Hosting and add-on domains

Need an explanation

[stu2]

I am being offered hosting of multiple domains where the domains are what they call add-on domains. Apparently these domains will go into subdirectories of the hosting account. I'm assured they will look just like any other hosted domain.

I can't seem to get a straight answer from the hosting company what the advantages or disadvantages are of having multiple domains in 1 account with them setup as add-on domains in subdirectories. Are there any alternative scenarios for multiple domain hosting?

My only other experience with multiple hosting domains has been where all the domains are setup in their own subdirectories and ranked equally. So, what would I lose if I setup the hosting account as a shell and had all my domains as add-on domains?

How does add-on domains differ from having 1 hosted domain and create subdirectories for all the additional domains?

Will the hosting account .htaccess file be used for all the add-on domains if they don't have their own .htaccess file? Will each domain has it's own 404Error page?

[treeline]

I have tried doing this, and still have one site that's stuck there.

On the positive side, it mostly works.

From a glass half empty perspective, mostly doesn't cut it. If it's been set up right (not to be taken for granted) spiders will index the pages with the correct url, mostly. This would look like www.example2.com, unfortunately it sometimes shows up as www.widgets.com/example2/index.html which isn't so great in the SERPs. Especially if you have several sites on related subjects.

In some cases the longer, less desirable url out-competes the intended one and is very reluctant to go away.

differ from having 1 hosted domain and create subdirectories for all the additional domains?

When it's working correctly, the add-on domains look and feel like seperate domains, and have seperate stats and email.

any alternative scenarios for multiple domain hosting?

Better idea is to get a reseller's account that allows plenty of domains that are truly independent. These often don't cost much anymore, especially if they share an IP address.

[stu2]

Better idea is to get a reseller's account that allows plenty of domains that are truly independent. These often don't cost much anymore, especially if they share an IP address.

That is actually what the hosting company tried to sell me when I discussed it with them. I do see the clear advantage in that, but I see it somewhat as a disadvantage having to log into every domain separately.

[treeline]

Ask what type of software they provide to manage a reselling account. Depending on what it is that's worrying you, this may help. For example, cpanel based systems often provide whm to manage all your domains. You can do a bunch of things, but not everything, for multiple domains from the whm interface.

[stu2]

They're offering me a 1 penny month trial, which should be enough time to decide if it'll work for me or not. I guess this will get setup sometime this week. Yep, they're using cPanel. What's WHM?

Wouldn't you be able to control how the search engines find the add-on domains in the .htaccess file?