Micro SEO, Macro IMPACT

The rules of search engine optimization, or SEO, are ever changing. Google writes and rewrites the book of what good SEO should be several hundred times per year. Yet, while the rules continue to change, the foundations of what SEO can and should be have been fairly constant over the years:

• Application of diligently researched keywords

• Intelligent Metadata

• Carefully chosen ALT tags for images

• Relevant navigation choices and links

• Clever copy that appeals to both spiders and humans

These are just a handful of the important aspects to SEO, but the list is certainly not complete without the mention of microsites. For a small to mid-size organization, one of the most important optimization techniques that can, and should be leveraged is the microsite. A microsite as defined by Wikipedia is:

"an individual web page or a small cluster of pages which are meant to function as a discrete entity within an existing website or to complement an offline activity. The microsite's main landing page can have its own domain name or subdomain."

Micro SEO
Microsites that engage users with SEO rich content are sure to attract prospective visitors that are enthusiastic and passionate about your product or service. By creating a supplemental website that provides a particular audience with extensive information and relevant content on a finite subject, you allow your branded site to link to an external website that contains strategic content, enhancing your SEO efforts. 

If a microsite is such a powerful tool is there any reason to not have one? It is important to note at this juncture is that the purpose of a microsite is not to enrich and enhance the SEO for a brand website. There needs to be a reason that supersedes SEO - defining a niche market or micro audience that has interest in a very specific topic and they are proactive in seeking out information.

Macro IMPACT
Mashable feels that the folks at Mollydooker Wines certainly understand this concept. Their "Label our Lefty" microsite went viral as they asked wine enthusiasts to engage with them to name their new offering of sparkling shiraz. Mollydooker claims that their microsite enticed 80,000 pageviews and 14,000 unique visits while it was live. The Aussie winery sought to have a simple goal (name the wine) and achieved success (have customers engaged with the winery). Here is the promotional video that lead to their microsite success:

The success that Mollydooker enjoyed is not unattainable. If the design of a microsite is approached with well defined intentions and employs the essential elements of a well optimized web site, the results most certainly have the potential to bring success. However, if the sole purpose of a proposed microsite is simply to provide SEO and backlink to a parent site, not only to you risk being penalized by Google for black hat techniques, but you will most certainly lose credibility amongst the target population - possibly damaging your brand.

So don't be bashful, find your niche audience and build a microsite that gives them what they crave, just be sure to service their need for relevant information and not your own desire for a better page ranking.