Two Websites Better than One?

March 10, 2020 3:29 PM

The website I use to promote my book is down b/c I pay on a month to month basis, and this month has more month than money. Next month, that will be fixed. But my audiobook, which I've just finished, is ready to be uploaded somewhere now.

Google offers a free business site. So, should I wait until my main site is up to refer any audiobook traffic to it (along with the Amazon link), should I launch a free Google site and redirect all traffic to the main site at the start of next month, or should I keep both sites up and running? I probably know the answer, but my impatience is what's making me post this Q.

posted by CollectiveMind to Media & Arts (3 answers total)

It seems like waiting three weeks until your regular website is up would avoid a lot of confusion in the future.
posted by jonathanhughes at 3:58 PM on March 10, 2020 [1 favorite]

As far as any visitors are concerned your site is just whatever your domain-name is pointed to. Whether that’s free, paid, google or whatever is irrelevant. Mirror your site to somewhere free (or make a minisite with the audiobook front and center and your other info statically mirrored or something and just point your domain there for the few weeks.
posted by J.R. Hartley at 12:59 AM on March 11, 2020

The most important aspect of this is managing your Google ranking.
If you redirect to a temporary website on a different domain, Google will start to rank that as the primary source.

It can be better to just let the site go dark for a while and then re-launch it. This may be a good time to look around for a cheaper host that would allow you to launch a bit faster.
posted by Lanark at 9:53 AM on March 11, 2020