Hi,
I have two killer domains that I wish use to head up a sister site strategy. These two domains represent my two core services Web Design and Graphic Design.*
My registered business name is Gordon Design and my existing domain is gordondesign. com. au.*
Can anyone advise me how to redirect from the original domain to one of the proposed new sister sites (which will be linked to each other) so I can preserve the equity and inbound links to my existing domain? *
Also, does anyone know of any issues in Australian jurisdiction that require a commercial domain’s characters to relate to the entity’s registered business name?
Any help appreciated.*
It’s not really clear (at least to me) what you want redirected to what. Personally, I’d say use the one domain for your various servcies, but it’s up to you.
does anyone know of any issues in Australian jurisdiction that require a commercial domain’s characters to relate to the entity’s registered business name?
You need to have a registered business to get a .com.au domain, but the domain name doesn’t have to relate to your business name. I’ve seen planty of businesses use and register .com.au domains that don’t relate to their actual business name. I’ve checked before, and never found any regulation that says there’s anything wrong with this. 
Ralph, thanks for your reply,
“It’s not really clear (at least to me) what you want redirected to what. Personally, I’d say use the one domain for your various servcies, but it’s up to you.”
I’ve decided that the two keyword rich domains I bagged years ago are simply too good to be lying dormant.*
I’d like to redirect from gordondesign.com.au (existing domain) to one of either perthgraphicdesign.com.au or webdesignperth.com.au (proposed new sister site domains which will be linked).
Yeah that rings true to me about the domain not having to relate in name to the business name. I think it’s simply just a requirement to relate in meaning or intent.*
Can you advise on the redirection process?
Cheers.*
It’s not hard to redirect one domain to another, but you’d need to choose which one. You can’t have once domain redirecting to two other domains.
I realise I can’t redirect to two domains: “to one of either perthgraphicdesign.com.au or webdesignperth.com.au (proposed new sister site domains which will be linked).”
Can you advise on how to redirect please?
You can either go to your domain host and redirect the domain from there, or keep your original site up but have all pages/links redirect to the new domain via a .htaccess rule. I’ll probably need to let others answer more specifically, though.
Thanks for your help Ralph
Can anyone advise me how to redirect from the original domain to one of the proposed new sister sites (which will be linked to each other) so I can preserve the equity and inbound links to my existing domain?
You need to setup a 301 or permanent redirect, so that the search engines know to pass the “SEO juice” to the new domain that you intend to use. Using Google you can find plenty of tutorials on the subject. The most common solution is via .htaccess, assuming that your hosting is Apache based.
ldcdc Many thanks! Ploiesti - Nice looking city!
Maybe it’s just me but wouldn’t redirecting Perthgraphicdesign.com (etc) to your business site Gordonetc.com.au make more sense? I’m just talking my opinion though
As the others said, most webhosts can take care of the redirect for you (in a controlpanel or if you contact them), just make sure you choose the correct type of redirect (not all are permanent and so on).
The idea is, I want to take advantage of two keyword rich domains. Thanks for your advice re hosting company redirect.
I had one domain offering two (very different) services. I eventually decided to split it into two sites, each with a new domain. I kept the original domain, but all it has on it now is a page explaining the site has changed and giving links to the two new domains. e.g. “For web design visit www.onenewdomain.co.uk. For graphic design visit www.anothernewdesign.co.uk.” Then I set 301 redirects for each old page, redirecting to the correct page on the relevant new domain.
Whether this is the best way to go about it, I don’t know - but I did get a small increase in traffic on both domains.
Thanks TechnoBear,
I hadn’t thought of keeping the old domain open and using links to the others - sounds like a good idea.