Lately, we’ve been going on and on about the benefits that a microsite strategy could bring to your company, and the aspects you should consider before jumping right in. Of course, we’ve tried to dive in really deep in order to make sure you understand the many many things you could do with microsites, and especially how each one of them could improve your own marketing game. 

And the thing is, in that digging really deep, we’ve gone all about disclosing every detail to think about and make the most of within each and every utility. So today, it’ll be all about highlighting the key aspects of every technique we’ve described so far, and of course, making sure you know just how and why it’d help (or not!) your own company’s website. 

So to get started already, let’s make a quick brief on every common aspect that microsites share, no matter what you are using them for, shall we? Basically, there are things you can’t not know about microsites: 

  1. Saving time and money: the biggest pro that microsites have is that you can build them quickly and for a lot less money than a regular site. So, if you are on a budget, this is a great option for sites that don’t require a lot of software complexity or functionality. 
  2. SEO: since they are white linen ready to be filled up with keywords, links, and content, microsites are an awesome opportunity to make the most of your SEO strategy. Having a whole site updated constantly with related content, and linking it to your main site is definitely an opportunity to at least consider. 
  3. Laser-target audience: anyone who visits your main site, and also your microsite is definitely someone who’s interested in your company (or at least in your industry). So microsites can be an awesome way to filter the users that actually will be a great target for your marketing strategy (ads, email, whatever you choose). 
  4. Ads: Google’s a big fan of websites that run Google Ads, so why not run them for your microsite? Basically, you’ll get Google to like you more, hence, show you higher on search results, because your microsite (that links to your main site) is gaining a lot of attention. 

Okay, so now that that’s settled and everyone here has a general idea of what we are talking about, let’s jump right into the different options for your microsite, shall we? 

Microsites to talk about your competitors 

If you work in a competitive industry where there’s a lot of people doing the same thing you do, then this may be an interesting option for you. Everything from a microsite to review your competitors’ services, or to write news about them, or even as a sort of “industry catalog”, can be an awesome way to create organic relevant traffic to your subject, and make sure users have all the information to make their choices. My general recommendation here would be to avoid being subjective (even though I don’t want to get into a relativism debate) and maybe not disclose that your company runs it, so it doesn’t look too biased. 

Microsites to personalize your users’ experience

If your company is one that sells a very wide variety of products or services, then maybe a microsite dedicated to helping them find their best fit within your products would be a great addition. All you have to do is create a sort of “test” (which can be automated or manual, depending on your budget) where they can explain their needs and situation and, according to that, you suggest to them the product you think would be best for them. Of course, this is also a great strategy to promote sales or to get rid of some products’ stock. 

Microsites for your different business units and/or geographical divisions 

Even though in the past we’ve separated microsites for business units and microsites for geographical divisions into two articles, they pretty much share their key points, so we can explain them together. Basically, if your company’s big enough so that it has more than one business unit or geographical division, you can improve your users’ experience by creating a microsite for each of them. This will not only make your site look a lot fancier, but will also make your company look tech-savvy, and it’ll show that you care so much about each division itself that you wanted to personalize the experience for all of them. In each microsite, you can include the particular culture or work style that every division has, the products that they have available, news for your users and employees of that specific division, among other stuff. This technique, which is not at all complicated, can do a lot for your brand image and your users’ and employees’ experience. 

Microsite for your community of users 

Last but not least, a microsite to have your users interact with each other. I believe this strategy can be applied in any company, no matter the size. However, it probably makes a bigger impact on those whose products are meant to be bought more than once. A microsite for your community of users can be a great addition to your site basically because it allows your users the opportunity to discuss your product, and it lets you know what it is that they value and hate the most, so it’s like a free market investigation. Within the community, your users can also bond with one another, commenting on each other’s questions and opinions, creating more traffic to your site, and helping you know the ones that are most active. It is needless to explain why this is a strategy that makes your users’ experience by a lot. Definitely, one of my favorite strategies ever. 

So the reality is microsites can have a lot of different applications and benefits, but we believe this article is a great first approach to everything you can do with your own microsite strategy. And of course, you can mix and match any of these with each other. So, why don’t you go ahead and dive into each technique’s specifics and figure out the one that suits you the best?