The 13 Pages Every Small Business Website Needs

1. Homepage

This was always going to be number one. It’s usually the page that they see first, and should clearly describe who you are and what you or your company does. The content and message on your homepage should be attractive and capture the visitor’s attention. Great design helps here too so make sure that is factored in. There are studies that show that you have 0.05 seconds to convince people to stay on your website.

What to include:

You need to capture people attention and quickly tell them what you do – try to be succinct and to the point. A short description of who you are, what you do and how you help potential customers. Add in case studies of happy customers and show the latest news/blog links to further build trust in your company.

2. About Page

There are far too many bland about pages on the internet – remember “People do business with other people”, so make sure people can find out more about the people behind a company. The about page is one place where you can show some personality and allows you to show who is behind the company, the history and why you are different. This is also a great place to show awards and certifications to highlight the quality of the services and/or products that you offer.

3. Services Page (That is if you offer services)

If you offer a wide range of services you need to make individual pages for each of these. If that sounds like a hassle, then you need to understand that separate service pages will have a lot more power to rank in Google than if all of your services were on one page. If you offer multiple services or the same service in different locations then you could have one page called “Asbestos Surveys Leeds” and another “Asbestos Surveys Manchester” that will allow you to try and rank higher in both Leeds and Manchester. Separate service pages also allow you to try and rank for various services in one location or many, so always make sure you have separate pages for each service that you offer.

You can start with the service you offer, for example, “Septic Tank Surveys” and then add in the city that you are looking to target if that will help. Then you need to list the service in full, what is on offer, what it entails, how it can help, pricing (if possible), testimonials, case studies and FAQ’s to answer any potential questions – personally, I would recommend trying to get these pages to at least 2,000 words. That may sound hard but look at what competitors have featured Ads use the FAQ’s to pad everything out. Ensure that the design looks good and there are white space and sections, as well as images, to break everything up.

4. Products Pages (If you offer products)

Simply adding in an image and 50 words of content will no longer work, people want reviews, great descriptions, multiple high-quality images and everything about the product to determine if it is suitable to their needs. Do you offer satisfaction guarantees? Quick delivery? Again this is all about thinking from a customers point of view, what do they want to know?

5. FAQ Page

There are two thoughts I have on these kinds of pages, you either go all in and make this the most authoritative FAQ in your industry and make it look great, or you add in individual FAQ’s on the end of each of your service and/or product pages if at all possible.

The reasoning I have is that is you do an all-encompassing FAQ about a multitude of questions that you make a great resource which people will value and potentially link to (win-win for marketing and SEO). Or by adding them separately onto the end of each service and/or product you will answer specific service/product related questions whilst people are looking at those pages.

I would recommend a blend of the two, Google loves pages that are long in content, and that this content answers all of a visitor’s questions. The longer someone spends on a website the higher Google is starting to rank that page as dwell time, the amount of time someone spends on a page is considered a ranking factor and a sign of quality.

What to include:

The most common questions you are most frequently asked should be on this page. Such questions should also remove any doubts a customer may have, in order to make them feel secure enough to make a purchase from you.

6. Testimonials / Reviews Page

Although I have listed this as a separate page, I would look to have testimonials and reviews on each and every page of your website – this goes back to the Trust factor. Linking these testimonials and reviews back to one central page will allow you to show-off a wide range of reviews and testimonials. If you really want to go all out, create a video of these reviews. Visually elements offer more trust and you can use this across both social media and other platforms.

7. Contact Page

Every website needs a contact form, just remember to add your address and contact details in your footer as well. It is important that everything on this page is clear and understandable – it should include your phone number, email address and physical address – you can also add in social media buttons and once the form has been submitted a thank you as a confirmation that their email has been sent.

8. Blog

We have a lot of clients asking us to build them blogs for their websites as well as writing content for these on an ongoing basis. It’s getting more and more important that you produce fresh website content on an ongoing basis, it’s also a great way to share expertise (hopefully like this post is doing) and to share insights to build trust.

You need to think of your blog as your greatest and most affordable marketing tool. A survey by HubSpot found that 57% of businesses who blog have generated a lead from it. Take Claire Wood Commercial Photographer as a great example of someone who knows how to blog, her articles are full of that month’s work and her personality really shines through the posts making her very attractive for companies looking to work with a friendly and highly-skilled photographer.

What to include:

You need to determine who your audience is and what you will be blogging about, getting a content plan and strategy in place is key going forward. Most people don’t really want to read an academic journal so try and make your blog posts conversational and casual in tone. Don’t look to post every day, unless you can produce quality on a daily basis – look to target a search that your customers are making and then write a blog post based on that. You might rank for this and pick up some extra traffic in the process (which is, of course, the key).

9. Press / Latest News Page

Getting featured in well-known publications is great for exposure and a page about this on your website is a great way to again highlight this further, and going back to my favourite word of the year, gives trust to those that are looking for your services/products.

What to include:

You can add in ways to get in touch with you, images and PR releases, as well as a media kit and prior news coverage.

10. Privacy Policy

I have a slight inclination that Google looks for privacy policies and Terms & Condition pages, as a sign of trust for a website (I could be way off the mark, but with the tests we have run, there looks like there is a slight correction that sites with these rank ever so slightly higher). Either way, you need a privacy policy which tells people what you’ll do with the personal information they give you, what you use it for, if it is shared and what data you collect.

11. Terms & Conditions

Similar to the above, a Terms & Conditions are a standard on most websites. This is a page the outlines the “rules” a visitor to your site must agree to abide by in order to use your website.

12. Sitemap Page

A sitemap allows search engine bots to read and understand what pages you have on your website and then determine what they are about and where they should rank, these are known as XML sitemaps. You can also have an HTML sitemap which is made for your “human” visitors and shows them what pages are on your website.

13. Page Not Found Page

This is what in the trade is known as a “404” error page and is a page that is shown when a webpage no longer exists, has moved or has expired. Take a look at our 404 page here – it shows a simple to use the search bar to allow people to find what they are looking for click on the menu above to find a service of interest.

There we go, 13 pages that your website must have in order to give a great impression to your potential customers.