Another Subdomain / Search Engine Query

[dons1]

I decided to open this new thread since the other similar one's didn't really address my particular situation. If I've missed something then my apologies.

I have a pretty new fan-based website that targets football (soccer fans). It provides all the news, views, data etc that fans crave, plus a forum and blog. The key search term is "football fans forum". But it also has affiliate links to associated products, and, a shop. However, I use Amazon's "Astore" for the shop. So that the cart, payment options, product lists etc. are held at Amazon, not my site.

The problem of course is that the vast majority of users aren't coming to me to buy and I depend on trying to get them to buy once they are on site.

However, I know there are loads of folks who are actively searching to buy football-related products such as books, dvds, pc games, shirts, etc. I offer all these in the store. But my site isn't engineered to attract these folks.

So, what I want to do is to open several new websites in SUBDOMAINs, e.g. soccer books.clanfootball.com; soccer dvds.clanfootball.com, etc. with the appropriate SE key words, in order to more closely target and attract these more niche segments. If successful, I could always move them to their very own domains in the future - a marketing trial if you will.

Here's the rub of course.....

Will the SEs penalise me for duplicate content? I am hoping not since (1)I'm not trying to defeat them: I'm trying to service more niche markets, (2) the existing site has a different target market - for information and entertainment, and, (3) the products I offer through my existing site are listed and managed through Amazon and other affiliate networks.

Sorry it was long-winded.

What do you think?

Many thanks

John
www.clanfootball.com - "connecting fans around the world.

[Vasili]

Re: Another Subdomain / Search Engine Query

Yes....as a matter of fact, new rules have been adopted for add-on domains since the new strict rules have been written to reel in the subversive freedoms "Black-Hatters" previously got away with using sub-domains for so long, so you will need to be extremely careful not to follow in their ways.....

Using sub-domains is going to probably be more laborious than fruitful in your case, I believe, and not produce nearly the results you hope for. What you do get to produce will more likely be a trickle of the main traffic flow that can be effectively created using add-ons with somewhat similar (yet not repetitive or duplicated) content.

Rather than invest in multiple domains just to further splinter traffic, why don't you create tightly focused sub's with more tightly composed and structured "niche" content, which will emerge as a particular importance to the SE's as they cache reliable resources, and thus earn a sungular (unique) position to refer 'qualified' traffic as you direct? Thus, you end up "funnelling" traffic to a point of referral...

In other words, break up your ongoing Content development into "sub-sections" or 'specialities' of articles and the like, only to always refer back to your main site? this way, each sub-domain cost you nothing (no domain name to purchase), does not run afoul of the new rules (as it is all original and unique content, a niche), and is composed with all the regular hard relevance and construct you would expect from a developed sites?

* Make them simple sites, too: just single pages with an article on each....you can have thousands, and being a "site unto themselves" will earn more hard rank this way, rather than as another interior page to a website, or as another medium. Think of this practice as "seeding articles" not on the web, but within your own domain: they all get cached with more import, and have greater liklihood to drawing the SE's to re-think your domain itself, as the sub's gather more prestige for sourcing more specialized and relevant content!

Don't try to merely "clone" more lillypads in hopes of catching more frogs: make the dozen you have appear more inviting and more developed than the ones across the pond!

[Vasili]

Re: Another Subdomain / Search Engine Query

PS: If the sub-domains garner rank and prestige due to the unique content attracting visitors and SE-resourcefullness, your "referring link" (back to the main website you wish to elevate) on each sub-domain becomes a valued direct "in-bound" link in the eyes of the SE's, based on the fact it sees each sub as a worthy site on its own.....(part of an overall SEO strategy, "Inbound Links", and how to create greater overall relevance for your main site).

[dons1]

Re: Another Subdomain / Search Engine Query

Vasili - many thanks for your very detailed response - it's much appreciated.

I've a 2 questions though......

I thought that SEs didn't like single page sites and penalised them. Is there a minimum page site for SEs?

And, will the SEs be happy counting the one-way backlinks from the subdomain sites to my main site, given that they are subdomains and share the same hosting IP address?

Also, as result of your response I'm thinking of changing tack.
Instead of 3 or 4 subdomain sites targeting "product buyers" bringing in 5-10% affiliate income, I'm now thinking of having many hundreds of subdomain sites, with sought-after niche content, and going after Adsense income. If I can get 2 or 3 dollars average per site this would give several hundreds of dollars per month across the portfolio.

But I'd rather spend my time marketing than building and updating 100s of sites (no matter how small). So, I'm thinking of using an RSS website builder which will automatically build, populate with content, add Adsense, and continually update the content for me. I could build and launch over 10 sites per day and let the sites take care of themselves, in that I wouldn't have to continually add new content - the software does it all for me.

This would free up my time to concentrate on marketing these sites and my main site.

What do you think?

John
www.clanfootbal.com "connecting fans around the world"

[AJ113]

Re: Another Subdomain / Search Engine Query

If only it were as easy as that.

[dons1]

Re: Another Subdomain / Search Engine Query

Thanks AJ113 (I think)

Would you like to expand a little, so that I and others looking at this with same / similar ideas, may benefit from your experiences?

Or any others out there who have tried this route and succeeded / failed?

Thanks
John
www.clanfootball.com "connecting fans around the world"