Website Organization: One site to rule them all OR multiple sites

[HimalayaHardware]

Hi All,

About a year into my muse selling physical products and things are great. My biggest dilemma at the moment is how to organize my web presence.

I have multiple products that are all related to varying degrees. My issue is do I put them all under ONE website or bust some of the products out to their own targeted websites?

One umbrella site:
Pros: easier to maintain
Cons: some items don't quite fit the others

Multiple Sites
Pros: easier to market that specific product?
Cons: more work to maintain/advertise, costlier to use adwords with several sites?



Much interested in your thoughts.....

[Dejan]

It depends what your goal is ... judging by the info you've given about your business (not very much) I'd go for one umbrella site since it's easier to maintain. This way you can spend more time on testing new stuff (new ways of getting traffic, testing different offers, etc.) that could take your business to the next level.

But in the end it all comes down to the ROI ... which option would get you the best ROI? If multiple sites give you greater ROI then go for that option.

Just don't work yourself to death

[musedesignguide]

Have you thought about hosting two sites under 1 e-commerce system/shopping cart? I believe this would solve both of your problems?

It could take a bit of time/skill to set up, but this would allow you to manage all of your products but displayed through various sites.

Have a look into Magento for more information (search for it online). I currently use this for a number of my clients sites and works a charm.

Hope this helps,

Paul

[HimalayaHardware]

@Dejan

perhaps I can go into more detail in another thread if there is interest. Essentially I am designing and importing products from Nepal and India. My outdoor gear and hemp clothing lines I design. Handicraft items I just import. Musical instruments such as tabla and sitar I drop ship.

@musedesignguide

I am aware of the 2 sites/1 system but have never implemented such a setup. I do use Magento and prefer it over ZenCart. I am redoing my main ecommerce site and am switching that one to Magento, thus my organization questions.


I guess I am leaning towards one site to host everything. That way I can expose customers to auxiliary products that I sell.