I've found myself in a situation where I own several domains, each with a small site behind it. I have a directory on one domain, a blog and local forum on another domain, a personal domain with some stuff I've personally worked on etc. In total I have about 10 domains each with a little bit of content. I was thinking of registering one "generic" domain name and moving all my content under that umbrella and creating effectively my own portal. The obvious benefit would be promoting, as each section can cross-promote others and the site as a whole would build a reputation. The main downside I can see is that the sections could lose some of their individuality that they currently have as a site in their own right. Anyone got an opinion or any experience with this?
NO Dude its NOT a good idea. Let the individual sites exist and develop them even more one by one, you know I am purposedly registering domains and making sites for them so that I have a good portfolio of sites. Don't do the umbrella thing man, different sites for different things is really good. The umbrella part is good for companies who have multiple services and they can provide it all under one roof, but these sites... nope. IT
Let the separate sites remain on separate domains. Some of the services you offer on separate domains might lose their individuality under this 'umbrella' domain thing which would mean less sales and eventually less profit. Let them be separate and optimize each of them to benefit more.
I would definately keep them separate. You could always add links to your other sites from each site that has similar content.