[inkie]

Hello friends,

I have started a web site under my own domain name, but I plan to have links to the subdomains of Cafepress (cafepress.com/mystore) and my shopping cart, eCrater (mystore.ecrater.com) in order to sell the merchandise featured on my web site.

I know I have to register my own domain name/web site with the major search engines, but should I register my subdomain shops too? The problem is though while I really like eCrater, when someone searches for one of my products on Google for example, I don't want "mystore.ecrater.com" to get pulled up, as this subdomain doesn't seem as professional as my own website with my own domain. I'd rather have my own domain/web site be pulled up instead. On the other hand, I need to get my name and products out there as much as possible.
To register or not register?
Thanks in advance,
Inkie

 

[pwapparel]

You don't really have to "list" your site anymore. The search engines will generally find them.

More than likely even if you list your subdomain, the mystore.ecrater.com will show up first in the rankings because they will have a better SEO, generally, than what the subdomain will have.

I don't think people using search engines will worry about using a company that has mystore.ecrater.com instead of something like... shop.mystore.com

 

[inkie]

Thanks, Phillip, for letting me know that I don't really need to register anymore, and for the reassurance that potential customers probably don't notice or care as much about these things as we think they do!

Inkie

 

[Dwomers]

Thanks, Phillip, for letting me know that I don't really need to register anymore, and for the reassurance that potential customers probably don't notice or care as much about these things as we think they do!

Inkie

I'm a full time web developer/programmer by trade, I recently set up a t-shirt printing firm to bring in a little cash on the side and trust me - people notice. My website is tied into my ebay store and we trippled sales and halved users asking tedious questions by creating a F&Q/Returns page.

Obviously I work for a company with tallented developers, so for me paying for a website is not a problem (A luxary most people aren't blessed with), but registering a domain costs £4 (.com on dynadot.com) You can get hosts for £20/year (Free hosting companies are dangerous to use and often do not provide facilities needed for an E-Commerce/promo website) and you could get a professional website developed in your brad image for less than £250 if you look in the right places.

It's a personal preferance, I know that I like to be able to check out a business - See what they're like, see how much they've invested in their product before I purchase - But it's upto you.

Thanks,

 

[inkie]

Thanks, Dan, for your insight and advice.
You are right, you're fortunate to be a web programmer yourself and to have access to a lot of talent. That's what my problem is - a REALLY tight budget - so I have to do things affordably at first, and certainly not the way I would like in an ideal situation! So for me, it's all about compromises - how to get the most professional appearance at the lowest cost.

Ecrater, which I am going to use as my shopping cart, is a free store - rather cookie-cutter, but neat, attractive, and effective, with no ads, banners, etc. and Cafepress is very low-cost. But they are subdomains. That's why I am going to have them as links from my own web site under my own domain which I have already purchased. I appreciate your warning about free sites. I was going to use Weebly (free) as my web site (you CAN point your own domain to it), but now I'm thinking I should look for a web builder that I can have reliably hosted, at a moderate cost, in case one day Weebly disappears. Having eCrater as my shopping cart already exposes me to some risk that it might one day go down, so thanks for the heads up that I should take that into account.

Ultimately, my wish is to have everything under my own site!

Thanks,
Inkie

 

[Dwomers]

I use a hosting company called liquid six, as they're one of the only companies i've found to offer microsoft SQL databases for our Ecommcerce sites that don't cost hundreds. 100% uptime, they've not let us down once in two years, you can get a single domain hosted for £3.50/month (or £34.95/year) which is great. LINK > Home Page :: LiquidSix Hosting

Theres nothing wrong with the website builders, just make sure you shop around - take a look at something like mrsite (mrsite dot com) - It's pretty good software and I beleive they have an ecommerce solution now.

Thanks,
Dan