8 Must-Have Pages For Your Small Business Website
Planning and creating a website for your business can be an overwhelming experience if you’ve never created one before.
If you have a growing business you need to have an online presence outside of social media. You want to give your target audience the opportunity to connect with you and find out more about what you do in a way that converts them to becoming a paying customer.
Taking the first steps to start a new website can be daunting, but in this post, I’ll be giving you a quick rundown of the first thing you need to check off your website creation list... knowing what your key website pages are going to be!
No matter what industry or niche your business belongs to, these are the top 8 pages I recommend for your small business website.
1. Homepage
The page to rule them all. Your digital shop window. This is one of the most important pages to have on your website, and it’s one that people can spend hours agonising over trying to get right. But if you focus on including these 5 homepage must-haves, you’ll be on track for a website that converts.
Your mission statement
High-quality imagery
Testimonials
Email opt-in
Call to action
Want to find out more? You might like to read this: Five Website Homepage Must-Haves.
2. About You
Whoooo... aaarrrree... yooooou?
This is your opportunity to show your audience who you are and why they should work with you. Give them a taste of your backstory, how you built your expertise, the why behind your brand/what your purpose is and how you can help them solve their problems.
A few questions to consider when writing this page include:
What makes you different?
Why should they choose you and not someone else?
What's your unique power?
You could also consider including some fun facts about yourself to give your website visitors the chance to build a more personal connection with you. Think less robot, more relatable.
3. Services or Shop
Show me what you got! After getting to know more about you and what you can offer, this is where your services or products should shine, giving your potential clients/customers the important details of what they can expect from you.
Focusing on the problems you can solve for your audience and the benefits they’ll get from working with you is key. This is a make-or-break page in terms of your sales so avoid any fluff, be crystal clear on what your offerings are and include important information you want them to know.
4. Portfolio
If you’re in the creative industry, your portfolio or detailed case studies are where you can make a big impact on your potential clients as you’re showing you can walk the walk, not just talk the talk.
One key thing to remember is that this section should only show the work you want to do more of. Don’t feel pressured into including every single project you’ve ever worked on here, especially if there’s anything you’re not completely proud of or want to do less of in the future. It would be better to aim for 3-4 high-quality projects over 10 mediocre ones.
5. Contact
It would be a bit silly to spend time creating a beautiful new website for your business, and then not giving people the chance to contact you, right?
You can make it easy for people to get in touch with you by placing a contact form directly on this page. One step better – especially if you're a service-based business aiming for clients to contact you – would be to include specific questions for them to answer instead of a generic “your message” box. For example on my own contact page, I have a client application form where I ask for details about their business, what their design project is and project timelines. This helps me get an idea of who the potential is before any more communication happens.
It’s also a good idea to make your boundaries known on this page, giving your website visitors an idea of when they can expect a reply from you and what your office hours are. Remember, you don’t need to be available 24/7. Set those boundaries and stick to them!
6. Blog
Regular, updated content on your website can work wonders if you’re looking to boost your SEO, build credibility with your audience and become more established within your industry. Blogs tend to be seen as an absolute must if you’re looking to make a long term positive impact on your business, so if you hadn’t thought about starting one or think blogging isn’t for you, you might want to reconsider.
There’s a huge number of resources out there that can help you get started with blogging, but a couple of my favourites include:
ThisSisterScribes - an awesome word witch I’ve worked with that has great content resources if you’re feeling overwhelmed with writing on your own.
7. Privacy Policy Page
Make sure your website is legit, protect your brand and yourself and get set up with the must-have legal pages relevant to your business.
As a starting point, every website should have a Privacy Policy and Terms of Use. If you’re product-based, other key legal pages include your shipping and return policies.
I highly recommend The Contract Shop*, which covers everything from the necessary website policies to contracts, terms and conditions and more.
8. Frequently Asked Questions
If you find yourself answering the same queries time and time again that are related to your services or your business as a whole, it’s time you set up an FAQs page to hold all of this information.
Your FAQs is a great opportunity to squash any concerns or uncertainties that your potential clients may have with regards to working with you.
What might stop them from buying from you? What little niggling worries might they have? Put yourself in their shoes and reassure them in a clear way.
And there you have it!
The 8 key pages for your small business website. I hope this has fuelled some ideas for mapping out a shiny new website for your business.
If you’re looking for some more design support, we can work together to create a strategy-led online presence for your business; one that reflects who you are and helps you to make a meaningful connection with your ideal audience. Head to my Services page to find out more or contact me below.
