Not all websites are meant to be standard 4-5-pagers.
In my opinion, that’s something that arose from designers/copywriters productizing their services, not from what actually works for service pros and agencies… and by now it’s become a “just what my industry does” standard that no one bothers to question anymore.
But I say: Question it. Go custom. At this level, you deserve it.
You may not need a home, services, about, contact setup. Sometimes, that’s not enough. Sometimes, it’s unnecessary bloat.
The very first thing I do with my clients is hammer out their website structure and flows to meet their goals. (Shameless plug: now offering this as an intro service; called the Website Blueprint!)
But every time I talk about this — I get questions. So let’s get into some high-level “when does what website strategy make sense for whom” scenarios.
1. A strategic one-pager that works like a sales engine for your core offering. Usually for businesses that have one signature offer and audience. Often paired with supportive pages like portfolio or blog.
2. 5-6 high impact pages for businesses that have multiple services, audiences, and/or a growing offer ecosystem. E.g. you need a separate service page for each offer… or you have a program, course, products, or membership in addition to your service.
3. 7+ growth-ready pages. This is recommended if you want to go big with SEO and/or have a larger-than-average offer ecosystem. Like more than 3 signature services/offers, a podcast or book, speaking arm of your business, multiple locations…. or you want to target specific niches through an SEO landing page strategy.
There are limitless other options, too.
Maybe you have a rather complex service (read: you’re doing something pretty unique) that requires more education for warm leads to become ready. In this case, maybe a “how it works” or “method” page can do some real heavy lifting for you to qualify.
Maybe you only offer services right now but have near-future plans to add a course or digital products. So you do create a pretty standard 4-pager (home, about, services, contact), so you can easily add in the course sales page when you’re ready.
The point is — this strategy stuff is hugely important. People don’t interact with a website the way they do with, say, a sales page (read it straight down). There’s a choose-your-own-adventure quality to it. So we need to figure out how to guide them through optimally.
My philosophy? Keep it as lean as humanly possible. Reduce the options.
Make the experience feel… like a breath of fresh air amid the online noise.
Your website is the final stop. The place someone makes a decision. It counts.
xoxo, your favorite website freak,
Krista
