“What pages do I need on my website?”
This is the probably the single biggest struggle I see with businesses of all kinds.
Planning out what pages you need on your website, what they should say, and how you should say it is vital to your overall online marketing plan.
So what pages do you need on your website?
Riddle solved.
You’re welcome.
All kidding aside, these are the essential pages even the smallest and most basic website needs.
They’re just the beginning.
If you’re really wanting your website to successful, then there are a few others that you need to add – and these pages will make all the difference in the world for your online business.
What pages do I need on my website?
So you’re the one who’s been tasked with the responsibility to build the website for your business or company.
Maybe your boss assigned it to you, or if you’re like a lot of people, you’re the only one who can do it because your business is basically you and you’re wearing a lot of hats.
It doesn’t matter though – the challenge of figuring out what pages you need on your website so that it’s effective and actually delivering results is a challenge that every online business faces.
So let’s figure this out and get the basics in place.
What pages do I need on my website? The Homepage
The most important page on your site is your website’s homepage.
This is where most of your visitors will land when they first find your site.
Your home page needs to quickly explain the benefits of your website to the visitor, who you are, and how you can help them.
If you fail with your home page then your site is going to struggle.
What pages do I need on my website? The About Us Page
Almost as important as your homepage is the page where you tell your story about who you are and why any visitor should ever bother to listen to you.
When you look at your website analytics it’s always going to be one of the most popular pages on your site, because once people know that you can help them (because you did a great job putting together your homepage) they want to get a feel for who you are and if they can trust your or not.
I can’t tell you how many websites I see where their about page simply sucks.
It’s like they’re trying to hide from you.
If you don’t get a good description of who it is that you’re actually talking to, then you need to leave that site because it may very well be that they cannot be trusted.
You do not want your visitors feeling like that about your business.
Don’t underestimate the importance of a really well-done “about” page.
What pages do I need on my website? The Contact Page
Your contact page is as it sounds – the page where your site visitors, customers, and clients can get in touch with you.
On this page you should make it dead simple for someone to reach you.
If you’ve got a physical location, include your street address.
Make sure you include your phone number.
And always use a web form instead of a mailto link so that someone can send you a message.
What pages do I need on my website? The Products & Services Page
For me, it’s puzzling.
I really don’t understand it.
But there are way too many websites out there that do a really bad job of presenting their products & services.
And here’s why:
Because they’re thinking more about themselves than their customers.
It’s a puzzling dilemma – businesses and entrepreneurs of all kinds get so wrapped up in what THEY want on their website that they completely forget about the people they want coming to their site.
It’s a head-scratcher for sure.
What pages do I need on my website? The Lead Generation Page
Having a lead generation page is probably more important than any other page on your website if you’re selling anything online.
And rare are those sites that aren’t selling one thing or another online these days.
It’s crucial that you have a way to attract your dream customers to your website and then pull them into your world by capturing their contact info.
Traffic to your website is going to come from all kinds of different sources – social media, search engine traffic, paid traffic, etc.
But ultimately the goal of all traffic, regardless of its source, is to convert into traffic you own and control, and that traffic is created by converting it through a lead generation page on your website.
Not having a lead generation page on your website is kind of like telling the world you don’t care about increasing your sales and revenue.
It’s that important.
Speaking of lead generation …
What pages do I need on my website? The Sales Funnel Page
Who likes to get more sales without increasing your spend?
Yeah – every single one of you should be raising your hand right now.
And building out an online sales funnel is the best way to do that.
Imagine this:
What would it be like if you had your best sales person, whether it’s you or one of your rockstar team members, working 24/7, 365 days a year, never called in sick, never went on vacation, and never complained about anything.
That is what a good sales funnel page – or set of pages – can do for your business.
It’s a way to collect leads on autopilot and earn more money online for your business, whether you’re a travel agent, or someone who owns a cleaning business, or even someone selling cars.
Every business can benefit from having an online sales funnel page on their website.
