Micro site

hi guys,

What are the worst mistakes you could make with building a micro site?

To many links to your target site? ( is there a max) other stuff?

kind regards

Making it a crappy site....

Having the idea that links from it to your master site will be valuable.... they will have zero value unless the micro site has links of its own from outside of your own network.... if you can get those links then why send them to your microsite? Instead hit the master site with those links for maximum benefit.

You can't manufacture linkjuice. Google was too smart for that trick a long time ago. Focus on making good content to attract links to your main site.

Well I'm in a very hard market to do SEO so all bits help. µwhen making a micro site i have related links what are very rare to find in my activities.

On my micro site i create a buy guide for my activities. sow the content is valuable and related

You can develope a micro site so you could make tests on it without risking of damaging too much your main site.

On the other hand, micro sites are good if you have a very big main web site and a lot of topics to develope.

A micro site is always a web site and you have to spend time, resources, work to develope it. If you have to use it only to put on it some links, you waste your energy. I agree with Egol.
In that case is better working directly on different sections of main web site to have better straight benefits.

Put that content on your main site. Get all of the links to your main site. One site with 1000 links and 100 pages will far out compete five microsites and a master with the same 1000 links and 100 pages.

We spend zero time working on hotdog stand websites. We tried it long ago and learned that a single master site that gets all of the links and all of the content will flatten the hotdog stands.

Egol,

So (in the retail world) what your saying is Walmart wins and the small specialty store looses? Seems that if I want a single item and the small store definitely has the item I'm looking for (and a number of similar competing items ) then it should be more important to me than a massive store stuffed with different product, people and lines. Doesnt the GoogleBorg understand that individualism is still important? And besides we all know that its probably available at the big store so why are they given so much weight?

just a thought

katie

Yes, cause more people link to walmart than the hotdog stand. They are more visible and get more links, since they get more links, they are more visible. Same as the High-Grade sausages... fresher cause more people eat them.

Nope, cause you are just about that item, unless you have 100s of pages about that... the big site wins.

Googlebot is just code.

Cause they cover more stuff related to the item... and could find something even better than what you were searching to start with.

Jocelyn,


ok . . . but


if my apple shop has only very fresh apples and ALL the varieties and everything i would want to go with my apples then why would i go to a grocery store for 4 -5 different kinds of apples?

katie

Ok, I feel your pain here. I once had a specialty shop - selling only board games, but was consistently beat out by drugstore.com if they carried the same game. There is more truth in Egol's comments than I'd like to admit...that being said, if you are a truly focused store, you will grow and be able to compete. My store for example starting moving up the ranks after a year or two of diligent wh seo...and a lot of patience. The reality is, that if you are selling something that a "BIG BOX" store is selling, then you are not selling specialty items. Let me clarify, using Apples.

The big stores only sell the top selling items in each category, that's to say that Walmart would not sell 15 varieties of apples, but 3 or 4 popular ones they could make the most profit off of. IF you sell honey crisp apples, and they don't, then your selection is better than theirs is, and this is an advantage. If Walmart does not think it is worth it to their business to sell honey crisp apples, then buy the keyword - it'll be specific enough to be affordable, and without the big box stores dominating, then you can make money on it. If you can't afford to pay for some ppc ads on a specific niche product, then you are not charging enough, or there is some other fundamentally wrong issue with the way your business is set up (ROI only, I'm not digg'n on your biz).

What happened to me was that some of my products - my best selling ones of course, would get noticed by Mattel or other big players, and it would go to Walmart and other big box stores. Then my sales would be impacted, supply and demand (and price of course).

The bottom line is you really need to put your USP - what sets you apart from your competition out first and foremost. Promise to deliver faster than Walmart can, boast your better selection in your niche / market. Explain your expertise, write articles about apples in depth that big-box-mart doesn't want to spend money on. Give personal touch and service that is NEVER a part of walmart. If you do it better, be sure you let your customers know that.

I hope this helps you on your quest.

Aviken,

I fully agree with everything you have said, but when you take this back to SEO why would a 1000's of subjects website (walmart) be able to compete with a single subject website (specialty store). This just doesnt make any sense to me, maybe i'm just looking at it sideways or maybe google is a bit predisposed to favor big sites?

katie

Thanks Katie,

This is the big question I always wondered. There are other factors to consider too. I think a site 1/100th the size of walmart, but focused could outrank it. But the shear size of some of these sites, give them such an added weight. Another is longevity, if a domain is new (I'm not talking sandbagging, but years of domain live with similar content) - it will not stand a chance against an entrenched site.

Food for thought - people confuse majority with quality. Bigger is better they say...but it is almost never the case. Just becuase McDonald's sells more hamburgers than anyone else, does not mean that everyone chooses them becuase they are the highest quality, or best value for their dollar. They do it becuase of years of marketing towards kids, and they are just about everywhere, and there is an existing trust of them. I think this relates to SEO and sales in general - If their was a specialty apple store outside of Walmart, they would sell a lot of apples...but guess what, Walmart would sell more. How many times have you gone into a costco / walmart / homedepot and said, I'm just getting these 3 things...or I'm sticking to my list...and walk out with your receipt in your hand saying...dang! how did buy so much stuff? That is they way they are designed to work. they are masters at moving products.

Since links vote for sites so heavily, and enough people at any given moment think it's a good idea to link to these larger stores / sites...the rich get richer...seriously, its an uphill battle, but one that can be one. You won't outsell the big boys, but you don't need too. You just need a fraction of a percentage - barely perceptible to them, to live nicely.

Man, just look at wikipedia... they rank for everything.