Microsite: what it is, when to use one and how we build the one for your campaign
Flowup builds microsites in WordPress on a short timeline, with speed for paid traffic, end-to-end tracking and a plan for when the campaign ends. For launches, events, promotions and brand campaigns.
By Guto Bertoncini, founder and lead strategist of FlowupUpdated on 14 min read
5.0 on GoogleSince 2011Proprietary B.I.N.A. Method
Summary
The microsite in seven points
The essentials for anyone who needs to decide fast. The details, the sources and the frequently asked questions are right below.
- Microsite, as used on this page, means a temporary campaign website with three traits: a set lifespan, a single message and conversion urgency.
- It sits between the landing page, which is one page with one goal, and the corporate website, which is permanent and complete: it is a small campaign website.
- Rule of thumb: does the campaign have an end date? Microsite or landing page. Does it need more than one page? Microsite.
- Where to publish is a technical decision: a subdirectory of the main domain, a subdomain or a dedicated domain, each with different effects on the brand and on SEO.
- In a campaign, traffic is usually paid, and speed matters: the probability of a bounce rises 32% when load time goes from 1 to 3 seconds (Google/SOASTA).
- The end is part of the project: redirect to the equivalent page of the website, keep it as an archive or reuse it for the next edition, and never leave it abandoned online.
- The timeline is counted in days, with a schedule built backward from the campaign date.
Definition
What a microsite is, and what it is not
A microsite gives the campaign a home of its own, with the creative freedom the corporate website does not allow and the structure a social media post does not have.
- A set lifespan
- It has a start date and an end date, tied to the campaign calendar.
- A single message
- It talks about the campaign, not the whole company: one offer, one event, one launch.
- Conversion urgency
- It has one main action, such as a registration, a sign-up, a purchase or attendance, measured from the first day to the last.
A microsite is not the corporate website, which carries the company's history and all of its services. And it is not a landing page, which concentrates everything on one page with a single goal. It sits in the middle: a small website with its own navigation and more than one page when the campaign calls for it, such as a schedule, speakers, official rules or frequently asked questions.
The term microsite, in general, describes a small website focused on one topic, temporary or not. The campaign microsite covered on this page is the one with an end date.
Comparison
Microsite, landing page or corporate website?
The three formats coexist. The choice depends on the role of the page in the journey.
| Criterion | Microsite | Landing page | Corporate website |
|---|---|---|---|
| Goal | Give a campaign or an event a home of its own. | Turn a click into a lead or a sale. | Present the company and sustain its digital presence. |
| Lifespan | Temporary: it has an end date from the start. | That of the campaign that feeds it. | Permanent: it evolves with the company. |
| Scope | A few pages, with the campaign's own identity. | One page, one goal. | Complete structure: services, content and contact. |
| Navigation | Its own, between the campaign pages. | None: only the call to action. | Full menu, for several audiences. |
| When to choose it | Launches, events and promotions with their own content. | Paid media and direct lead capture. | Always: it is the foundation of everything. |
For direct lead capture from an ad, see landing page development. For the company's permanent presence, see website development.
Use cases
Microsite examples: when the format makes sense
The most common uses share a date, a message and too much content for a single page.
Product launch
Presentation, benefits, demo and a waitlist, before and after the launch date.
Event, trade show or conference
Schedule, speakers, venue, registration and frequently asked questions, with information kept up to date until the last day.
Seasonal promotion
Black Friday, the brand's anniversary and retail calendar dates, with offers, official rules and an expiration date.
Promotional microsite with prizes
Contest, prize draw or instant-win giveaway, with sign-up, official rules and the announcement of the winners.
Corporate campaign
A cause, an impact report, the company's anniversary or a brand initiative with its own narrative.
Annual event
One address that builds up history edition after edition, changing content and identity each year.
In Brazil, commercial promotions with a prize draw, an instant-win giveaway (vale-brinde) or a contest require prior authorization from the Prizes and Betting Secretariat of the Ministry of Finance (Secretaria de Prêmios e Apostas), under Law 5,768/1971. The microsite publishes the approved rules; obtaining the authorization is up to the company running the promotion.
Address
Where to publish the microsite: subdirectory, subdomain or dedicated domain
The choice of address affects the brand, measurement and what happens to the links earned once the campaign is over.
Subdirectory
yourcompany.com/campaign. It draws on the authority and the technical foundation of the main domain and makes the redirect at the end easier. It is Flowup's default recommendation when the campaign belongs to the brand itself.
Subdomain
campaign.yourcompany.com. Useful when the microsite runs on another platform or with another vendor. It requires its own analytics and search setup.
Dedicated domain
campaignname.com. It strengthens the campaign's own brand and works well in offline media, but it starts with no history and needs a wind-down plan.
An abandoned campaign domain is a risk: when it expires, it can be registered by third parties and used for spam that exploits the links your campaign earned. Google treats this use as expired domain abuse. At wind-down, the domain stays registered and keeps redirecting.
