Do You Need a Microsite? Campaign Site Economics

A new product launch, a festive promotion or a partner event often comes with the same suggestion: “Let’s build a separate site for this.” It sounds bold, and the mock-ups usually look great. The harder question is what that site costs across its whole life, not just on launch day.

This guide from IZI Digital Marketing treats the separate campaign site as a budget decision. It compares it with lighter options, models where the effort goes over 12 months, and shows what to do when the campaign is over. For how a campaign site fits into a wider build budget, see our guide to website design price in Malaysia.

The video below compares microsites, landing pages and full websites. After it, we turn that comparison into a cost-and-value decision for your own campaign.

PART 1 · DIAGNOSE

What Is a Microsite, and How Is It Different From a Landing Page?

IN BRIEFA microsite is a small, separate website with its own navigation, usually built for one campaign, product or event. A landing page is a single page with one job, normally living on your main domain. The difference matters for cost, tracking and search. Our comparison of landing page vs homepage covers the single-page side.

People use the word loosely, so pin down which of these three things you are actually being offered:

• A landing page. One page, one offer, one action. It sits on your main site and usually receives paid traffic from ads.
• A campaign section. A small group of pages inside your main site, such as yourbrand.com.my/raya-2027/, with its own look but your main site’s domain, hosting and tracking.
• A true microsite. Several pages on a separate domain or subdomain, with its own design, navigation, hosting and often its own analytics set-up.

Only the third option creates a second website to own. That second website is where the hidden economics sit: another domain to renew, another platform to patch, another privacy notice to keep current, and another place for search value to leak.

BENCHMARK BRIEFING 1 OF 4

Microsite, Landing Page or Campaign Section: How Do They Compare?

IN BRIEFA landing page is the fastest and lightest option. A campaign section adds room for more content without a second site, while a standalone site gives the most creative freedom but the most upkeep. The right choice depends on content depth and campaign length. Our guide to one-page vs full websites applies similar logic.

The table compares the three options on content room, set-up effort, search value and upkeep.

The highlighted middle option is the one most proposals skip. A campaign section gives you most of a separate site’s room with your main site’s domain, tracking and search history already in place.

PART 2 · DIAGNOSE

When Is a Microsite Worth It for a Campaign?

IN BRIEFA microsite is worth it when the campaign needs its own identity, several pages of content, or a partner who must control the experience. It must also run long enough to repay the extra set-up. Short promotions rarely qualify. Our guide to website cost factors that move a quote explains why scope drives the bill.

Most regret over separate campaign sites comes from choosing the format for the look, not the job. Match the format to what the campaign must actually do:

Paid campaigns add one more test. If traffic comes mainly from Google Ads, what matters is how closely the page matches the ad, not which domain it sits on. Google’s Quality Score guide lists landing page experience as one of three components, judged on how relevant and useful the page is to people who click.

BENCHMARK BRIEFING 2 OF 4

How Much Effort Does a Microsite Take Over 12 Months?

IN BRIEFIn our model, a standalone site takes about 120 hours of work over 12 months, against about 60 for a campaign section and 30 for a landing page. Most of the gap comes after launch, not during the build. Our guide to the cost of running a website explains those recurring lines.

Each bar shows total build and upkeep hours across 12 months, covering design, set-up, tracking, updates and security.

The standalone option doubles the work because everything your main site already has must be built again: hosting, security updates, analytics, consent wording and a sitemap. None of that shows on the design mock-up, which is why it rarely appears in the first quote.

PART 3 · DESIGN

Separate Domain, Subdomain or Subfolder: Which Should You Use?

IN BRIEFUse a subfolder when you want campaign pages to build on your main site’s search history. Choose a subdomain when the campaign needs its own platform but your brand, and a separate domain only when a new identity is the goal. The address decides what you keep afterwards. Our website design page explains how we plan site structure.

The address you choose sets how much work carries over to your main brand. Here is how the three differ in practice:

• Subfolder (yourbrand.com.my/campaign/). Links and mentions earned by the campaign point at your main domain. Tracking, hosting and privacy notices are shared.
• Subdomain (campaign.yourbrand.com.my). Useful when the campaign runs on a different platform, such as an event registration tool. It keeps your brand name, but search engines may treat it more like a separate site.
• Separate domain (yourcampaign.com.my). Full freedom and a memorable name for print or radio. It also starts with no search history and needs its own renewal, security and analytics.

BENCHMARK BRIEFING 3 OF 4

How Long Does a Campaign Microsite Stay Useful?

IN BRIEFIn our model, a paid-traffic campaign site receives almost 90% of its visits within the first three months, then falls to a trickle once ads stop. Its useful life is short, while its costs keep running. Our guide to landing pages for Google Ads covers what makes that short window count.

