PDA

View Full Version : Build new or Renovate my old website?



paul
04-13-2004, 05:15 PM
www.mobilehomedoctor.com was initially built with FrontPage98, crashed on the server (capital letters in my files names was the supposed cause) and was rebuilt by directly uploading renamed files from backup with ftp. It's on an old server (plesk) and the content needs revision.

The home page has a PR7 :) with over 100 links. It gets about 12,000 visits and 35,000 page views a month. I REALLY don't want to do anything to mess it up.

Email from readers, confirmed with WordTracker, indicates lots of interest in mobile home decoration and financing, so broadening the content should increase interest.

I am mostly finished with a re-design which I have up at www.mobilehomecenter.com. Essentially all the content of MHD is included under the Mobile Home Repair tab on MHC. The other links at the top of the new home page go to placeholder pages where expansion content has yet to be written.

I realize it is only partially optimized, the pictures are terrible, and many of the pages are very sparse. However, the new site was done with CSS, library items etc. so I will be able to improve it gradually without fearing the whole site will crash and burn.

My plan had been to polish the new design, delete all the old files and point mobilehomedoctor to the new content on a new server. I am having second thoughts.

MobileHomeCenter really isn't a bad name for what I hope to do on the new site. Maybe I should let it stand alone and link from the old pages on mobilehomedoctor to the new pages. As I understand it, the PR should transfer and I could work on getting other links.

I would appreciate thoughts/comments/suggestions FROM PEOPLE WHO HAVE BEEN THROUGH THIS PROCESS:)

Paul AKA Mobile Home Doctor

incka
04-14-2004, 03:10 AM
I would upload center to doctor.

r2d2
04-14-2004, 04:26 AM
I would keep the same domain too, the traffic you have at doctor is worth keeping.

Chris
04-14-2004, 06:00 AM
I would keep the domain. If most of your incoming links are on the homepage (and not on subpages) then creating a whole new URL structure will not cause a big problem. Within a month search engines will have updated.

If your subpages sometimes serve as entry pages using redirects (or putting a menu for the new structure) on them would be a good idea.

davesplace1
10-14-2004, 05:39 AM
Keep your old domain. You can always put new content on a new domain and have two websites.

paulfitz
10-17-2004, 06:26 PM
Yeah in agreeance with the others (for obvious reasons) - upload to that domain and keep the great PR going.