What Pages Should Your Site Have?

Posted June 4, 2009 · Filed Under Recommendations · 1,332 views · 7 Comments  

pagesWhen you’re building or improving your website or blog, one of the first considerations you have is what pages should your site have? It would be nice if there was a pat answer that fit everyone, but that’s not the case, and you find that out fairly early in the process.

What if you asked the question a different way – one that gets at what you’re really asking – which is, “What is the minimum set of pages my site should have?” The answer is probably a shorter list, for one thing, and knowing the minimum requirement to go live takes a great deal of the pressure off from day one. You can (and likely will) add pages as you grow.

Assuming you’ve done your homework and have identified an authentic (for you) target market/niche and have created your X,Y,Z sentence, coming up with the minimum required pages list is fairly straightforward.

Your X,Y,Z sentence tells people what you do, for whom you do it and the benefits those people get when you do it, and should be clearly stated on your Home page.

  • The what you do is fleshed out on your Products, Services or What We Do page.
  • The for whom you do it is described on a page called Is This You? or Who We Help
  • The benefits should be on the Home page – clear as day – and restated on the other pages of the site, where appropriate.

One of the first things people want to know (if they’ve stayed past the first 10 seconds on your site) is who is the person behind this site? That’s your About page. And they’ll expect a way to contact you, so that’s your Contact page.

Recommended Pages for Just About Any Site

  • Products, Services or What We Do – this is pretty self-explanatory, yes?
  • Is This You? or Who We Help – this is where you zero in on and talk directly to your target market/niche/ideal client.
  • About – this page is all about you. Don’t write it in 3rd person, ok? Be brave – write it like you’re talking to your ideal client – in 1st person. Be personable, friendly, approachable – real.
  • Contact – give the maximum contact information you’re comfortable with. The more ways there are to contact you, the more your readers will trust you.
  • Blog – fresh, updated content to help drive traffic to your site and connect with your target market
  • Home – ideally, this page should be written last and be based on or compiled from the best of the other pages, making sure you include your X,Y,Z sentence.

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Related posts:

  1. Can You Say the X, Y and Z of Your Business in One Sentence?
  2. What’s Keeping You from Blogging?
  3. On Being an Expert – Which Direction Are You Facing?
  4. One Person’s Benefit, Another Person’s Barrier

Comments

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7 Responses to “What Pages Should Your Site Have?”

  1. Rachael
    June 4th, 2009 10:49 am

    This is SO helpful to me. Wow! And here I thought I’d done a pretty good job of organizing my website, lol. ;) Now I see that I was mostly organizing it for someone like ME, who is not actually my ideal client.

    You’re my hero! Thank you!

    (I know you via the Speakeasy!)

  2. Suzanne
    June 4th, 2009 11:41 am

    You’re welcome, Rachael! Thanks for stopping in and piping up – feel free to do it frequently. :)

  3. Deniel
    June 9th, 2009 8:07 am

    In my opinion, Web is our future and our business home so we should plan what we are going to have. On blogs, I recommend to have contact form at least. I am pretty uncomfortable when I needed to contact a webmaster or blog owner and there is no way to do that. For sites, you must have testimonial page because it always encourage people. Standard 5 page site has all that.

  4. nederlandse energie Maatschappij
    June 11th, 2009 7:14 am

    The “trust factor” of a site rises for me when I find a “testimonial” page. Also, I always want to know exactly what I pay. So I do like a “shipping” page. And ofcourse, for the after care a “FAQ” page is mandatory!

  5. JamesD
    June 11th, 2009 10:02 am

    Thanks for the useful info. It’s so interesting

  6. the-personalassistant.com/blog
    June 29th, 2009 5:32 am

    What Pages Should Your Site Have?…

    When you’re building or improving your website or blog, one of the first considerations you have is what pages should your site have? It would be nice if there was a pat answer that fit everyone, but that’s not the case, and you find that out fairl……

  7. Claire
    September 30th, 2009 3:01 am

    Thank you for this article. This will be very helpful when I start my next blog soon. :)
    Claire´s last blog ..Love Quotes – 3 My ComLuv Profile

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