[OPLIN 4cast] OPLIN 4cast #380: The decline of the ebook?

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OPLIN 4Cast

OPLIN 4cast #380: The decline of the ebook?
April 16th, 2014

Heartbleed logoIf you haven't heard of the Heartbleed bug, we can't 
imagine where you've been all week. The Heartbleed name and logo seemed 
to be everywhere on the web (it's even here with this blog post), and 
the news about this serious Internet vulnerability spread very quickly. 
As the first article listed below points out, this was mostly because 
the news of the bug was intelligently "marketed," with its own name, 
logo, and dedicated website. The use of a small, dedicated website - 
usually called a "microsite" - for a particular piece of information is 
a well-established digital marketing technique, so well-established that 
some think it is losing its power. Yet libraries seldom if ever use this 
simple, but effective technique: If you are doing something special, 
give it its own little website.

  * What Heartbleed can teach the OSS community about marketing
    <http://www.kalzumeus.com/2014/04/09/what-heartbleed-can-teach-the-oss-community-about-marketing/>
    (Kalzumeus blog/Patrick McKenzie) "People will generally try to link
    to something to describe a project / vulnerability / etc, and having
    an easy and obviously linkable canonical description is both best
    for clarity and best for your own personal interests as the
    project/etc creator. Heartbleed.com is the canonical explanation of
    Heartbleed, both because people trust $8.95 domain names and because
    it was first published, came with a design/logo and comprehensive
    information, and is suitably authoritative in character."
  * Content marketing with microsites: Pros, con, examples & best
    practices
    <http://www.toprankblog.com/2013/11/microsite-content-best-practices/>
    (TopRank blog/Nicolette Beard) "For our purposes, microsites refer
    to a site that is associated with an organization, but is on a
    separate domain or subdomain and has its own navigation, design and
    content. Consumers are much more sophisticated today and want
    in-depth information, but they also want it quickly. Microsites
    provide a lightweight alternative to corporate websites, which are
    often loaded with extraneous content that doesn't meet the exact
    need of the visitor."
  * Landing pages or microsites? The debate rages on!
    <http://www.percussion.com/blogs/web-content-management/2013/0429-landing-pages-or-microsites-the-debate-rages-on>
    (Percussion blog/Karo Kilfeather) "If you understand that the buying
    process around your product or service is lengthy and complex,
    microsites are a great way to serve up content that becomes an
    experiential tasting menu for your prospective customer. Whereas
    with a landing page you get to 'yes' or 'no' right away, with a
    microsite, you can give a customer reasons to keep coming back,
    until she has a sense of your brand, a deeper desire for your
    offering, and is ready to buy."
  * The end of microsites
    <http://www.clickz.com/clickz/column/2326662/the-end-of-microsites>
    (ClickZ/Marko Muellner) "With the amount of change and complexity in
    digital marketing today, it feels like marketers are bringing knives
    to a gun fight - we just don't have the tools or knowledge to keep
    up with consumers and it gets harder everyday to prove and improve
    the value we deliver to the business. Indeed, the traditional
    digital microsite with its full-screen option, rich desktop
    experience, built in Flash with video, animation, and game-like
    interactivity is dying. The cost and effort to value just isn't
    there anymore. Even Facebook apps, the social-era equivalent to
    brand microsites, are near death."

*/Relation fact:/*

Randall Craig has posted 
<http://www.randallcraig.com/landing-pages-to-microsites/> a pretty good 
explanation of the various ways you can relate (or not) a microsite to 
your full website or to Facebook.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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