What you get
What is included in microsite development
Six named deliverables, from the brief to the day after the campaign ends.
Campaign strategy
The microsite's single message, audience, offer and conversion goal, within the campaign plan.
Campaign design
The campaign's visual identity, aligned with the brand, with the creative freedom the corporate website does not allow.
WordPress development on a short timeline
A microsite published in days, on a base of components, with a dashboard for the team to update it during the campaign.
Performance and tracking
Speed for paid traffic, conversion events, media tags and CRM integration, tested before going live.
Publishing at the right address
A technical decision between subdirectory, subdomain and dedicated domain, with indexing configured according to the campaign's role.
Post-campaign plan
Redirect, archive or reuse defined from the start, so that links and history are not wasted.
Process
From brief to live in days, with a schedule built backward
The date the microsite needs to be live is the first requirement of the project, not the last.
Brief and date
Message, offer, audience, conversion goal and, before anything else, the publication date.
Design and approval
The campaign layout in a short approval cycle, on the base of components that speeds up production.
Development and testing
WordPress build, forms, tags and CRM, with speed, mobile display and events checked.
Publication and wind-down
Publication at the defined address, adjustments during the campaign and execution of the post-campaign plan.
Speed
In a campaign, every second costs media budget
Traffic to a microsite is rarely free: it comes from paid media, influencers or PR. The slower the page, the more each conversion costs.
- +32%in the probability of a bounce when load time goes from 1 to 3 seconds.Google/SOASTA, 2017
- +90%in the probability of a bounce when load time goes from 1 to 5 seconds.Google/SOASTA, 2017
- 3xhigher conversion rate on B2B sites that load in 1 second, compared with those that load in 5 seconds.Portent, 2022
- 2.5 sis the LCP threshold Google considers good, measured at the 75th percentile of real visits.web.dev, Core Web Vitals
That is why the microsite follows the same acceptance criteria as the websites we build, with the performance and Core Web Vitals standard checked on mobile before publication.
After the campaign
What to do with the microsite when the campaign ends
It is the question almost no proposal answers, and the one that separates a disposable page from a well-managed asset.
Redirect
The address gets a 301 redirect to the equivalent page of the website: the product that was launched, the events page or the next edition. Links and history start working for the company's domain.
Archive
When the content has lasting value, such as a report or the record of an event, the microsite stays online as an archive, with no expired offer and with a notice that the campaign has ended.
Reuse
Annual events and seasonal promotions keep the address and change content and identity, building authority with each edition.
Google recommends not redirecting many old URLs to a single unrelated destination, such as the home page, because this can be treated as a soft 404. That is why the redirect is planned page by page.
A microsite left abandoned online becomes a liability: an expired offer on Google, outdated content and wasted authority.
When it makes sense
When to build a microsite, and when another format works better
A microsite pays off most when the campaign has a date, its own content and the budget to bring in traffic.
When it makes sense
- A product or service launch with its own identity.
- An event, trade show, festival or webinar that needs a schedule and registrations.
- A seasonal promotion with offers, official rules and a deadline.
- A campaign whose message does not fit on the corporate website.
When another format works better
- The campaign fits on one page with one goal: a landing page does the job.
- The content is permanent and part of the company's offering: it belongs on the website.
- There is no budget and there are no channels to drive traffic to the campaign address.
Price and timeline
How much does a microsite cost, and how long does it take?
The proposal is sized by deliverable, after the brief, and comes with the schedule built from the campaign date.
The price takes into account:
- The number of pages and the complexity of the content.
- Campaign design and the production of creative assets.
- Integrations with CRM, registrations or payments.
- The time left until the publication date.
- The post-campaign plan chosen.
- Daysis the typical timeline, depending on the scope and on the availability of content and approvals.
- A fractionof the investment in a corporate website, because it is a lean format.
Next step
Your next campaign deserves more than a post
Tell us about the campaign and the date. We get back to you with scope, a schedule built backward and an investment range.
Backward scheduleFull trackingPost-campaign plan
Send the microsite briefPunctuality, quality and attention to each client's needs. That is our experience of working with Flowup, always very quick to find the most suitable and up-to-date solutions. They are preferred partners of MediaLink.
I am glad to record my satisfaction in working with Flowup. A positive experience: an attentive team, quick service, quality deliveries and care in every detail of the website. I was pleased with the final result and recommend their services with confidence.
Read the case study
We have been Flowup's partners for more than 10 years and, over that time, our trust has only grown stronger. The service is excellent and the commitment to our requests is total. The team understands our needs, meets deadlines and delivers consistent quality.
Read the case study
Frequently asked questions
Frequently asked questions about microsites
The questions that come up most often in searches and in briefing conversations.
Have a campaign with a set date? Fill in the website brief and get scope and schedule back.
Send the briefWhat is a microsite?
A campaign microsite is a temporary website with its own navigation and a few pages, created to give a campaign, a launch, an event or a promotion a digital presence. It is built with an end date, a single message and one main action. Unlike a landing page, it can have several pages and its own navigation.
