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10 Microsite Best Practices

When Google first introduced the pay per click model, many sites became an effective tool for direct marketers. The only problem is that this happened in the 1990s. That was 20 years ago. These one-page standalone webpages that many marketers are trying to create today still follow this pattern. What was effective then is no longer effective now. A microsite is best used to serve as a landing page or a hub for search engine advertising today.

It should not be your primary Internet presence.

In order to get the most out of your microsite, there are some best practices that have been developed over the years that can help you maximize your presence. Here are some of the best tips that you can implement right now so that you can create a better brand awareness.

1. Think high density information.

The modern microsite is a very dense, content rich page of information. It stands alone from a primary website domain, yet is also directly associated with a primary website domain. The purpose of doing this is simple: the sophisticated customer wants clear, accurate data right now. Instead of reading a small novel about goods or services that they’re interested in receiving, a microsite can provide a condensed version of valuable information that can be quickly assimilated.

2. Go with simple and straightforward.

The best sites aren’t designed to create a sale through extensive relationship building. They are designed to create sales through comprehensive information management. By keeping the data you have about your goods and services simple and straightforward, you can give a visitor to your microsite a simple choice: will they bounce from the site or will they enter your sales funnel?

3. It allows for the inclusion of advertising revenues.

Most corporate websites are unable to meet the guidelines that are required for banner advertising, like you will find with Google’s Adwords. A quality score is required to power the advertising campaign and that’s what a microsite is able to do. Not only can a single product be pushed on these one-page sites, additional revenues can be achieved because the quality score is high enough.

4. Eliminate all of the baggage.

If you have a header or footer on your microsite, then there’s a good chance that it isn’t as effective as it could be. These one-page website wonders have one pure goal: to get a visitor to follow a clear call to action. By highlighting specific details about the goods and services that are available from a corporation, the call to action will get someone to act without the creation of a full corporate website with numerous menu options. Some microsites are 4x more likely to generate a sale than a full corporation e-commerce solution because of the simplistic design alone.

5. You can target specific demographics.

One thing will never change about the business world. The only way that you can make a sale is to prove that you can solve a problem better for someone than anyone else. This is why it is so critical to know who your target demographics happen to be. The microsite allows you to target one specific demographic and prove how you can solve problems effectively for them. This lends to a higher level of expertise in your industry and encourages sales because the quality of the product is seen as being better.

6. It must remain consistent.

Confused customers will reduce conversion rates quickly. Nothing converts a potential customer to a bounce statistic faster than confusion. If your user experience is different on your one-page microsite than it is on your home page, then you can start sowing seeds of doubt within a prospects mind. Did they leave the website? Are you trying to scam them? These questions can quickly ruin what would’ve been a great sale. By creating consistency, you can eliminate confusion and help a prospect continue through your sales funnel.

7. It’s easier to build leverage.

A microsite is naturally seen as a friendly online experience because there aren’t multiple pages of navigation that must be followed. These sites can easily be shared on social networks or through word-of-mouth marketing and this creates natural levels of organic traffic that will convert at rates that may be 5x better than standard.

8. They are easier to upgrade.

In the 1990s, when these one-page websites was so popular, there was no need for mobile device compatibility. Today is a very different story. A website that is not mobile friendly could be losing up to 50% of its sales every day. A microsite is much easier to convert to a mobile page than a full corporate website. By directing customers to this one-page site that is friendly, even those on smartphones can still access the information that they may need to create a sale and often they will choose to buy directly from their phone.

9. Think of it like a landing page.

Although these one site pages aren’t exactly a landing page, the design principles are very similar. You are encouraging a sale through the distribution of valuable information. When these pages are optimized, it is then possible to increase conversions by over 40%. That’s why following tips like these is so important! The microsite has its own brand and identity, but it directly associates with the overall mission and values that are being promoted by a corporation.

10. Launch it as a subdomain.

If your microsite is launched off the corporate website as a subdomain, then it will automatically benefit from the SEO work that has already been done. It’s a lot like getting the best of both worlds: you don’t sacrifice usability while you increase the chances of reaching a new target demographic.

A microsite could be your ticket toward better market success. By taking these 10 tips into account as you design your next site, you’ll be able to make the best path possible on your targeted visitors and this can create higher conversion rates. Start today and you will be able to maximize your revenues in the near future.

Content Marketing and SEO for Marketing

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