The Power of Mini Sites: Small Websites, Big Impact
When you hear the word “website,” you often think of the biggest sites out there. Twitter, Amazon, YouTube… those are enormous. But sometimes smaller is better. Today we are discussing mini sites.
The Power of Mini Sites: Small Websites, Big Impact
Simply speaking, mini sites are sites that are extremely focused on one idea or a topic. You may have one product you need to promote or one concept you want to explore. Instead of creating an additional page for an exisiting site, you can create a separate domain. Sometimes sites like that are called sitelets or macrosites.
But why would you do that?
The answer is… it makes sense. Sometimes. Like, when you have a specific demographic in mind, or a particular niche. Instead of thinking about the general audience, you can be as specific as you like — your audience will get you. And you will attract a lot more attention. Sometimes it’s worth creating a separate site for each of your products: it can help with SEO and conversion.
Big sites can offer too much, and sometimes you need to focus on that one promotion, product, or service. This focus is why you need a sitelet. Oftentimes the users don’t want to see all you have to offer: they have a single desire, and the simpler the site, the easier it is for them to act.
Also, there’s this thing called experimentation. A designer who doesn’t want to experiment is a dead designer. We all know that drastic changes to a site don’t always bring the best results. People hate change and search engines… well, it depends. But there’s no risk in an experiment in a small format, when you can go about testing a new layout or a color scheme without worrying about breaking everything.
I often say that one example is better than a thousand words, so, let’s take a look at some of the notable examples. Take Website Grader by HubSpot, for example. It exists for one simple purpose, but it does a lot more than that. It allows a user to analyze a website performance and also acts as an ad for HubSpot. Then there’s My Creative Type by Adobe. People love questionnaires. I don’t know why, but there’s something about them! Adobe knows it, too, and that’s why it created this macrosite to help you determine what kind of creative personality are you.
See? Just remember: before creating a mini-masterpiece, define your goal and audience. There needs to be a purpose.
Some of the best sites we created at Beluga were mini sites. We could really experiment with them without spending too much time on a project. The results were lightweight, fun, and, most important, converting.