Build a campaign microsite, measure it, and take it down when it's done
A microsite is a small, separate site for one campaign, product launch, event or cause, with its own look and address. It lets a campaign move fast without waiting for changes to the main website, and it can be switched off afterwards without leaving dead pages behind. Anticode works as a microsite builder for that whole cycle: build from a brief, publish on your own subdomain, watch visits, then unpublish.
Microsite, landing page or a new section?
The three get confused. A landing page is a single page with one action, usually tied to ads or an email. A section of the main site lives inside its navigation and design. A microsite sits between them: a few pages or one long one, its own identity, and a life span measured in weeks or months.
| Choose | When |
|---|---|
| A section of the main site | The campaign is about your core product, should keep ranking in search afterwards, and fits the main design |
| A landing page | There's one offer and one action, traffic comes from ads or email, and nobody will browse |
| A microsite | The campaign has its own name or look, several things to explain, a partner or sponsor, or a team that can't wait for the main site's release cycle |
Typical microsites: a festival's programme for one summer, a charity appeal with its own branding, a product launch with a separate name, a recruitment drive, a co-branded promotion with a partner, a report or anniversary with its own story.
Plan the end before the start
Most microsite problems come at the end, not the beginning. The campaign finishes, nobody owns the site, the domain renews or lapses, and a year later the page still promises an offer that closed. Decide three things up front:
- The end date, written into the brief, and who will act on it.
- What happens to the address afterwards: unpublish it, or replace the content with a short "this campaign has ended" page that links to the main site.
- What you keep: the final copy, the figures and the page views, for the next campaign's planning.
Building the microsite
Write the campaign in a sentence or two, with its name, audience and the action you want: "a microsite for the Riverside Lantern Walk on 14 to 16 November, with the route, a schedule, accessibility notes and a volunteer sign-up". The Architect returns a plan and asks up to three questions where the answer changes the site. Pick a design system and action colour that give the campaign its own character; it doesn't need to match the main brand exactly, but the logo and tone should make the link obvious.
If the campaign needs sign-off from a client, partner or manager, send a client review link: they see the current preview without an account, leave comments tied to a section, and the link expires after 14 days by default. Version history keeps the most recent saves (up to a number set by your plan), so an approved version can be restored if later edits go wrong.
Putting it on a subdomain
You can publish straight away to a free name.anticode.dev address, which suits short internal campaigns. For anything public, a subdomain of your own domain reads better on posters and reassures people the campaign is really yours: lanterns.riversidetrust.org rather than a new domain nobody recognises. On a paid plan, add the hostname to the site, create the CNAME record Anticode shows (or a TXT record for verification) at your DNS provider, and the certificate is issued automatically.
A subdomain also avoids buying a separate domain you'll need to renew or let lapse. If a campaign really needs its own domain (for broadcast or print where a short name matters), connect it the same way, and decide in advance whether you'll keep renewing it. The guides on connecting a custom domain and CNAME vs A records cover the DNS side.
Measuring it
The dashboard shows page views per day for each site, broken down by source, counted without cookies. Because the microsite is its own site, its numbers aren't mixed in with the main website's. Add UTM parameters to the links in your emails, posts and partner pages so you can see which channel brought people. The Intelligence page shows visits since publish and, after 14 days of data, can forecast the trend; it only answers from the metrics it cites.
Taking it down
When the campaign ends, either rebuild the site as a short closing page ("the 2026 walk has finished; see you next year") with a link to the main site, or unpublish it. Unpublishing takes the site offline; remove the DNS record at your provider as well, so the subdomain doesn't point anywhere. The project stays in your account, so next year's microsite can start from this one.
Limits
- No scheduled publish or expiry. Publishing and unpublishing are done by you on the day; set a calendar reminder.
- No redirects to the main site. A closing page with a link is the alternative.
- No conversion tracking pixels. Published pages run no scripts, so ad platform pixels can't be added.
- No A/B testing. Publish a new version if you want to change the message mid-campaign.
Questions people ask
Is a microsite bad for SEO?
It splits attention from your main domain, which matters little for a short campaign and more for something you want to rank for years. For long-lived content, a section of the main site is usually better.
Can one account run several microsites?
Yes. Each site is its own project with its own address and analytics. Custom domains need a paid plan; see pricing.
Can an agency build microsites for clients without Anticode branding?
The Agency plan is white-label, so client sites carry no Anticode branding.