Your website is the online description of your business and it’s also your 24-7-365 sales person. So what are the essential pages you need on your website?
Your website is the first impression for many potential customers searching for products and services your business can offer them. It is critical to make sure that you have all the information needed for conversion, while still keeping it visually appealing.
You need to make it your own, while also making it easy on the eyes, to the point and able to capture your target audience. It should be lightweight, with language that is relatable to the customers.
The Essential Pages You Need On Your Website
Every website is different, but generally speaking, here are the four most important (and most-visited) pages on a website:
- Home Page
- About Page
- Blog
- Contact Us Page
- Home Page.
This might seem like a no-brainer, but it’s worthwhile mentioning, just to expand on what it should include:
- You must quickly capture your audience with a clear and concise headline that summarizes your site.
- Sub-headline. This briefly describes what your business does. Don’t just talk about yourself; let your audience know how you can solve their problems.
- Calls to Action. Primary and secondary CTAs should both be on your site for conversion opportunities. The primary CTAs should be above-the-fold to compel visitors to dig deeper into your website. Secondary CTAs should be below-the-fold with additional links.
- Include a picture or video that is complementary to your business offering. A picture is worth a thousand words, and all that.
- Benefits and Features. Point out how your business offerings help the consumer, and how. Briefly describe the features your product/service provides.
- Social Proof. Include testimonials, quotes and links with sources, if possible.
- Provide a clear path to other pages on your site. Navigation links should be at the top of the page with a search box, if possible.
- If available, provide a link to a free download, whitepaper, ebook, etc.
- Awards & Recognitions. If available, include your business’ credentials, accreditations, kudos, awards and affiliations. This can inspire confidence and trust.
- About Page.
After the Home page, the About page is probably the most visited page on your website. Basically, a good About Page is simple, straightforward, and it communicates just a few key things about you and your business. It should include a summary about your business and introduce you and possibly your staff. Staff bios and photos make you relatable.
The content on many About Pages tends to be boring and tedious. To avoid this problem, you may want to use the following tips:
- Use your own writing voice. Make sure you portray, in your own words, what you want consumers to know about you and your business.
- Don’t use corporate jargon, acronyms or cheesy quotes.
- If it matches your style and personality, you can be a little funny or dorky. Just be careful that it could be a turn-off to some customers, but if you are looking to draw in clients with similar personalities, then go for it.
Videos are great for websites, since most people are visual. But don’t make the mistake of using ONLY video. Make sure you include some text as well, to supplement video. Also, make the video interesting, while also short and to the point.
Including a brief history of how you got where you are is great, just make sure it doesn’t go on and on to the point of being boring. Save the sagas for your grandchildren, who may at least pretend to be interested. Readers on your website like to read stories that reveal how you can help THEM and SOLVE THEIR problems.
Some of your visitors’ unanswered questions are:
- What’s in this for me?
- Am I in the right place?
- Can this person help me with my problem?
The bottom line is, your About Page is not really about you! It should include information about you that potential customers want to know. Connect with them and keep them intrigued, wanting to learn more. Tell them how you can help them solve their problems and target their pain points, and why they should even bother reading your site. Yes, the About Page is about you and your company, but only in the context of how you can serve your readers.
- Blog Page.
You may wonder why this is included as a critical page for your website. After all, will anyone read what you write? Aren’t they only interested in the facts, like what you’re selling and why it benefits them?
According to a post by Ramona Sukhraj, “24 Little-Known Blogging Statistics to Help Shape Your Strategy in 2017”:
- Business blogging is steadily on the rise
- B2B companies with a blog receive more leads than those that don’t
- Higher blogging frequency is more effective
- A B2B blog has tremendous SEO benefits and organic search attracts high-quality leads
- A company blog has more long-term ROI than traditional marketing efforts
In addition, there are also several emerging trends that may occur in 2017:
- Longer blog content tends to perform better in search engines
- Visual content (graphics, charts, photos and videos) is in higher demand
- Paid promotion/distribution for blog content has dramatically increased
Here are 4 reasons you need to blog:
- Drive traffic to your website
Your business should have associated accounts on Social Media, like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn and other relevant sites. Include links in these accounts to your blogs, which will drive your followers to your website. You can link to other pages on your website within the blogs and include Calls to Action as well.
- Increase your SEO
If you use fresh content in your blogs, it automatically increases SEO. Using keywords and keyword phrases can further increase SEO when they are related to your business and what potential customers will use to find what your business has to offer. Keywords and topics on your website are a significant way in which Google (and other search engines) find your site for these searched words.
- Position your brand as an industry leader
Articles that feature topics that resonate with you target market, reveal your knowledge and are well written will market your skills and business services or products.
Make sure you do thorough research for any statistics or studies that you cite in your blogs. It doesn’t hurt to reference and link to content from other sources; after all, nobody can know everything about every subject. This will let your audience know that you are constantly searching for better solutions and ideas. You can become the hub for your industry.
The more you can show that you are well-versed in your field, the more likely your consumer will trust you to supply what they need. They will also benefit from the information you provide.
- Develop better customer relationships
Blogs are a source for your clients to get to know more about your business, what it offers and how it can benefit them. You are building trust by being their source of information.
If you accept comments to your blogs, be interactive. Respond to comments and questions directly on your website. This will engage readers and keep them coming back.
- Contact Page.
Have you ever visited a website where contact information was not immediately visible? That can be frustrating, often causing visitors to give up quickly and start their search over. Many sites include contact information in the page footer, which is great (as long as it is on EVERY page the website), but it is critical to have a separate page with all of the business’ contact details.
You should WANT people to contact you. Most of the time they do this because they are interested in knowing more about you and your service/product. Your contact information should be easy to find and as complete as possible. Give the consumer options: phone number, physical address, email address, fill-in contact form. Many people would rather email than call, or vice versa. Let them choose.
You can also include links and options like live chat or an “Email now” link that takes them to a contact form. This makes the process a bit easier for the visitor and engages them quickly.
Suggestions on items to include in your contact page for the best results:
- Physical address. People become skeptical of businesses that don’t have a brick and mortar place of business. A PO Box is acceptable, but you should definitely provide a mailing address to show that you are legitimate.
- Social media links. Even if you have these icons elsewhere on your site, it’s a good idea to also include them on your contact page. This provides the visitor an option to contact you through social media as well as the other options.
- Email links. Make sure your email contact is a link to save the consumer the extra step of copying and pasting to their email program.
- Interactive maps. If you have a physical location, include a map where people can see where you are and map how to get there. If getting to your business has some quirks to it, consider adding specific details as text. For example, “Our office can be accessed through the rear entrance of the building.”
- A photo of your storefront. This can help visitors who will more easily remember the sign, especially if they are unfamiliar with the neighborhood.
So go back and take a look at your contact page and see if it includes these suggestions.
While there are plenty of other pages to consider, and most certainly starting with a strategy on what content you want to and need to have, and how to optimize that content for search many people forget the importance of some core pages that every website should consider. Starting with these essential pages you need on your website – Home, About, Blog, and Contact – is an important place to start to improve your website.