Create As Many Landing Pages As You Can
A question that many business owners ask when discussing a new website build with a design and development agency when they are building a new website, or redesigning their old one is:
“How many pages should we build?”
The thing is, every business is different. To generate the most traffic to your website, you should be adding new, high-quality pages and content on a weekly, monthly, and quarterly basis.
Your website should grow as your business grow. It should never be ‘finished’ at a specific size or number of web pages.
When it comes to creating pages for your website there is a set of web pages that are standard or general which all small business websites should create. Here below is a list of the 13 most general pages that every website should have, and the type of information these pages should feature and include. If you need to build a website, we guide you step-by-step through the process of creating a small business website using WordPress.
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HOMEPAGE
This is the page viewers will see first, and as such, it should tell everyone who you are and what your business does. The content on your homepage should be interesting enough to capture the attention of your viewers within seconds. Your homepage should be well-designed, load fast, and look professional. There are studies that show that you have 0.05 seconds to convince viewers to stay on your website.
What to include:
A short explanation of who you are and what you do, a description of your services and products, and perhaps some bullet points on how you can help your potential customer or client.
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ABOUT PAGE
People do business with other people, and viewers want to learn a bit more about who the people are behind the business. The about page is often one of the most visited pages on the website. This page should give a small description of who you are, your business history, and what isolates you from the competition.
What to include:
A summary of your business, whom it employs (with biographies and pictures of your staff, or just yourself if you are a sole proprietor), any specific achievements you received, and the ways you differ from others that provide a similar product or service.
- SERVICES PAGE (IF YOU OFFER SERVICES)
Here you can add details about the services you provide. Start the page with a summary of your services prior to outlining them. If your services are vast and their descriptions are quite huge, consider dividing them into parts, as well as adding a link to a landing page, where readers can learn more about an exact service.
What to include:
A synopsis of services presented, bullet points of services with short descriptions, links to learn more about specialized services (if you want), the benefits of using your services, and how they differ from the services your competitors provide.
- PRODUCTS PAGE (IF YOU OFFER PRODUCTS)
This is your chance to provide details about the products you sell. Begin the page with a short description of your products before listing them. If you sell many products and have extensive information on each product, consider dividing them into parts and adding a link to their product pages.
What to include:
An outline of products available, short pieces of information of each product, links to product pages that contain more information, what the customer can expect by purchasing those products, and why customers should purchase those products from you, rather than your competitors
- FAQ PAGE
The FAQ page is your space to answer the most frequent questions people asked. The frequently asked questions (FAQ) page will tell people – on one page – what they want to know. This will save your time answering all same questions on an individual basis. Provide true answers for each one. Your answers should be a call to action and persuade a potential customer to take the next step and purchase whatever you’re selling.
What to include:
The most common questions you are most frequently asked have been on this page. Such questions should also resolve any doubts a customer may have, in order to make them feel secure enough to purchase something from you.
- TESTIMONIALS / REVIEWS PAGE
This is your chance to show off good reviews your company has got. Where possible, include the image and contact info of the author (a link to their social media account, not their personal contact number). This will add authenticity to each testimonial. Anyone can write a review, but those with photos of real people can be counted to actual source credibility and establishes trust.
What to include:
A brief paragraph of praise from clients, perhaps as long as a sentence or two. Include images and contact info of the reviewer, preferably with a headline above each testimonial, to catch a visitor’s eye.
- CONTACT PAGE
This contact page shows potential customers all the ways they can get in touch with you. It is also important to have your mobile number, email address, and physical mailing address on the footer throughout the website pages, where possible.
What to include:
All of your social media accounts, your mailing address, phone and fax number, email address, and even your business hours. Some people prefer using a contact form instead of listing their email addresses for spam prevention purposes.
- BLOG
This isn’t a page particularly, as a blog is the sum of all blog posts. A blog is a website, or a portion of a website, made up of typically related blog posts (like journal entries). Blog posts are mainly listed in reverse chronological order with the most recent blog post appearing first. If you have a small business website without a blog then you are truly missing out! Think of your blog as your best and most affordable marketing tool. A blog generates traffic and leads/sales. A survey by HubSpot found that 67% of businesses who blog have generated a lead from it. A blog gives your business a voice, it creates a place where you can tell your business’s story, share your expertise and engage with your visitors.
What to include:
First and foremost you must do a bit of strategy work, you need to know why you are starting a blog and whom you are blogging for (your target audience). Next, you need to map out what your blog is about, i.e. what you should write about and the topics to choose. Think of how you write and the language you use, most of us don’t like to read bookish language so don’t be afraid to be conversational and casual in the way you write. Quality trumps quantity.
- PRESS / LATEST NEWS PAGE
This is the page you can address the media. On this page, you can post links to articles written about your business, press releases, advertisements, videos featured on other platforms, and any other recognizable commercial accomplishments.
What to include:
Ways the media can get in touch with you, links to download PDFs and images, and press releases. If you have a media or press kit, post it here, so the media can learn more about your business prior to further publicity.
- PRIVACY POLICY PAGE
A privacy policy is compulsory for every website, a privacy policy lets the visitor to your website know what you will do with the personal details they give you. On this page, let the site visitor know how any personal details and data (e.g. advertising, cookies, emails, etc) collected will be used, and whether or not it will be shared with 3rd parties. You have to strictly adhere to your privacy policy.
What to include:
What data you collect, how it is collected, how viewers can obtain a copy of the data you obtain, if such content will be shared, and if so, with whom.
- TERMS AND CONDITIONS PAGE
Similar to the above-mentioned privacy policy, the terms of conditions page is usually a must for every website. This is a place the outlines the “rules” a viewer to your site must agree to abide by in order to use your website.
What to include:
You want to add the rules and guidelines and how your website functions. For e.g, which country’s laws that govern the agreement, an intellectual property disclosure that states that your website is your stuff and that it is protected by copyright laws, and links to other websites clause that you are not responsible for or have control over third party links on your site.
- SITEMAP PAGE
Sitemaps come in two formats. XML sitemaps (these work for search engine bots, helps search engines discover your content, and are good to have from an SEO standpoint). HTML sitemaps are made for your “human” viewers. A sitemap page is a non-fancy index page that has all the web pages you have on your website.
What to include:
Your sitemap page should include the URL of your web page, your pages, and blog posts. Your sitemap page should be positioned in the footer throughout all of your website pages, where possible. If you use WordPress then there are many plugins that can help you build an HTML sitemap.
- PAGE NOT FOUND PAGE
A page not found page (technically speaking it is called a “404 error” page) is a page your viewers get directed to when a webpage no longer exists, has moved, or has removed. A 404 error page can be a standard HTML page, you can customize it any way you want.
What to include:
Tell viewers clearly that the page they’re searching for cannot be found. Your page not found page should include a link back to your homepage, you can also include a search form.
