digitalpractices usability & design blog

Here’s why you might want to create a new spinoff site with a new URL that links back to your homepage.
Normally I advise Web Managers not to create new sites with new domain names just because they think it’s the only way to promote new content. You have to be able to rely on your homepage to feature new content, and if your homepage doesn’t change enough, your users may become afflicted with the “Watching Paint Dry” syndrome - when content changes are slow or infrequent they might not realize that anything is changing on your homepage and may just stop visiting it.

For every rule of thumb about the Internet, there’s one “on the other hand.” In this case, creating a new site using a new URL may be a good strategy for attracting new users to your parent site and for giving your stodgy corporate page a bit of edginess by way of association.

For example, Burger King’s highly effective viral marketing campaign had its own spinoff site at SubservientChicken.com - a hilarious interactive gimmick that was cute and silly, but also linked to the Burger King corporate site. After seeing their Subservient Chicken site, it’s hard not to think of Burger King a little differently than you did before.

And of course, the campaign not only reached many users who might have never bothered to visit the BK.com corporate site, but it also gave them a way to tell their friends, family and colleagues about Burger King’s funny new promotion.

A spinoff site is not only a good marketing tool, but it can have a limited lifespan, too, after which you can just redirect users to your parent site. Think of these spinoff sites as Internet agents that can be given a special mission and sent off into unknown Web territory to scout for new site visitors, bring back former site visitors, carry out specific assignments, convey information or other content, and then be recalled after their mission is completed successfully.

Home base is always your homepage, but these “special agent” spinoff sites can help you attain your Web objectives. They help you leverage the power of the Internet by using a new metaphor for your Web activities. Instead of being a virtual real-estate owner in a worldwide neighborhood where you wait for people to visit you, you can start deploying a virtual salesforce that visits other neighborhoods and knocks on new doors.