Sep 21, 03:53
Microsites, what kind?
Microsite debates have always been going on and never stopped. Be it between Designers and Developers or Media Planners and Clients or even the poor web-masters in the background.
John W Eliss, a seasoned online ads consultant, denies the need for microsites, he adds:
The Microsite, at least the original definition, is dead. Creating multiple, smaller websites for segments of the same brand only confused the customer and extended the purchasing process.
John continues the debate and adds a little +ve points too:
An advantage of microsite was search engine dominance. By creating multiple sites, a brand was able to dominate natural search rankings. No matter where the customer clicked, it was still the same company
There have been two types of microsites as of my observations, those that melt within a big site contents, and those that stand alone.
Excluding John, online marketers and for this case even the folks at online agencies would prefer to go with standalone microsites, because they’d want to have a clear shot, they often don’t want to mingle with existing websites and their Information Architecture & interactivity.
Clients on the other side don’t like to have their base website or corporate brand website touched by every campaign or product launch given that every campaign/project would have a different winner(agencies), think about conflict in style & message.
On the contrary, bigger picture believers, and those who give power to online agencies or perhaps have a big online department do go with microsites within their websites, name changes there, it becomes a section or a product page instead!
Good examples of inner microsites are the beloved Sony Ericsson and Nokia websites.
That’s right, I’m with John, Microsites are dead, but when it comes to cars? Bigger projects/products that are not daily consumer accessory, information that should not be confused with other information?
Every movie gets its own microsite, so? Should we put every Sony Pictures movie in one huge website that includes all the Sony movies?
I take my word back, it ain’t dead. It’s a relative thought, depends on three ends:
- Advertisers’ website & decisions
- Online Agencies or In House Department involvement
- Type of Product and Advertisers’ business & consumer habits injected over years of feeding.
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