7 Essential Pages Every Website Should Have

If you’re a small business owner you know how important it is to have a professionally-designed website if you want to succeed.

Whether you’re looking for guidance on how to make a website on your own or hiring a web design agency, you need to take into consideration specific rules and guidelines to help you achieve your goals. To succeed, every website must have a number of features including visible calls to action, easy navigation, plenty of white space, a display of social proof, etc.

If you study and analyze top business websites, you’ll notice that many successful websites share similar elements and pages. Take a look at this analysis from WordStream studying the homepage design of 50 websites and you’ll see a pattern. ( 7 Things We Learned from Studying the 50 Top Business Homepages ).

Despite the fact that each business is different and needs to display its own unique content, it still must offer an easy way for users to navigate the site. And the best way to achieve this is by implementing commonly accepted practices and publishing pages users expect to find when they visit any website.

Must-Have Pages For A Successful Website

When creating a website, it’s important to include the essential pages in order to attract and retain visitors, establish credibility, achieve business goals, and help users find important information on the website easily.

Every type of business website, regardless of what industry they serve, must explain what they do, what services they provide, and how people can contact them.

So what pages should you include on your website? From the homepage to the contact page, we’ll cover the pages that are crucial for any website to function effectively.

Below is a list of must-have pages that are necessary for the success of your website

1. Home Page

The homepage is a no-brainer, it’s the page every website must have. There are even websites that use only one page for the entire site.

Having a well-designed home page is critical since most users will only get to see your homepage before they decide if they want to stick around. If your homepage is poorly designed or not optimized for conversions, your website won’t be very effective in helping you grow your business. Your homepage needs to grab users’ attention and quickly tell them who you are, what you do, and how you can help them.

The homepage should include all the basic information about your company and give a brief overview of the services you provide.

Do not include a long list of every service your offer, but rather list only the main categories. You must strive to keep your main page clutter free and only provide the essential information users are interested in.

To see how to design a perfect homepage check out this infographic from Kissmetrics: The Anatomy of An Effective Home Page

What to include on the homepage:

• Calls-to-Action
• Testimonials & other social proof
• Introduction section/Unique Selling Proposition
• Main services

2. About Page

The about page is the place where you can tell your story and also differentiate yourself from your competitors. Take a look at this post from Neil Patel to see how to leverage your brand’s story to drive sales.

The about page should include information about your background, company history, mission, and what inspires you.  However, the about page should not only be strictly about you and your business. One mistake many businesses make with their about pages is when they only talk about themselves.

About page gives you a chance to convince your potential customers why they should work with you and why they can trust you.

By including information about your reputation, experience, years in business, awards, and credentials, you trying to show your credibility and your expertise in order to build trust. To learn more take a look at The Anatomy of a Perfect About Us Page (Infographic)

What to Include on the About page:

• Company history
• Your vision and mission
• Awards & achievements

3. Services Page

The Services page is crucial for small businesses as it can attract potential clients and customers.

While listing the services you offer is important, it is also essential to differentiate yourself from others in your industry.

To generate business, it’s a good idea to highlight unique services or niche areas that set you apart from the competition.

Additionally, including detailed information and descriptions of each service on its own page can help improve your SEO and provide more opportunities for optimization.

What to include on the services page:

• List of services
• Details about each service
• Describe how your services different from your competitors
• Process and how you solve problems

4. Blog

Content marketing, SEO, and blogging are extremely can make be extremely important for generating business and growing your website traffic. If you’re interested to see how it impacts your ranking, take a look at some of the benefits of blogging for small businesses.

Blogging allows you to communicate with your visitors, create a sense of community, and build user engagement. You can also use a blog to show off your expertise and to share your ideas, tips, and advice so you can build trust with your audience.

Even if you don’t have time to publish regularly, you should still set up a blog, and create new content when time allows. The more content you have, the more likely your content will get found.

What to include in your blog:

• Blog posts
• Social media sharing plugins
• A place for comments and user feedback

5. Contact Page With Simple Contact Form

Your contact page needs to include your telephone number address physical location and the form that visitors can fill out to get in touch with you.

When designing your contact form, it’s best to keep it simple. However, it can be beneficial to include additional fields to gather more information, such as the title of the person reaching out, their website URL, and phone number. Additionally, you may want to include a drop-down menu for them to select the reason for contact. This way, you can prioritize responding to those who are interested in working with you, as opposed to those who are simply promoting their services.

Including your email address can lead to a high volume of spam, so it’s best to avoid adding it to your contact page, or anywhere else on the website. Instead, use the contact form as the primary means for others to reach out to you.

What to include on the contact page:

• Contact Information
• Business phone
• The physical address of your business
• Social media links
• Embedded Google map
• Contact form

6. Testimonials Page

Clients like to deal with businesses and companies they trust. That’s why it’s important to include social proof elements in your website. Testimonials is one of the best ways to build such trust. When you add rave reviews and positive feedback to your website, you show that you’re trustworthy and reliable and that you offer great service.

The more personalized testimonials are, the more convincing they are. That’s why it’s always a good idea to add headshots, titles, and website information if you’re given permission to use them. Lastly, video testimonials can be an amazing way to inject more personality into your pages and further build trust.

What to include on the testimonial page:

• Testimonials with headshots, titles, and website URLs
• Case studies
• Video reviews

7. FAQ Page

You can use your FAQ page to educate your users and answer the most common questions about your services or products.  Nothing is worse than people contacting you and asking the same questions over and over again.

By providing this information you will save time, but the FAQ page has other benefits, as well. FAQ Pages are great for SEO, since they include questions, keywords, and phrases people are using to find answers.

What to include on the FAQ page:

• Frequently asked questions

Bonus: Store, Gallery, Portfolio, Terms

Every business is different and this means that in addition to the basic pages included in this post, other pages might be required depending on the type of business. For example, a small business that sells products will need pages for e-commerce, web agency will need a portfolio to showcase its client work.

Conclusion

Regardless of what your business does, at the very least you need to include the pages listed here and then decide what other pages you might want to add. When users come to your website, they should not waste time trying to find the information they need. Your website must be clear and easy to navigate, so users can quickly learn about who you are and what you do.

If you disagree or think there should be other pages added to this list, use the comments section below to let me know.

INFOGRAPHIC: Most Important Pages On a Website

Infographic by BigAppleMedia | Medical Web Design Agency