When building a website, the pages included need to be considered first.

What information is essential and needs to be showcased on your site? 

eCommerce stores or large companies might need many pages on their website, but there are 4 basic pages that are always included.

For smaller businesses, these four pages can be all you need on your website. 

So, what are they?

Home

Unsurprisingly, the home page is the first of the four required pages.

This is the landing page, what your websites users will see first before any movement and navigation on your site. 

The home page will welcome the user and should give them an overview of the basic information they need to know. 

As far as copy goes, the home page should include a brief description of who you are, what you do and why your services/products are important and desired.

You should also have a navigation bar, so that users can make their way to other areas of the site efficiently. 

Along with quality content and a navigation bar, your home page should always have a CTA.

A CTA or ‘call to action’ is a motivator for your user to make a conversion.

One you may see often is contact buttons, it could also be something like “View our SALE products now”, you get the gist. 

Whatever action you want the viewer to take while on your website, give them a reminder and motivation to do so on the home page. 

About

Next, you have the about page. 

This is important to include as it gives the user a more in-depth idea of who you are and what you do. 

This is also a good page to get some of your brand’s personality across. 

Introduce the team, your location, history of your business. 

Anything!

It’s all about you.

Think about your website’s goals, although the common desired endpoint will always be a sale, think about what steps a customer may take before that.

If they won’t make a purchase straight away, what will they want to know?

Establish a personality and reliability on the about page. 

Have fun with it, one of the biggest challenges in branding is personification, how to come across as real and genuine rather than a faceless brand who wants to take the user’s money. 

Products/Services

You’ve given them information on you and your business, but its time to leave the spotlight.

If you want a sale, you have to let the user know what exactly you provide.

Your products and services will have been briefly covered on the home page and possibly the about page, but now it’s time for detail.

Showcase what you can give people with and why they should want it.

A simple description and image won’t cut it, you need to really sell it to them, let them know that having this product will benefit them. 

If a user is unable to see exactly what you have to offer, then they will be likely to leave your site and go somewhere else to see what other businesses have.

The point of a products or services page is to convert the user, to turn a lead into a customer.

It should answer any questions the user may have on what you do and give a clear picture of what you can provide them with. 

Contact

Finally, you need a contact page. 

Think about your website as a sales funnel. 

Using the AIDA model, your four pages act as the four levels in the funnel.