Opinions please, Use new site? or use new domain name to forward to existing site?

[Jeff Sundin]

Using up to date reports, I've built up a fairly good page on my home site and I've had some success locally selling ads for the page. My goal is to expand on the idea, but I want to use a domain name that's catchier and more easily remembered by people who see ads in print media or hear it on the radio etc....

I really want to use the new name, but I'd like to hang on to the traffic I already have. The question is; Am I better off in the long run moving the reports to the new site and build up traffic from scratch? or Could I be equally successful by simply forwarding traffic to the original page(s) from a new domain?

[jasonwdexter]

Maybe set up a 301-redirect to from your new domain to the existing website? You can then keep the old website exactly as it is, and then market the new domain. We've used that on our websites where we have one domain that is used for linking to online, and then a much simpler domain which is used for all our print and offline marketing material.

Certainly something to consider, also with a 301-redirect (basically says to google that the new domain is now redirected to the old domain) any backlinks that are picked up are passed through to the website.

So, as pointed out above, then I think a 301 redirect is the way forward

[DonOmite]

Yes, you could use a 301 redirect. Which direction is the question. If you are dead set on using the new domain name, then do the redirect from the old domain to the new one. Put up something like "please update your bookmarks" and then in a month or 3, shut down the old domain.

[jasonwdexter]

If it was me, I'd have the new URL redirect to the old domain for the simple fact that with a 301-redirect, you can expect around 10% link juice decay. If you have a substantial backlink portfolio for your old domain, you don't want to be losing that sort of weighting. Id also keep the old domain as well, no harm in having it there if its driving traffic to your website and providing you good rankings in the SERP's

[Jeff Sundin]

Jason, That was what I hoped to hear. I definitely will keep the old site as it was built on my personal name jeff sundin dot com. That's one reason I need the new domain name, if I want to attract a wider audience on the reports section, I need to get away from the site being just about me.

One more series of questions though, what is the difference between using a 301 re-direct and using "domain forwarding"? Couldn't I just forward all requests for the new domain name to the desired section on the old site? Could this be accomplished with even hosting the new domain? Is this still a 301 re-direct?

[edhan]

Jason, That was what I hoped to hear. I definitely will keep the old site as it was built on my personal name jeff sundin dot com. That's one reason I need the new domain name, if I want to attract a wider audience on the reports section, I need to get away from the site being just about me.

One more series of questions though, what is the difference between using a 301 re-direct and using "domain forwarding"? Couldn't I just forward all requests for the new domain name to the desired section on the old site? Could this be accomplished with even hosting the new domain? Is this still a 301 re-direct?

If you are keeping the old domain, you have to ensure that the content in the old domain is NOT the same as the new domain. Doing 301 redirect will not be applicable for your case since you will still be using the old domain. Guess your only option will be forwarding to the new domain and announcing to visitors about it.

[jasonwdexter]

Jason, That was what I hoped to hear. I definitely will keep the old site as it was built on my personal name jeff sundin dot com. That's one reason I need the new domain name, if I want to attract a wider audience on the reports section, I need to get away from the site being just about me.

One more series of questions though, what is the difference between using a 301 re-direct and using "domain forwarding"? Couldn't I just forward all requests for the new domain name to the desired section on the old site? Could this be accomplished with even hosting the new domain? Is this still a 301 re-direct?

A 301-redirect tells Google that the domain has permanently moved to a different address and will pass on all link juice. Google absolutely favours this way of dealing with multiple domains. A domain redirect could be seen as a spammy approach, and there will be a time period in which the search engines will see two separate websites. The best way to go about doing this is; buy your domain through your current hosting company, go into the .htaccess file and set up the re-direct there. There are some useful tutorial on the net that can help you deal with this, and they give you the basic code 'template' and just change the details.

I hope i'm clear? I've never dealt with a domain redirect, as I've always been taught that the search engines favour this form of redirecting. Hope it works out for you mate!