Microsite or sub-site-quite a popular trend today in digital marketing is a smaller website that focuses on a single campaign by a brand. Such a site is different than the main website of a company. In reality, a Microsite design serves a temporary purpose and is built around a single, time-bound marketing campaign.
When it’s about microsite vs. landing page design, the main difference is, a microsite is featured with its own content built around consistent themes and keywords. On the other hand, a landing page is used to generate leads for a particular offering, product or service. A microsite can have its own social media, email addresses, video content and interfaces.
Microsite – A Deeper Insight
A microsite is created to launch a campaign or product promotion in a unique way which the main site can’t do effectively. It can be an individual web page or combination of a small cluster of pages meant to function as a discrete entity within an existing website.
A well-planned microsite can provide the marketers complete control over how the website will look and feel. This way, marketers can push their prospects to take action more instantaneously than they would on the company’s main site.
Microsite Design 101 – 8 Best Practices To Entice Your Audience
Microsite design is tricky, but to enjoy the best benefits of microsite design you can find innovative methods. Did you know if you consider using infographics in your microsite you stand a chance to gain more online traffic? Here are some of the best practices to follow and know how to create a microsite.
1. Focus on Creating a Unique URL
Although a microsite might be a subsidiary or a semi-independent venture, creating a unique URL is a viable option. A particular URL adds to your domain authority and generates better branding. This means it also contributes to your overall SEO. Won’t you want your microsite to get established as a strong marketing medium? Your URL will do the wonder.
2. Define Engagement Factors Clearly
Microsites are an extended version of the landing pages for the company website and they are usually created to engage more and more target audience. So, it’s essential to make sure that you clearly mention the CTA, contact forms and checkouts in your microsite design. Design it in such a way so that it is easily accessible by the Microsite visitors.
One of the crucial aspects of designing a microsite is to boost engagement. Thus aligning the content together with the message of the Call to Action increases your microsite’s relevancy and heightens audience interest.
3. Bold and User-Friendly Design Grabs Audience Attention
Microsite design is different than normal website design. Why not indulge in something out of the box creativity and grab your audience attention? Use bold typography, images and colors and make sure that the microsite’s navigation is intuitive enough for the users. Designers have always identified that being bold while creating a microsite always puts you on the top. But don’t sacrifice the element of user-friendliness. Attractive design with user-friendly features is undoubtedly the key to success.
4. Link Your Microsite Link To the Parent Site
Visitors sometimes find microsite through organic searches, referral links, or social media. So, it’s necessary that you invite them to learn more about your company. Like any branding and promotional item, designing the microsite is all about including the company’s logo and other essential brand ethos & then linking them back to the main company website.
You will be amazed by the difference; this approach of yours will help in increasing your conversion rate and also add to the number of quality leads that you get.
5. Tell Your Audience on Social Media About the Microsite
Microsite design is not complete if you don’t spread its news to your target audience. The best place to let people know about your microsite is social media. With billions of users being a part of it globally, no other avenue is as fantastic as social media to spread the word about what your microsite is all about.
Promote your brand’s microsite on social media and ask your followers to share your link with their social networks to increase your reach enormously.
6. Stay Away From Secondary Branding
While you design a microsite, one thing demands significant attention. A microsite design is not about creating a secondary branding; it’s just an extension of your brand.
So, a microsite architecture needs to have the defining characteristic- feature the company’s branding prominently; there shouldn’t be any confusion regarding ownership of the microsite.
7. Stay Relevant To Your Brand
You might create a microsite with a bolder design, but you mustn’t deviate from your original brand ethos. The advantage of this approach is – your visitors will understand that the microsite is connected with your parent website.
Microsite engages its users with its eye-catchy design. Staying relevant to brand color and theme, the site uses some high quality entertaining videos to draw the audience in and give them a reason to stay on the page and continue to be present there. The audience also gets to know about the parent website.
8. Adhere to the KISS Principle
KISS or ‘Keep It Short and Simple’ is one of the fundamental principles of any design. Don’t you want to be the most effective in your niche? Keep the plan consistent and don’t overdo. While designing, consider the minimalist design. Maintain a short and simple arrangement. The trick is to sell the benefit of the product or service to the visitors in an ingenious way.
For example, an event microsites can be of four pages at the absolute maximum, whereas a product launch microsite can be parallax or not more than three pages.
Final Touch
A microsite is considered to be one of the most important marketing tools today. When people have a lesser attention span and less time to spend on a website, a microsite proves to be beneficial.
If you are planning to create a microsite to promote your recent campaign, stick to the above mentioned best practices and enjoy the results. The main thing which you need to understand is the central purpose of a microsite is to encourage various forms of participation through user friendly approach.
You can optimize your microsite in many different ways. If you want to know more about designing an impressive microsite, don’t forget to include infographics. Infographic Design Team, a professional marketing visual conceptualizing team will be your ultimate guide in the quest to achieve a competent and achieving microsite. Tell us how we can be your growth partner.
