  |
Best Practices for 50 Micro-sitesMay 9, 2007 By Jill Whalen
Hi Jill,
I wanted to discuss the possibility of developing a best practice/checklist
Thanks,
Chris
++Jill’s Response++
Hi Chris,
I’m not sure that we can help you with what you’re asking for, because
A much smarter idea would be to fix up your current corporate site so that
Hope this information puts you on the right track with your SEO strategy!
Best,
Jill
[As you can imagine, Chris wasn’t too thrilled with my response and replied
> Appreciate your feedback. Our plan was the following. Please let me
Jill: Sure, see my comments below:
> 1. Create transparent micro-sites using our flagship name.
Jill: Yes, that’s how I originally assumed you would be doing it. Again,
> 2. Become an authority through the use of forums, RSS and general site
Jill: How do you suppose small sites can become an authority? The idea is
> 3. Use unique navigation structure and product information to create a
Jill: This sounds like a branding nightmare to me. Every site will have
> 4. Use SEO best practices to gain traction on the engines - including
Jill: You can’t use SEO best practices because the original premise (50
> Still not a good idea? I would really appreciate some additional
As you can see, it’s most definitely, in my opinion, 100%, a huge mistake
Good luck!
Jill Post Comment  Jill said: Comment @ 05/09/07 at 8:16 pm Hi Tony, I’d say less than 10%. Brian said: Comment @ 05/10/07 at 8:08 am How do you explain the tremendous success of micro-site conglomerates netshops.com & csnstores.com? They rank well organically for each of the niche sites they have setup and they take it to the extreme. They have over 100 stores each; They could have 5 different clock stores, (wall, desk, office, digital,etc) We have checked their D&B’s, they are experiencing huge growth and as an SEO I can see how well they rank organically for each of their product niche’s. SEO Practices said: Comment @ 05/10/07 at 9:39 am Hi Jill, great information, thanks. I would say there are basic SEO Pratices we have to have in account when developing an SEO campaign, but for most we have to develop and build our own strategies. What worked in the pass may not work today, what works for others may not work for us, SEO is a constant changing field. Sean King said: Comment @ 05/10/07 at 9:48 am Brian, I think you hit it on the head. I believe it makes sense to use microsites to bring focus to a particular vertical or horizontal market. Because of this microsites tend to be a good solution for very LARGE companies or conglomerates looking for better performance in their individual companies or genre of products sold. The tie-in to the larger corporation gives weight to the microsite while providing focused content and product for a more specific audience (I’m not sure, but I think this may be what Chris was alluding to). However, using microsites to gain better SEO within the SAME market just dilutes your brand message and weight, leaving your company with little to no SEO value and a confusing experience for your customers. Moral of the story, use microsites if you’re company is so large you find it difficult to give your customers an easy experience finding your product/service and doing business with you. If you’re using this tactic simply to gain SEO, you are missing the point. Trend said: Comment @ 05/10/07 at 9:50 am While I agree with your assessment I question your ability to think outside of the box. There are many companies that do this exact thing. I know for a fact that there are many large companies (both pure plays and multi channel retailers) that are finding great success at building sites that are category specific. Having 100’s even 1000’s of products to sell is without question relevant. What if they have more blenders than anyone on the web? It does matter, and success can be had. I spent a few minutes trying to find a good example for you. Here is one. LampsPlus.com ShopOutdoorLighting.com ShopTableLamps.com Search for Outdoor Lighting and Table Lamps and see how well the shop____ sites are ranking for very competitive terms. LampsPlus.com does incredibly well also. The shop____ sites have been live for less than 12 months. Brian said: Comment @ 05/11/07 at 9:41 am I took a particular interest in this advsor article because we have similar plans to create multiple microsites, each catering to a specific product line & niche market. Hearing Jill’s pessimism about that strategy was a litle unsettling (I respect her opinion greatly), however we will still be progressing with that strategy as it goes beyond simply SEO. I’ll be sure to pass along a coupon to the forum members once we’re ready ;) Preston said: I'm new to SEO, and one of the things that stands out to me about Jill's comments is search engine integrity of microsites. They sound like a great idea for large corporations with several dozen niche markets, but it may actually deter a certain group of visitors from having user-friendly access to their specific microsites. When someone is looking for a specific item or product, whether they know the brand and features or not, then microsites are good on the user-end. But with people who search for a corporate product catalog with multiple brands/niches/features, it would be a nightmare to navigate more than 5-10 microsites. I think SEO is consistently based on the premise that switching from one site to another, micro or macro, results in a watered-down and often confusing user experience. Case in point, I am using a different computer than had been for the past several years, and don't have MS Office on it since a computer breakdown recently. I searched for the trial version of Word, and despite visiting multiple pages within Microsoft's web site, including ones that may be construed as microsites, I could not find it. There were links saying Word 2007 free 60-day trial, and other links I followed that were strongly associated with my several search terms, but none of them led to an actual download page or external link to a download. How is this sort of thing handled by microsites and internal, customized search engines for visitors who do not have a specific goal or product in mind? It appears as an oblivion of links, info, and navigation to a user. Perhaps microsites can work when users are given a set of tools from the outset of visiting the corporate site, or the microsites individually. Now I can understand external linking to microsites from the corporate web site, but microsites on their own probably don't have much efficacy in SEO at this time. Add Your Comments |
 |
|
Comment @ 05/09/07 at 7:35 pm Jill how do you always hit the nail on the head? Every time! What percentage do you think, of web site marketers, know what best SEO practices are?