A guide to microsites for bootstrap start-ups
(3 minute read)
The old adage ‘big things come in small packages’ couldn’t be truer when it comes to microsites, especially for bootstrap start-ups.
For those who aren’t familiar with microsites, they’re exactly what they sound like: Micro websites – usually with just one to four pages – which are highly optimised to promote a specific service or product in a small, easy-to-use package.
Why are microsites great for start-ups?
If you’ve read our blog before you might already have seen that around 60 start-ups are born every minute in the UK – that’s a lot of competition. So, to get off the ground quickly and stand out in the crowd, a microsite is the way to go. Customers want professionalism, quality and convenience when they engage with a business, plus they want something that looks the part. A microsite will give you all of these, and for a fraction of the cost of a full-blown website.
Our business start-up package also includes a 4 page microsite.
What are the main benefits?
Get there faster
Microsites are easier to develop and faster to place, meaning a new start-up can get off the ground in a much shorter space of time. But, don’t get efficiency and haste confused here, a microsite will provide all the professionalism of a full website, with no compromises on quality – it’s just smaller and more concise. Time is often of the essence with start-up website design, and a microsite offers the ideal combination of speed and functionality.
Concentrated SEO
A microsite works just like a full website in that it has its own unique URL and can be found in search engines. The advantage of the microsite, however, is that it can be more easily optimised around one specific theme or service. This makes it easier for search engines to understand exactly what the site does and to therefore rank it higher in search results for relevant keyword searches. The result is a website that is easily discoverable among the other billion websites out there, which is a huge bonus for any start-up shaking up their industry and looking to attract customers organically.
If you’ve got a website, and you’re ready to start producing content, don’t just start writing for the sake of SEO. Make sure your content is valuable to your audience.
No distractions
Continuing along the optimisation road, a microsite is perfectly suited to showcasing a specific product or service in a clear and focused way. In other words, customers visiting the site will immediately know what it’s about and what it’s there for, and will be quickly guided through to the point of conversion. So, whether your site is there to generate sales or simply to encourage subscription to a service, your customers will be able to reach that point much faster due to the lack of distractions that a larger, more complex website might create.
Cost effective
Back to one of the key factors for all start-ups: cash. Most bootstrap start-up owners are short of it, and there’s a lot to consider when just starting out.
Affordable start-up website design services are hard to come by if you want it done properly, so microsites can be a welcome alternative. Microsites are smaller and usually less complex than full websites, and so it follows that they carry a much more comfortable cost to build and maintain.
Starting small is a good business decision, especially if this is your first venture. Your business will certainly go through a great deal of change and adaptation as it grows, and a microsite will allow you to test the waters before going full-scale. A year or two down the line you’ll have a clearer idea of direction, at which point it makes sense to make the switch to a full site.
As we said at the beginning, every small business needs to stand out to succeed. Because they’re less complex, microsites provide the ideal space for you to send out a bold, powerful and uncluttered brand message. Fewer pages means more time can be spent making every inch of your microsite look fantastic and ensuring it does exactly the job you need it to: Sell your products or services.
