Microsites To The Point

“Microsites are a good way to build business.”

You’ve probably heard this line before, usually from web marketers that want to build you some new websites. You’re rather skeptical because you might think that building business translates to revenue enhancement for the web marketing firm.

Before you totally eliminate building a microsite, you should consider what the smaller site can do. Minisites, especially ones with keywords in the URL, are very effective driving traffic to your main business website and getting more leads. Basically you focus on changing curiosity into sales by informing and engaging your visitors.

Microsites – Eye Catching Information

Have you ever clicked on that first link in your search results and landed on a single web page? You’ve landed on a microsite. Some people call them minisites because they don’t have as many pages as the main website.

Study the site you’ve landed on. What do you see

Microsites are either a single webpage but can also be a small grouping of web pages. A rule of thumb is minisites are 1 to 5 pages, but usually no more than 20 pages. If you look at the content of the minisite, you find that it is a spin-off of and complementary to the main website.

Notice that microsites contain a lot of information, typically about a single service or product. The site is eye-catching and easy to use. It also loads very quickly. Samsung’s microsite for the Galaxy SIII android phone is a very good example of a well thought out microsite.

Compare the Galaxy SIII microsite to the Samsung main site. Samsung has a lot of different products from AV equipment to phones to appliances. How many clicks does it take to find the Galaxy SIII? Does the page give you what you want? From a user point of view, the main site is a lot of clicking and scrolling because I can’t find what I’m looking for immediately.

The microsite is instant gratification. I find the information about the Galaxy SIII I need quickly. The photos show me my color options, keyboard, and just about everything else I want to know, including the techie stuff I really don’t understand. Just click on “More Info” and you’re taken back to the appropriate page on Samsung’s enormous mother site. The minisite saves me a lot of time.

Microsites Aren’t For Every Idea

Back to microsites are good way to build business. OK, let’s separate fact from fiction, because not every idea or website is worthy of a microsite. Remember that the primary purpose is to turn curiosity into a sale. If you can gain benefits from having a microsite, it can be an important part of your online marketing strategy.

Contemplate using microsites only if

1. You want targeted optimization. Your mother site has a whole bunch of keywords, but your minisite will only use a few. Using only a handful of keywords will increase your keyword density. If you use your analytics regularly, you can find keywords you can capitalize on.

2. You have a product or service that either you and/or potential and current customers are devoted to. You can focus information and news solely to the product or service.

3. You are pursuing a new demographic and need a different look and feel from your main site.

4. You can supply content that is unique from your mother site. The site should also complement any other advertising campaigns you have for the product you are building the site around.

5. You have the time and resources required. Not everyone has Samsung’s budget.

I’m going to be completely honest. Microsites are useful for building business but do have drawbacks. A single microsite will be hard work that increases exponentially if you decide on several sites. The new Google changes make getting the microsites ranked and found a lot harder. You just can’t bring up a site and copy content from your mother site with a few minor changes and a whole lot of backlinks.

In short, you must carefully consider how you will use your microsite. If you can provide a visitor a lot of “beef” in terms information and other content, by all means don’t rule out one microsite or even several smaller sites. Just keep in mind that you must maintain the small site for it to be an effective tool in your overall marketing strategy.

If you need help deciding whether or not to invest the time in a microsite, give Directory One a call at 713-465-0051. They have experienced web marketing professionals that can help you with determine if a microsite will be a good addition to your marketing strategy.