Using subdomains exposes my network of sites?

[ChristyK]

I am using my hostgator account to set up several niche sites since they have unlimited domains. The url is my candle site so I currently have to buy new domain names when I create unrelated sites so that I do not have knowltonsreef.scentsiblecandles.com for instance.

What I am planning to do is change my hosting so that I can set up several sites using the subdomains without having to buy domain names and it not sound strange, ie. affiliatemarketing.4u.com, dogtreats.4u.com, etc.

So... my point of the post is that I started wondering if I would then have to worry about someone checking out (and stealing ideas from) that group of sites when they know one is mine, ie. doing a search for 4u.com would bring up all my indexed sites. So I guess my question is whether I should be concerned of such and if so, is buying domains and masking the url is the only way to go?

Make sense?

TIA for your thoughts.

Christy

[avrr]

[ChristyK]

[Hock Ng]

Christy,

If your pages are indexed, then anyone doing a site search will see your subdomains. As you said, the alternative is to set up separate domains with private whois. Even if you have multiple domains on the same server, if you don't have private registration, once someone finds one of your domains, they can potentially see all your domains hosted on that server.

Hock

[ChristyK]

Thanks for reply, Hock. Yeah, I finally decided there's just no better way than just buying new domains. At least it takes a little more effort for someone to find all my sites through whois (and usually money to hold an advanced account), so I'm not so concerned about the private registration at this point.

I think I will stick to using the unmasked subdomain for building sites of similar topic, ie. student loans.credit.com, flightpoints.credit.com. Sites that will have links to each other anyway.

Christy

[Troy]

Yes, I believe you are onto something there!!!
I have just started using sub-domains. They work great like this
keyword.yourdomain.com
as long as that subdomain points to a page or folder that is about and optimized for that keyword.
I just started that a couple of months ago, so I will keep you posted.

[ChristyK]

I went ahead and went with the subdomain idea. It's just too nice to be able to throw up anything you want for testing without having to buy domains.

What I also decided is that once something becomes a money-maker I would buy a domain for it. I did a search by domain name as mentioned above and it showed my subdomains but not my add-on domains. It was not an easy task finding a domain name like I wanted that was general and would make sense for adding on subs . So must be a lot of people are doing the same since everything I thought of was taken.

Christy

PS... I changed my primary domain name from scentsible candles to the new one I found and just made scentsible candles an add-on. I thought this would require my purchasing new hosting, moving everything over, then cancelling previous hosting. I opened a chat session with hostgator just to check, was happy to hear they could just do everything on their end if I sent an email request. Email sent, response received almost immediately agreeing that they could do it. I sent a reply requesting they do the move. I had to run out so not sure how long it took, but all was set up when I returned home. Like I say below....

[wahmjennie]

Christy,

Thnaks so much for this post. I also host with hostgator.com and was wondering how to change my primary domain as well.

Your post answered my question. Going to send that email now.

[wahmjennie]

Oh, Christy, did you set the nameservers for your new primary domain and wait for them to propigate before you emailed to have them changed?

Just don't want to screw things up!

Thanks!

[ChristyK]

Yes, I did it while chatting with the hostgator rep whom I contacted first. I don't know that all domain registrars process as quickly. But it was purchased and set up very quickly (just used the same nameservers). So I guess the answer is 'yes', though I'm no tech, I'd suggest doing it real quickly before sending the email. (Guess you may have done things already, I was busy all weekend with a wedding.)

Christy

[kidino]

When you use sub-domains, I can use DNS tools to find all of the sub-domains you have on the domain.

Try this
http://www.digitalpoint.com/tools/zone-transfer/