Two Sites or One?

Yesterday I used the site BusinessLights.com as an example showing their inconsistencies in font type. It wasn’t a major error, and is basically hidden in the footer. I also mentioned how their site was well optimized for search engines. Well it turns out they have another site that sells grow lights, and this got me to thinking. Is two better than one?

Is Two Better than One?

If you compare the two sites you will see they used the same template. The only difference is the content. Is this a bad idea? Search engine wise, I would say heck no. Running just a few keyword tests of my own they obviously got a handle on the search market. Is it better for the visitors or the business itself? Maybe.

Factors that Improve Online Experiences

Back in the end of July Michael Douma, the Executive Director from Idea.org sent me a link to their recent study of online experiences from participants of three groups, non-profits, designers, and the general public. The results can be found here, Executive Summary. One of their findings I found interesting was that visitors want a broad range of topics.

If you were to search around the web today on how to write a blog or website, a common bit of advice found would be to specialize a niche. This is advice the lighting company has obviously taken to heart. Idea’s results suggest otherwise though. They found designers, and non-profits say stick to the niche, but visitors, these are the people that visit your site by the way, are the ones that want a broad array. A quote from their report:

“Visitors believe sites can be more effective by helping visitors find interesting information – even if they are not looking for it.”

Based on that finding, I would think the lighting company might be better off as one large site instead of two specific sites. It may depend if search engine marketing outweighs the potential gain of a few extra sales or positive visitor experience. I know if it was up to me, I would have created one giant online lighting store instead of two. I would have built one not because it is neccessarily what visitors want, but because it is simply easier to build and market one instead of two sites.

Anyone with experience with this? Please let us know!