When planning your new website or redesign there are a number of important factors to take into consideration. We will walk you through these here, giving you some pointers along the way. You will learn what pages you should have on your website and why; the critical information you need to get a top-performing website that your customers will love and that will make you money.
Things to know before you start planning your website pages
Take the time to sit down and evaluate the questions below. It is critical to have this information in mind when planning your website. We will go over these questions in detail in other blog posts, so come back soon or sign up for our newsletter to hear about our new posts.
- What is your customer profile?
- What is the main aim of your website?
- What would you like your customers to do when they visit your site?
- Do you have brand guidelines?
- What are the products or services that give you the best ROI (return on investment)?
- What are your other products or services?
- What is the best way for a client to contact you?
What problems do your ideal clients have, that your product or service will solve?
This is often a challenging question, especially for small businesses that have been trading for a while.
- What does my product or service actually do for my clients?
- How do they feel about the problem they are having?
- How would they feel if their problem was fixed, what would it mean to them?
For example:
Imagine you are a lawnmower company.
Rachel’s lawnmower has broken. This is what you may perceive to be the problem but dig deeper. Rachel has a dog and two young children and loves entertaining in the summer, having friends round for BBQs. The fact that the grass is growing long means that the children can’t run around the garden with the dog. Rachel won’t invite people over as the garden looks like a mess. Rachel also works full-time and has a busy schedule.
So in Rachel’s case, the problem she has is the kids cant run around and she can’t have people around. When she is buying a lawnmower she is buying the ability to entertain and the kids to be entertained which makes her happy. The lawnmower itself won’t make her happy, but what it can do for her. So when promoting any service or product, remember they don’t want the product or service they want what it will do for them and importantly how the end result will make them feel. Tap into those feelings when promoting your services. What’s in it for me is what all customers want to know.
The additional problem she faces is time, so delivery or collection services will be an important factor.
Keywords and SEO (Search engine optimisation)
TIP: When adding content to your website you should be aiming to answer all the questions and address the problems that your clients have, in their words, not yours.
What will your potential clients be searching Google for to find your company?
How would they word their search?
The phrases and focus words your clients search for online need to be incorporated into your website Pages, titles and content, to help you rank well for those search terms. Remember this when planning your site
What pages should you have on your website then?
Homepage
This should layout immediately, what you do and reassure the visitor that they are in the right place to solve their problem.
It should promote trust in your business – this may be by showing testimonials, awards, accreditations, etc.
Include ‘call to action’ options – let your customers know how to contact you, remind them why they should get in touch, and encourage them to do so.
About us
This again is your chance to build trust, show your personality and explain how and who you work with.
Products / services
Your main products or services that bring you the biggest ROI should have a dedicated page to themselves. This demonstrates to your customers and to Google that you are a subject matter expert. If you are a bathroom and kitchen fitter, do not be tempted to have a small page with a couple of sentences on both. Dedicate a page to each key service and answer the questions from above to help your potential clients see and feel how you can help them.
FAQ and or a Blog / News
This is again important to help you answer those questions or doubts a potential customer may have about a product or service. Give them reassurance about all of their possible objections to using your services or buying your product. You can use Blogs and News to demonstrate your expertise and knowledge which has the added bonus of being beneficial to your website’s SEO rankings.
Contact us
How do you want to be contacted? What information do you require from your potential customer?
Make it easy for people to get in touch and remember to give them a reason why, reassurance, and a motivation to do it now.
General information to include throughout your website
- Contact information – telephone, email and or a contact form
- Testimonials, reviews
- Accreditations and awards
- Call to action buttons
We hope this helps you create your sitemap and plan for your website. If you would like assistance then get in touch today and book your website strategy meeting, where you will walk away with a full website brief to hand to your website designer or for you to build yourself.
Let us know how this has helped you!