Originally posted by Jenifer Underwood, C.P.S.M.
Market29, Inc. http://www.market29.com jen@market29.com at www.alon-cohen.com
The topic of top placement for web store links in search engines has come up with every single ecommerce project I have been involved in as a programmer and as a marketer. What some people rarely consider is how to increase the number of links to that very same web store. If your goal is to increase search engine exposure and you are willing to pay placement fees, then you should consider adding multiple domain names pointing to the same or duplicate web store. The annual cost for domain registration is immaterial when compared to the potential profits of exposure on the search engine list!
How it Works
There are a couple ways this can be done. You can point to the exact same store using a redirect page or doorway page. This involves minimal effort. It is noting to use the doorway approach with caution. The search engines are not fond of this tactic. On the other hand, you can create a different look and name for the store but maintain the same product database to display products and manage purchases. You can host the same store on multiple servers. There is a little more work involved but the returns may justify the added tasks.
How to Implement
To point to the exact same store using a redirect or doorway page, all you need to do is purchase the domain names and set up the domain IP address mapping through your hosting service or internal server. Domain IP address mapping is much like a street address mapping. It maps the domain name to the location of your web server. When that is established, add the redirect page to the new domain name web site automatically directing users to the desired online store server location. Register the new domain name with the search engines and you are on you way! That is really all there is to getting started using multiple domains!
Another interesting approach I’ve seen used is to create different we store names, brands and looks while using the exact same product database on the backend. I’ve seen a few configurations of this approach displaying catalog data by store name but most maintain the exact same database table configuration and connect to it from the different web store sites. This approach can be useful when trying to appeal to different audiences with the same product line. Under this approach the web sites would still need to be registered with the search engines but no redirect is used.
According to Gartner research, more than 80% of web sessions begin through a web search engine. If you have an online web store increasing your exposure in the searches is going to increase your online profits!
