Multiple Domain optimization

[UpperCapeSpartans]

Hello all,

I'm a bit new to this, though I'd like to think I'm a fast learner when it comes to IT related stuff...as I've been doing it for long enough.

Here's my question.  I have a non-profit corporation that covers a small region referred to as "Upper Cape" which covers four towns (mashpee, sandwich, falmouth, bourne).  I have a direct competitor in each town who has a domain that contains the name of the town.

Being that I'd like to optimize across the four towns, I've decided to also purchase up 4 domain names that contain the towns.  Rather than forward the domains to the upper cape domain, I've cloned instances of word press containing my data across 4 different sites that contain the towns.
As I got to thinking about this...I thought that it might actually hurt me...looking for insight and help as to how best to do this to optimize search (and be found) across these four towns.

[MiriamEllis]

Hi IPIM!

Agree with the single domain vs. mult-domain approach, and you absolutely want to avoid duplicating content across multiple websites. I think you might find this article helpful:

http://moz.com/blog/local-landing-pages-guide

[IPIM]

if you have them (the domains) then your competitors don't...hang on to them and maybe something will come along one day that will warrent using them.

[UpperCapeSpartans]

Again I appreciate you taking the time to respond and provide insight.  I believe you answered my question, although I'm still not sure what to do about the other domains that we've registered. 

[IPIM]

its where do you draw the line, do you create a new site for every town?  how unique would the content be across those domains? is that what the search engines really want in their search results, one brand buying multiple domains and dominating the results?

What your proposing above is not considered best practice, other people may disagree but its trying to game the results IMHO, and usually that will end in tears.

think about how you can target those towns within the confines of one domain.

www.yourdomain.co.uk/falmouth-jewelers

have that page contain a Google map with the location, contact details, offers and promotions unique to that location, maybe add a bit of local history, local client testimonials, local news.

Some good reading

https://www.mattcutts.com/blog/give-each-store-a-url/

http://www.localvisibilitysystem.com/2013/04/30/16-ways-to-create-unique-local-content-for-cities-where-you-want-to-rank/

http://www.localvisibilitysystem.com/2012/12/14/what-matt-cutts-says-about-local-search/

http://www.searchenginepeople.com/blog/how-to-optimize-a-business-website-with-multiple-locations.html

[UpperCapeSpartans]

So is there little value in having domains that contain names that pertain to the industry / town?
I just watched a cool Moz video on watches...so using that as an industry so I can frame this in my mind correctly.  If my company is Upper Cape Watch Company and I want to specifically target the towns of Falmouth, Mashpee, Sandwich and Bourne (where my competition might be Falmouth Jewelers, Mashpee Jewelers, Sandwich Jewelers and Bourne Jewelers) there's little value in having a domain for Falmouth Watch Company, Bourne Watch Company and so on?

If I have 4 domains such as Falmouth/Mashpee etc. should I just forward them to the main site, forward with masking or without?

I am very grateful for your response and insight...I don't get paid for these efforts as it's a small non-profit...pretty much a labor of love that I'm tasked with since I work in the IT field.

[IPIM]

Im not a fan of diluting authority across multiple domains, it just means having 4 x the effort and 4 x the budget.

I would go for www.yourdomain.com/town  and then optimise each of those pages with highly relevant (unique), local and helpful information.

That way, all your outreach efforts are contained within the one domain and you authority flows across the site.