Field Notes: What We Learned Building a Network of 10 Web Properties on One Domain

We built and deployed 10 web properties under the j3cfamily.studio domain — a main site, blog, 7 subdomain tools, a digital store, and a resume scanner. Here is what we learned about architecture, deployment, and cross-linking.

The architecture: the main site (j3cfamily.studio) hosts the blog and marketing pages. Seven subdomains (tools, calculators, privacy, seo, ai, templates, quiz) each serve a specific utility purpose. Two additional subdomains (store, resume) handle e-commerce and SaaS functionality. All are separate Vercel projects.

Why separate projects: each subdomain can be developed, built, and deployed independently. A bug in the quiz subdomain does not affect the store. Different teams or AI agents can work on different subdomains simultaneously. Each has its own dependencies and can use different Next.js versions.

The cross-linking strategy: every subdomain footer links to all other properties in the network. This creates a mesh of internal links that signals to both search engines and AI models that these properties are related and authoritative. We standardized on a `CROSS_LINKS` constant in each project's footer component.

The deployment pipeline: a PowerShell script iterates through all subdomains, runs `npm install`, `npm run build`, and `vercel --prod`, then attaches custom domains. Total deployment time for all 10 properties: about 10 minutes.

The biggest challenge: keeping cross-links consistent across 10 projects. When we added the quiz subdomain, we had to update footers in 9 other projects. We solved this by making the cross-links array a shared constant that each project copies.

The DNS setup: each subdomain needs a CNAME record pointing to `cname.vercel-dns.com`. We used Name.com for DNS management. The Vercel CLI handles SSL certificate provisioning automatically once DNS resolves.

Practical takeaway: Build a domain network with separate Vercel projects for isolation. Standardize cross-links across all properties. Write a batch deploy script. Budget time for DNS propagation when adding new subdomains.