The difference between a microsite and a website

You hear the term microsite a lot, but what is the real difference? A website is your regular website that contains all the information you want to present to your visitors. A microsite is a site that you create for a specific purpose, be it marketing or for focus. You will probably host them in the same place, your Los Angeles data center. Here are some of the main criteria when defining a microsite:

A microsite is usually a temporary construct that only exists for the period of its purpose. If there is a marketing campaign that is focusing on a niche or product, it is often a good idea to create an accompanying microsite for the duration of the campaign. Please remember that a microsite is not a landing page and has more information.

The microsite also does not need to be small. The micro component of the name is more about its purpose than its size. It is as big as it needs to be. It might be a

subdomain or a subfolder of the main site but has to function as a standalone site and should only have a cursory reference to the main site.

You will also find that microsites have its own social media profiles, email address, and forms. According to Rack Alley, even video and text content will exist purely for the microsite, for the duration of the campaign, or as a permanent resource for the niche.