9 MUST-HAVE Pages For A Local Website (Do you have them all?)

a homepage obviously a contact us page of course what about a privacy policy page should you have one of them on your website not sure no problem because in today's video i'm going to tell you what pages you should consider having on your small business website and what you should put on them and it starts now choosing what pages to create for your website can be an overwhelming decision as there are so many factors at play and while most of you will focus on the pretty side of things such as choosing pictures and colors there is little consideration for how well your pages will perform in google search results which is a great oversight and should be at the forefront of your process to help you i'm going to run through the list of pages i think you should include on your website and tell you what type of content you should consider adding to them so they rank in google let's start with the most obvious one your homepage for 90 of small business websites the homepage is the most important one because a it's likely to be the most visited page of your site b it's the page where most other websites will link to making it your most valuable page to rank in google search results and see it's also the first page potential customers will come across if they've never heard of you before and clicked on your page from a google result it is the opportunity to make a good impression and make those visitors want to do business with you and as the expression goes you never get a second chance to make a first impression and this is what your homepage will do here is a quick test for you that demonstrates the power of your homepage between these two handyman websites which one would you most likely call to repair anything in your house does this mean this handyman is better than the other one maybe not but that is an assumption a lot of people will make based on the home page alone so what content should you put on your homepage a compelling headline that describes what you do a short description about your business a strong visual preferably including a snapshot of yourself or your team at work your unique selling points describing why visitors should choose you instead of a competitor a short description of some of your most popular services some testimonials to establish credibility and trust and more think of your homepage as a shop front providing a glance of what can be found on the rest of your website for more information on how to create the perfect homepage i recommend you watch my video how to create the perfect homepage where i cover this topic in great depth let's move on to the next page a service or product page this is the page that defines the very reason you do business in the first place and should explain what services you provide or products you sell just like for your home page i recommend you add a headline which includes your targeted keywords followed by a short summary of your services or products overall then list each and every one of them along with an image that showcases them if you are a service based type of business ideally you want images of you or a member of your team in action which will be unique to you describe each service in a few lines

don't limit yourself to explaining what the service is about think about including unique benefits in the description itself clients can get when they hire you such as no call out fees or work guaranteed for 12 months remember this is another chance to convince visitors you are the best choice finally add a read more or find out more button which will link through to a landing page where people can find out more information about the specific service or product they are interested in which leads me to the next type of page you should add to your website dedicated service or product pages listing all the services all products you provide on one page is great but won't be enough visitors nowadays want to make informed decisions before picking up their phone or pulling their credit card out the more reassurance they get the more likely they will part with their money that's why you must create dedicated pages for services and products on your website as it will ease the visitors decision making process look at amazon product pages they are filled with tons of details providing everything you need to know about a product you are interested in here is a local bakery that does something similar with its entire range of products which you can collect directly at their store if you are a service type of business the recommendations are the same just like on other pages add an image that visually represent the service you provide a headline which includes your targeted keywords a brief summary of the service itself some of the unique selling points attached to the service a service specific price list examples of work you have done recently some genuine customer testimonials to convey your good at what you do an faq section that answers any query visitors may have and anything else you think will be useful to potential customers the trick here is to include keyword rich relevant content which will help you rank in google search results for the products or services you provide each page you create will become an additional opportunity to drive more traffic to your site from people searching for exactly what you are selling i almost forgot don't forget to add a call to action or to on each page so people can get in touch this leads me to the next page i want to talk about contact us page most visitors now they expect to find your contact details in the footer of all your web pages so if you haven't done it consider doing it now but they also expect to find a contactless link in the main navigation of your site it's almost a legacy type of behavior and since you want people to get in touch with you a contact page is a must-have page on any website the question is what should you have on your contact us page i know it sounds pretty obvious but since you don't want to miss out on any opportunity this is what i recommend you add to it your full address your phone number an email address your opening and closing times and a contact form don't go mad with the form though three to four fields should be more than enough also add your google my business map to help people understand where you are located in relation to them or which area you serve if you don't know how to do this watch my video how to add a google map to your website since social media profiles are extremely popular think of including links to them in there too the idea here is to list all the many possible ways visitors might want to get in touch with you since everybody has different preferences if you do have a form and capture email addresses or other personal data here is another page you must add on your website a privacy policy page depending on where your business operates collecting or using personal data for non-personal activities in relation to your website means you are legally required to provide information to individuals about how you use their data this is done by providing relevant information via a privacy policy page legal matters can be complex or in an ideal world you would need to consider paying a data protection specialist to write the content of your privacy policy page since this is likely to cost a fair amount of money and probably a bit overkill for a small business website here is a much cheaper alternative use a free privacy policy

