How-To: Building Microsites to Encourage Word of Mouth
5 Tips from The Well's Bill Hanekamp
A microsite is an online destination separate from an organization's main web site designed to deliver more focused, relevant content about a specific product or service, explains Bill Hanekamp, CEO of The Well. "Traditional advertising is perishable," Bill says. "The day it runs, it's done. Value decreases from that day on. A microsite's lowest value is the day it's launched. Every day after that it gains value."
Here are Bill's five tips for creating successful microsites to encourage word of mouth:
Tip #1. Pinpoint clear, measurable objectives
Objectives shouldn't be subjective but rather clear cut: "I want to generate a million eyeballs," "I want to have 50,000 engagements," or even, "I want to make people laugh."
Tip #2. Stay focused
With a print marketing vehicle such as a brochure, marketers know they have finite space. But web sites have the potential to be huge. Sites get too big when trying to be all things to all people. If you sell dozens of widgets, but the microsite is promoting just one of them, stick to that single widget on the site.
Tip #3. Optimize for search engines
You don't exist unless you exist on Google. With your corporate site, you have eight or nine keyword concepts that you're optimizing for. With a microsite, the focus is narrower. A bakery may sell all kinds of cakes and pastries, but the metatags for the microsite should simply be "chocolate cakes."
Tip #4. Write the right content
People don't like to read. They want to be entertained. Make sure content is timely and exclusive. Then, make sure a visitor can engage. Encourage them to raise their hand and become involved with the site, whether that means a community, a blog or another way of sharing information. This involvement facilitates WOM.
Tip #5. Constant improvement
Unlike a print ad, a microsite can and should get better over time. Track results and tweak it, so that you're constantly improving.
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Comments
Bill's notion of the 'microsite' is a familiar concept to me, only I refer to these highly focused market development projects as 'cause-centric' websites.
An example I worked on one for a client entitled the 'Broadband 2.0' publication website -- http://www.broadband2.com
The client wanted to be recognized as a serious thought-leader for the cause of transforming incumbent telcos into Next Generation Broadband Service Providers.
In a very subtle way, visitors to the microsite are ultimately directed to check out the sponsor's main corporate website. To me, choosing a 'cause' is inherently more powerful than merely choosing a topic of discussion.
Your project site is also more than a 'destination,' when you are prepared to invest the significant time and effort it takes to become a true champion for that cause.
Causes require passion.
Posted by David H. Deans on 07/11/06
I think David's comments are dead-on about the benefits of cause-centric Microsites, and that to be effective, you need to exude passion.
I would only suggest that "cause-centric" can be too easily mingled with Cause Marketing, which seems to be similar but not exactly the same thing. I don't believe Cause Marketing experts, for example, would see "transforming incumbent telcos into Next Generation Broadband Service Providers" as exactly what they're talking about.
In the end, I think cause-centric might describe a particular approach -- and a very good one -- for building a Microsite, but I'm not sure every Microsite has to be cause-centric.
Posted by Bill Hanekamp (the author) on 07/14/06
Bill, agreed, simplistic microsites work well for consumer packaged goods companies, similar to your client list.
However, firms with more complex products or services would likely benefit from a substantive approach -- the cause-centric model that's proven to be more engaging for a demanding target audience.
Posted by David H. Deans on 07/24/06