Multiple domains

:hello:,

Just have a few questions about domains...

1). Are there any disadvantages of having multiple domains for one site? (xxx.com, xxc.com, xxd.com, etc.com, all direct you to one site)

2). How many of you have more than one domain linking to your site?

3). What are the advantages?

 

One distinct advantage to having multiple domain names redirect to a single community is the ability to purchase "mistake domains".

For example, let's say that you purchase thebestforum.com. As the community grows, there are bound to be members who misspell (or mistype) the domain name, ultimately resulting in either a) an entirely different website altogether or b) an accessibility error. As such, purchasing "similar" domain names (e.g. bestforum.com, thebestforums.com, etc.) could possibly decrease the number of failed access attempts and in turn, result in a higher registration rate. It's something to think about.

A possible disadvantage is confusion due to having multiple domain names redirect to a one community, however this can be prevented by making members (and guests) aware of the original domain.

 

I do this. I have multiple domains partly for the reasons that Chris has stated, like his example.

I also made use of .org versions.

All of them are parked to the main domain, meaning they will see that upon site loadup.

Course some communities actually make another site (e.g. sister) w/ those other domains too, which then link to the Main.

I can only see advantages.

Disadvantages: cost for the domains

 

Great answers from both of you.

The original domain name of my site is displayed as the main logo, so I don't think I will have a problem with confusion.

 

Perfect. If that is the case, going with a few different domains would be a good choice.

 

I have so many domain names leading to my website. 14 domains pointing to my main domain. Then again, I have .biz, .info, .me, .mobi, .net, .org, and .tv. Looking back, the .tv, .mobi, .info, and .biz are worthless. I will probably ending up dropping them due to the shear cost of them. The others are old domain names from other attempts at sites that failed or forums I purchased.

 

Any significant increase in traffic?

 

1). Are there any disadvantages of having multiple domains for one site? (xxx.com, xxc.com, xxd.com, etc.com, all direct you to one site)
- depending on how it's done, there could be seo issues. Make sure they are permanent redirects and they are NOT stealth forwarding (otherwise urls can't be shared easily)

2). How many of you have more than one domain linking to your site?
For our main site we don't have this, but for some side sites we do because they were originally promoted with different domains, but we'd prefer not to have this.


3). What are the advantages?
My opinion is that it's only advantageous if there could be different spellings or abbreviations of a site you want to catch. other than that, it just confuses people and search engines. Your should really only promote one domain, both to people and to the search engines.

 

Good question. The best traffic I get is from people google'ing my site.