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Microsite: Definition, Benefits, and How to Make It

Last updated: Sep 02, 2022

https://cmlabs.co/en-us/seo-terms/microsite

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What is Microsite?

Microsite is the mini version of a website that is separated from a business’ main website. Its purpose is to act as an alternative platform for potential customers to perform certain actions on the website.

Microsites are created to be separate from a business’ main websites because they are especially designed for a specific purpose, such as product promotions, event announcements, or article publications. Usually, brands will use it to do a campaign for their current products.

Even though separated from the main website, the micro sites still have the same component as the brand in their logo, color, or font. What makes them different is they are unique and unlike the main websites.

The Differences Between Microsite and Website

We can see the differences between normal websites as the main platform of a business and microsites based on their purpose, domain names, content, time period, and strategies.

Purpose - the main website has an expansive goal and tends to be varied, while microsites focus on the objective of the campaign.
Domain name- the name of the main website’s domain should be based on the name of the brand, while the microsite domain name should be adjusted according to the campaign. In other words, it does not have to use the name of the brand.
Content - main websites give general information about the business while microsites contain important information that is specifically related to the campaign.
Time span - main websites surely will always be used by businesses all the time, while microsites will only be used during the period of the campaign.
Strategies- the difference in the strategies applied by main websites and microsites can be seen in their buyer persona, keyword targeting, call-to-action, and link building.

The Benefits of Microsite

You learn about what microsite is and its differences with the main website. Next, you must know the benefits that you can get from using microsites. Here is the explanation:

Improve the Website’s Performance

Microsites are the type of websites that are designed for a specific purpose. Thus, it makes the SEO practices easier to do. Microsites can quickly win in niche and gain high rankings using certain keywords.

Increase the Number of Engagement

Microsites contain focused content which allows them to gain an increasing number of engagement faster than main websites. Content that focuses on something will easily direct the audiences to perform certain actions.

Increase Brand Awareness

Since the microsites are separated from the main websites, you can freely produce content and interface that are creative, unique, and able to stand out according to the needs of the campaign. Rest assured, such activities will not disrupt your main website.

How to Make A Microsite

After understanding the benefits that can be gained from microsites, you need to know how to make them. Here is how to make them properly:

Adjust the Domain Name According to Niche

Since microsites are made with a specific goal to make potential customers perform certain actions, the deciding process of the name should also be made according to the niche of the customer pool itself.

You can choose the name of the domain based on the campaign so your potential customers can easily differentiate your microsites with the main websites of the business. However, you should make sure that the name of the domain must not be too long and difficult to remember.

Produce Interesting Content

Good microsites should be able to give interesting content for potential customers. Without attractive content, the customers will not be able to perform the actions you want. As a result, the site may fail to do its work to reach the goal.

It can be stated that your content should be able to answer the needs of potential customers. It is also important for the content to be consistent with the objective of the campaign.

Use Social Signal

You can use social signal as the benchmarks to see the relevance of your content on social media. Social signals play an important role in indicating the level of engagement and visibility of the context to the search engine. Hence, the content on the site will be ranking easier on the search result pages.

Make Your Website Easy to Navigate

Microsites with good navigation and neat structures will make users comfortable. It will be easier to direct potential clients or customers to navigate the sites properly.

Surely, all the things you wish to achieve with microsites can not be done without having a clear navigation. Potential customers will feel confused and it will slow them down to do certain actions on the site. To help you build a good website navigation, read the guideline about website structures by cmlabs.