Are you in a dilemma whether to create a mini site or a content-based web site for your new product or service? The purpose of creating a web site should be to attract visitors and convert them to paying customers. Is a mini site with a few pages enough to do this or should you spend more time and create a content-based web site which contains many pages?Let's look at some of
Pros and Cons:
Mini Sites
Pros
1. Easy to set up - you don't have to be a programmer these days to create a mini site. Web site templates or software allow most of work to be done already. 2. Little time - you could create a mini site within one day if you have your entire content ready to go. 3. Laser focused on selling one product or service - a mini site can simply be one long sales page with an order button at end. 4. No distractions - customers are distracted by other options on web site. With no banners or links to other sites, customer can be directed to purchase immediately. 5. Inexpensive to create - if you use a free hosting account (not recommended), you would just pay for registering a domain name. Paid hosting services for a mini site can be acquired for only $30/year.
Cons
1. Difficult for search engines to spider - a web site containing many relevant pages of content will tend to rank higher in search engines than a one page mini site. 2. Lacks pages of content - mini sites often lack in-depth information about their product or service. 3. Difficult to increase link popularity - getting links from other web sites increases your link popularity. Webmasters form other sites want to link to a web site which contains valuable information that expands their visitors experience. 4. Less traffic - less pages means fewer chances for people to find your site in search engines, thereby limiting amount of traffic your web site receives.
Content-based web sites
Pros
1. Search engine friendly - creating a content-based page for every targeted keyword will enable visitors to enter from numerous points within your site. 2. Easy to acquire links from other sites - webmasters want to link to web sites that will expand their visitors experience by providing more information (ie articles) or simplify their tasks (ie software). 3. Become an authority on your product or service - adding pages of content related to your product, helps people to make an informative decision before purchasing. 4. Lots of traffic - creating lots of keyword focused pages and acquiring incoming and outgoing links to and from other sites generates lots of free traffic.
