8 Essential Pieces of Content Every Website Must Have

It seems so simple – take your company brochure, add a few photos and some cool design, put it online using WordPress and voila, a website!

But wait just a minute. Is that really all there is to it? Will that help you get found online, answer questions that potential customers may have, educate them, and convert them into real, paying customers? Nope. Not a chance.

Having said that, there are some elements of a ‘corporate brochure’ that do belong on a website, such as who you are, what you do/sell, and how to contact you. Just don’t make it sound “corporate-like” (more on that later). But, beyond the basics, there are a few things every website must have that go well beyond what the good old brochure provides.

Four Basic Website Pages

Homepage

This is often your only chance to make a great impression on readers. If viewers don’t like what they see, they’ll be gone in under 3 seconds.

A few things are critical on the home page:

  1. Load Time – too slow, and the reader clicks ‘Back’
  2. Website Design – it’s got to look good and be in keeping with what a reader would expect to see (which doesn’t mean “boring” – but don’t make it so out-there that people aren’t sure what they’re looking at)
  3. Content – make it clear at a glance what you offer and where you’re located (this is linked to design – the header, headlines, paragraphs, images, etc. all need to be clear and easy to read)
  4. Call to Action – let people know what you want them to do (like subscribe, buy something, share your site, contact you, etc.)

Keep your critical website content “above the fold” so people don’t have to scroll down to see it (assume no one will read anything they need to scroll for).

Focus your content on your customers. They don’t want to hear about you – they want to know that you care about THEM!

What We Do – Products / Services

This one depends on the purpose of your site. If it’s an e-commerce site, you may need a lot of pages to cover all of your products (usually, by product category). If you’re selling design or consulting services, a one-page description will probably do. Keep it short and sweet!

Images are your friend. No matter what you sell, photos or graphics get your message across far better than text that most people won’t read. Use professionally-taken photos of products, before & after, your team, finished projects, and whatever else will capture readers’ attention.

About Us

People want to know who they’re dealing with – but they don’t want too much information. Assume that readers will only skim the ‘About Us’ section so make your best content highly visible. Use headers, bullets, and bold text, but use them sparingly.

Highlight the facts that:

  1. You understand/connect with your customers,
  2. You know what you’re doing (and that you have a good reputation), and
  3. They’ll benefit from a connection with you (whether that’s buying your product, signing up for your newsletter, or using your services).

Contact Us

Make it easy for viewers to contact you – and, more importantly, make your contact information easy to find. You can choose to use a phone number, email address, mailing address, and/or contact form. But, whatever you choose, put that contact information (or a link to it) on the top of every page or sidebar.

 

Other Essential Website Pages / Items

Opt-In Form

This depends to some extent on the purpose of your website but, generally-speaking, you should have an opt-in form to collect email addresses from website visitors.

Think about the information you need to collect. And I do mean need. Too many companies get hung up on collecting as much information as possible, even if they’re not sure what they’ll do with that information. But for every additional piece of information you request, fewer and fewer people actually complete the opt-in form. Usually, all you need is the email address. It’s nice to know the first name so you can personalize emails, but you’ll be just fine without it. Last name, phone number, and address? Forget about it.

Related Article – How to Grow Your Email List with High-Converting Opt-In Forms

If you send targeted emails, newsletters, or special offers based on location, gender, or some other factor, you might want to collect that information at opt-in. But, if you do, clearly explain why you’re asking for it. You might also want to consider asking for it after the person has signed up by providing a ‘subscriber profile’ that people use to customize their communication preferences.

Social Media Icons / Widgets

If you’re on any of the social media platforms, include a link on your website encouraging viewers to “follow”, “like”, or “link to” you. These icons should generally be displayed in the header or sidebar of your site. Don’t hide your social media icons/information in the footer or make people search around for them – if they’re not obvious, no one will click on them.

And if you have a significant social media presence, show some social proof of your popularity – include a counter showing the number of Twitter followers or Facebook fans.

Add “share” buttons to each post or article. Make it easy for people to tweet about your content, email it to friends, or share it through Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Reddit, and other social media channels. The easier it is for them to share, the more likely they are to do it.

Copyright Notice

Everything on the web can be easily “stolen” or reused. A copyright notice won’t stop that from happening, but it will make it clear that you value the content on your website and that you’re not giving people permission to “borrow” it.

The copyright always includes a date – make sure your copyright notice always shows the current year or it will look like your website hasn’t been recently updated (and who wants to read out-of-date content?).

Privacy Policy

If you collect any information about visitors, you’ll need a privacy policy notice. There are some standard privacy notices that you can customize for your company. The best place to put this policy is on a separate page, with links to it in the footer of your site and directly under the opt-in box. Most people will never click on the link to the privacy policy but just knowing that it’s there makes them more likely to give you their email address.

If you’re building your site in WordPress, Easy Privacy Policy has an excellent plug-in that can be easily customized for your company.

In Summary

Of course, as you build your website, you’ll also want to avoid the most common website mistakes that small business owners make.

Beyond all of this, it’s up to you. What have you included in your website that helped you meet your business goals?

5 Comments

  1. Jolyn Miller on October 11, 2011 at 12:13 pm

    Thanks for a great article; I’ll definitely use your tips when I finally get around to updating my site.

    • Monica Hemingway on October 11, 2011 at 3:48 pm

      Thanks Jolyn. It’s easy to overlook some of these items, especially when building your first website. One quick thing you can do to yours would be to mention which cities/towns you serve. I’m guessing you’re somewhere in Illinois but can’t tell from the website. That will also help with SEO when people are looking for a garden coach in their area 🙂

  2. How to Build a Small Business Website on November 18, 2011 at 10:54 am

    […] As you design your website, you’ll also need to think about what to put in each page. Here are the 8 essential things to include on a website. […]

  3. Isabella on June 19, 2015 at 2:00 am

    If your website design is modern and attractive than more people will inspire and browse your website. Sharing content is an interesting thing and it is an art if anyone can successful in inspiring his customers than he will be successful also in getting good business.

  4. Maz on February 4, 2019 at 5:53 pm

    Thank you. I found it very useful.

Leave a Comment