Re: Structuring informational content for commercial site

DiversityTech@xxxxxxxxx wrote:

I'm working on a commercial site for our billing services company and
am hoping for feedback on what to do with some upcoming additional
content. We have the usual pages (services, benefits, about, contact
us, etc.), and have recently begun building a "knowledge center" to
feature articles, news, industry info and the like.

Any thoughts on the SEO benefits of setting this informational content
up under a seperate domain with links back to our commercial site? I
know that if PR for this "knowledge center" can be brought up enough
the backlinks will help the commercial site, but that also means
starting from scratch and possibly months before we see any benefit.

I have tried what you suggest, but find that (so far, after about one year) it has not been worth the time and effort it takes.

Reader confusion:
In my case, any increase to search results position at the first site due to multiple IBLs from the second site seem outweighed by the fact that the reader (who is my ultimate concern, more than google, as google is just a means to the end of obtaining readership) becomes confused when redirected back to the first site.

Dilution of "Authority Status":
The "authority" status of my original site is diluted in the minds of readers who don;t understand why the first site, which they already know, trust, and love, "needs" to call in a second site as an "authority.

"Authority" Does Not Negate Shopping:
I have found that people value "authority" sites, but that they are not at all adverse to BUYING from them as well as turning to them for information. In other words, my experiement has demonstrated to me that my primary site can be both an "authority" site AND a commercial site. The value-added effect of providing interesting articles makes my products look all that much more "authoritative."

Having said that, i will add that i am still experimenting with the secondary site and am not abandoning it.

Here is the original site:
http://luckymojo.com

Here is the commercial entry page of the above site:
http://luckymojo.com/catalogue

Here is the secondary site that feeds relevent, content-oriented links back to the first site:
http://southern-spirits.com

The first site gets 15,000 visitors per day.
The second site gets about 300 visitors per day.

Also, I'm not looking to engage in any shady practices here - I just
want to provide objective industry related content... while reminding
users that we're out here - so, is there a limit to how many reminders
(read: backlinks) one can have from a seperate domain before it starts
looking dodgy or lose its effectiveness?

In my experience the seemly or appropriate number of links on a page is based on context, not a mathematical ratio. Look at any good Wikipedia page and see that there are many links -- but they all lead somewhere relevant and good (or should). Ditto at my site (which predates Wikipedia). For a sample of one of my link-heavy pages that google likes, see

http://www.luckymojo.com/blackcat.html

(It is about black cats and is #2 out of 15,000,000 for the keyword seach <black cats> at google.)

cordially,

cat yronwode

Today's Special Page: Higgins, the Dog Who Played Benji:
http://www.luckymojo.com/higgins-benji-dog.html
.

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