Place of design

A microsite (or micro site) is a small website that has its own domain and hence its own URL. The purpose is for pinpoint marketing. Regardless of the marketing for the main parent site, marketing, SEO and measurement for the microsite is independent. The content of a microsite ought to be unique – both in terms of the main site it directs traffic too, and other websites. Microsites are uses to focus attention on a specific product or service; aimed at a specific group of users

A microsite or series of microsites can be used to differentiate products and services from a company’s global offering. A consumer or site visitor doesn’t have to wade through all of the products to find the specific product. The marketing for the microsite is very narrow, undiluted. Whereas the marketing for a companies main website may be multi-threaded, because the companies offerings are diverse

Benefits
The main site benefits because the microsite feeds totally relevant customers to it. The main site also benefits because it is gains page rank from the microsites, whose marketing is pinpoint

The next benefit of microsites is evaluative A/B comparisons. A marketing idea, concept, product can be lunched alongside another, and the results from the microsites compared

Usage
Microsites are not exclusive to e-commerce; the application in the service sector is just as striking. Take a photographer for example who shoots weddings, events, food stock photography and portraits. The demographic for his 4 groups of customer will be different, as will be what they expect when they come to a website. By creating a main site that deals with his online logistics (galleries, overall company profile etc), a series of microsites can market the distinctly different types of photography. Brides see weddings and pictures of brides etc. Magazine editors are marketed to separately, with a separate site for food stock photography etc.

Reflecting the real world
This is more than a online practice. Like all good online practices – Microsites mirror traditional advertising and bricks and mortar business. Example – if a well known retailer sells clothes and food in its main store, it makes complete sense to open a smaller “food only store”. This is exactly what happens on the high street. Furthermore, marketing just the food, is clever, because it is focused – the knock on effect is clothing sales in the main store, where the “must have clothing item” is carefully positioned near the food. The switch or swapping one customer into another is also a key part of microsites

Target the demographic market properly
It is important to understand your products demographic. A product that is equally useful to the older and younger generations is a good example. If you market this generically, both generations may feel disenfranchised. If you make a split, and have “Senior site” and a Junior site” where the branding, the imagery and wording is totally aimed at each generation separately, both feel the product is wholly applicable to themselves. The sales of the product can occur on the microsite, or on the main site

Marketing the site
In principle we treat a microsite just like any other website – it is marketed independently, the phraseology, the copy, the images ought to be independent. The promotion of the site / product – traditional or online is also independent

We do not promote underhand SEO practices. A microsite just needs the best SEO practices applied to its construction and marketing. the narrow focus of the content makes this relatively a simple process

It is important to allow users (and search engines) to access the main site. Simple navigation is key here. This can be a one way process or not, as required. See the main site as a hub with many small microsites radiating from it and sending on-topic relevant visitors to it

Evaluation and statistics
Because the microsites allow you to differentiate between campaigns, consider the usage of separate e-mail / phone / lead tracking to aid your decision making processes. This method will give you qualitative data to work with. Just as we use Google analytics, web statistics to understand the main site – ensure new accounts are set up for the microsites

Microsites are small, but each page within the microsite can function within its own rights. Make sure that each page is optimised in its own right. Optimised in terms of SEO, and in terms of what it is selling, and who it is selling it to

Conclusion
With so many “dubious” online marketing methods out there, this method is a breath of fresh air. It properly targets your different customer groups, It will increase your conversion, it is a fantastic tool for evaluating a new product or marketing idea, and it will promote your main site properly

Costs
We develop microsites from as little as £500 per site. Subsequent SEO and marketing for each site is something we would quote for separately. The more sites in a campaign, the lower the unit cost. Price may vary depending on the structure of your current e-commerce environment, and the level of step-through integration that is required.

Like all websites, small doesn’t always need to mean un-sophisticated – which will be reflected in the pricing. It is worth noting that in a series of sites, some work (systems integration for example) only needs to be done once

About the author

I am the principle at Place of design. I have a wealth of experience in managing and marketing real businesses, both on and off line. I bring the best offline practices from the real world of retail and services – and re-apply them online

Feel free to call me and discuss your business needs
Richard King
0115 845 853

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