When does your business need a mini-site or a landing page?
Mini-sites, sometimes called microsites or landing pages, are singularly focused on a particular feature of your business. They invite visitors to take an action such as sign up for an e-mail list, register for an event, sell a product or a service, and so much more!
Sometimes mini-sites are a subdomain of the main website, while other times it makes sense to use a brand new domain for it. They could be temporary or permanent, and they can even be used to test out new ideas before they officially become a part of your business.
Even if you’re happy with your main website, there are times when your company can really benefit from a mini-site or a landing page. Here are 5 examples:
1. You are launching a new product or service
Take advantage of a mini-site if you’re expanding your stock or want to introduce a new product or service with style. A mini-site or a landing page will do a great job describing the new addition in full detail without getting visitors distracted with other irrelevant information.
Additionally, having a separate landing page dedicated to your new product is a great way to create buzz and excitement around it without cluttering your homepage. You can also test out customer response to the new product since there’s no competition with other products.
To present your new product, list all features and details, describe its benefits, and post the most persuasive customer reviews. A landing page that’s independent of your main site gives you an opportunity to add photos and videos that are different from the format of a typical product page, so you have an opportunity to approach the presentation of the product with creativity.
Additionally, you can encourage your customers to sign up for a waitlist or have a countdown clock for the official launch.
2. You’re offering your clients a freebie or a lead magnet
The main benefit of a microsite is that it is laser-focused on a single purpose. In this case, it’s to capture e-mail addresses for your e-mail list with the help of a lead magnet or a freebie.
If people are interested in what you’re offering, they will likely proceed with your call to action. Alternatively, you can use a pop-up functionality on your main website, but most people really don’t like pop-ups and will likely ignore an offer presented that way.
To make your free offering seem more attractive, add a short preview of the pages if it’s a pdf or a document. If it’s a physical item, show a video of it being used. However, your CTA should remain the main focus of the page.
3. You’re running a sale
A landing page will do a great job teasing an upcoming sale or capturing customer’s e-mails in exchange for a coupon code. A visitor will definitely notice your offer because a landing page is extremely straight-forward as opposed to a homepage that contains so much more information. The attention ratio of the landing page is typically 1:1 (only 1 offer to pay attention to) while a homepage would normally have it at 30:1 or higher.
Also, there are ways to gamify sale announcements and add entertaining value to this process.
Another benefit of a landing page is that it doesn’t have to be permanent. You can delete it right after the sale expires or you run out of coupons.
4. You’d like to highlight a specific product or service
Having a landing page dedicated to a particular product or service is a great way to generate high-quality leads. You can advertise your offer on Google or on social media sites and direct all potential clients to your landing page. This is a great way to pinpoint the target audience to a product or service that they are highly interested in and convert at a higher rate. In this case, having a separate landing page is great because it allows customers to focus on a single offer that is relevant to them and not get overwhelmed by other choices.
An additional benefit of having a landing page for your particular product or service is that you can style it however you like. It can even have its own menu and unique structure. For example, see our custom Shopify website service page. It has a unique makeup: it explains what we do and how customers will benefit from it, provides examples of our work, and a contact form (the CTA). It is concise yet contains all the information that is relevant for a customer looking to order a custom Shopify store design. It’s on-brand in terms of design and message but looks nothing like the homepage that has a little bit of everything and offers a generalized overview.
5. You’re only offering a few products or services and want a quick and simple solution to grow your business online
Sometimes it makes perfect sense to forgo a traditional website and opt for something that will get the job done with a lower investment of time and money. A microsite offers the benefit of providing information about your company, but with simplified structure and minimum navigation.
You can always choose to redesign and expand your mini-site in the future if the needs of your business change.
And if your business is just starting out, you can use temporary landing pages to test out product ideas and see what generates the most interest.
All in all, a microsite or a landing page is a low-effort cost-effective way to create online presence for your business.
There are several general recommendations to follow when designing mini-sites and landing pages:
- Traditionally, mini-websites uphold your branding choices such as colors, fonts, and other distinctive design elements of your business.
- However, CTAs should be clearly visible. Use contrasting colors for buttons so that they stand out.
- If the microsite has a lot of content, it’s helpful to place several buttons throughout the page so that visitors don’t have to scroll all the way up or down to click on it.
- When it comes to the length of the page, there’s no definitive answer as to which format works best; it really depends. However, there are studies that prove that shorter pages produce more leads while longer ones produce higher-quality leads.
- Use strong, positive, benefit-oriented headlines to show your customers what they will get out of your offer.
- Social proof is a key element for most landing page types because it holds a strong persuasive power
We can help you create a mini-site or a landing page that serves your needs. We’d love to help you reach your goals and take your business to a new level!
