Building A Website? Know The Pages You Need!

Have a new business venture, personal blog, side hustle and need to create a website to highlight what you do and where you can be found, but don’t know where to start?

Start with a plan; knowing what you might need ahead of time, such as pages.

The most important pages you need to plan ahead when working on a DIY website include a homepage, about page and a contact page. Let’s dive a bit deeper in the why. Why are these pages the top three basic needs?

1. Your Homepage: 

Just like a book needs a cover, your website needs a homepage. The homepage is your first impression to your viewers and highlights what your audience should expect from you and/or your business. Think of your homepage as an actual storefront. If you were walking past it, would you enter it? Ask yourself will this capture my ideal customers attention? If not, you might either need to rethink your strategy or update your page so it doesn’t go stale.  

2. About Page

Your homepage is your first impression, but your ‘about us’ page is where you actually introduce yourself to your website audience. Think of this page like a speed-dating event; you have an allotted amount of time with each viewer to learn about you in hopes of turning them into a customer. If you don’t get the right message across in this time, you might lose them.

3. Contact Us Page

Your homepage is a must, but this is probably the most important page you can have when creating your DIY website. Your contact page should include a physical address, an integrated google map is a bonus, a phone number where they can reach you, an email address and social media outlets if you have them. Your contact page will also help you to track leads, collect information on who is coming to your site, and add them to your mailing list if you have a newsletter or weekly emails. 

So what else do you need to know when it comes to building your own website once you have your main pages planned and built out? It all comes down to what type of business you have or what experience you are trying to convey.

1. Service-Based 

If you are a service-based business you might want to consider also adding in separate pages for each of your services, as well as an FAQ page. Not only will an FAQ page improve user experience, but it will also give your viewers the answers to questions they need quickly. Keep the answers short and sweet on your FAQ page, no more than 40-90 words and when necessary, link to additional information elsewhere on your website. The biggest perk to having an FAQ page is that it can save your bottom line when it comes to customer service. 

2. Ecommerce 

For an e-commerce website you would include the home page, about page, and contact page, but you would also want to include a shop page. Ideally, as an e-commerce business you would not just have a shop page, but have your collections or categories listed at the top of your website in your navigation. For example; shoes, dresses, tops, and accessories could be the categories for a women’s clothing boutique. By placing your collections or categories in your site navigation this makes it super easy for your site users to find exactly what they are interested in purchasing. You will also want to include featured products on your home page so the consumer can get a taste of what you sell. In addition to these pages, it is also important to include your shipping and returns information on your site as an e-commerce-based business. A good place for this to live is within your FAQ page as mentioned above.

3. Blog

For a blogging website, you want to make sure that you include your blog feed on your homepage and a sidebar that includes your email opt-in. Blogs can be tricky so you may have a test out a few different homepage templates because some of them do really well if they have a homepage with the hero section (introduces users to your brand), email opt-in, about you, your featured blog posts for the month and then your footer. 

Bonus!!

Here are a few more important things to keep in mind when it comes to creating your own website: 

1. Consult a Lawyer

For all website creations, I highly suggest that you speak with your lawyer to get a privacy policy created and link this in the footer of your page. Your footer may also include your terms, conditions, and disclaimers based on your business, as well as your contact information of links to your social media. 

2. Choose the right template

Using the right template can help you stay organized and ensures your site is exactly the way you want it to look.  If you use a template, you not only save yourself a lot of time allowing yourself to focus on other aspects of your business, but it also costs you close to nothing.

3. Have a call to action (CTA)

Don’t forget to include a call to action on each page. This needs to have a clear mission for each page you create so your users have a great experience!

Now that you have a few tools in your toolkit to get started you are a step closer to building your clientele. 

Have more in-depth questions about how to create your website or what type of template is best for your business? Comment below!

Also, be sure to check us out on Instagram, Facebook or check out our latest freebie: the Website Planning Guide.