Custom Domain & Subdomains: Organizing Your Digital Presence

A domain is your business address on the internet. It's like your physical store address, but in the digital world.



Examples of domains:

• yourbusiness.com

• mycompany.io

• clothingstore.shop



Advantages of having your own domain:



1. Professionalism and Credibility

• yourbusiness.com looks professional

• yourbusiness.wixsite.com looks amateur

• Customers trust businesses with custom domains more



2. Business Email

• You can have contact@yourbusiness.com instead of yourbusiness2024@gmail.com

• Conveys seriousness in every communication

• Multiple emails: sales@, support@, admin@



3. Total Control

• You decide where your domain points

• You can change hosting or design without losing your address

• The domain is yours as long as you renew it



4. SEO and Ranking

• Google favors sites with custom domains

• You can build brand authority on your domain

• Links you receive benefit your domain

A subdomain is an extension of your main domain that works as an independent address.



Structure:

• Main domain: yourbusiness.com

• Subdomain: system.yourbusiness.com

• Subdomain: shop.yourbusiness.com

• Subdomain: blog.yourbusiness.com



Simple analogy:

Think of your domain as an office building:

• yourbusiness.com is the main entrance (reception)

• system.yourbusiness.com is the operations floor

• shop.yourbusiness.com is the ground floor store

• blog.yourbusiness.com is the conference room



They're all in the same building (domain), but each has its own function and independent access.



Key feature:

• Subdomains are free - you don't pay extra to create them

• You can create as many as you need

• Each can have a completely different website or system

Not all businesses need subdomains, but there are cases where they're the perfect solution:



1. Internal Management System

• system.yourbusiness.com or admin.yourbusiness.com

• For: CRM, ERP, inventory system, admin panel

• Benefit: Separate internal system from public website

• Example: A clinic with appointment system separate from informational website



2. Separate Online Store

• shop.yourbusiness.com or store.yourbusiness.com

• For: E-commerce when main website is informational

• Benefit: Independent sales platform

• Example: A clothing brand with institutional website and separate store



3. Blog or Resource Center

• blog.yourbusiness.com or resources.yourbusiness.com

• For: Educational content, news, articles

• Benefit: Clear content organization



4. Web Application or Client Portal

• app.yourbusiness.com or portal.yourbusiness.com

• For: Web applications, client area, dashboards

• Benefit: Dedicated user experience



5. Testing Environment

• staging.yourbusiness.com or dev.yourbusiness.com

• For: Testing changes before publishing

• Benefit: Doesn't affect main site

This is a common question. There are two ways to organize sections of your site:



Subdomain: blog.yourbusiness.com

Subdirectory: yourbusiness.com/blog



When to use subdirectory (folder)?

• If content is closely related to your main website

• If you want all SEO to benefit a single domain

• If it's content that complements your main offering

• Examples: /services, /about, /blog, /products



When to use subdomain?

• If it's a completely different application or system

• If it uses different technology than your main website

• If it needs its own server configuration

• If it's a project that could become independent

• Examples: system.yourbusiness.com, shop.yourbusiness.com



SEO Impact:

• Subdirectory: Google treats it as part of the same site. All SEO accumulates.

• Subdomain: Google may treat it as a separate site. SEO isn't automatically shared.



Our recommendation:

• For content (blog, services): Use subdirectory

• For separate systems or apps: Use subdomain

Google:

• google.com - Main search

• mail.google.com - Gmail

• docs.google.com - Google Docs

• drive.google.com - Google Drive

• maps.google.com - Google Maps



Amazon:

• amazon.com - Main store

• aws.amazon.com - Amazon Web Services

• seller.amazon.com - Seller portal



HubSpot:

• hubspot.com - Main website

• app.hubspot.com - Application/CRM

• blog.hubspot.com - Marketing blog

• academy.hubspot.com - Courses and certifications



Examples for small businesses:

• restaurant.com - Informational website with menu

• orders.restaurant.com - Delivery system

• reservations.restaurant.com - Booking system



• clinic.com - Informational website

• appointments.clinic.com - Online booking system

• results.clinic.com - Lab results portal

Clear Organization

Each project or system has its own "home." It's easier to manage and understand for both you and your clients and employees.

Different Technologies

Your main website can be on WordPress, your system on Laravel, and your store on Shopify. Each subdomain can use the most appropriate technology.

Isolated Security

If your blog gets hacked, your internal system isn't affected. Each subdomain can have its own security measures.

Independent Scalability

If your online store grows significantly, you can move it to a more powerful server without affecting your main website.

Separate Work Teams

The marketing team can manage the blog while the technical team handles the system, without interfering with each other.

Unified Brand

Everything remains "yourbusiness.com," maintaining brand coherence even though they're different projects.

Costs:

• Subdomains are free (you don't pay extra to create them)

• But each subdomain with a different site may need additional hosting

• SSL certificates: You need one per subdomain (Let's Encrypt is free)



SEO:

• Google treats subdomains as semi-independent sites

• SEO from blog.yourbusiness.com doesn't directly benefit yourbusiness.com

• For content you want to add SEO value, use subdirectories

• For separate systems or apps, subdomains are fine



Maintenance:

• More subdomains = more things to maintain

• Each needs updates and backups

• Consider if you have the capacity to maintain them



Email addresses:

• Business emails are from the main domain

• sales@yourbusiness.com works regardless of how many subdomains you have

• You don't need separate emails per subdomain

Creating a subdomain is simple, but requires access to your hosting panel or DNS:



Step 1: Access your control panel (cPanel, Plesk, or similar)

Step 2: Look for the "Subdomains" or "DNS" section

Step 3: Enter the name (e.g., "system," "shop")

Step 4: Define the destination folder or server

Step 5: Configure the SSL certificate



Propagation time:

• DNS changes can take 1-48 hours

• Usually it works within 1-2 hours



Don't know how to do it?

At Adratech, we handle all technical configuration when we develop your system or website.

A custom domain is much more than a web address. It's the foundation of your entire digital presence, and with subdomains, you can expand it to cover all your business needs.



Summary:

• Custom domain: Professionalism, business emails, total control

• Subdomains: Organize systems, stores, or apps under your same brand

• Subdirectories: For content that should add SEO to the main domain



What do you need?

• Just a website → yourbusiness.com is enough

• Website + internal system → website at yourbusiness.com, system at system.yourbusiness.com

• Website + online store → depends on how separate you want them



At Adratech, we develop websites, business systems, and online stores. We can help you define the best domain and subdomain structure for your business.



Need guidance on how to organize your digital presence? Contact us and we'll help you plan the perfect structure for your business.