The 7 Pages You Need On Your Website
Web design is incredibly important for every kind of business. The internet has revolutionized how people make purchases, and its effects reach further than just online orders. According to recent studies, 82% of smartphone owners use the internet to inform their in-store purchases.
To make the best impression on customers, you need a professional, well-made website. That means including, at a bare minimum, these seven must-have pages.
1. Homepage
Your homepage is the home base of your website. When people search for your business name, products or services, this is the page they’re most likely to see.
Why You Need This Page
Your homepage acts as an introduction and summary to visitors. When over 70% of new visitors only use a site once, the stakes are high when it comes to conversion rates. You want to keep consumers on-site as long as possible. How can you do that? By delivering information in a concise, attractive and engaging format.
What Kind of Information You Should Include
There are several things every homepage with excellent web design should include:
- Company name prominently and legibly displayed near the top
- Simple explanation of what you offer (products and services)
- Short description of your values, goals and brand
This information should be easy to scan and immediately jump out at visitors. Research shows people can decide in 0.05 seconds whether to leave or stay on a site, so you must make a good impression quickly.
2. Products and/or Services
While your homepage should give a general idea of what you offer, other web pages should provide the details. Exactly how many product and service pages you need depends on your industry. However, you’ll probably end up with several. You should divide these into categories for ease of understanding.
Why You Need This Page
Potential customers want to know exactly what you provide so they can compare you to competitors. Alternatively, they may be trying to figure out if your services are exactly what they’re looking for.
If you don’t present this type of information in your web design, visitors may feel frustrated and leave. After all, they’re looking for convenience and may interpret a lack of details as poor customer service.
What Kind of Information You Should Include
Consumers expect the following basic information:
- Products and services offered
- Short descriptions of each
- Advantages of choosing your company
To make it more accessible, you can create bullets or lists. These are easy to skim and stand out from the rest of the page. If you have the important points lost in blocks of text, consumers may fail to notice them.
3. Contact Us
While getting visitors to your site and keeping them there are both worthwhile goals, they’re not the endgame. Ideally, you want to convert visitors into customers. To do that, you must provide a way internet users can contact you.
Why You Need This Page
It’s not a bad idea to have your contact information in several places on your site, including your homepage. However, you also need to offer an easy way for visitors to see all your contact information in one place.
Internet users aren’t partial to scrolling through pages to find their desired information. A “Contact” link in your top bar is highly visible and means minimal work for potential customers.
What Kind of Information You Should Include
Consumers as a group may be looking for convenience, but that means something different to every person. That’s why you should include a variety of ways to get in contact:
- Phone number
- On-site contact form
- Messaging
Customers also expect an address; if you want to draw in-person business, you should provide a map as well. If you have several locations, clearly label the contact information for each.
4. About Us
Your homepage is a brief introduction to who you are, but visitors may have additional questions. Great web design should provide an entire page to explore your company’s history and current goals. This is also an excellent opportunity to showcase your accomplishments, awards, associations and experience.
Why You Need This Page
Not everyone cares about a brand’s identity and ethics, but those who do feel strongly about it. Over 60% of consumers under the age of 30 consider a business’s ethics when purchasing. An “About Us” page lets you talk directly to customers about what you stand for. This direct communication also allows you to develop your brand voice and form connections with your base.
What Kind of Information You Should Include
There’s more flexibility when it comes to the web design of “About Us” pages, but the overall goal should be to build consumer trust. You can achieve this in several ways:
- Including employee profiles
- Discussing your mission
- Listing your values
- Explaining your company’s origin and history
- Talking about charitable donations and partnerships
5. Blog
Wait, you may say. What’s a blog doing on a professional business site? Won’t it send mixed signals to customers? Actually, blogs create crucial opportunities for content marketing.
Why You Need This Page
Including a blog in your web design can do two things: bring in new visitors and establish your company as an authority. First off, a blog gives you unique opportunities to use search engine optimization. You can gear posts to appear in searches for consumers still in the awareness stage of their buying journey. These internet users may then return later when they’re ready to purchase, as your name will be familiar.
Useful, well-written posts can also position your company as an authority in your industry. This is yet another great opportunity to build trust with your customers.
What Kind of Information You Should Include
One of the best things about blogs is that you can have a little more fun than webpages. You can write on a variety of topics and even switch things up with videos or graphics. However, you should still try to adhere to the following:
- Topics that relate to your industry
- Helpful content that users find valuable
- Professional voice that appeals to your target audience
6. Frequently Asked Questions
No matter your industry, consumers are going to have questions about your products and services. Some of those questions will be more common than others. A “Frequently Asked Questions” page allows you to answer these without using too many resources.
Why You Need This Page
Oftentimes, web users who have a question will try to answer it themselves via your website. After all, self-service is part of the appeal of online research. However, it can be difficult to know where to look. That’s why the FAQ page has become a staple of modern web design; it’s an efficient way to address common issues.
What Kind of Information You Should Include
You won’t be able to answer every question and that’s fine. Instead, you should gather the inquiries that you get most often. Many sites have a list of these with a link to the answer that opens a new page. Others use a dropdown to hide the answer until users click the question. Which you choose depends on how many questions you have and how complex the answers are.
7. 404 Page Not Found
Occasionally, users may click old links or type in an address incorrectly. This results in a 404 error page. As part of your site’s web design, you can make a custom page for this.
Why You Need This Page
A custom “404 Error” page should have the same template as the rest of your site so the effect isn’t jarring. This sort of error can be frustrating to visitors, but a custom page indicates a level of professionalism that may soften the blow.
What Kind of Information You Should Include
This page should be to the point. Indicate that a 404 error occurred, what it means and your apology for the inconvenience. You may also want to encourage users to visit other areas of your site.
Web Design and SEO Go Hand-in-Hand
Web design is a crucial aspect of any site, just like SEO. And the two are more aligned than ever before! User experience is playing a critical role in SEO performance.
When you have a well-designed and user-friendly website, Boostability can help take care of the rest with our white label SEO services! We can do the work for you and your clients behind the scenes while your agency and brands gets the recognition for it. As a leading provider of white label SEO marketing with partners located worldwide, we’re confident we can help boost your business and deliver quality campaigns for your client websites!
