Subdomain Or Subdirectory for Wordpress Addon blogs

by Harsh Agrawal on October 8, 2009

in Blogging

When I started with Shoutmeloud after a while I was looking for option to increase its visibility by adding more category on it, but this may create an issue with existing niche topics and I might get good traffic but lose my niche authority. So I was left with three options :

  • Create a new WordPress blog
  • Create a WordPress blog in subdomains
  • Create a WordPress blog in Sub directory

Now I will discus issue, problems and solution :

Create a new WordPress blog

Major problem is with this option is branding from scratch and above all I need to work from starting to promote this blog. Obviously this will be an issue as I need to spend more time for these blogs. Probably I might end up sailing on two different boats and might end up not promoting my current and new blogs.

subdomain-subdirectories-wordpress Image Credit

SubDirectory or Subdomain

Subdirectory : A subdirectory will be something like Shoutmeloud.com/iPhone

subdomains : A subdomains will be something like iphone.shoutmeloud.com

Obviously, I was not sure which one is best at that time and I went with different blog and I guess it was a wrong decision for me. Anyways, this post might help you and will help you not to make such mistakes which I did for my new blogs.

I was reading Matt Cutt Article on this topic and that gave me enough insight and which i can share with you.

subdomains

You need a subdomains only if your content is different from your current niche. That is if you have a blog on technology and you would like to write for entertainment. You should go for something like

www.shoutmeloud.com

entertainment.shoutmeloud com

Subdirectories

In case if you planning to add a different blog on particular topic related to your niche, suppose WordPress Theme.

You can have something like :

http://www.shoutmeloud.com

http://www.shoutmeloud.com/wordpresstheme

Remember WordpressThemes is a different directory or sub directory in your domain. This will help you to get more authority in your domain.

This is specially good for businesses , who have a static website, and they want to start with a blog, instead of going for blog.company you can go for company.com/blog.

I believe I have made things clear to you, in case if you have questions, feel free to ask me.

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{ 1 trackback }

Why New Domain is better than Subdomain Or Subdirectory for Addon blogs | Tech Of Web
October 11, 2009 at 22:06

{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Webmaster Forum UK October 8, 2009 at 09:51

Nicely explained Harsh! + rep added :)
If you are starting a new project in a completely different niche, it™s obvious that you should buy a new domain and host it as an add-on domain
However, if you use a sub-domain you can choose to put the blog on a completely different platform or server. Subdomain is free and it™s technically as flexible as a new domain, but subdirectory is the simplest option for website structuring..

Reply

2 Harsh Agrawal October 9, 2009 at 10:38

Thanks for your insight and thats what the reason I started with this new bollywood project http://www.chromoz.com and I started it on completely different domain. Though if sometime I might add something new to shoutmeloud. It will be something like ebook.shoutmeloud.com :)

Reply

3 Jaspal October 8, 2009 at 10:53

good post .. just wanted to know is it possible to create subdomains with same control panels in wordpress .. is there any plugin regarding it or any hack which is to be done ..

the subdomain thing is really a good option and as matt cutts says it improves credibility of site..

Reply

4 Harsh Agrawal October 8, 2009 at 18:35

Jaspal I use Dreamhost for my hosting and in my cpanel I can install wordpress in subdomain with single click. I have to check with other hosting to give you the correct info.

Reply

5 Jaspal October 8, 2009 at 21:20

Harsh .. i think you got me wrong .. i am not asking about installing a wordpress in sub-doamin or sub-directory . I was asking that .. if i have two wordpress installed .. one on main domain and one at sub-domain .. can these two have SAME wp-admin or wordpress control panel …… so i can blog from one panel and can post on both domains (sub-domain) ..

thnx

Reply

6 Harsh Agrawal October 9, 2009 at 10:40

Jaspal in that case you should consider Installing wordpress MU , I have not worked with Wordpress MU personally, but I guess that will fulfill the requirement.

Reply

7 Rahul October 8, 2009 at 12:54

Hi, harsh nice article. I think making monster blog using sub domains or sub directory will give you authority. Don’t know which is easy. But, i will use sub directories for sure.
About.com is one example. This domain dominates in various niches these days. It has sub domains for various topics.

Reply

8 Harsh Agrawal October 8, 2009 at 18:27

Rahul Sub Directories are easy to manage though it depends on for what purpose you need a blog, that actually decide either you need a sub-directory or sub-domain.

Reply

9 Chethan October 9, 2009 at 07:24

I think, Focusing on one single niche is enough.. if we choose to write on different niche under different subdomains or subdirectory… we must take care that each blog is updated regularly..

Reply

10 Nihar October 9, 2009 at 15:35

It means hosting a new blog under directory is better than subdomain.

Reply

11 TechOfWeb October 11, 2009 at 02:10

I wud always prefer to get new domain instead of in subdomain or subdirectory..the reason being soon going to elaborate in one of my coming posts :-)

Reply

12 Tech Buzz October 12, 2009 at 15:29

i have a main site and i am thinking to start a blog like mainsite.com/supportingblog
supporting blog will be useful for interlinking the main site pages so that will be better for main site indexing & seo purpose

wat do u say ?

Reply

13 Noticias de Bogota October 27, 2009 at 02:52

I believe the following to be correct:

A subdomain will access files in a directory.
subdomain1.domain.com => domain.com/subdomain1

Since a directory = category in WP, I have a question:

Won ´t all subdomain=directory automatically be realized
if I create a subdomain with a domain name directory=category
in WP?

Reply

14 shoaib January 13, 2010 at 20:30

loved this one,thnx alot

Reply

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