Multiple Domains, One Site?

[salty reeds]

Hello Everyone, I'm Ben and I'm brand spanking new to all this.

I have several variant domain names that I would like to develop as affiliate sites. I read that it's probably better to work on one site first, then grow. But what about taking the same site and replicating it over several domains?

In other words, I have (these are examples): siteA. com, site-A. com, Asite. net, A-site. com.

If I place the same site on each of these domains, will this help or hurt the SEO process (which I really don't understand just yet). Would I need to tweak the contents of each site so it is unique?

I guess I'm just hoping that I can use my niche site and ftp an exact copy of it to each domain.

Thanks in advance for your help! I look forward to being active here.

-Ben

[Linda Buquet]

Hi Ben,

Welcome to 5 Star. Nope, search engines would look at that strategy as mirror sites or give you a duplicate penalty. If the domains and the subject are all about the same thing you'd be MUCH better off focusing all your efforts on building DEEP content on one site instead of dividing your efforts.

[salty reeds]

Thanks Linda! That's exactly what I was afraid of.

I am excited to be on this forum; I have a feeling it's going to be more helpful than I ever imagined (actually, it already has!)

-Ben

[Linda Buquet]

Thrilled that you are finding our info so helpful. Dig deeper. There are tons of good threads on page 2,3,4,5,6,7,8 of most forum categories.

[KirkhamsEbooks]

Better to do some article marketing with links pointing at your site and using your sig file in forums which also helps with back links

Rick

[salty reeds]

Thanks for the help!

What about pointing several domains to one main name? Will that affect any SEO or other variables? Would it help improve results?

-Ben

[route609]

Hi ben

Also you will want to link all your sites together but dont do it very obviously. Google loves more than 2 way reciporcal linking and you will benefit from this.

I would also advise you to go to linkmetro.com and sign up for free with the link exchange. If you sign your sites up seperately this will also be a great way of gaining links to all your sites with others.

I hear you are new to this so when it comes to your sites design i will give you some basic tips that will help you. (i have vast experience with affiliate design so dont worry, i wont mislead you)

1. Keep the size of your images down to prevent high load speeds.
2. Keep the titles and subtitles within your site text based- works well for SEO
3. Add title and alt tagss to images and diagrams- again good for seo.
4. Always try and stay clear of a white background- it gives an illusion of an unfinished site and does not help the reader to easily navigate through your site.
5. Keep your navigation seperate from your content.
6. Try and use a trail navigation so you dictate where the reader reads first and where they go next
7. Promote and offers/affiliate link graphics at the top of your site and for any promotion text use red. Red is always percieved as an 'offer' or promotion by the reader.
8. If you can or know somebody who can, build the site in CSS. this is great for google and page load times
9. Use header tags for your titles. This helps search engine crawlers navigate through your site

and finally...
10. you don have to use your domain as your logo. This is a common mistake. People will go to your site based on article links, a description or title from google, a pay per click add etc. It is very rare for people to click through to your site based on its domain name. Instead you can use a logo that is similar to your domain to get a strong message accross of what your site entails.

Good luck

Paul

[Linda Buquet]

Is linkmetro safe to use these days? Just curious.

[route609]

Good point linda

I know that 6 months ago it had some security issues, press releases etc but since i know that it is safe again to use.

It is a resource i use and often recommend to others and have never had any problems with.

You can now select different option to chose who you accpet requests from and who you dont.

If in doubt im sure other affiliates will recommend some good safe link exchange programs for you

Paul

[salty reeds]

Originally Posted by route609

I hear you are new to this so when it comes to your sites design i will give you some basic tips that will help you.

Thanks for your really awesome advice, Paul! I've spent many hours in the last week or so (when I began this adventure) and you have provided information I haven't come across yet.

As for link exchanges, doesn't this go against most affiliate network programs? It seemed to be so in the TOS I've been reading.

Again, Thanks!

-Ben