5 Strategic Benefits of Developing a Microsite for Your Next Marketing Program

A microsite is a smaller, simpler website used to promote a specific subject, product, or campaign. Often, these sites will be connected to your company in some way (such as by having a project page on the main site link to a microsite about that project), but will be hosted separately on a different domain, giving them a level of separation from your primary brand and content.

Generally speaking, the point of creating a microsite is to keep users hyper-focused on the content published on the microsite, making them synonymous with landing pages in many ways (both strategically and in their implementation from a design and technical perspective).

For example, during the merger and acquisition process, the combining firms could create a microsite to help coordinate information presented to clients in a centralized location.

Other common use cases include business development tools (such as small website devoted solely to “get a quote” forms, proposals, or other similar marketing resources), event-based sites (such as for an upcoming sales meeting, conference, or other promotional event), and DEI or other resource pages for specific initiatives in your organization.

1

Increased awareness

A screenshot of the Apex Plaza microsite developed by Hourigan.

With a microsite dedicated to your product, project or campaign, you can increase awareness not only of the specific service or event at hand, but also your brand. People will have a better experience by finding what they are looking for with fewer pages to navigate, compared to your main website. Further, the simple fact of having an entire website dedicated to a particular product or service can, by itself, drum up some interest due to the perceived importance and effort that goes into such an effort.

2

More focused content

A microsite gives your prospects and customers a place to go to find specific and curated information about your product, project, or campaign in great detail. For this reason, it’s a good idea to have a blog or other dedicated news source on the site that you regularly update with new and exciting information about the subject. This will help give relevant, detailed content that users will find valuable and and engaging.

3

Faster development

With less pages and content, microsites are easier and faster to develop. Microsites are a great solution if you have a seasonal product or campaign with a short lifespan. You can put up the microsite quickly and then take it down as soon as the campaign is over. This also eliminates the risk of something going wrong with your main website and causing additional issues.

4

Cost efficiency

Microsites are great if you are on a tight marketing budget. They are less expensive since they have less moving parts than a full website, and generally don’t need ongoing maintenance or other long-term needs. They are also generally easier to maintain and more affordable than trying to carve out a new section on a larger, established website.

As a more conceptual example, image for a moment that you want a new room in your home to store seasonal holiday items such as Christmas lights or bird houses. Would it be easier to build a new addition to your house or put up a standalone shed in the backyard?

Due to the scale of the project and its inherently seasonal and temporary needs, you may find that just “putting up the shed” (building a microsite) is more cost effective than going through the more drawn out process of adding a room to your home (carving out a section on your main website).

5

Search Benefits

Since microsites have their own URLs, your firm will now have another website that prospects and clients can land on to learn about you. The microsite will contain an assortment of keyword-rich language specific to the topic of the site, which is highly valued by Google and search engines. If you had a blog on your microsite, then this would increase your SEO value even more.

Put another way, since microsites are, by their very nature, niche and focused on one particular subject, it’s much easier to rank in search engine result pages (SERPs) than if you simply published a new page or blog post on your main website.

Consider building a microsite for your next marketing initiative

Clients will sometimes underestimate the value of microsites. However, these sites are often the best and most cost-effective way to promote a specific product, project or campaign, especially if it is temporary. For this reason, modern B2B marketers should take care to weigh the various pros and cons of launching a new microsite when planning for a new service, product, event, or other similar initiative.