microsites

[Mikejf]

Following on from one of my previous posts about sub-domains (which I'm not looking into now) I did notice talk of microsites.

I understand the concept but is it a good idea. For example..

A builder has a website - mybuildingcompany.co.uk

This site has say 4 pages - bricklaying.htm, plastering.htm, plumbing.htm and electrics.htm.

Would it be benificial to try and get 4 new domains called...

bricklaying.co.uk
plastering.co.uk
plumbing.co.uk
electrics.co.uk

Obviously I suspect the actual domain names you want would be taken but my main questions are...

1) If you can get these domains, would they have full content or a copy of the .htm version or just a re-direct to the original site.

2) If you can't get hold of say electrics.co.uk, would homeelectrics.co.uk for example still do the job.

3) Would you have to link into the new sites?

I probably didn't explain that very well but I'm sure you get the idea of what I'm after.

Many Thanks

[Lee_Owen]

A microsite can be one of two things, as you state, a subdomain.portal.co.uk detailing information in a more specific way, or alternatively a seperate site from the main domain, minisite, but typically they're a part of the main domain on a subdomain (folder).

It's always good to get additional domains and point these to specific sections on the main website, even better to attach nameservers and do so that way rather than simply redirect as engines should index better. If you did get particularly top rated generics then seperate sites would be ideal, building content, driving users to your main portal, however using domains to point to sections of a websites content works just as well, and rather than a copy of htm, you'd just map the domains therefore no duplicated content.

Re the quality of domain and which generics, you can use the google keyword checker to see which words are searched on including the main keyword to get the next most highly searched term and use that in a domain, if available.

If you're building a minisite or microsite, I don't see any harm in alluding or linking to the seperate domains from within the microsite sudomain.mainportal.co.uk but someone with more seo experience could tell you if that would harm your rankings or be of more benefit.

[Place of design]

Following on from one of my previous posts about sub-domains (which I'm not looking into now) I did notice talk of microsites.

I understand the concept but is it a good idea. For example..

A builder has a website - mybuildingcompany.co.uk

This site has say 4 pages - bricklaying.htm, plastering.htm, plumbing.htm and electrics.htm.

Would it be benificial to try and get 4 new domains called...

bricklaying.co.uk
plastering.co.uk
plumbing.co.uk
electrics.co.uk

Obviously I suspect the actual domain names you want would be taken but my main questions are...

1) If you can get these domains, would they have full content or a copy of the .htm version or just a re-direct to the original site.

2) If you can't get hold of say electrics.co.uk, would homeelectrics.co.uk for example still do the job.

3) Would you have to link into the new sites?

I probably didn't explain that very well but I'm sure you get the idea of what I'm after.

Many Thanks


for 4 pages it wouldnt be worth it. But If the builder was marketing to:
Other builders, home owners, architects and the commercial sector, then he could offer his 4 services in very different ways to each sector

The needs, language usage, outlook required to market to the home owner, is totally different than if you are marketing your services to the commercial sector etc. etc..

with all 4 sites in place, when the contractor e-mails say an architect, he sends the link to his "architect version of his site" when he is communicating with a homeowner, he directs them to the homeowner version of his site

The architect wont give a monkies about his peace of mind garuntee and interest free credit that the builder offers to home buyers. The architect wants to know if the builder understands the reg's, and has experience with some obscure part of the plan, and knows how to fit xyz, which is speced on his job

[Mikejf]

Thanks for your reply.

So it sounds like a microsite would be a good idea.

So would content on the site be better than a simple re-direct? So have a page of content then a link at the end saying something like - "for more details on this service please visit www.mainsite.co.uk"

Also, do I have to do anything with the new site like register it with google, yahoo etc or will Google pick them up in time?

Thanks

[Place of design]

Thanks for your reply.

So it sounds like a microsite would be a good idea.

So would content on the site be better than a simple re-direct? So have a page of content then a link at the end saying something like - "for more details on this service please visit www.mainsite.co.uk"

Also, do I have to do anything with the new site like register it with google, yahoo etc or will Google pick them up in time?

Thanks
There isnt a right answer for this. The point of the microsite is to sell your product or service, specifically to one group of customers. If you can get the flow of idea from the microsite, and inject the user into suitable place in the main site, then yes

2 aproaches:
(for example)logo at top of site: part of XYZ group - click link to main site - quite discrete, and may not be followed by customers, but will be followed by search engines

second aproach: inject them into the right category / product offering with a very obvious link

The point being - is selling the 1 product to the 1 group of users the objective, or is attracting the 1 group of users the objective, in the hope to condition them before introducing a range of products