8 replies to this topic

[taterchips]

First time post so please be nice

I have a website to promote my business and the website has been up and running for nearly 6 years at this point. I have a healthcare practice in a city in WA state and use that site to market locally. I use PPC advertising, but have also managed first page results in organic search with the big search engines. I am interested in tackling a specific niche within my profession and am looking at the most effective way to play to that niche. That brings me to my question.

Would it be more beneficial to add a page to my existing site targeting that niche? Optimizing that page for the particular niche for both organic search and PPC. Or would I be better setting up another website that targets that niche specifically? The search numbers for this specific area are comparable to searches for my profession as a whole, but the results/options for people to click to find answers/treatment are very limited. I think it could really be a great traffic area. Thus, my thinking for making a whole new site.

I realize there are many factors to consider, which is why I need input from people who know. I don't consider the work involved to set up a new site as a factor in my decision. I would only consider, given the choice, which way is the best to proceed.

Hypothetically, let's say my profession is general dentistry. My site addresses all the particulars related to the profession. Let's say the niche is TMJ disorders. I have already locked up a number of domain names geared toward this niche which are keyword appropriate for what it's worth.

Thanks very much for your help!

[adibranch]

if its an information site, and its content is searched regularly.. go for it.. providing you can fill it with info.

Having one page on your current site will do the job, but you're restricting yourself in the number of terms you can target.. you could of course make loads of pages on your existing site and do the same job, if a little better due to your existing links, but then you turn your profession site into a bit of a an article site, which may lose the respect of your visitors looking for your professional services.
Having a seperate site does mean starting again in terms of SEO and serps, but if you gear it correctly it'll possibly turn into a useful resource site, encouraging links, visitors, and may utlimately be self promoting.

[Jill]

Would it be more beneficial to add a page to my existing site targeting that niche?

Yes. Or a whole section.

Definitely not a new site though. Takes way too long to build up authority, etc., and since the new info is related to your current site already, you should be good to go.

[taterchips]

Yes. Or a whole section.

Definitely not a new site though. Takes way too long to build up authority, etc., and since the new info is related to your current site already, you should be good to go.

Thank you for the replies, both of you.

So it sounds like it would be more beneficial to take advantage of my current site's history, especially since the content is related. My worry is, I rarely see pages other than homepage come up in the first page of organic results. Is this because pages deeper in a site don't get the same attention or ranking as a homepage does? Or does it have more to do with people spending a lot of effort optimizing their homepages and letting the rest of the pages/content slide?

For instance, www.123dentistry.com may come up on page 1, but www.123dentistry.com/TMJdisorders is rarely seen. If I optimize that new section/page properly, and use a keyword relative domain name to redirect to the page (eg. www.TMJdisorders.com), are my chances just as good for getting that first page ranking? Hopefully you understand what I mean.

Thanks again!

[torka]

You don't need a keyworded domain to forward. The interior page can rank perfectly well on its own without it. They do it all the time.

The home page will often show up in the results because the home page typically has the bulk of the site's links pointing directly to it -- both internal links (every page has a link back to the home page) and external links (other webmasters tend to link to your home page rather than interior pages).

Fortunately, search engines index and rank pages, not websites or domains. Which opens up opportunities to get interior pages to rank without having to open up new domains.

Make an interior page on your existing domain into a unique and useful resource. Do your keyword research. Optimize the on-page content for appropriate phrases that real searchers use when looking for the information, product or service the page is about. Make sure other webmasters know about the page (and brainstorm ways to encourage them to link directly to it). Link to it prominently from other important pages on your own site, using your target search phrases as the link anchor text. Do all that, and there's every likelihood that interior page will rank for various terms all on its own.

(Note that these are all the same kinds of things you'd have to do for a separate website/domain, so you're not really making any additional work for yourself that you wouldn't have to do either way.)

--Torka

[Jill]

My worry is, I rarely see pages other than homepage come up in the first page of organic results.

Sure they do!

[taterchips]

Thanks Ladies!

When I spoke about not seeing interior pages show up in the organic results, I was speaking more in relation to my profession. Not a great web presence out there for what I do (good for me), so I want to make sure I do it right.

I don't have many internal links, but understand the concept after reading your reply. So use relevant keywords and phrases and use internal links to point them to the appropriate pages. I didn't realize internal links were even a factor for rank. Is it useful at all to have internal links pointing to the page that they reside on? ie. home page keywords or phrases that point to the homepage instead of interior pages?

Thanks again. Great response time and advice!

[adibranch]

Definitely not a new site though.

normally i'd agree, but perhaps not in this case. It's an information site as opposed to a business brochure site, and theres pro's and cons of keeping the two seperate. Saying definitely not when you dont know the subject matter well , possibly isnt good advice?
There is huge merit in setting up a seperate site IF this site is an information site as opposed to directly trying to attract new business, especially when the term/s are searched as much as the OP says they are and IF you have the information to create it. Doing a new site means you wont have to flood your business site with excess article pages in order to catch the extra traffic, and as a consequence you'll keep the whole thing easier to navigate whilst retaining the professionalism.

The ONLY advanatage of having a couple of article pages on your existing site is the age and link issue. But then again, these wont apply directly to the new article pages anyway unless you splatter links all over your nice professional business template, or spend a lot of time getting external deep links.

A seperate site allows for more structured menu and page system, ergo more differing terms and more chances of catching traffic. Plus, we know how quick and easy it is now to index a new site now anyway.

so, both ways have their merits.

Edited by adibranch, 23 June 2009 - 11:08 AM.

[torka]

I don't have many internal links, but understand the concept after reading your reply. So use relevant keywords and phrases and use internal links to point them to the appropriate pages. I didn't realize internal links were even a factor for rank. Is it useful at all to have internal links pointing to the page that they reside on? ie. home page keywords or phrases that point to the homepage instead of interior pages?

I bet you have more internal links than you think. Your site navigation is included in that category, for instance. And you'd naturally want to use relevant keywords and phrases in your site navigation (and other internal links) because those will help guide your visitors to the page(s) that contain the info/product/service they're looking for.

AFAIK, there's no benefit in linking a page back to itself. The point of linking is to pass "link juice" (as some call it) from one page to another -- either from a page on your site to a page on another site that you consider worthy of a "vote" or to other pages within your own site. Since the page the link is on already has the "juice" you're trying to pass along, linking it to itself won't create any additional "oomph" for that page.

adibranch makes a good point. If you're going to build this out into a multi-page resource, you could go either way -- a subsection of your existing site or a stand-alone mini site. As a subsection of the existing site, it can still have its own design and its own submenu, so it could still function essentially as a mini-site within your existing domain. Or, if it's really intended to stand on its own, a separate domain might be in order.

Either way, in order to get traffic and to jump start the search engine indexing of the new pages, you'll want to link from at least some of your existing pages to the new pages. If they're part of the existing domain, you'll want to incorporate the new pages into your site navigation. If you create a standalone mini-site, you'll at least want to link from prominent pages (home page, category level pages) and appropriate/related detail level pages on your existing domain.

--Torka