The table tracks monthly visits as an index, with the launch month set at 100, for a campaign driven mainly by paid ads.

Months 1 to 3 hold 310 of the 352 index points, or about 88% of nine-month visits. After the ads stop, a standalone site has almost nothing to fall back on, because it never built search history of its own. A campaign section on your main domain has the rest of your site feeding it visitors.

PART 4 · DEPLOY

What Should a Microsite Brief Include?

IN BRIEFA good campaign site brief states the campaign goal, run dates, page list, domain choice, tracking plan, privacy handling and what happens at the end. Without an end plan, quotes look cheaper than they are. Our guide to writing a digital marketing RFP shows how to structure one.

If you still choose a separate site, put these items in writing so every provider quotes the same job:

1. Goal and dates. One measurable goal, such as registrations or enquiries, plus the launch and end dates.
2. Page list. Name each page. A “microsite” with one page is a landing page with a bigger bill.
3. Brand assets. Say whether the campaign needs its own logo or visual identity, or reuses yours. Our guide on whether web design includes logo and branding work explains how that changes scope.
4. Tracking. Ask for conversion tracking that reports into your main analytics, not a separate account nobody checks. Our guide to Google Ads conversion tracking with GA4 covers the set-up.
5. Privacy. Forms that collect names and phone numbers need a privacy notice under the Personal Data Protection Act 2010. See our guide to PDPA website compliance.
6. Integrations. If the site takes payments, check whether it must feed your invoicing flow, as our guide to e-invoice integration for your website explains.
7. End plan. State who owns the domain, how long it stays live, and where it redirects afterwards.

BENCHMARK BRIEFING 4 OF 4

Where Does a Campaign Site Budget Go?

IN BRIEFIn our model, design and content take most of a landing page budget, while a standalone site spends about 40% on set-up, tracking, upkeep and closing down. That non-creative share is what separates the options. Our website maintenance checklist lists the upkeep items.

Each bar splits a campaign site’s 12-month effort into design and content, technical set-up and tracking, and upkeep and close-down.

Read this chart together with Briefing 2. The standalone site has a bigger total and a bigger non-creative share, so far fewer of its hours go into what visitors actually see.

PART 5 · DRIVE

What Happens to a Microsite After the Campaign Ends?

IN BRIEFWhen a campaign ends, fold useful pages into your main site and permanently redirect the old addresses to the closest matching pages. Letting the domain lapse throws away any links it earned and can hand the name to someone else. Our guide to website design pricing shows where that work sits in a budget.

Abandoned campaign sites are common: outdated offers, broken forms and expired security certificates, all still carrying your brand. Plan the close-down before you launch:

1. Move what lasts. Product details, FAQs and event recaps can become pages on your main site.
2. Redirect page by page. Google’s guide to redirects and Google Search recommends permanent server-side redirects when a page has moved for good. Point each old page at its closest match, not everything at your homepage.
3. Keep the domain. Renew it for a few years so the redirects keep working and nobody else can buy the name.
4. Close the data loop. Export leads, remove old forms, and delete personal data you no longer need.

For future campaigns, run paid traffic through Meta Ads or Google Ads to a campaign section you can reuse each season. Each campaign then adds to your main site instead of starting from zero.

THE VERDICT

Choose the Lightest Site That Does the Job

A separate site is a real option, but it is rarely the cheapest route to a campaign goal. For most businesses, the decision comes down to five checks:

1. Count the pages the campaign truly needs.
2. Quote a campaign section alongside any separate-site proposal.
3. Compare 12-month effort, not build effort.
4. Separate the name from the site if a catchy domain is the draw.
5. Write the end plan before launch.

To see how campaign pages fit into a full build budget, read our guide to website design price in Malaysia.

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is a microsite?

A small, separate website built for one campaign, product or event. It depends on the set-up, but it usually has its own design, navigation and often its own domain, apart from the company’s main website.

2. Is a microsite better than a landing page?

Not by default. It depends on how much content the campaign needs. A landing page suits one offer and one action, while a separate site suits campaigns that need several pages and their own identity.

3. Does a microsite help SEO?

Rarely for your main brand. It depends on the address, but a separate domain starts with no search history and keeps any links it earns away from your main website.

4. Should a microsite use a subdomain or a subfolder?

A subfolder in most cases. It depends on the platform; a subdomain makes sense when the campaign must run on a different system, such as an event registration tool.

5. How long should a campaign microsite stay live?

Only as long as it serves visitors. It depends on the campaign, but once offers expire, move useful pages to your main site and permanently redirect the old addresses.

6. Can I use a campaign domain without building a microsite?

Yes. It depends only on your domain settings; you can register a short campaign name and point it at a campaign section on your main website.

7. Who should own the microsite domain?

Your company. It depends on your contract, so make sure the domain is registered in your business name, not your agency’s or a staff member’s.