Hi Everyone
I want to add a membership site to my Wordpress blog. I noticed recently that Problogger has started a forum - and he has built that on a separate domain (.com) to his original domain (.net).
So, my first question is, what are the advantages of setting up a stand alone membership site (different domain name) and linking to it from the original blog?
And, what are the disadvantages? Presumably SEO is not transferable from the original domain to the new domain just because they are linked in the nav bar. Or am I wrong?
Cheers
Rosemary
Google would ask you if it benefits your users and if it does then it’s ok to do it.
Thank you for this logical reply.
There seems to be pluses for keeping the functions separate.
Do you happen to know if this linking is an easy thing to do on Wordpress?
Cheers
Rosemary
Thats OK.
That kind of talk takes me out of my comfort zone 
Cheers
R
Yes, these are simply hard-coded navigation links.
As for linking this way “within” WordPress admin - i’m not so sure - it depends on the version of WP you are using, what type of navigation your theme is using (dynamic/static) etc.
While I can’t speak for Darren’s motivations, the idea behind using different domains are normally to create a related network. Any time you have content that is significantly different from your core content (in this case a community vs a blog), it’s sometimes worth splitting it on to a new sub-domain or domain.
The benefit is that if both become popular, then the network effect will support each site. Additionally, setting up on a new or different domain can assist with hosting issues, software (like forum software and blogging/cms software) management and the like.
My thinking is that he had that domain registered along with the .net version and rather than leaving it parked, he decided to use it for the forum.