Minisites Vs Authority sites

Do you need to create authority sites or mini sites for your marketing efforts? Both types of sites have their own pros and cons. Keep in mind that there is no rule that states you must choose only one. You could enjoy unique benefits from each one. Sometimes the choice as to which is better suited for you will come down to a simple matter of preference. If the whole debate has you wondering which one to go with, then your best option is to learn more about each one. After you have a good base of knowledge, then you will easily be able to make a decision.What it really comes down to, however, is your own personality and your long term goals for your business. What follows is a comparison of mini sites and authority sites, which can help anybody who's trying to choose between the two.

A minisite is a website by which companies offer information about one specific product or product group. Typically, a minisite is enhanced by various multimedia content, such as an animated, narrated introduction, and accompanied by a visual scheme which complements the product well.For example, a soft drink company might have a minisite with bright colors and a carbonated bubble motif. This offers a more immersive experience for the visitor, in comparison to a traditional corporate website, which is usually presented in a classic professional layout describing the company's statistics and range of operations, and products' technical details.

A minisite may also refer to a single-page website through which the operator aims to sell one particular product rather than present a company's product portfolio. Unlike traditional websites, minisites usually consist of a single page website that utilizes a direct response marketing approach to sell its single product. Such products are often digital products that can be sold in a number of electronic formats such as PDF eBooks, interactive web videos, software, audio, podcasts, membership subscriptions or an online eCourse. However, it is also not uncommon for a minisite to sell a physical product.

Minisites have existed since the popularization of the World Wide Web in the mid 1990’s as direct marketers adapted their offline direct mail campaigns to accommodate for a worldwide audience provided by the Internet.

Some people like mini sites because they think it’s easier to make money with them more quickly. This technique can work in some cases. Yet, to think this way all the time can limit your possibilities in the long run. You could subdivide a niche into much smaller categories, each based on a few keywords. This would be the basis for a collection of mini sites, each one based on one of your keywords. It shouldn’t take you long to rank for these key phrases if you chose them wisely. If you do this, of course, you should be aware that Google is not a fan of mini sites. Deciding between authority and mini sites can be explored from several angles. In addition to ten mini sites you could have one large authority site. How would you go about getting traffic to all of them? You’ll have to duplicate your efforts for getting traffic for each one of the ten mini sites. You will need to send traffic to the authority site, as well. The difference is that you can deliver traffic to one page within the same site with authority sites. Authority sites allow you to leverage your time better. You’ll find that larger sites have a unique value known as the stickiness value. Since the content on mini sites is so limited it is difficult to make them very “sticky.”

As you can probably figure out, authority sites are larger, more demanding projects to undertake than mini sites. How you feel about this will depend on your personality, as well as how much time you have available. The mini site model has a lot to offer people who get bored with the same thing every day and prefer frequent changes. Mini sites don't take long to build, and once you have the hang of it, you can do it in less than an hour. Building an authority site, however, can be a long process. They aren't totally different, however, as you can consider an authority site to be lots of mini sites under one domain. With either model, you can keep adding fresh content.A mini site can be especially good for certain types of campaigns. You should be able to rank well if you are marketing to different countries. If you then host your mini site in the country in which you are marketing, and SEO it for local search terms, you could get by with a mini site. There are no guarantees, though, as your success will vary based on the quality of your site and products, the country you're targeting and so forth. You can also keep in mind that Google does not have a total monopoly when it comes to search engines. While Google of course gets the most searches, you also have Bing, Yahoo and lots of other search engines that you can do SEO for. That's something to try if you want your mini sites to be profitable. Because every marketing venture online is unique you should consider them all as unique. Because one venture is so different from the next, it is important to adjust your marketing efforts accordingly. With this in mind it would be completely unwise to imply that either authority or min sites were superior to the other. 

An authority website gives you the opportunity for greater credibility at a faster rate. Larger sites filled with useful content tend to be more impressive to visitors. It is a natural tendency to begin thinking the person behind the site must know what they’re talking about. So then there are feelings of credibility that tend to happen. This is a rare situation for mini sites. It can, but that is quite rare.

So, which to build – a mini site or an authority site? But it is usually the lesser experienced person who has a hard time with this. Still though, we all have our unique desires and goals for what we want to do. I would not suggest you do something for reasons that conflict with your desires and natural interests. The site structures have similarities, and we feel it is best to understand what they are because that will be valuable knowledge.