There are several types of websites you can have, and as your business becomes more robust, you’ll probably have some of each of them:

• The Squeeze Page
• The Sales Page
• The Branding Website
• The Feeder Site

In today’s post, I’m going to talk about the first two types of websites, which are really just specific types of minisites.

What is a minisite, you say? A minisite is a small website that consists of just a few pages. A basic minisite is comprised of:

1. The Landing Page

This is the page the visitor first encounters. It is the page that asks them to either take the action you request or leave. The action you request can be to opt in (a squeeze page) or to purchase a product (a sales page).

2. The Thank You Page

This is the page the visitor ends up on once they’ve taken the action you requested. They can not get to this page unless your autoresponder or payment processor sends them there.

More sophisticated minisites might also include:

• A Cancel Page
  If the visitor clicks on a “Buy Now” button but does not complete the sale, she will land on a cancel page. This is good place to offer her something else.
• A Subscribe Success Page
  This is the page the visitor lands on after they opt-in, but before they’ve clicked on the confirmation link. This is a good place for you to let them know what to expect of the confirmation process, and even offer them something else, including the opportunity to tell a friend.
• A One-Time Offer Page
  This is a nifty little sales trick — the visitor clicks on the button saying they are interested in purchasing or subscribing, and they are sent to this intermediary page that offers them a special offer that they won’t be offered again.

The key to the success of the minisite is how focused it is on its one purpose. Let me say this again, a minisite has one purpose. It does one thing and nothing else.

So, when designing a minisite, you need to be very clear on what that one thing is — and then stay focused on that one thing. If you muck it up with supplemental purposes, you’ll reduce its effectiveness. So, here are the key elements of an effective minisite landing page, regardless of what its purpose might be:

1. An attention-grabbing headline

What are you offering the visitor on this page? Will they discover something? Will they avoid something? Use tried-and-true headline-writing formulas for this part.

2. Some interest-grabbing copy

Who are you hoping to talk to with this website? Show them you know what they are going through and how you can help.

3. Bullet points that outline the key benefits of taking action

Spell out the benefits of what you have to offer. Beware — it is very easy to fall into telling them the features, but this is a big mistake! You must stress the benefits of taking action.

4. A call to action

Tell them what to do!

So, there you have it. The basics you need to design an effective minisite. You can learn more about minisites and even find a wide selection of templates for them at the DragonWyze Solutions Marketplace.