Effective Microsite Sales Strategies

I speak with many new business prospects and when I look back on the calls over the past few months, there were some common threads that I wanted to share. 

The strategy I would like to share with you today is about using microsites to draw new customers to your business.  The microsite platform that I like the best is a hosted WordPress website. 

Selling More Candles

I received a call from the owner of a company that sells candles; retail and wholesale.  The key point is that his domain name did not have the word "candle" in the domain.

Since his website domain did not have any of his keywords, I asked him what were his best selling products and his highest converting keywords from Google Adwords. 

After reviewing is data, two of the words that were popular were "country candle" and "primitive candle".  I never heard of the phrase primitive candle before; it refers products that look to be homemade candles in older jars. 

Never less, I went to Godaddy and was able to purchase "www.country-candle.com" and "www.primitivecandle.net".  

The strategy I suggested was that they create a WordPress microsite on www.country-candle.com  and feature their best selling Country Candle designs. 

They can add customer testimonials, information on how the candles are made and even open up consumer comments.  The idea is to create a website that is optimized for just one phrase "country candle".  The site is being indexed and I hope to see some great results in the coming months.

Case Study - Selling Salon Lights

This strategy was just deployed a few months ago for a manufacturer of Salon Lighting. We did some research and we found that the domain www.salonlights.com  was available and I immediately purchased it.  We created a WordPress microsite on this domain and created content pages about their salon lighting products. 

Today that microsite is on Google page #1 in the USA for the phrase "Salon Lights".

Selling More Yearbooks

Another CEO called me who is a yearbook publisher.  We reviewed their existing website and also asked them about their target keywords based on Google Adwords data.  Two of the target phrases where "yearbook company", "yearbook companies" and "yearbook publisher".

So, once again I went to Godaddy and purchased www.yearbook-publisher.com and www.yearbookcompanies.net .  Purchasing the domains is NOT what will help the company. 

Purchasing the domains and then putting up a website on these domains is what works.  I often chuckle when people buy up dozens of domain names and never use them. 

Today, if you type "yearbook companies" into Google, their microsite is on Google Page 1 nationally and lead flow from the microsite is very strong.

Domain ownership does not prevent someone from working around what you have purchased, if you do not put up a website on the domain name.

There are No Short Cuts

Please do not run with this strategy until you understand that rules for success.  You will not be very successful if you plan to put up one page websites on domain you purchase.  You should pick key domain names and build at least a 10-15 page website. 

That is why I like WordPress because once a web design company creates your skin; you can add unlimited pages with the simplicity of using Microsoft Word technology.   When you create a microsite, follow the page design recommendations in the Google SEO Starter Guide. 

If you use WordPress you have full control over Page Titles, META descriptions and file naming so you are able to craft some very powerful website pages.

This strategy should be deployed once you have optimized your main website as best as you can.  Don't ignore your existing website which has age, links and visitor traffic already.  Microsites are very effective as part of a comprehensive Internet marketing strategy for businesses that want incremental sales growth for their business every year.