3 Pages Every Website Needs
These are the 3 pages you always need on your website. With these writing and design tips, you can create a strong foundation for you and your brand in less time and effort.
So you’ve decided to create a website for your business, resume, artwork, etc. and you want to know where to start. (Congrats on this new DIY project!) Designing a website, especially with all the resources nowadays, is easier than ever. Sometimes though, the pages and pages of demo templates start to get overwhelming and time-consuming to tackle. Perfectionism or doubt starts stalling the decisions and you’re a few weeks into this project and still don’t have a complete website online. Don’t give up, I’m here to say that creating a website doesn’t have to be confusing and doesn’t have to take extensive amounts of time making tons and tons of pages, especially when you’re just starting out. Question is then, what do you need for your website before clicking publish to the internet?
The answer is 3 pages. That’s it. Creating these 3 pages is essentially your website’s foundation. These 3 pages make your site unique, memorable, and provide you the freedom to showcase you and your brand. What are 3 important things that you should keep in mind when creating a website? It’s to show who you are, what you offer, and how people can connect with you. That’s the goal of a website.
The simplified 3 page method lets you dedicate more time and energy to curating your branding, and refining the presentation of your words and visuals. A website is your place on the internet, where you control the content. This is your first impression and introduction of you and your brand’s style to those people already interested enough to click on your website. It’s important to have a website that invites them into your space and allows visitors and potential clients / buyers to get to know you better. These 3 pages accomplish this and that’s why the pages every website should include are a homepage, About page and Contact page.
Now, let’s describe what these 3 pages should be used for and how to create them to best showcase you and your brand!
1. Homepage
The homepage is the first page your visitors see when they decide to click on your website. If you have any portfolio work, the homepage is an excellent place to put a few images of your favorite projects to summarize your work’s theme and visual style. The homepage sets the tone of your site. It gives you the opportunity to choose what you want the visitor to read and view first. As a blank canvas, you get to decide how this information is presented and represents your style. If you’re using a template, you can add or delete design elements and modify them to be aligned with your aesthetic and brand mood.
What do you want them to know immediately? Summarizing your website, business, goals, into a few clear sentences and place it on this page.
The homepage encourages where you want your site visitors to go next. This is powerful because you are able to suggest to visitors where they should look first to keep them best engaged and learning about you and what you offer. Whether it’s a blog post, more portfolio samples, or another page on your site, make sure you use the opportunity on your homepage to showcase snippets of some additional information, resources, and cool things that are available to check out on your website. It’s kind of like a preview or outline of the best parts of your entire site already picked out. The selection of what you put on your homepage is especially beneficial as you add more pages to your website and it evolves over time. The homepage is always the page where you can change out and emphasize your current work you want people to notice first.
2. About Page
The About page is pretty self explanatory. It’s a place for you to summarize your skills, interests, goals, accomplishments, and experiences. Even though it’s a page about you, it isn’t really about you. This page is really about how you can help your visitor and potential client / buyer. Keeping this important idea in mind as you write this page will make it stronger and more useful. Consider writing about how you stand out with your skills and experiences in your specific space. Offer a way to connect with the visitor who’s reading this page. How can you help them? What do you offer other people don’t? I’m not saying make this a cold sales pitch page. Instead of detailing your life story, use pieces of your story to genuinely explain what you and your brand does and why you do it so well. Discuss what you’ve accomplished and how your personal goals can assist your potential customers. Also remember to craft your writing in alignment with your brand image and tone.
If you’re unsure about what your brand’s image and tone is, consider this: how do you want the reader to feel reading and exploring the page and website? What is the first impression you want to give? What adjectives describe the look of your website you’ve designed? If you don’t like those adjectives or want to change them, what can you change to your website design and writing style to better fit what you do want?
3. Contact Page
The Contact page is the chance for clients to contact you. This page is where you provide support, make new connections, and build relationships. Remember to remind the visitor about what you offer and what jobs and projects you are most interested in working on. Make sure to include your contact information that you are comfortable with making public online. Provide instructions on how to reach out to you. Most websites utilize a contact form (and many website builders have this form as a pre-made element you can add directly to the page when designing). This form lets the visitor send you a message. You get notified via e-mail and then decide on how you’d like to follow up with them with the information they provided.
Completing these 3 pages first will make your website ready to publish and you can feel confident in your work. You will have all the essentials to make a website useful and memorable. It will be a clear example of you and your brand for visitors. So, get started and keep creating.