What pages do I need on my website? The Blog Page
So remember above where I talked about how important it was that your customers get to know you on your ‘about’ page because they want to see if they can trust you?
Well your blog is what solidifies that in their minds.
Now before you get carried away and talk about how you can’t do a blog, or you don’t know what you’d write about that, forget about all that for just a minute.
Think about it this way:
If you were introducing your dream client to your world, what are the things they need to know?
Without a doubt you could come up with plenty of content on those things alone.
Your blog is where you get to show off your expertise and demonstrate how you deliver results.
What other pages do I need on my website?
Ok – so we’ve covered the basics.
By this point you probably want to know what the other pages are that you need, since I mentioned it above.
This is the really good stuff!
You ready?
Let’s jump in!
What pages do I need on my website? The Resources Page
One of the most frequent questions I get about my own blog is “what tools do you use?”
A few years back, I decided that I needed to have an entire section of my website dedicated to the resources I use – it was much easier to send people to that page where they could see my list of preferred tools.
And that’s exactly what I created.
The resources page on your website should be a collection of all your recommended tools & resources that visitors to your site are going to want to see.
What pages do I need on my website? The FAQ Page
The FAQ page can save you so many headaches.
When I worked for an e-commerce company we used to get absolutely overrun with emails every day asking all kinds of questions.
It was taking up way too much time for me & my staff to go over those and answer them every day, so we started collecting the answers to the ones we saw frequently and when we would get those questions we’d send them to the FAQ page on our sites.
It was an absolute game-changer for us!
We were able to cut hours of time answering emails by creating a great FAQ page.
What pages do I need on my website? The 404 page
A 404 page is what your site visitors will hit when they hit a broken link, or mistype a URL. It’s basically a catch-all page for all traffic when there’s an error and the file or page cannot be found.
Most people overlook the importance of this page and this is to their disadvantage.
Being thoughtful and strategic with your 404 page is a great way to recapture and re-engage visitors who’ve reached the internet equivalent of a dead end road.
It’s important to have a good 404 page because it gives you the opportunity to present visitors with a variety of options like a search field to help them find what they’re looking for, a contact form so they can reach out to you, a lead magnet, or just about anything else you can think of.
EVERY site has traffic that hits 404 – it’s inevitable.
So don’t waste the opportunity to turn what could be a frustrating experience into a good one for your visitor.
What pages do I need on my website? The Legal Pages
Ok granted, these aren’t the most exciting pages on your website, nor are they going to be much fun when it comes to creating them, but they’re a vital part of your professional website.
There are a couple pages that you need – at the very least – to set your visitor’s mind at ease and to make sure you’re being a responsible business owner.
So what legal pages do you need for your website?
Here’s that famous answer: it all depends.
I’m not a lawyer, and have never portrayed one on TV, or any other place, so the best place to find out precisely what you need here would be the attorney who helps you with your business.
At the very least here’s what you need.
Privacy policy page – this page discloses how you deal with personal information that you may collect on your site with a section covering GDPR.
Terms of service page – this page lays out the groundwork for expectations and agreements for how your site is to be used.
Disclaimer page – this page is a basic cover-your-rear-end page so you don’t end up in court because someone made an assumption about what your site does and doesn’t provide.
Affiliate disclosure page – if you offer ANY affiliate sales on your website then you need to have an affiliate disclosure on your site.
There may be more pages you need in this area like a shipping & returns policy page, or something else.
But at the very least this should give you an idea about what you need to have in place.
Next Steps
So the question has been answered: “what pages do I need on my website”.
Here’s the kicker though – depending on what kind of website you’ve got the pages you need could be a lot different.
Want to learn a ton more?
I’ve created a fantastic guide that’s literally jam packed with dozens and dozens of tips, tools and techniques that will help you plan and create the pages for your website, and it’s free.
Grabbing your copy is fast and super easy. You can be putting the things I teach you in this guide to work for your success in just minutes.
All you need to do is click here to get it: Website Content Blueprint