If anyone should know your business like the back of your hand, it’s you. But do you know your business’ website just as intimately? If not, don’t expect your site visitors to get to know it very well. In fact, they might not even stick around if it doesn’t contain some very basic elements.
While there’s no such thing as one-size-fits-all sitemap, there are certain types of content you should always consider putting on your site.
Here’s the list:
- About: Tell prospective clients a little about who you are. It doesn’t need be too detailed; the idea is to build your credibility as an expert or thought leader in your field.
- Team: Do your clients work closely with you or some of your staff? Providing background on your key players could be important, particularly in service industries. Again, you want to position your company as an industry leader, so highlight the team members who can help potential clients become leaders as well.
- Process: Depending on your business, you may have a particular process in place that ensures your clients receive the highest value. If so, feature it on the website. An infographic is particularly effective.
- Products/Services: People need to know what you offer. As much as possible, each of your products or services should have its own page (it’s better for SEO). Because the web is a visual medium, images and graphics are helpful. Showing real products, staff and customers can position you as trustworthy and credible. However, if custom photography isn’t in your budget, carefully selected stock photos can also enhance your product or service descriptions.
- Industries: If you serve particular industries, make sure to promote that fact on your website to build credibility in that industry. It can also be good for SEO.
- Resources: Whether it’s a blog, a list of whitepapers, videos or podcasts, providing useful content is great for SEO and for your clients. Just make sure everything is in a format your visitors can download. PDFs or streaming audio/video are preferable.
- Contact: The more options people have to contact you, the more likely they’ll be to do so. Don’t bury your contact information. Many businesses include address and phone number at the bottom of each page.
- Call to Action: This is perhaps the most important element of all. On each page, show your visitors what to do next, whether it’s click on an email link to request more information, call now by phone or via Skype link, download a whitepaper after completing a contact inquiry or visit another landing page. After all, if you don’t tell them what to do next, they may do nothing at all.
Don’t Assume Anything
Site visitors like to be told what to do once they land on your site. Make sure you have the basics in place to make it easy for them to not only know your site like the back of their hand, but to eventually be in the palm of your hand.
