    yes.... you are right

    but there are many things you can do one thing

    build a shop site list all your product,with all pages disclaimer/privacy/terms,and short description.

    place a link on "read more" or "description". place the links of main site related to product.or your product specific domain this way you can save your brand name and you can create specific sales page for each product and one main shopping website. and can collect on all websites/domains emails.


    i have seen few examples ...like this.
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    • Profile picture of the author Steve B
      Wendy,

      You can have multiple sites on one domain using subdomains for each individual site and pointing your traffic to these particular subdomain names. All subdomains would reside under your main domain, which is your brand. So your "empire" would look like

      subdomain1.maindomain.com
      subdomain2.maindomain.com
      subdomain3.maindomain.com

      I am thinking that branding one main domain is preferable to trying to brand multiple different domains, even though they are similar (as per your example). By using subdomains, you are still branding the main domain each time you promote your separate products.

      The best to you,

      Steve
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      • Profile picture of the author WendyWallace
        Originally Posted by Steve B View Post

        Wendy,

        You can have multiple sites on one domain using subdomains for each individual site and pointing your traffic to these particular subdomain names. All subdomains would reside under your main domain, which is your brand. So your "empire" would look like

        subdomain1.maindomain.com
        subdomain2.maindomain.com
        subdomain3.maindomain.com

        I am thinking that branding one main domain is preferable to trying to brand multiple different domains, even though they are similar (as per your example). By using subdomains, you are still branding the main domain each time you promote your separate products.

        The best to you,

        Steve
        Thank you, Steve!

        I had thought about subdomains, then for some reason dismissed the idea and went on a GoDaddy domain buying frenzy.

        Would there be a disadvantage to setting a up a subdomain, but rather than using it when I market the site, use one of the domains I purchased and forward it to the subdomain? Example: weightloss.visionmediation.com would be the subdomain and VisionWeightLoss.com would be the domain I would forward to the subdomain and tell people about when mentioning the site?
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        • Profile picture of the author Steve B
          Wendy,

          No problem at all with what you're saying. I think you can have as many "feeder" domains that funnel traffic to your subdomains as you want. The only downside is that you have more sites to put content on, keep current, etc. But that would be a good use of the domain names you have already purchased. You might even think about using your new domain name sites as places to syndicate the content that comes from your main site and subdomains.

          The best to you,

          Steve
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    • Profile picture of the author WendyWallace
      Originally Posted by imoffersonline View Post

      yes.... you are right

      but there are many things you can do one thing

      build a shop site list all your product,with all pages disclaimer/privacy/terms,and short description.

      place a link on "read more" or "description". place the links of main site related to product.or your product specific domain this way you can save your brand name and you can create specific sales page for each product and one main shopping website. and can collect on all websites/domains emails.


      i have seen few examples ...like this.
      I can't quite understand your instructions. Are you saying:

      -Build a Web store
      -For each product have a description
      -Within the description page place a link to the page where all other products that are on the same topic are listed?

      Thank you for offering your advice!
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  • Profile picture of the author Igor Fridrihs
    Hey,

    Use one main domain (try to make it generic, but relevant to your niche) and use subdomains. It works fine for me.
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