Are a microsite and a hotsite the same thing?
Hotsite, also written hot site, is the name used in Brazil for the campaign microsite. Microsite is sometimes used as a synonym, but in general it describes a small website focused on one topic, temporary or not. The hotsite is the microsite with an end date, created for a campaign, and that is the format this page covers.
What is the difference between a microsite and a landing page?
A landing page is a single page with a single conversion goal and no navigation. A microsite is a small campaign website, with its own navigation and more than one page when the campaign calls for it, such as a schedule, official rules and frequently asked questions. For direct lead capture from an ad, a landing page is usually enough.
What is the difference between a microsite and a corporate website?
A corporate website is permanent and presents the whole company, with services, content and contact. A microsite is temporary and talks only about the campaign. The two coexist: the microsite serves the campaign, and the website receives what the campaign earned once it ends.
When should you use a microsite?
When the campaign has a start date and an end date, content that does not fit on one page and expected traffic: product launches, events, trade shows, seasonal promotions, brand campaigns and promotions with official rules.
What are some examples of microsites?
A microsite for a product launch, for an event or conference, for Black Friday and other seasonal promotions, for a contest or prize draw, for a corporate or cause campaign, and for annual events that keep the same address with each edition.
How long does it take to build a microsite?
Days, depending on the scope and on the availability of content and approvals. The schedule is set at the briefing, built backward from the campaign date.
How much does a microsite cost?
It depends on the number of pages, the design, the integrations and the deadline. Because it is a lean format, it usually costs a fraction of a corporate website. The proposal is sized by deliverable, with an investment range given in the first conversation.
Does a microsite need its own domain?
Not necessarily. A subdirectory of the main domain, such as yourcompany.com/campaign, draws on the existing authority and makes the redirect at the end easier, and it is Flowup's default recommendation when the campaign belongs to the brand itself. A dedicated domain comes in when the campaign needs a separate brand or a short address for offline media.
What happens to the microsite when the campaign ends?
It depends on the plan defined at the start: a 301 redirect to the equivalent page of the website, staying online as an archive when the content has lasting value, or reuse in the next edition. Sending everything to the home page is not recommended, and a dedicated domain should stay registered and redirecting.
Does the microsite show up on Google?
It can, and the decision depends on its role in the campaign. Campaigns that run only on paid media sometimes do not even need indexing; campaigns that people search for by brand or by event name do. Indexing and structured data are configured according to the goal.
Can the microsite be reused in other campaigns?
Yes. The structure is ready for the next edition, with new content, offer and identity and no rebuilding from scratch, which is common for annual events and seasonal promotions.
Will the microsite be responsive?
Yes. Design and testing cover phones, tablets and desktops, and speed is checked on mobile before publication, because in a campaign every second of load time weighs on the cost of each conversion.
Does a microsite for a promotion with a prize draw need authorization?
In Brazil, yes: commercial promotions with a prize draw, an instant-win giveaway (vale-brinde) or a contest require prior authorization from the Prizes and Betting Secretariat of the Ministry of Finance (Secretaria de Prêmios e Apostas), under Law 5,768/1971. The microsite publishes the approved rules; the request for authorization is up to the company running the promotion.
Do you work with companies outside Brazil?
Yes. Briefing, approvals and publication happen remotely. Flowup is based in São Paulo, Brazil, and serves campaigns for companies in Brazil, the United States, Canada and worldwide.
Transparency
Sources and references
This page uses official Google documentation, published research and Brazilian legislation to support its statements about performance, redirects, domains and promotions.
- Find out how you stack up to new industry benchmarks for mobile page speed, Think with Google: Google/SOASTA data on load time and the probability of a bounce.
- Site Speed is (Still) Impacting Your Conversion Rate, Portent (April 20, 2022): B2B sites that load in 1 second convert 3 times more than those that load in 5 seconds.
- Web Vitals, web.dev (Google): 2.5 s threshold for LCP at the 75th percentile of visits.
- Redirects and Google Search, Google Search Central: a permanent redirect as a canonical signal.
- How to move a site, Google Search Central: risk of a soft 404 when many URLs are redirected to the home page.
- Spam policies for Google web search, Google Search Central: expired domain abuse.
- Promoção comercial, Secretaria de Prêmios e Apostas, Ministério da Fazenda: in Brazil, prior authorization for prize draws, instant-win giveaways (vale-brinde) and contests.
- Lei 5.768/1971: Brazilian law on the free distribution of prizes for advertising purposes.
How to cite this page
Flowup Agency. Microsite: what it is, when to use one and how we build the one for your campaign. Guto Bertoncini, updated on . flowup.agency/en/microsite-development/
Does your campaign have a date?
Send the brief with the campaign and the deadline. We get back to you with scope and a schedule built backward from launch day.
5.0 on Google · Since 2011 · Case studies with stated sources
