What is a Microsite and Why Do You Need One?

Websites, landing pages, product pages — there are a lot of options when it comes to presenting your brand online. The catch? Each option has its own purpose and nuanced set of benefits. What is ideal in one scenario may not be advantageous in another.

Microsites are no exception to this rule. They are a great option under certain circumstances, but not so much in others. If you’ve never heard this term before, microsites are an alternative method of building a brand online. They first emerged in the early 2000s but have gained popularity in recent years. We’ll dive deeper into exactly what a microsite entails in just a moment, but for now, there are a few key points you’ll need to know:

• Microsites can be a powerful marketing tool

• There are specific situations where a microsite would be beneficial

• The best microsites are strategically implemented

It is important to remember these facts when trying to determine whether or not a microsite is the right approach for your business. Now let’s tackle the specifics with these points in mind.

What Is a Microsite?

A microsite is a focused, branded website that lives outside your main site and is built around a single campaign, product, initiative, or event. Unlike a traditional website that has to serve a wide range of audiences and goals, a microsite is designed to do one job well, with content, messaging, and calls to action aligned to that specific objective.

Microsite vs. Website: Key Differences at a Glance

So, what is a microsite, and how does it differ from your company’s regular website? A microsite is a branded website that exists separately from a company’s main site, and is often used to promote a single campaign, product, initiative or event.

In some cases, microsites exist temporarily, and in others, they are maintained permanently. While you may receive a different microsite definition depending on who you ask, these characteristics are generally undisputed.

When Should You Use a Microsite?

• Product launches where you want a single destination that highlights value, differentiators, and conversion paths without competing navigation.
• Event campaigns that need schedules, speakers, registration, and updates all in one place.
• Community projects that build engagement around a specific cause, audience, or participation goal.
• Brand initiatives such as thought leadership or awareness campaigns that benefit from distinct storytelling and creative direction.
• New audience testing when you want to tailor messaging and experience to a segment without reshaping your primary site.
• SEO content clusters built around a niche topic where a focused experience can support targeted search visibility.

What Are the Benefits of Microsites?

Here are some of the most significant benefits of a microsite:

1. They Can Be Used to Target Different Markets

Your company’s website was designed and optimized for a particular audience, but your upcoming event, product launch, or initiative may not be exclusive to that audience. This is one of the key differentiators between a microsite vs website.
Microsites can be tailored to meet the needs of a new demographic while still being aligned with your brand and your greater marketing objectives. They also protect the functionality of your existing website. Adding too many campaigns or calls to action to your main company website can result in confusion for your users. By keeping the two separate, you can ensure users are only presented with the information that is relevant to them.

2. They Improve Search Engine Rankings

In many cases, businesses launch a side campaign or initiative that isn’t exactly relevant to the daily operations of their venture or the products/services they provide, thus making it an entirely different entity to rank in search engine results.

For example, a SaaS company offering an online booking platform to small businesses might decide to start an annual fundraising campaign to provide professional mentorship opportunities to new entrepreneurs.

The microsite for the annual fundraising campaign could be optimized for terms like “entrepreneurial charity” or “small business owner support”, which they wouldn’t want to rank their original site for.

3. They Eliminate Distractions in the Conversion Process

Conversion rates are another key reason to invest in microsite development. Continuing with the example from above, let’s say you want to raise $50,000 during your annual fundraising campaign and, to make this possible, you want to be able to accept donations online.

One approach would be to add a donation page to your existing company website — but is this ideal for potential donors? They would have to navigate from your homepage to the donation page, learn more about your campaign, and then click through to make a donation.

If you opt to go with a microsite, it would eliminate the unnecessary steps of navigating through your company site and would also make it possible to house all information related to the campaign (photos, videos, updates) at one distinct, easy to find URL.

4. They’re Easier to Manage Than Most Alternatives

Many businesses choose to go with brand microsites because they make the most sense logistically. If you wanted to hire an outside website developer to manage your microsite, for example, they wouldn’t need to access your primary company website — eliminating any potential issues related to increased access (unapproved changes, sensitive data exposure, etc).

