Do You Need a Microsite? Understanding Its Purpose and Benefits

Microsite Design

Many marketers and companies build microsites (also called minisites) despite the fact that they have a primary website. In case you are not familiar with microsites, they are small websites with minimal functionalities and purposes. The goal of regular websites is to deliver content, educate users about your products, market the company or brand, and provide customer support. Microsites, on the other hand, might have the singular goal of capturing leads to educate and follow up for a sale.

Microsites are primarily built to focus in on a subject or a product. For example, a microsite can be built to generate leads for people who want to learn the acoustic guitar or a group of people looking to buy special noise cancelling earphones. The goal of the site is to hyper-target a specific group of people.

While most microsites have the goal of qualifying and generating leads, microsites can be used to generate sales as well. Many marketers have used microsites for low risk offers such as free trial offers, one dollar trials, and low cost sales. These sites are commonly used in promotions and advertising campaigns.

The purpose of microsites is to eliminate distractions and focus solely on conversions. A bigger site may have links to articles, blog posts, company information, updates, etc. Microsites, however, are very focused and give the user very few options. The user is given the choice to read about the topic/product and submit their information, buy or leave the site.

Setting up microsites also makes it easier to track online advertising campaigns, particularly pay per click ads, display ads and email ads. Trying to integrate pages for these campaigns into your main site would only serve to hurt conversions and lead visitors in the wrong direction. It also does a better job in highlighting a singular product compared to an online catalog.

Despite the fact that these sites have limited functionalities and purposes, microsite design is still very important. That’s because the design has a significant impact on the conversions. The design will frame everything from the credibility of the website, the value of the offer, to the authority of the author and company.

Small microsite design adjustments such as the timing of a short video, the placement of the opt-in box, and the color of the font can lead to big boosts in conversions and thus, profitability. Since microsites are commonly used in promotions and advertising campaigns, investing in proper design for these sites is a no brainer. If you want to get the finer details about the design aspects of microsites, visit https://artversion.com/web-design/microsite-design/ for more information.