I am kind of new to this so I had an idea to test sites first as a sub-domain then if they do well get them their own domain. Also if I picked more of a general domain at first instead of something specific, would it help? Originally I owned an automotive domain and was going to test off that but I figured something might throw the visitor off and scrapped the domain. Now I am looking to buy another one so I was wondering if my idea might work. Thanks, Tony
I assume you're talking about a subdomain that is about the same general subject area. If you aren't, then you should definitely get a different domain. You will find people who swear by "big" sites (i.e. not starting new domains, just adding to the original), and you will find people who swear by niche domains. Obviously, when people swear by both, both can probably work. These days my own thinking is that a number of niche smaller sites are working for Google, for example, however when you have a big site with a lot of power I'm sure you can pick up a lot of search results for phrases you had no intention of going after. My opinion is that a niche site will more easily get you a keyword you're going after, but a big site will get you all sorts of collateral traffic.
it would be a sub domain about something different. I was going to do something like a blog of some sort as the actual domain site then branch off of it to test some ideas.
By "something different" I mean a different topic. For example, if you have a site about cars and then start one about soccer. If it's just a blog on the same topic, it might be good to keep it on the same site. It really depends on where you want to go with it. I would say simply think about your readers. Don't think about the search engines (on this decision). What makes the most sense on a content level.
thats the thing that gets me. I think readers would be more apt to read and believe something on a sub-domain of a generic site than a focused site. Like my domain before was impressions-motorsports.com. I had a sub domain of a political blog but it was blog.impressions-motorsports.com. However if I was a reader comming to the site, the fact that it was an automotive domain would throw me off. If it was blog.section3.com I would think a little better of the site.
It depends on what your blog is about. If it isn't on the same topic as the regular site, then I'd put it on its own site. The only exception to that, I think, would be if your were somewhat "famous" (in your world anyway) and wanted to do a personal blog and your visitors would read it simply because it was by you. But if that were the case, they would read it on its own site too. By the way, I would NEVER attach political blog to a site that wasn't about politics. You're only guaranteed one thing when you do that - pissing off (and possibly losing) half of your visitors.
everyone understands the sub domain sites would be used temperaly. Just to build traffic and see if a site is worth getting its own domain. As a way to kind of save money in testing new ideas.
Well, a domain name is only about seven bucks. I'd say that's worth the risk rather than trying to switch everything over to a new domain if it takes off.