Blogs versus Minisites – do you make this mistake too?
Just read a good article from one of the people I follow regularly. Actually read it a few days ago then went back again today to make sure it was fresh in my mind.
It is called Revenge of the Minisite from John Taylor and brings up something I was aware of and recommend to client’s but have seen too many people ignore.
Seems a lot of people love blogs. Google loves blogs. I love blogs but…
There are certain things blogs are not good for and you should not forget about the minisite.
The power of blogs is the interactivity and ease to have a conversation but sometimes when you want a specific action they just have too many distractions and when you are trying to sell something or get someone to subscribe not having distractions is a good thing.
Consider it the next time you are considering adding a page to your blog to save time and avoid creating a minisite.
As always your questions and comments are welcomed and stop by and say hi to John at his blog as he has a lot of good information there.
Mike Paetzold
P.S. Last time I will mention it but there are still not enough comments on the last blog traffic post so the series is discontinued until that is resolved.
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10 comments
John Taylor on October 9, 2008 at 2:43 pm
Hey Mike,
Thanks for the mention, I’m delighted to hear I’m not the only one who sees the importance of choosing the right platform for the purpose of a website.
Christopher Ross on October 9, 2008 at 2:51 pm
I’ve seen a lot of WordPress users become confused between posts and pages, to me that’s the biggest difference between what you’re calling a blog vs. a mini site, I love to use WordPress for both but it’s important for people to realize that there is a right way (and a wrong way) to use WordPress.
Christopher Ross´s last blog post..Google Launches AdSense for Video Games
Mike on October 9, 2008 at 2:54 pm
@John Taylor -
Usually sneak over to your blog a couple times a week. Yours is one of the ones I track regularly and you tweet about it which reminds me when I forget
Mike on October 9, 2008 at 2:55 pm
@Christopher Ross -
Hi Chris even using pages on most themes leaves way too many leaks for selling anything. There are a few that only show the page itself but those are the minority.
Paul H. Livingston on October 9, 2008 at 4:50 pm
I’m sorry, but I’m still having a hard time understanding this whole blogging thing. I’ve read so much conflicting advice and it gets more confusing the more I read. So now we *shouldn’t* try to sell via a blog? What does this mean:
“Consider it the next time you are considering adding a page to your blog to save time and avoid creating a minisite.”
We should avoid creating a minisite but not add a page to our blog? What then?
Stressreducer on October 9, 2008 at 5:14 pm
I use both, minisites and blogs and blogs feeding minisites – it can get confusing.
Stressreducer´s last blog post..Stress Games as a Stress Reducer
Mike on October 9, 2008 at 6:12 pm
@Paul H. Livingston -
Okay see if this clears it up. Use your blog to pre-sell someone on something then send hem to a page that actually sells them.
If you add a page on most themes you will still have the sidebar and any links of that sidebar are ways for a person to leave without making a yes or no decision. With a minisite there should be no links or ways to leave for something else other than contact, tos, privacy policy and those are at the end.
You want the prson not to be distracted when you are asking for a specific action.
The blog post though is a great place to pre-sell them then get them to click over.
Laura Miller on October 9, 2008 at 7:18 pm
Hi Mike
You are soo right about this whole blog vs minisite stuff.
I did a bit of testing myself and I have an opt-in form on my blog, which doesn’t get a lot of subscribers but some. But when I made a post and at the end of that post, recommended they get this FREE report and linked the name of the report so when they clicked on the link, they were brought to my minisite with nothing more than a bit about the report and an opt-in box, I get much better conversation there.
People, in my opinion, think that a blog can totally replace a website, whether that site is a minisite, salesletter or just a website. I don’t believe this, you still need to have a minisite with no other distractions on it.
Great post Mike and keep it up, your stuff is always a pleasure to read.
Laura
Laura Miller´s last blog post..Building Your Foundation, First
MarkM on October 11, 2008 at 12:00 am
Hi Mike, thanks for using FaceBook, it reminded me that you exist!
You might remember the “while still reading, sell” never-ending-salesletter style of minisite, is that the kind you mean?
Or do you have in mind a more actually-mini (as compared to the never-ending-salesletter) kind of site, where the salesletter (also known as “landing page”) is itself also mini (maybe only a couple of screenheights long?)?
I would imagine the size of one’s “empire” (also known as “network”) of sites would be a factor, because the more other salesletters you have, the less need there might be to go on and on and on (and on, and on, and on some more, not to mention (but mention it anyway) on and on and on) about the one thing (or maybe in a really long letter mayhap a few other things to buy could also be mentioned toward the end of the letter?)
Keep up the GREAT WORK!
-MarkM- (P.S. cURL error 7 warning, nice, nice, but my URL plans to be back!
)
Mike on October 11, 2008 at 4:18 pm
@MarkM -
Actually it could be either the key is for the page to only have one single purpose and nothing to distract from that purpose.
Whether it is long or short if I have a squeeze page I only want the reader to have 2 options sign up or leave. Not to give them the choice of the last 5 posts, checking out my blog categories etc.
The argument over long or short copy is a totally different story all this addresses is having leaks on a page where you want someone to take a specific action.