Subdomains-The advantages and disadvantages

Today, I thought that I would just write a short post on the advantages and disadvantages of owning a subdomain.

For many beginner website and blog owners, it is common to own subdomains. A subdomain is a website or blog that is a part of a larger domain. Subdomains are usually free to use and are very popular for "experimental" blogs or websites.

An example of a subdomain would be: www.dogs.wordpress.com

Notice that the larger "domain"'s name is in the web address. Larger domains benefit hugely from giving free subdomains because every time someone types in the address, their name is right there. So, basically, it's free advertising.

On the other hand, a domain is a private or corporate-owned web address that can be purchased from other web hosting companies for reasonable prices.

An example of a domain would be: www.dogs.com

Now let's talk a little bit about the advantages of both. First of all, subdomains are free. This makes them extremely popular because they require no monetary investments whatsoever and even beginners can earn some pocket cash with them. They are usually permanent subscriptions. This means that you can keep it for free for as long as you want(this has proved to be the reason that so many sub-domain owners have changed to domains, because they have had a decent amount of success at no cost to them). One final advantage is that the domain you are a part of usually provides all the tools and hints to make you successfull. This is because they benefit more if you are successfull.

The disadvantages of owning a subdomain are as follows:

1. They are small. Many free subdomains can't have more than one page. This is a huge downsied for people looking to grow their profits. Seperate pages are recommended for things like advertising pages and contact pages. (one way to become successfull with a sub-domain like the site you're on now, is by direct advertising. Please see my article "Why third party advertising is not your best choice").

2. They restrict your growth. Sometimes you're lucky and the company that you have a subdomain with, will provide you with the option of upgrading to your own domain name for a small monthly fee. However, more often than not, your stuck with that ".wordpress" following your website's name or the ".blogspot".

3. Many times, advertising deals will go down the drain if they see that you own a subdomain. This is usually because subdomains, in general, reach a smaller audience. However, you can still be successfull with direct advertising on your subdomain. I have been successfull with direct advertising on this site in the past because of our large group of readers.

*The best way to get advertising to work for your subdomain is by first gaining accesss to a large audience like we have done on this blog.


Keep doing business, running websites, blogging, and working hard, believe me...it'll pay off in the end.