There are a growing number of websites that consist of a single page with a dedicated domain name, and which only do one thing. Writer Jason Kottke dubbed these pages “single serving sites” (SSS).

As Ryan Greenberg writes in his essay http://isthisyourpaperonsingleservingsites.com/ (itself an SSS), “Dozens of tiny, single serving sites provide a venue for pop culture references, inside jokes, art displays, collective action, bids for peer approval, humor, and advice. Collectively they offer a perspective on the web as a platform for a unique brand of storytelling.”

The Hampster Dance is probably the oldest and best-known SSS. It was rated the “#1 Web fad” by CNET in 2005.

Recently there’s been a trend in sites that answer a question for the visitor. Many of them provide a straight “yes” or “no” when the page is loaded:

Some, like http://whatcoloristheempirestatebuilding.com/ go beyond “yes” and “no” to provide additional information, but the reader remains a passive recipient. http://downforeveryoneorjustme.com/ takes it a step further and enables visitors to type in the name of a domain to find out if a site they can’t reach is truly down.

The recent presidential election produced several sites displaying messages that changed when the browser view was refreshed. One of the most popular is http://barackobamaisyournewbicycle.com/ which was later published as a book.

How can PR practitioners take advantage of this trend on behalf of our clients? If done properly, an SSS could be a great digital component of a campaign, delivering a punchy message with relatively little time, effort and cost to produce.

Take the Empire State Building site for example. Without knowing who is behind the site or why it was created, one could easily see this as a great opportunity for the owners of the landmark, or New York City’s marketing and tourism association, or a company in the travel industry, to entice visitors to the attraction.

Without reams of explanation, it tells visitors something that they probably didn’t know about the Empire State Building — that it lights up at night with different colors depending on the occasion. The simple image of the lighted building makes you think that this would be a beautiful sight to see in person. Heck, I think I’ll book a flight to New York right now!

Another clever way to use a branded SSS might be to build interest in a promotional giveaway. Customers would visit the site frequently in hopes of being one of the lucky few to see a link to a special offer before it disappears.