Welcome

I have a question for Pat.
If you are launching a new service that is connected either to book or a training that you are trying to brand, is it better to create a new website with that name and link it to your old one, or start a new website?
thanks

Hi Bonni,
As long as the: book, product or service are part of the theme of your existing site, you should simply add a page or pages to your existing site for the new product or service.

This assumes that your site has been around for a while (at least a year) and that it can be found via Google.

The reason I would recommend adding pages to your existing site is because they will be crawled by Google when it comes to your site and then added to it’s index.

If you were to start a new site, it would not have any of the trust built up with Google that your existing site has. Lack of trust would cause your to rank lower in the short term.

Another reason not to start a new site is that you will have to start creating content for it, just like you did with your original site. This is both time consuming and unnecessary if your existing site already has related content.

When you add the new pages to your existing site, you should link to the new pages from other related pages on your site. The new links will allow both Google and your visitors to find the new pages more easily.

All that said, if you want to start a new site, be aware that the site should not be a small site simply focused on a single product or service unless you are willing to take the time to add new quality content to it.

Many people make the mistake of doing a copy-and-paste of their main sites pages over to the new site, then adding a bit of new stuff for the new topic.

Doing this is never a good idea since Google considers the copy-and-pasted text to be “duplicate content”.

Duplicate content pages will typically not be indexed in Google and may even cause your new site to have trouble ranking well in Google.

Finally, if the new product, book or service is not related to your original site, you will want to do a new site.

As discussed in the article, you will need to do the basics to get your site into Google and to start building up its popularity.

thanks
pat

Thank you, Pat. Great advice!!!

Hi Pat,

I need to desperately construct a website and I do not know where to begin? What do you recommend? I heard that you shouldn’t go to a website designer, but to a company that can help you with web optimization. I really don’t know what it all means. Please help? Alesia

Hi Alesia,
Great Question on setting up a web site!

I would begin with your goals.
Do you intend to sell products and services on your web site?
Do you want to publish articles and add content often?

Would you like to be able to blog?

Would you like someone else to create content for you?

Do you need polls or quizzes?
Do you need RSS?

Would you like to be able to get leads from your site when a visitor fills out a form.

These question will drive the type of site that you need, the cost and results.

It is true that many web site companies say they are able to help you do optimization, but many are not up to the task.

I like Stephen Shapiro’s site:
http://www.stephenshapiro.com/
It is based on Wordpress blogging software (like this site) and looks great. You may want to ask him who he used.

When it comes to optimization, I am always happy to help any time.
thanks
pat