Subdomains or subdirectories or ….?

  • coachrob

    (@coachrob)


    13 years ago

    Hi all,

    I’m pretty new to WordPress, but not new to web development in general (.NET developer).

    I’ve had a client come to me with a request that I’m not quite sure how to handle. I mean, I know several ways to handle it, but being fairly inexperienced with WP, I thought I would ask for some advice on the best way to handle this.

    So, the client has a pretty good presence with his current domain. Let’s call it maindomain.com.

    He wants to open 2 more locations but wants to take advantage of the presence he’s built with the main domain.

    He wants all 3 sites to have their own blog, look & feel, etc.

    The options I’ve presented him are the following, but I’m investigating further as well to see if the community might have some suggestions on pros/cons for each and/or a better way to skin this cat.

    Option 1:
    – Use subdomains. So, the main site at maindomain.com would have 3 links on it for the 3 locations that would link to location1.maindomain.com, location2.maindomain.com, location3.maindomain.com. My question here is does this mean there will be 3 WP installations and thus 3 logins for the owner/client to deal with when posting to each of them. Not necessarily bad because one of the locations will actually be managed by another person (co-branding).

    Option 2:
    – Use categories/subdirectories – maindomain.com/location1, maindomain.com/location2, etc.
    With this solution does it mean that everyone can post to all 3 blogs, but they will need to be careful about post categorization when they post?

    Option 3:
    – Use multiple domains maindomain.com, location2.com, location3.com and just link them together.
    Obviously, this will be separate WP installations but a simpler approach and the SEO stuff can be “made up” with proper wording and such.

    Open to all opinions, not in love with any one approach.

    Would love to hear what is available and what people think.

    Thanks

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  • Moderator Ipstenu (Mika Epstein)

    (@ipstenu)

    ?????? Advisor and Activist

    Re option 3 (multiple domains):

    Obviously, this will be separate WP installations but a simpler approach and the SEO stuff can be “made up” with proper wording and such.

    You can do that with Multisite, you know. Grab a domain mapping plugin ??

    Subfolders are easier to set up, no wildcard shenaniagans, but my rule of thumb is this: If they’re all supposed to ‘feel’ like one site, use subfolders. If they’re separate but related, use subdomains. Map a domain when it makes sense ??

Viewing 1 replies (of 1 total)
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