Sub-domain On Existing Website Or New Domain For Aw?

I had a spare domain name that I have pointed here. I wanted the whole experience to be easier so it's now just IsabellaShores.com

I don't see the point in changing one long address for another long address. The long address being the only reason I changed it in the first place...but that's just me

I'm wondering if having multiple different domain names forwarded to the same single AW has any effect on SEO, good or bad.

Dan I think (and I could be wrong) that is a similar thing as FAA having all the other domains that are mirrors. I've gone with the sub-domain for the moment, but I am actually using the shopping cart widget on my main site for aesthetic reasons. That is subject to change, so I will see what the statistics show over the next month or so and see if I can glean any incite from that.

I really only want to promote my main domain, I agree Abbie, having a long name (and a hard to spell one at that) makes it complicated. However using backlinking on your website to your art on different domains is advantageous SEO wise, so this is what I have done throughout my blog.

My biggest concern with using a subdomain is whether or not SEO will be compromised for my main domain because the artist website is almost a mirror of what is on all the FAA domains.

I am thinking of upgrading to a FAA website the premium listing . I have a website already that My husband and I have been doing thru Yahoo site builder. This may be a stupid question but can I keep the domain name ?? We want to drop the sitebuilder website because it is just too frustrating to manage, also more expensive. Any problems with managing the Premium listing ? Anyone able to relate to this. Donna

Donna, the premium site is easy to customize but there are very few elements that can be customized and you cannot move items around on the page.

Kathleen, Ok , but it works pretty well other than that? Are the uploads fairly fast? Thanks Donna

As Kathleen said, the premium listings (the artist websites) are easy to use, and the new version which everyone will be switched over to in January has the benefit of not showing other art within FAA to your customers. You can point your existing domain to it as well (presuming you have bought the domain name and its not a yahoo subdomain?).

It does not allow you to add additional pages of information other than the blog feature, and the style and formatting is not completely customizable, so there are some limitations - but well worth $30 per year for a basic website.

There is a thread somewhere with a list of new artist websites that will give you a number of the new version AW's to see how customizable they are.

Donna, it works well and is a bargain at $30.00. Upload time depends on how well their servers are behaving at any given time.

Thanks for your help. How do you know if an artist has a premium website ? How does it show up?

Hi Donna,

I would highly recommend moving your website to a Wordpress site. WP is very easy to learn and there is a a lot info out there should you want to learn about it.

All you really need is a Webhost and some content.

I also have my Artist Website mapped as a subdomain.

Here is a my site and my subdomain address:

http://fluffyshotme.com

http://gallery.fluffyshotme.com

I second David's recommendation for a wordpress website wholeheartedly, although it is more work than just having a premium AW listing.

I don't believe in putting all my effort into something that is largely out of my control though, so would never be without my website. My husband designed and set up my website for me, but wordpress is so easy to use that I can maintain it all myself.

My wordpress website address is http://michellewrighton.com/ and AW subdomain is http://prints.michellewrighton.com/ Now that I have set up my Google Analytics with some goals and url destinations, I think I can get a decent idea of what does and dosn't work as far as traffic and referrals over the next few months.

I highly recommend a own website with your own domain, too. You donīt know whatīll happen in the future. FAA is a company owned by a single person. Maybe he gets an offer he canīt resist, maybe heīll become sick, has an accident, gets divorced, ... Or maybe you find a better place to sell your art in the future. Your own website will stay with you, and you can adapt to changes in the future.

Thanks for your responses, everyone. Good thoughts. I agree keeping your own website and domain makes sense. The problem we have been having is our website, my husband also and artist ,set up through Yahoo and sitebuilder. He's been having nothing but problems with it. A major pain in the butt is putting it mildly. When trying to update info or publish some new paintings, very balky and extremely hard to get any tech help other then automated responses so rather then tearing our hair out for days on end just felt like dropping it. Trouble is we have a fairly good ranking with our site and plein air painting so reviewing other options. We have a new mac but this program is on our PC and not transferable. Here is our website donnadicksonart.com and tomdicksonart.com. Not familiar with Wordpress but will look into it. In the meantime Happy Holidays everyone. Donna

Hi David Morefield, when I bring up your website at " gallery.fluffyshotme.com " the images do not open. The thumbnails are black.I don't know if anyone else has seen this too. Just thought you should know. Donna

Fluffy, Everything is working in my browser.

Dave

Michelle and David - I feel that you are both doing what I should be doing, but I am very unclear about my wordpress.org site. It's 4 years old and I am not too comfortable with it. By looking at both of your links you posted, I think you are saying that the subdomain is part of your real site. You did not need to buy the new name - or did you? Is the FAA site now one of the pages on your main site? I already have a Behance site for photojournalism and a you tube channel. I upgraded for the ability to post more photos and now I'm trying to figure out this new site I was not prepared for. I think it looks lovely and I would like to make good use of it.