If you are creating a new website or giving your online presence a face-lift, you’ll want to be sure you capture your message in a cohesive way on a website that is easy to navigate for the ultimate user experience.

You have fewer than 15 seconds to convince your visitor that your site is what they need and having a website that isn’t clear on what you can do for them will have them moving on in no time.

When writing website pages, you’ll want to include the below pages to capture your audience and get them to take action.

Home Page

Every website needs a home page, but does your homepage showcase your brand and message in a way that represents you and informs your audience?

Your home page should give an overview of:

• What you do

• How you can help

• What makes you difference

• Key offerings

• Call-to-action (CTA)

• Social proof

I’ve come across some websites that immediately ask their viewer to make an appointment. For what? Why do I need an appointment?

Before I will consider making an appointment I need to know what you do and how you can help me in a unique way. Then I need you to tell me what I need to do to work with you. Don’t underestimate the power of a clear CTA.

About Page

When creating your website’s About page, it’s important to remember that your About page is not actually about you – it’s about your customer!

While it’s tempting to share all your thoughts and dreams, don’t give your audience a full personal history. They are more interested in how you can help them and what makes you the right person for the job.

It’s a great idea to get personal with your audience so they can get to know the real, authentic you, but that may be best saved for a blog post or podcast episode.

Key elements to include in your About page are:

• Introducing yourself (keep this brief – “I’m Sara, Owner of ABC company”)

• How you help

• Social proof or numbers to back up your claims

• Call to action

Telling your customers how you can help followed by a testimonial and clear call to action will be just what your customers need to convince them you are the very best option for them.

Services Page

Your website should be your #1 salesperson, capturing sales and leads while you sleep, but this will only happen if you are clear on what you offer.

Keep a quick overview of services (and your best packages) on your homepage, but use your services page to go into detail on what your customers get from you. For example, instead of saying 1:1 coaching, tell them how you’ll create a custom plan based on their needs so they can reach their unique goals.

When writing your website services page:

• Highlight your signature packages first

• Tell them why these services are important and the benefit to them

• Include any add-ons and how to get them

• Tell them the process of working with you or buying from you

• Tell them what to do next with a CTA button

Blog

I know what you may be thinking – why do I need a blog? What would I even write about? 

First of all, having consistent, relevant content is a key element to successful SEO. If you want your site to be found, a blog is great way to do it because you can go into detail about the topics your customers will be searching for.

Ideally, you should post four per month that are 1000 words each. If that seems like a lot, remember that you can use your blog content to create snippets for social media posts which means less content to come up with each month!

A few ideas on what to write on your blog:

• Start with a brand story – tell your customers your mission and brand values

• Go in-depth on how each of your services help your customers

• Share your knowledge with free content – this will keep your visitors coming back for more!

Blog tip: each month write one long-form blog (2500 words) and use the remaining three to go over complimentary topics at a length of around 1000 words. This will help your content stay consistent and relevant and improve your SEO.

FAQ Page

Many websites use the FAQs section to answer questions like shipping times and product materials. While those are great and do below in the FAQ section, this is actually the perfect place to capture SEO. Think about the questions your audience will be typing into Google to find you or your competitors and use these questions on your FAQ page to make sure you show up at the top of their search.

How to include SEO on your FAQ page:

• Make a list of the most common questions your customers have

• Write out complete answers to these questions using your main keywords

• Be sure your FAQ page is easy to read (not a big block of text)

Leveraging your FAQ page for SEO will help your rank higher on Google while also cutting down on some of the most common questions you get from your potential customers.

Contact Page

The contact page of a website is often overlooked, but don’t waste this high-traffic page with just a plain old form or email address. This is the perfect chance to remind your audience how you can help and why you are the right person for them. Drop-in some social proof with a testimonial, mention any guarantees you have and give them a very clear CTA before dropping your contact info.

Showing your customers that you are accessible builds trust and confidence and is another opportunity to showcase your brand values.

Create a killer Contact Us page:

• Offer multiple ways to get in touch (email, live chat and phone numbers are most common)

• Keep your questions to a minimum (you don’t want to lose their interest with a huge questionnaire)

• Use a conversational tone (or at least stay consistent to the rest of your site)

The above combined with a clear CTA will have your visitors reaching out in no time.

Website Structure

You really only need the above six pages to capture your audience and inspire them to take action, but don’t forget about the structure of your website to keep your users from leaving. A simple and clear website structure will guide your user so they only leave your site after feeling well informed and, hopefully, taking action.

Benefits of a simple website structure:

• Improved user experience

• Allows search engines to properly “crawl” your site (improved SEO!)

• Lower bounce rate because your visitor will know what to do

You want to keep your navigation super simple so your user knows exactly where to go. If they leave too quickly it will be considered a “bounce” and a high bounce rate will kill your SEO (more to come on that in a future blog post). The easiest way to do this is to keep the above pages as your header navigation with your main CTA as a button in the top right corner.

If your website visitor only took one action on your site, what would you want it to be? This should be your main CTA button. For service-based businesses, this is often a “Contact Me” button or for non-profits, it would probably be a “Donate” button. Having a clear CTA makes it easier for your customer and more profitable for you.

This structure is the key to a website that is easy to use and showcases the best of your business. Still unsure how to put it all together or just don’t have the time? Let me know! I love helping business owners bring their websites to life through strong and actionable copy.

You can reach me any time at hello@cedarcreekcreativeco.com