Landing Page vs. Microsite. What’s the Difference?
There has been a lot of debate among marketers about the merits of a landing page vs. microsite. There are advantages and disadvantages to both. In the end it will depend on your requirements, and what you are trying to achieve to decide between the two.
For example, if you are trying to convert the maximum number of users in a short period of time then a landing page is ideal. On the other hand, if you need more pages to help educate the user on your services then a microsite makes more sense.
Advantages of a landing page
A landing page is typically favoured by marketers if they only want the conversion. That’s because a landing page is more focused. There are fewer leaks or distractions from the call to action. On a microsite a user can potentially watch videos, take polls, read all sorts of info that’s not going to help get that sale.
Whereas, a well-crafted landing page is engineered to increase the chances of a sale, and all distractions are removed. A marketer has more control of the sales funnel using a landing page.
Also monitoring the metrics of a landing page is a lot easier than doing the same for a microsite. A landing page only has one page, which means you can track things like the bounce rate and user engagement with much higher accuracy. The conclusions drawn from the metrics are simpler than trying to interpret metrics from several webpages.
A/B split testing with a landing page is more straightforward than with a microsite. That’s because you can change one variable and then watch the response rate from the traffic. A microsite on the other hand, might have more variables than you can control.
For instance, if you need to add new web pages over time then that might increase the amount of webpages a visitor reads, but decrease the amount of attention an offer is going to receive. With a microsite you need to figure out a way of measuring metrics without getting overwhelmed by the sheer number of variables.
Advantages of a microsite
A microsite could have 3 or 30 pages, and that gives you a lot more screen real estate to work with. For instance, if you want to deliver a free video course to compliment the sales process then you can segment the video course over different pages. This is more practical that posting many videos on a single landing page.
Furthermore, since the microsite is bigger and there is more content it increases linking building opportunities. The SEO aspect of creating lots of content means you’re going to receive more traffic from the search engines. On the other hand, the way a landing page is constructed the chances of ranking for desired niche related keywords is minimized.
Also if you want to focus more on brand awareness rather than just sales then a microsite is the way to go. That’s because a landing page has to focus on the selling of the product or service, and little room is left for brand awareness.
For those of you that are selling complicated products where the audience needs to be educated first, then a microsite might be better. That’s because you have more room to work with to provide educational information. The result of this might be more sales, which means it can convert better than a laser-focused landing page.
Which is the right option for you?
When trying to decide between a landing page and a microsite you need to look at the advantages of both and figure out the one the one that meets your requirements better. When you need to sell a single product like an ebook with a high rate of conversion a landing page is better. Whereas, if you are looking for a way to educate your audience, then a microsite will be better suited.
Also there is no reason why you can’t use a combination of a microsite and landing page. Create the microsite, and also a landing page to compliment it. Analyze the needs of your situation and you’ll find that the ideal method will naturally present itself.
Thank you for reading.
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Originally published at landingpageschool.com on April 23, 2018.
