In general, a business today needs a website. There are people who’d disagree with that, and maybe certain businesses can do well enough without one — but why would you want to?
A website can serve as a shop window (or even a shop, if you’re selling products), but it’s much more. It can be a crucial part of your sales funnel, attracting prospects onto the site, intriguing them into investigating further and guiding them through to the buy button or the contact form.
But that only works if you get all the components right. So what needs to go into creating your website?
The Components of a Website
- Design — The site needs not only to look great, but also to reflect your branding. This doesn’t just mean using your logo — also using your branding colours and other elements throughout. A website’s visual appeal is crucial, so it needs an expert graphic designer.
- Images — Visitors will relate to being able to see you, your people and where you work — whether that’s a large HQ or just a picture of your desk. Use a professional photographer — the photos will not only be higher quality, they’ll also be better composed.
- Videos — For many people, videos are the best ways of getting your message across, whether it’s a brief hello or an elaborate video explaining who you are and what you offer. Again, anything more than a ten-second greeting needs to be professionally produced.
- Navigation — One of a website’s main functions is to guide visitors from the landing page to the buy button, and this needs to be as easy as possible. Besides having a simple menu, make sure you have easy-to-find buttons to lead them to the next stage.
- SEO — search engine optimisation is essentially the way you increase your site’s chance of being found on Google or other search engines. The various content is vital, but there’s also behind-the-scenes coding needed, which is less likely to be effective on a DIY site.
- Written content — You didn’t really think I’d forgotten about the written content, did you? While it’s vital to include both images and videos, it’s the words that tell your story and create an emotional reaction — not to mention providing essential information.
What Pages Do You Need?
A website can be as simple as a one-page brochure or as extensive as Amazon. Assuming we’re talking about a website for a typical micro business, though, there are certain pages that most, if not all, websites should have.
Home Page
In most cases, visitors are going to arrive on the home page, and what’s on it will determine whether they investigate further or bounce straight off. The home page shouldn’t be too cluttered, but it does need to show visitors, very simply, what it is you offer — and, more importantly, how they can benefit from you.
Make sure you have a core message (no more than a couple of sentences) visible without scrolling. The rest of the page should include brief introductions for various elements to be found elsewhere on the site, with big friendly buttons to take them there.
The home page is a good place for a video, either as a welcome or an overview of your business. But please, don’t set it to start playing automatically — that can be very annoying.
About Page
Possibly the single most important page on the site, the about page introduces who you are — both you as a person and you as a business.
Yes, it’s a cliché, but it’s also completely true that people buy people, so let them know who you are. If you’re introducing yourself as a business owner, explain how and why you came to start the business, as well as your experience and your vision.
The about page isn’t the place for going into detail about what you do — that goes elsewhere. Show visitors why you’re the kind of person/company they want to work with. And, unless it’s necessary for your sector (if you’re an undertaker, for instance), you don’t need to be po-faced about it. Light-hearted elements are great.
If you have a team, let them introduce themselves, with photos of each one. I’ve even seen companies include the owner’s dog as part of the team — often as something like “morale manager”. That helps them come over less as a faceless corporation.
Services Page
If you offer services, have a page devoted to explaining them. If you have a range of services, include brief descriptions for each, along with buttons linking to subpages with more detail.
You can get a little more technical in this section — but don’t overdo it. After all, if you take your car to be repaired, you don’t want to know exactly which tools the mechanic will be using, just that you’ll get your car back running smoothly.
Concentrate instead on how you approach the services, and (most importantly) how your clients benefit from them. If you have quotes or testimonials from clients who’ve used these services, so much the better.
Products Page
If you supply products instead of offering services, you’ll need a products page or section, rather than a services one — although there are businesses that require both.
The structure will be much the same. You’ll have an overview page and however many levels of subpages you might need, covering categories and individual items.
Besides images, and perhaps how-to videos, product pages will need written descriptions. These can be more practical and factual than in other sections of your site — but, even so, don’t forget to emphasise the benefits the customer gets from the product.
Other Pages
Including a section for blogs, case studies or both is invaluable, since it means regular new content for your site. This not only keeps up interest and engagement with your customers and prospects, but it’s also excellent for the site’s SEO.
Needless to say, you’ll want a Contact page. Including contact details in the header or footer all through the site is good — but it’s still important to have a page for the visitor to end up on, with a contact form as well as other details. You won’t need much written content here, but remember to emphasise the channel you’d rather be contacted through (form, email, phone, in person etc.) while still offering alternatives.
Using Professionals
Hopefully it’s clear by now why you need a range of professionals on your side when creating a website. Of course, you might be an expert in one particular field, in which case it’s fine to do that yourself — I created the written content for mine, naturally. Generally, though, you want a web-builder, SEO expert, graphic designer, photographer and videographer who can give your site that extra zing.
Besides providing the written content, I work closely with top-quality professionals in all these fields. Get in touch with me to find out more about getting a website that will enchant your audience.