Many businesses prefer having a completely separate team manage the marketing for their special campaign, event, or initiative, and microsites are the best approach for this. The team can focus solely on your microsite marketing without needing to collaborate with or disrupt the workflows of your current team.

5. They’re Quick and Affordable to Launch

There are countless puzzle pieces to consider when incorporating a new campaign into your existing website, including:

• Will it impact the user experience for your existing visitor base?
• How will you distinguish the campaign from the other aspects of your website?
• Will the additional content confuse your website visitors in any way?
• Who will be responsible for managing the design and launch of the new campaign page(s)?
• Will it be possible to effectively optimize the campaign page for SEO performance if it is built within the structure of your existing site?

The answers to these questions will determine how much time, effort, and money will be required to amalgamate a campaign with your website. That’s why in most cases, it’s cheaper and less cumbersome to simply create a separate microsite.

Best Microsite Examples in Action

Before making a final decision on whether a microsite is right for you, here are a few microsites examples to help you envision how one could potentially function for your business. Below are some of the best microsites we’ve come across:

1. Dropbox’s Business Marketing Dynamix

Dropbox launched a successful marketing campaign with this innovative microsite to educate marketers on the benefits of their platform. After doing some research, Dropbox found that marketers are often frustrated by poor communication among teams and suffering delays due to clashing personalities.

Capitalizing on this knowledge, Dropbox built a tool on its microsite that marketing teams could use to assess unique personality traits and share them with their teammates. The goal was to better understand team members and utilize everyone for their strengths and unique skills.

2. Adobe’s Reshaping Customer Experience Management

Adobe demonstrates an excellent way to use campaign-based microsites as part of a larger marketing strategy with their Reshaping the Customer Experience page.

Using engaging and interactive visuals, Adobe tells a story that educates visitors about Adobe’s CXM platform while demonstrating the benefits it can offer. This is a great example of B2B marketing and using a microsite to raise brand awareness, as the target audience is other companies that can benefit from adopting their cloud-based CXM platform.

3. Lucidworks’ The Data That Lies Beneath

With a focus on data security and stunning visuals, this microsite from Lucidworks brings awareness to the world of “dark data” and the scale at which unused data is lost. A seamless interactive interface takes the visitor on a journey, learning about where data comes from, how it moves, and how it can be left unprotected.

With in-depth information and stunning statistics, this microsite builds authority around a brand that’s already promoting an important mission: keeping data secure. With strong messaging and use cases of other companies using their services, the call to action at the end of the page is truly compelling.

Build Your Microsite Today

Having read the compelling benefits microsites provide, it’s now up to you to decide which solution aligns best with your overarching business goals. Need help with your custom web development? Our experienced and industry-leading developers can’t wait to discuss your project in more detail. Reach out today!

FAQs

What is the main purpose of a microsite?

The main purpose of a microsite is to support a single objective, usually tied to a campaign, launch, initiative, or event. It gives that effort a dedicated destination, without competing navigation or mixed messaging from your primary website.

Are microsites good for SEO?

They can be, especially when the topic is distinct from what your main site is built to rank for. A microsite can be optimized around niche keywords and intent, making it easier to create a focused experience that aligns with what people are actually searching for.

How long does it take to launch a microsite?

Timelines vary based on complexity, but many microsites can launch in weeks rather than months. The biggest drivers are scope (pages and features), design requirements, and whether you need integrations, interactive elements, or custom development.

Should a microsite be separate from your main domain?

It depends on the goal. A subdomain can keep the connection to your parent brand and domain authority, while a separate domain can create more separation for a distinct initiative. Either way, the structure should match how you want the microsite to be discovered, measured, and maintained.

How much does a microsite typically cost to build?

Cost depends on the number of pages, UX and design needs, development complexity, and any integrations (forms, CRM, personalization, analytics, and more). A simple microsite can stay lean, while interactive or feature-rich builds will require more investment.