We have lots of clients. When we speak to them, they always ask us what strategies other clients are using to market their products online. One tactic, used quite often these days, is launching a micro or seasonal ecommerce website. A seasonal or micro website is a site focused entirely on a new product, new product line or a specific category that might already be on your main branded website. There are two benefits of having a micro website: 1) they are simpler to market as their focus is on a single category, making the SEO effort easier and 2) they allow you to be more aggressive with your marketing tactics as they can be shut down whenever you like.

Micro sites are easier to market based on the fact that all content on a micro site is contextually targeted to one subject area. We have tested this theory across multiple industries and categories and 100 percent (100%) of the time, a micro ecommerce website is able to rank quicker and easier (i.e. less content and less links) than a traditional big brand website with multiple categories and versions of copy.
Some clients have begun to use seasonal or micro sites as a sort of insurance policy against any negative adjustments by Google when they update the algorithm from time to time. By leaving the main branded website alone, these clients are able to be more aggressive with their SEO strategies, without any negative ranking repercussions from Google to the branded site. In other words, you can be as aggressive as you would like with a micro site, and if Google blacklists the site or if it loses its rankings, it's no big deal.
Clients should explore the practice of using micro sites given the frequency that Google updates their algorithm. Additionally, micro sites tend to follow the exact recommendations of Google's Matt Cutts. Matt Cutts indirectly promotes the idea of "relevancy" when referring to search results and smaller micro sites fit perfectly into this theory.
We recommend you give micro sites a go where applicable. In order to be successful, look for a micro site that can easily plug into your current order processing system and gateway. Your micro sites should also have flexible architecture to allow you to launch them without a significant amount of resources. For more information on micro sites or our ecommerce software, contact us.