We meet with all sorts of people in the market for a website. There are retailers, service providers, single product entrepreneurs, hotel and restaurant managers, real estate agents, authors, musicians, lawyers, nonprofit executives, and others. Some have done their homework and are prepared for the work that is required to create a powerful, productive website. Others, not so much. Frequently the client will say, “Just set up a single page website so people can find me. I don’t need anything complicated.”
What is the goal of your single page website?
If your goal is to be found by people who already know who you are and just want to find your phone number or get directions to your office, then perhaps a single page website could work for you. If your goal is to have a site that you share with people that you personally meet, then you may not need anything more than a single page.
For example, let’s say you make custom clothing only for people who you’ve already met in person. In this scenario, you just need a place to post your contact information, a photo of you and a copy of your resume. In this case, a one-page website could work.
However, if you want to sell your clothing to people you’ve never met, a single page is not likely to do what you need.
What factors does Google consider?
Google uses an automated ranking system. It looks at many factors to present the most relevant, useful results, all in a fraction of a second.
CONTENT
One of the most important factors in people finding your website is having strong, relevant content. If you only have a single page website, it is unlikely that you are going to get much traction.
However, if you have an About page that describes in detail who you are, what your background and design philosophy are, what geographic areas you cover, what kind of clothes you make and what materials you use, you are on your way to having strong content. Perhaps you’d also build individual trouser, top, skirt and jacket pages. You’ll also want a page of client testimonials, a page that describes shipping options and your return policy. And of course, you always want to have a contact page. This page should include an email address, phone number, and a map to your location.
All of this content, in combination, will give a search engines like Google something to sink its teeth into. When strong, relevant content lines up with what people are searching for, a site is much more likely to be found. A single page website is rarely enough.
I just need a single page website
Google has taken into consideration many factors when it decides to show a website in search results. Of course, it looks at the content of your website, but it also evaluates how fast the pages load, whether the site is mobile-friendly, how many other websites link to it and how popular it is. (If you’re getting a lot of relevant traffic to your site, Google may consider you an authority and can send you even more traffic).
With every search, in an instant, search engines review all the web pages that they have indexed and determine which pages will satisfy the needs of the person doing the searching. They compare your site with every other site that addresses a similar topic. There are more than a billion websites and more than 30 billion web pages in the world. The ones that perform the best are not one single page.
What kind of website do you really need?
One of the great things about the web is that it levels the playing field. New business can be as bold and attention-getting as a business with a long, storied history. How rich you are, what part of town your business is located in, how many people you employ—none of these things limits how great your website can be.
As we mentioned earlier, it is important to understand the goal of your website. Do you want people to come into your location? Call? Sign up and subscribe? Maybe you just want to share information. Whatever your goal is, it is important to keep this in mind throughout the web development process.
Is a single page website really enough?
If a simple, single page website works, why would anyone spend the time and the money making anything else? To build a website that is going to get found in search takes planning. It also takes writing skills that speak to your audience and organizational skills to bring the pieces together. Finally, it requires technical knowledge to make sure that the site loads quickly and is optimized for all screen sizes and browsers.
There are many options for building your own website. Of course, it can be a single page if that’s what you decide to do. We have found, however, that a single page website usually does not have enough content to perform well in search, and traffic to the site can suffer.
To learn more about our website development services, call 518.392.0846, email [email protected] or visit our website services page.