In 2019, even the smallest business needs a website. Don’t worry! Whether you’re a small, medium or even large business, it doesn’t have to be complicated. The websites of most service-oriented businesses need at least five pages. Of course, this number will increase significantly if you sell products on your site (e-commerce).
⇒A small-business website should have at least five basic pages.
But even brick-and-mortar retailers who don’t sell online might not need more than five pages. What do these pages consist of? Here are the five pages you need on your website (followed by two more pages that are nice to have).
The five basic pages every business website needs
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Homepage
Your homepage is your storefront. As the gateway to your website, it should invite users in and help them get:
- Where they want to go—usually to specific information about your business.
- Where you want them to go—usually to complete a lead generation form or make a phone call.
Good to know
Your homepage is only a front page. Rather than weighing it down with an overload of information, use it to facilitate the movement of users through your website.
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About Us
Business owners sometimes consider this page an afterthought. As the reasoning goes, “It’s about the services we offer, not who we are.” But for a select group of visitors to your website, the About Us page will be the most important page on the site. Users go to the About Us page to learn more about your business and decide if they want to work with you. More, in the virtual world, the About Us page assures visitors that yours is an actual business (as opposed to a front created by offshore imposters).
Good to know
For the most part, your About Us page should focus on the history and values of your company rather than personalities, but a few personal details and photographs will go a long way toward convincing users that you’re genuine.
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Services
This is where you get to the heart of the matter. Use this section to tell potential customers exactly what you offer. Do you sell packaged soup to supermarkets? Describe your soups and how they’re packaged. Are you a general contractor who remodels kitchens, builds custom homes and takes on the occasional commercial job? Be sure to list each service you offer.
Good to know
Go into enough detail that users know what you do, but be careful not to overwhelm them. Ultimately, you want them to get in touch. You’d be happy to answer any further questions they have (and hopefully make a sale in the process).
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Contact Us
From a business owner’s perspective, this is the most important page on a website. After all, the job of most websites is to create leads. While you can (and should) include your contact information on every page of your site, your Contact Us page is your chance to provide more contact details, such as a map and/or a listing of service areas.
Good to know
The Contact Us page gives you another opportunity to persuade users to get in touch. Rather than simply listing your contact information (and contact form), include call-to-action text such as, “We’d love to hear from you.”
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Testimonials
In a recent survey by Search Engine Land, 39 percent of consumers say they read reviews on a regular basis, and 88 percent say they’ve read reviews to determine the quality of a local business. Testimonials reach potential clients in a way that your own content never can. They offer proof that you’re real, trustworthy, likeable and, most importantly, good at your job.
Good to know
Pay attention to your offsite reviews as well. Review sites such as Diamond Certified can be a major source of lead generation. Learn more about managing customer reviews here.
Two additional pages that are nice to have 
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Projects
You may want this to be a standalone page that’s available from the main menu, or you may want to roll this into the Services page. Either way, a Projects page is your opportunity to show users what kinds of jobs you take on and what they can expect from working with you.
Good to know
Include both text and photographs in your project descriptions. Photographs are one of the best ways to communicate quickly with a user; text will help with your Search Engine Optimization.
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Blog
Many of our clients are hesitant about creating a blog. It’s understandable—they think most users don’t bother with blogs so it’s a waste of precious resources. Unfortunately, Google disagrees. When the Google bots are evaluating a website, they consider many different factors, including the amount of content on your site and whether the site is up-to-date. A blog gives you the opportunity to tell Google that your site has a great depth of content and that it’s being updated regularly.
Good to know
When launching a new website, you might not need a blog right away. Unless you’re ready to regularly create content, build the page but keep it unpublished. Once the initial turmoil of creating a new website has died down, ask yourself if you’re ready to create content on a regular basis (weekly, monthly, once every three months—“regular” is the key word here). If the answer is “yes,” publish the page, start creating content and watch your website climb on Google.
And that’s it! While every company is different, as you can see, a website doesn’t have to be a behemoth to serve your business. Instead, maximize effectiveness by creating a website that’s small, manageable and mighty.
Photos by Radek Grzybowski and Patrick Tomasso on Unsplash