Use Add-On Domains To
Optimize Your Web Hosting Space
Is it possible to host
two or more sites with two or more domains on the same hosting
account? You may want to register and market another domain name
but don't want to pay for another hosting account. The best
solution is to create an add-on domain.
What is an add-on
domain?
An add-on domain is a new domain that is added on top of your main
domain. It creates a sub directory within your main web hosting
directory but can show a different website. The add-on domain
collects the information from the sub domain directory using the
same space and bandwidth as your main account, however it won't
have its own cpanel (web hosting manager).
Add-on domain
benefits.
- Create multiple
domains/websites on the same web hosting account.
- Save money and web
space by using one hosting account instead of several hosting
accounts.
- The add-on domain
shares all the same resources (disk space, bandwidth...) with your
main site.
- The add-on domain has
its own FTP manager, site stats, cgi-bin which is created
automatically.
- Upload all pages,
images, scripts, forums etc to your add-on domain
directory.
- Access your add-on
domain using several web site addresses i.e.
http://www.SiteB.com,
http://www.SiteB.SiteA.com,
http://www.SiteA.com/SiteB
- Promote several web
sites within one hosting account with their own set of
keywords.
How to create an add-on
domain.
- Register your new
add-on domain with a domain name registrar.
- Point the DNS (domain
name sever) information of your new add-on domain to the same DNS
of your web host.
- Allow 24-48 hours for
the DNS to propagate over the Net before uploading your
files.
- Log in to your cpanel
(web hosting manager) and scroll to add-on domains.
- Fill in these three
fields:
New Domain Name: SiteB.com (Do not put any http:// or www)
Username/directory/subdomain
Name: SiteB (Enter 'SiteB ' by itself. Do not put any '.com' or
'www')
Password: 12345
(Enter any password you wish.)
- Click the 'Add Domain'
button. It takes a couple of minutes for the system to set-up an
add-on domain name.
- Once it completes, your
add-on domain name will be ready.
You can then log into
your account and you should see a sub folder called /SiteB inside
of your public_html folder. Simply upload index pages, images and
any other information there.
Here is an example of
how to create an add-on domain:
Let's say you primary domain is http://www.SiteA.com
You add an add-on domain named: http://www.SiteB.com through the
cpanel.
Now you can access it
via:
http://www.SiteB.com or
http://www.SiteB.SiteA.com/ or
http://www.SiteA.com/SiteB/
You can now set-up email
for the add-on domain as if it was a separate site i.e.
bubba@SiteB.com with mail servers as mail.SiteB.com
Tips: When searching for
a web hosting service, be sure to check if they allow add-on
domains. This will give you far more flexibility to utilize your
web hosting space should you need to create add-on domains in the
future.
Be sure to check how
much web space you have left for your main hosting account before
you create an add-on domain. Add-on domains utilize the same web
space as your main hosting account.
Herman Drost is the
Certified Internet Webmaster (CIW) owner and author of Affordable
Web Site Design and Web Hosting Subscribe to his “Marketing Tips”
newsletter for more original articles at: subscribe@isitebuild.com
You can read more of his in-depth articles at: http://www.isitebuild.com/articles
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