If you read that heading and asked yourself, “What is a micro site? A mini website?” you need to be reading the rest of this blog. It’s far more than that, my friend. A microsite generally refers to a smaller, more targeted website that is the off shoot of its parent website. It is a separate entity and may present different information. It also usually has a different URL. Here are five reasons why you might think of using a microsite to reach your audience:
1. Branding
A microsite gives you the opportunity to break away from your corporate brand, which may be restricting the growth of one of your products or services.
2. Reducing content clutter
Fifty percent of visitors to any website will only look at the homepage and then leave. Having a microsite containing specific, targeted information ensures visitors will see everything you want them to see, quickly. Many times we come across homepages that have miles of text, listing a hundred different messages. If it takes a visitor more than a few seconds to find what they’re looking for, they might become frustrated and leave.
3. Offering more details
With so many different products and services on one site, it may not be possible to go into too much detail on each one. A microsite offers the freedom to go into more details, like specifications, history, press coverage, etc.
4. Highly targeted
When visitors get to your site, they will be presented with exactly what they want without having to look for it. The whole site can be geared towards a single call to action. This can be very useful for pay-per-click campaigns.
5. Search Engine Optimization
A domain name with relevant keywords in it and a site which is highly focused around a particular product or service will likely perform better in the search engines.
Looking to see some successful examples of microsites? Check out Spyline’s list of the top 30 microsites of 2008.