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Marketing versus Content Mini sites

As said before the best use for a minisite and the actual minisite design and layout is making sales. However along side actual marketing minisites there are also content minisites.

 

Minisite design

The content minisites are like a softer version of marketing mini sites. The main goal here is still making sales but in a more indirect way: by providing value first and asking for the sale later thus the different minisite design rules applied.

 

Minisite design and layouts for content minisites

Following the above idea there are basically two main types:

  • Blog like/content minisite
  • Review minisite

The Blog Like/Content Minisite

This type was very common before blogging platforms became a standard for blogging. Blogs (web logs) are actually mini sites with a content management system.

 

This kind of minisite design was usually a 2 or a 3 column layout, using a header, a menu, sidebars, a content column in the middle, and a footer for copyright and menu.

The Review mini site

Is actually still used at the moment of writing (Jan. 2011). It’s basically a site that reviews products for making affiliate sales. The structure is:

  • Home Page
    • Menu containing a few items such as the reviewed products home pages and 10 or more articles
    • Header
    • 2 column layout
    • 3 or more reviews with excerpts of text, each having a rating and a “read more” button
    • a vertical menu on the right sidebar
  • Indidvidual review page. Here the user is presented with an indepth review of a product, with pros and cons and is guided on how to poses the product (is given buying instructions)

 

Minisite Design – Use different layouts to fit your needs

I tried covering as many things as I possibly could within my restricted time span but if you have questions, arguments, etc, please let me know and I will get back to you or update the post accordingly.

Hope you found some value in this post and please don’t be shy! Let me know your take on the subject. This is the last post from my  “Minisite design on Wikipedia” post in the series but as I said it will update over time.