The benefits of a single-page website for your new business
When you are new in business there are a variety of reasons that mean you may not be in a position to create a large, multi-page website. That’s not the only option though! Before you decide to rely purely on social media though, I would challenge you to think about a middle option, between nothing and full-blown 10-page website.
Often when you are new in business, one of the following reasons will be holding you back from working with a website designer on a large website project:
Time – You are keen to just get things going and want to get online as quickly as possible. Working with a website designer on a full website will take at least a few weeks, along with whatever lead time they may have, which might be time you don’t have.
Budget – We all have to start from zero when building our businesses and prioritise where we do and don’t spend money. A full custom website project might not be in your start-up budget.
Overwhelm – You are already doing so much when starting up a new business, the thought of adding creating a website to your list might just be too much to think about!
When is a single-page website the best option?
If you feel as though one of the above applies to you, then I encourage you to think about setting up a single-page website, as a starting point for your businesses online presence. A website is such an important part of marketing for any business, so skipping this step entirely could be costing you.
The benefits of setting up even the most basic website are:
Establishing yourself as an official business – Most people will do an online search whenever they hear about a new business, so they can find out as much as possible before deciding if they want to spend money with them.
Building your search ranking from the get-go – SEO and search engine performance is a long game, so getting a website online as quickly as possible will start you on the right track. (You can learn more about SEO and your website here).
Give you confidence – Having a website will make a big change to how you view your business. Having a domain, website and official home online will really give you that boost of confidence when talking about your business. You’ll also be able to send people quickly and easily to a single place for them to get all the info they need and get in touch to work together.
What do I need to prepare before the project?
One of the main benefits of a single-page website is that it will be a much quicker process to build the site, whether you are DIYing or working with a designer. However, you will still need to take a little time to prep some information and content for your site.
This will include:
Text/Website Copy – You’ll see from the breakdown below the type of text you will need for your website. It doesn’t need to be overly complex but it does need to be easy to understand, specific and relevant to your ideal clients needs.
Images – I’m assuming if you are looking for a starting website you won’t have a huge library of brand images to work with, that’s OK! I would recommend a photo of yourself, whether that’s just smiling at the camera or an in-action photo of you doing whatever it is your business does. A few other images will be really helpful to add some engaging content to your website but you can always look for high-quality stock images as a placeholder at this stage.
Branding – As with the photos, you may be in the position that the website is the first thing you are ticking off your list and you don’t have a brand designed for your new business. That’s ok, too! You will need to think about pulling together (or having your web designer pull together) a simple palette of colours and fonts that will represent your business well.
Does only having one page harm my SEO ranking?
You might be thinking “how can I get everything I need into one page?”. Below I run through an example single page website and you’ll see how it’s possible to break down each section into easy to understand headings and paragraphs, that will appeal to your clients frustrations and pain points, share how you can solve them and finally have them make an enquiry to work with you. This is perfect for SEO as the headings will be picked up by Google and as long as you are using keywords that accurately reflect what your business offers, you will still be able to start building a search engine ranking.
Google (and other search engines) do love content though, so this is why I recommend adding in a blog page to every single page website. This will give you a place to keep adding new content to your website, without having those additional pages.
How to structure the perfect single-page website
Using a demo single-page website I created (see the full site here) I’ll breakdown the essential elements required to make the most of your one page.
Hero Header
First, you should grab the attention of your ideal clients with a simple opening statement that explains exactly what you do and who you do it for. Then back that up with a couple more, descriptive sentences keeping keywords in mind, before finishing with a book or enquire button.
Tell people again why you’re perfect for them
You’ll see this structure used throughout my demo single page. Start with a heading, that hones in on a specific aspect of your service or a pain point of your client, then back that up with an easy to skim-read paragraph.
Your Services
Of course, you need to share what you actually do in your business and how you will help and work with your clients.
In this demo, I used some clever design strategy to share three separate packages in one section by creating a tabbed menu. This is great because it’s visually engaging for users of your site but also, in a practical sense, allows you to share lots of information in a small space.
About You
As you won’t have a separate about page, you need to make sure you still connect on a personal level with your audience.
A photo of your lovely face looking at the camera or doing the service you offer will be perfect here, paired with a paragraph that will showcase your unique personality.
Blog
Having a blog is a brilliant way to bring new visitors to your website, particularly when you are brand new. So it’s super important to include a blog page to supplement your single-page website. Use your blog to talk about the process of working with you, to showcase results you’ve achieved with past clients or talk about things related to your specific niche. Click here for some tips for writing your blog.
Contact or Booking form
This will ultimately the most important part of the website, which is why we link to it right at the top of the page. Some people, though, will want to slowly get to know you throughout the entirety of the page, so it can be placed at the bottom as the final step.
Again through some clever design trick, on the demo site, I have set up a button that will jump people straight down to the contact form, no matter where they are on the page.
Depending on how you work with clients, this can either be a contact form or a booking scheduler to set up an initial consultation call.
If you’d like a single-page website for your business, I would love to work with you to get your business online! You can read more and get in touch at the link below.
