The choice of which pages to include on your website should be among the simplest of decisions you make about it. At least it should be the one you are most certain about by the time it comes to actually designing your site either with a professional designer or by yourself.

There’s a surprising amount to consider when you decide on your pages though, including your desires, customer considerations, and logistical issues. For example, a nice compact sales page may be preferable, but if you have a lot of products, it makes practical sense to subdivide.

This can make the choice complicated, so how do you make it? First, let’s consider the most popular page options.

The staples

• Home page – This could be almost any type of page.
• Services page – Services companies usually have at least one.
• About us page – Optional and controversial as to its usefulness.
• Products/sales page – Essential for selling direct online and much more effective than asking visitors to contact you in order to buy.
• Blog – Frequently updated with new content to bring people to your site regularly.
• Portfolio – For creative and visual companies whose output can be demonstrated easily online.
• Information page
• Terms and conditions / GDPR – Even more essential since the introduction of GDPR data protection regulations.
• Contact page – Probably the most essential of all the pages here.

Making the choice
The choice really is yours but here are some pointers that can help you narrow it down. The average size for a solo operator or small business has three to six pages, but this is not a rule by any means.

Every site has a home page, although it can be any type of page that your site directs visitors to by default. For information pages, and in fact, all extra pages, ask if it is useful – extra meaningless pages confuse visitors and reduce conversions. The about us page, for example, is easy to drop if you have to. Its contents can generally be distributed between the home and services pages. Terms and conditions, privacy policies, and GDPR data policies are increasingly necessary, but most designers including me will provide these with your site.

You should only get a blog and, to a lesser degree, a portfolio if you’re prepared to keep them up to date. Four years of empty space can indicate that you’re not on top of things or worse, that you have shut down and dead portfolio links are big turn-offs.