generator here is a cool article that lists 12 of the most popular ones you can use they all more or less work in the same way all you need to do is fill in your business details and at the end of it the generator will spit out a tidy privacy policy specific to your business all you need to do is create a page on your website and copy and paste the content once you're done add a link to your privacy policy page in your footer which should be on all pages which is where people would expect to find these kind of links i don't know about you but i always feel a little bit more reassured when i see a privacy policy link on a website even more so if it's on a small website while we are discussing legal matters let's talk about the next page you need to add to your website terms and conditions page having a terms and conditions page is not a legal requirement but i thoroughly recommend you add one to your site anyway on this page you can define and state the rules and guidelines visitors need to abide by when they're using your website services as part of the content you will also need to state what happens to users should they violate those rules and guidelines this may sound a bit much for a small or local website however as your business grows and you release more functionalities it will help reduce your businesses liability this will be very handy if you decide to run a blog for example where people can freely comment on your articles but some of them decide to be abusive just like the privacy policy page you would ideally need some professional legal help to craft a terms and conditions page however just like the privacy policy page you can use a free generator i quite like this one as it is super simple to use just enter your company's name your website name and the url of your site then click on next and all the heavy lifting will be done for you this generator even produces an html version which you can integrate directly on your site once you've created the page you should also add a link to it in your footer across all of your pages let's move on to our next page an about us page the about us page is a very important page for any website large or small but i feel it carries even more weight on a small business website because as a local business owner you have the chance to be way more personable than a big brand visitors are likely to relate to you more as you are part of their local community they will want to know who they are likely to deal with before engaging with you if you are stuck and not quite sure about what you should add your about us page here are a few pointers you can use talk about who is behind the company give a little bit of history mention rewards you may have received sure the face is behind the team describe what your company stands for tell your visitors what makes you different from your competitors mention any quirky or amusing details that may be worth talking about etc make this page as compelling as you can think about it as if you were describing yourself to someone you've never met before this is a chance to create a bond with your audience let's now talk about another type of page you need on your website location page

i call location pages pages that are created to promote your business in certain areas within your city if you run a brick and mortar type of business and have multiple stores creating location pages is easy you just build a page for each store location making sure you describe what can be found there who the team members are where the store is located etc if you only have one brick and mortar business you won't need any location pages instead use your home page in which you can refer to the city you serve by adding your location keywords as part of the content now if you are a service area type of business such as a window cleaner or a plumber things become a little bit more complex you clearly want to be found in google for loads of locations and might think that by creating tons of location pages you will be found in search results for those locations you are targeting sadly you couldn't be further from the truth proximity of the search to a business is a key ranking factor so if you are a family lawyer located in sacramento and have created a page for family lawyer in las vegas trust me it's highly unlikely your business will ever be found for anyone searching for a lawyer in las vegas your business is located way too far instead this is what i recommend you do pick around five areas near where your business is located and create dedicated pages for them add relevant content to the area you are targeting such as jobs you have completed there testimonials from the locals etc this will give you a much better chance to rank for multiple locations for more information on this topic i suggest you watch my video how to rank in google for multiple locations let's now talk about one last page i think most small websites should have a cost or a price related page whenever i do keyword research for clients there is one theme that is common across all industries costs and prices potential clients want to know how much is going to cost them to hire you yet i see so many websites with no price page i believe the main reason behind this is because a lot of local business owners are a bit key about revealing their prices and feel it could scare people off so they hold back and hope they will get calls from customers anyway which is when they can seal the deal i think this is a bad idea you want to be as transparent as possible customers will find out about your prices one way or the other so be upfront about it and if they find out you are a lot more expensive than your competitors anticipate some backlash such as a negative review for example and nobody wants that here is a simple example of a price page i have built for one of my clients website it is the fourth most popular page on the entire site just build one already that's it this was the last must-have page i recommend you need on your website regardless of the vertical you are working in there is one more page you might want to consider depending on your business type a gallery page this can be particularly useful for businesses that rely on selling products or services that are visually powerful such as wedding dresses landscape gardening or anyone involved in a food related industry i don't believe it's a must-have page you should be able to showcase all of your products or services on all the other pages i have already described probably more of a nice to have page you now have everything you need time to start creating those pages and roll them out if you have any questions post them in a comment below if not i'll see you soon in the meantime happy marketing