[tekwv]

If you were going to develop and sell custom designs that could be "tweaked" to several different niche markets, would it be best to market and drive everyone to one big online site or develop multiple niche sites?

Example: If you have sports car designs, would it be better to set up a Porche site, Lamborgini site, Corvette Site, etc.? Or one big sports car site?

 

[tshirt0mania]

I'd have one big sports car site. Simply because it would be easier to manage if I'm just one person running it.

 

[CUSTOM UK]

Hi Todd. I took the diversification route myself and ended up with five separate websites. One of the initial reasons for that being, the different print methods I use. Pushing my high quality sublimation tees on the same site as pushing my vinyl cut tees would have been confusing for customers. So it started off with two and grew to five.

No real downsides to it, other than perhaps not putting my phone number on my sites. It gets confusing enough putting the right site name on the packing slips, without trying to answer the phone for five different ventures.

 

[tekwv]

Thanks Dreamglass. I am just brainstorming at this point but when I think about positioning and search engines and social networking, it seems like it would be much easier to get market share in some really small niche areas one at a time rather than trying to penetrate a big market. Following with my example project, I could market to Porche enthusiasts easier than sports car enthusiasts. Then once the Porche site is working well, develop the next niche. Just my thinking right now but I was not sure what the implications were in terms of management and cost.

 

[CUSTOM UK]

Most of the sensible web hosting packages, allow you to host multiple sites on the one package. The only extra cost for multiple sites is the domain names, but these are inexpensive. You could use the domain name itself as a form of marketing, i.e porsche-gizmos.com, or something similar to suit your product.

 

[SunEmbroidery]

I think it would be easier to develop one site rather than a few but separate sites could be more tailored to each niche. If you use one site think of each "home" page for the individual niches as a separate landing page that is particularily focused toward that buyer. You could maintain a blog for each niche and use that tool to market to different audiences. From a SEO point of view your site name (when hypenated) will function as keywords and be more helpful it specifically targets a particular niche rather then covering a broad base.

 

[ambitious]

I think having multiple niche sites is the best route. I have 3 different websites now and all i have to say is my brain feels more relaxed now and more sales.

 

[tdigital]

Separate, niche sites are definitely the way to go. Most people are becoming more inherently distrustful of "all-in-one" shops and your clientele are more sophisticated anyway.. Which is probably why they're looking to find that one "unique" t-shirt that identifies them personally, as opposed to the regular wal-mart option

 

[jkruse]

Seperate the sites if the content is different but the example you gave Porche site, Lamborgini site, Corvette Site, etc" all of those are very similar. Now if it was butterflies and death metal shirts I would say separate them.

 

[Natitown]

Hi Todd. I took the diversification route myself and ended up with five separate websites. One of the initial reasons for that being, the different print methods I use. Pushing my high quality sublimation tees on the same site as pushing my vinyl cut tees would have been confusing for customers. So it started off with two and grew to five.

No real downsides to it, other than perhaps not putting my phone number on my sites. It gets confusing enough putting the right site name on the packing slips, without trying to answer the phone for five different ventures.

Wouldn't it be better to have your phone number listed? Couldn't you have a "parent" name for all your websites and answer the phone using that "parent name"? For example, "ABC" website an "XYZ" company.

 

[bweavernh]

I wished I had the courage to ask this question, (don't know why I didn't, but I didn't). I had a similar delimna. I wanted to do a general funny t-shirt site, a kid friendly site, and a premium urban male and female site. I believed they should definitely be separate, but I wondered.

Thanks again.

 

[CUSTOM UK]

Wouldn't it be better to have your phone number listed? Couldn't you have a "parent" name for all your websites and answer the phone using that "parent name"? For example, "ABC" website an "XYZ" company.

I deliberately have my site names totally separate from each other, so their is no association between them.

I don't have my phone number listed by personal choice. May have cost me the odd customer over the years, but my philosophy is that it prevents me from being plagued by idiot sales people. My customers have access to online contact forms and I am quite happy with that arrangement.