Websites can be daunting when you’re starting from scratch, especially if you don’t have a lot of content to start with. Lucky for you I’ve created a quick guide to help you answer the question: What pages do you need on your website?
Home Page
This is a bit obvious, but you’re going to want to start by covering who/what/when/where/why/how. It’s the basics that everyone will look for when they land on your site. It will also inform the rest of your pages and the content you’ll be developing to attract business to your site.
On this page you’re also going to want to answer the question “What is the problem you’re trying to solve for your customers, and how are you going to solve it?” In my case, you came here because you have no idea where to start with your website and I want to give you the tools to solve your problem by helping you make one. You can also tell that this is my goal because I’m writing more content to support that, which you are currently reading. Eh? Eh? See where I’m going with this? Yeah!
About
This is where you continue to develop trust between you and your new customers. Tell them about yourself! I mean the fun details like how you make horror movies in your spare time! Or you know, your weird quirky hobbies.
Tell people why you’re the right person for the job. Bios are tough to write but if you think about your resume I’m sure you’ll find a few highlights you’re proud of that will show off your skills! Whether you’re the founder of a tech startup or a solopreneur, this page needs to show off the personality of your company.
Take a bit of space to explain why you started your company. Everybody has a why, so what’s yours? Maybe you wanted to work toward more independence or perhaps you saw a problem in the world that you knew you could solve. Explain it
Finally, Don’t be shy, be yourself. People see right through disingenuous blah blah blah blah blah corporate blah blah blah blah. Are you still reading? Great. Follow my lead. Be a normal conversational person like you are in real life.
Product/Services
Depending on the type of business you have you’ll tailor this page. Here are a few examples of what you might do:
- Pricing structure: Layout different packages that your customers can purchase if you’re offering a service or subscription-based product
- Portfolio: Demonstrate your capabilities with some of your favourite projects. But only your favourites, don’t put ugly stuff here that you’re not 10000% proud of, it’ll only make things look inconsistent and will lower the expectations of potential customers.
- Shop Collections: This one you may want to break into a few pages under a sub-menu but the concept for each page will be the same. Highlight each category on its own to keep things clear for your customers.
News & Media
A timeline and history of your company is a great thing to have, especially when media comes a knockin’! Announce the launch of a new product, new team members or anything noteworthy and keep it up to date. Use blog categories to automatically populate your news page with updates! So easy! So magical!
Contact Info
No one will find ya if they can’t find ya! Make sure you’ve got a way for people to contact you on your site at least somewhere. A page with contact info is ideal, but at a bare minimum keep it in your header or footer so people can quickly find your email address. You know how its so difficult to find contact info for companies you spend a lot of money with? And how frustrated you get? Don’t be that company. Be accessible and tell people how to reach you. Build that trust!
So! Are you ready to get started? Comment below with a link to your site once you’re ready to launch and share feedback with other readers. I’m excited to see what you can do!
