2 min read

Wordpress Microsite Design

Wordpress Microsite Design

I think I’ll skip the explanation of what a micro-site is. The clue is in the name after all. So, why would you need a microsite? And why make it micro? Well we’ve recently created a few microsites and found out how powerful they really can be. In fact our smallest one even managed to get referenced all across the web, from BBC News to the Daily Mail website.

[highlight]Ok, we admit we were dead chuffed about the publicity we got from the CNYC site so we shoehorned a blog post in around the topic![/highlight]

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Microsite vs website – List the goals

Why do you need a website? Seriously, everyone ‘should’ have a website, but to what end? This may sound a bit flippent (and obvious) but it’s an important question and often overlooked. The question determines the entire look, feel, functionality and structure of a site. List down all the key aims you have your business and then work out the preffered user jounrey on your website. It’s clear that there are plenty of things to target and importantly these change and evolve.

When we spec out a project we consider the main goals of the site. What are the key functions of the site and who are the target audience. As a site launches or is about to launch the goals are more concise. You need to publicise yourself and capture as much prospective interest as possible.

These are instances we would recommend  a microsite. It is fairly semantic making a distinction between a normal website as our microsites consist of the same framework of our other sites. Having this consistent framework reduces the amount of work required to update the website at a later date. So it’s sensible to consider your online presence as a series of stages which address different goals for different times.

For instance a first stage site may have a single aim of communicating the concept and attracting prospective email addresses. A prep for the launch. If you add too much too early on, you’ll dilute the influence of your key goal. This is where we would advise to create a micro-site. A step up from a holding page if you will.

Because we develop on WordPress we can switch easily to the fully featured site as and when it is required. We have the foundations. Websites should be dynamic and changing to accomodate the changing needs of your online business. Micro-sites are just a little part played in that process.

Our latest microsites are:

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