The Death of the Microsite

Microsites are individual websites which are designed to be a branch or supplement to a primary website. These sites are typical used to emphasize a particular segment of the major brand.

The Microsite, at least the original definition, is dead. Creating multiple, smaller websites for segments of the same brand only confused the customer and extended the purchasing process.

An advantage of microsite was search engine dominance. By creating multiple sites, a brand was able to dominate natural search rankings. No matter where the customer clicked, it was still the same company.

There is no doubt, because of personal experience, that this worked. There was a time, when I had 5 sites in the top 10 of Google’s search engine results pages (SERP) with major keywords at the same time. These microsites were basically stand-alone landing pages that eventually filtered back to the primary site.

However, that strategy no longer works. The search engines have become too sophisticated. Even if it does still work for a few companies… so what?

As I found out, there was nothing gained from these microsites. They actually created an extra, more confusing, step in the purchase funnel process. These microsites did get a lot of visitors, but it actually took visitors away from my primary site. I was competing with myself and confusing the customer at the same time.

That was a microsite as we knew it. Now, if an online marketer wants to create more consumer content that should be done off the primary domain. A separate domain is not necessary and can actually be harmful.

That is not to say there is not a need for external websites. However, the site has to be different. It has to engage the customer. It can not be an extension of the primary site. Yes, the Microsite is dead, but the Social Site is alive and well.

The Social Site takes the common characteristics of a social networking site and mingles them in with the company brand. Social Sites do not need to aim at a large audience. In fact, a small, excited audience will ignite much quicker.

Social Sites should strive to do any and all of the 5 E’s below.

The 5 E’s of a Social Site

1. Engage product conversation (the good and the bad)
2. Educate consumers
3. Experience – Allow consumers to get a sense of the product through free samples, related games, video, audio, etc.
4. Entertain – Create a memorable experience
5. Encourage referrals – Allow visitors an easy way to spread the word easily

Tags: microsites