The 10 Pages Your Website Must Have

There are around 10 pages that every website should have to support your business. In today's article, we'll explain what you need.

Most business websites need 10 pages or so to fulfill their basic function. If you need help putting your website together, check out our website management packages (which include copy writing).

Otherwise, here's the basics that your website needs.

1. Home Page

If you're just running a blog (see below) then your home page will simply be an archive of your posts. But for a business, you need a dedicated home page.

This should act as a shop window for your business. Your logo, branding and colour scheme should be prominent. You should also make sure that your "offering" (what your business does) is extremely clear. A visitor should be able to tell in a few seconds what business you're in.

If you're looking for some inspiration, we really like the Dropbox Business home page

• It has a clear message / proposition
• The call to action buttons are prominent
• The colour scheme is a nice combination of light and dark blues

2. About Us

People buy from people, and prospective customers will want to know who you are.

The About Us page is crucial because it's often where people go just before making the decision to buy from you. It's often where they visit went they want to answer the question: "do i really want to work with these guys?".

Make sure you have some information about you and your team (if you have staff). And includes pictures! There's something about a personal profile without a photo that feels shifty.

3. Services

We've said "services" here, but this could easily be a "products" page.

Basically, you need a page which outlines what you offer as a business. Try to include as much information as possible. This includes the price! If you can't quote exact prices, make it clear that you will always agree a fee when you discuss the scope of work.

Try to answer all your customer's questions on one page. Long pages are better than short ones here. A short services page will just mean that they have to bounce around the site to find more information.

4. Blog

A blog is an essential tool for content marketing. It's a way to:

• Drive traffic (via SEO)
• Build authority
• Expand on your service offering
• Generate engagement

If you're struggling to get started, check out our article on How To Start A Blog.

5. Contact Us

It's best to keep this one simple. Keep the sales copy to a minimum, and then provide a contact form for people to get in touch.

A contact form is a great way to let people contact you:

• Allows you to filter spam
• Keeps the visitor in the site ecosystem
• Easier for a mobile user to fill in a form than compose an email

6. Privacy Policy

The EU has published guidelines as to what you need to include on your privacy policy. Don't cut any corners here. Unlike the other bullet points on this article, this is a matter of legal compliance.

We offer templates for most legal documents and privacy policies. Please contact us if you'd like to know more.

7. Ts & Cs

Ts & Cs are worth having on every site, but they are essential if you are selling anything directly from the website (e.g. an e-commerce store).

If you're selling products, make sure you have clear information about:

• Returns
• Refunds
• Shipping
• Payment Terms

8. FAQs

An FAQ page is a great place to answer all those little questions that don't really belong anywhere else.

As you write your website content, keep a list of all the things you want to cover, but that don't fit into the page you're working on. You can use this list to structure your FAQs.

Make use of internal links to help readers navigate through the questions. You can see how it works on our FAQ page.

9. Site Map

The Google support page on sitemaps explains what they are and why you might need one:

A sitemap is a file where you provide information about the pages, videos, and other files on your site, and the relationships between them. Search engines like Google read this file to more intelligently crawl your site.

The latest advice is that you probably don't need one unless:

• Your site is very large
• The internal link structure is poorly arranged
• Your site is brand new

Our take? Sitemaps might be helpful and they are simple to create. So why not!

10. Case Studies

Anything that helps your business generate social proof is a brilliant way to generate leads and help close sales. This could be:

• Case studies - show how you helped clients in a similar situation
• Reviews - let prospective customers see what people think of you
• Testimonials - let your happy clients do your marketing

If you'd like to discuss any aspect of website design, content or maintenance, please get in touch.