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    <title>StartupToDo.com checklist for building your microsite</title>
    <dateModified>Tue, 01 Dec 2009 19:21:51 +0000</dateModified>
    <ownerName>bobwalsh</ownerName>
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  <body>
    <outline text="Find a focus">
      <outline text="What keywords presently lead to your software?"/>
      <outline text="What topics in your problem domain do you know a lot about?"/>
      <outline text="What are the topics beginners need to know?"/>
      <outline text="Can you get a decent URL for this microsite (check GoDaddy)"/>
    </outline>
    <outline text="Do the research">
      <outline text="Start with a new folder in your browser's favorites, search there first."/>
      <outline text="Here's an excellent, free Firefox extension for this kind of research: http://www.zotero.org/"/>
      <outline text="It will go faster if you &quot;touch&quot; each online resource just once. (write your annotation in the first pass)"/>
    </outline>
    <outline text="Organize for beginners">
      <outline text="There will always be more beginners than experts!"/>
      <outline text="Beginners are very appreciate of the help"/>
    </outline>
    <outline text="Add &quot;nuggets&quot; for the experienced">
      <outline text="As you find more advanced, but good resources, include them with perhaps an advanced badge and why you think they should know about the resource."/>
    </outline>
    <outline text="Help a lot, sell a little">
      <outline text="You are building the credibility that will help your sales later. But you have to build the credibility first."/>
    </outline>
    <outline text="SEO matters!">
      <outline text="See the StartupToDo. com Guide re basic SEO things to do."/>
      <outline text="If you can't find a good URL with the keyword in it, pick a different topic."/>
    </outline>
    <outline text="Keep it fresh, or else!">
      <outline text="As Google moves to making easier to find &quot;Recent&quot; results, plan on updating your microsite at least monthly to keep it up to date."/>
      <outline text="People will suggest additional resources if you make it easy for them to. At a minimum, have a dedicated email address for this. Extra points for an online form (code one or use Google Docs). And double extra points if you define and document your updating procedure in advance of your first update."/>
    </outline>
    <outline text="Design considerations">
      <outline text="Avoid javascript, ajax, flash, etc. The point is the content."/>
      <outline text="Readability matters. You might want to check out http://typekit.com/ to get a special, but easy to read, look."/>
    </outline>
    <outline text="Rinse, lather, repeat.">
      <outline text="Track what traffic now comes from your microsite to your main site."/>
      <outline text="Obviously, you want to integrate a successful microsite into your Google AdWords strategy."/>
      <outline text="Why stop at one?"/>
    </outline>
    <outline text="[Checklist from the Guide, &quot;Extending your software's reach with a microsite.&quot; at http://startuptodo.com (a training/productivity community for startups and microISVs).] Creative Commons By-Attribution Licensed."/>
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