Microsite or Landing Page?

I’ve addressed this question three times in the past week, so it finally registered on my blog-worthy radar.  Microsites and landing pages are certainly related.  Close cousins, yes.  Siblings, no. 

Landing Pages

Let’s start with the landing page.  Landing pages are typically one-page creations.  They focus on one particular offer, and specifically on getting the visitor to take advantage of that particular offer.  Sometimes called lead capture vehicles, landing pages are used primarily for direct marketing programs – pay per click search engine marketing, direct mail, print advertising, etc.  Well-designed landing pages are critical to the success of these campaigns, and the savviest of marketers use and test hundreds of different landing pages in order to optimize conversion rates. 

For visual reference, here is an example of a Gold’s Gym landing page touting their 7-day free membership:

Gold’s Gym Landing Page

Microsites

Microsites, sometimes called minisites or sitelets, typically consist of a cluster of web pages and are used for a variety of purposes: 

• Large consumer goods companies may use microsites to independently market a new product, because the primary company website may leave the product underexposed. 
• A newspaper may use a microsite to cover a time-sensitive and popular event, such as the upcoming presidential election or the Olympics. 
• A business-to-business software company may use a microsite to provide prospects with deep information on a product, information that cannot be handled via a landing page. 

In many cases microsites, like landing pages, are designed to convert the site visitor into a lead, but that lead capture is handled through a more content-heavy approach.  An additional benefit to building a microsite is enhanced search engine optimization opportunities.  Microsites are typically housed on a domain separate from the primary company website and contain sometimes dozens of pages of topic-specific content, setting the stage for high organic search rankings.

Here is just one example of a well-designed microsite from Black & Decker:

Black & Decker VPX System Microsite

How Do I Choose Between Microsite or Landing Page?

First of all, you don’t have to choose.  Most sophisticated marketers will have a need to use both microsites and landing pages somewhere along the way.  If you’re trying to choose for a particular project or campaign, your decision factors should include:

• Marketing campaign objectives
• Budget
• Content

The examples above should help you identify whether a microsite or landing page is the best fit for your needs.  If you’re still left scratching your head, go ahead and drop me a line and I’ll offer my viewpoint.

Website Copy – Why Lorem Ipsum Turns into a 3-Month Delay

Raise your hand if your website redesign or relaunch has been delayed due to website copy modifications, or specifically the idea that 2-3 members of your senior management team need to review site copy before it goes live. 

Based on experience, I am certain there are a bunch of you with your hands raised.  4 of every 5 website projects I’ve been involved in veer off track due to delays in the copy approval/revision process, not necessarily the copywriting process (although the initial copywriting phase is a delay candidate as well).

Why so many cooks in the kitchen, you might ask?  From what I can gather, the reasons are fairly simple.  In a mid-size organization, a Director or Manager level employee “owns” the website project, and may even have a webmaster or marketing manager as a “co-owner”.  Then you insert 1-3 members of the senior management team, all of whom (rightfully so) hold a stake in the success of the website.  Those members of the senior management team may be involved in the early phases of the website revamp process – they want to sign off on final design, general site structure, etc.  But what they REALLY want to get involved in is the copywriting of the website, or at least the critique of copywriting piece of the website.

Right or wrong (and senior management getting involved in copywriting is not necessarily a bad thing), here’s why senior management wants to get involved, and why it always causes delays:

My New Site is Almost Ready – What About SEO?

We hear this all too often from companies.  They’ve engaged a web design/development firm to build a shiny new website, complete with all kinds of spectacular functionality, and yet the concept of search engine optimization (SEO) isn’t addressed until the site is in some type of beta phase, ready to launch.

While the recommendation is always to address SEO during the earliest stages of a website redesign project, the “I forgot about SEO” camp can relax a bit.  Assuming the has been structured correctly from a design/coding standpoint, you will still be able to handle SEO appropriately prior to site launch and in a more comprehensive manner post-launch.  So let’s discuss the simplest things you can do during these later stages…