Doubling up on domains

[DomainPairs]

I am in the throes of setting up domain purchase and hosting for a client. They want to set up two sites with independent names and IPs (in fact one in US and one in UK). This is because of problems like the SQL worm and hosting failures. One will be a cut down mirror of the other.

If quite small companies start to do this, I think it will push up the value of names as the supply dries up.

 

[mcom1999]

I agree with you on that. In fact, I have another term for it - cobranding. For example, Anheusier Busch has its main site as busch.com and another site as beresponsible.com.

Another example, AT&T Wireless has attws.com as well as mlife.com. The examples could go on and on but I think you see my point.

Looking forward to when the value of our assets goes up!!!

 

[DomainPairs]

I think they should be called Domain Pairs


(this wasn't the orig. reason for the name).

 

[dtobias]

Of course, one doesn't really need two completely separate domain names to have mirror servers in different locations to improve site reliability... subdomains would do find (server1.yourdomain.com, server2.yourdomain.com, etc.).

 

[GeorgeK]

http://www.ultradns.com/services/sitebacker.html
http://www.zoneedit.com/doc/faq.html#fo

 

[CoolHost.com]

Originally posted by dtobias
Of course, one doesn't really need two completely separate domain names to have mirror servers in different locations to improve site reliability... subdomains would do find (server1.yourdomain.com, server2.yourdomain.com, etc.).

There you go, throwing logic up against our dreams of instant 'asset appreciation! Damn you. LOL.
Take care.

 

[DomainPairs]

They are all valid points, but it's still cheaper for a small company to have two domains in different continents. I also think it is a good marketing ploy for them to announce this fact to their customers.

You get alternative

nameservers
email addresses
connection paths
hosting companies
servers
bandwidth suppliers.

all this for a few dollars (or euros) a year (plus a contribution to my coffee fund). What happens if there is an Internet traffic problem in one sector and your backup service gets hit as well? "Domain Pairs" avoids this problem

 

[dtobias]

Two different subdomains of the same single registered domain can have all of the things noted except for the nameservers of the underlying domain, and since you can have multiple nameservers for a single domain there can still be nameservers in different continents if you set them up.

The actual hosting servers for the websites at the different subdomains can be on different continents too if you want, and you can set up email addresses on them, too: [email protected], [email protected], etc.

The engineers of the Internet came up with many elegant technical solutions which are disregarded these days because they don't make money for the snake oil salesmen.

 

[DomainPairs]

OK Dan

How about you get better link pop using different domains with different IPs. I still think it is cheaper and easier to use 2 domains.


ps. would snake oil make my hair grow?

 

[dtobias]

Well, the "linkpop" argument may or may not be correct (depending on the state of the ever-changing search engine algorithms at any given moment), but I'm rather mystified at any assertion that registering a separate domain is ever "cheaper" than using a subdomain of your existing domain. Subdomains don't cost *any* registration fee to create, and zero is always less than any positive number.

 

[namedropper]

Lots of times ISPs will charge extra for subdomains, but it's unlikely that those charges would be more than the cost of a second name and second hosting plan somewhere else...

I think there are points in favor of both subdomains and entirely different domains. Subdomains are still a little weird for most surfers, and if the main name gets hijacked, totally bothced, etc. they don't do you any good. Separate names appear to bump up Google ranking, and might have more memorable names, but can be confuing to be split so completely from each other.

I tend to lean toward multiple names with multiple sites myself, but split them along subdivisions of the topic or business the site is for.

 

[dtobias]

For everybody's information, here's my own page discussing subdomains:

http://domains.dan.info/structure/subdomains.html

 

[DomainPairs]

I read some of you article dan and agree with most of it. I think the cookie bit may need updating though. For me the advantages of multiple domains for clients are these.

- Stops other people registering your names
- More security because of totally separate setup
- Can save losing surfers because of type-in errors
- No more expensive because you would have aliased the names anyway
- Totally separate email backup
- Site development can be tested on a secondary domain for a while.


I think there are some others as well.

 

[tonyk2000]

There is one more solution - with some advantages and some disadvantages.
You may simply maintain two copies of one site at different hosting companies. In UK and in US. You will need third-party DNS for this.
According to DNS setting, one and the same www.thiswebsite.com will have two IP-addresses and traffic will be instantly splitted 50%-50% between those IP-addresses(ISP's).
If you find one hosting is down, you simply remove this IP-address from DNS and almost no visitors will be lost.

 

[DomainPairs]

Remember this is a small company (actually a property rental agency). I though a nice simple structure like index and database on the main domain, and index on the secondary one (but pointing to the main site). If the main site goes down customers can always telephone as they have been able to see an index of properties.

Sub-domains are useful and I use them in some situations.
My http://www.milfgirls.com site has a few, including
http://harley.milfgirls.com (warning this is an adult page)

Obviously I've got no chance of getting harley.com, so a sub-domain is the answer.