One of the biggest challenges that small businesses face is content creation. Often, business owners don’t know what content they need on their site or how to write it.
In the guide below, I break down content creation into manageable chunks including:
- Must-have pages
- Recommended pages
- Optional pages
- And what to include on each page
This easy-to-use framework will remove the guesswork and uncertainty so that you can finally finish your content.
Get the content creation guide
Get the Google doc 👆 or read the post below.
Contact
It may seem counterintuitive to not start with the home page, but I like starting with the contact page because it should be fairly easy to put together. It’s a quick win and will get the ball rolling.
Here are a few things that people typically include on their contact pages.
- Introduction on the page
- Your name/business name
- Address (if applicable)
- Hours (if applicable)
- Phone number (if desired)
- Email address or contact form
Also, think about how you prefer that people contact you and how your target audience may contact you. If you don’t want phone calls, don’t list your phone number. But if your target audience is older, they might rather call you than fill out a form.
Form
If you plan to use a form:
- Think about what information you want to collect. Typical contact forms ask for name, email and message, but you could also collect phone numbers, addresses, etc. Don’t ask for too much required information.
- I like to ask where the visitor heard about me (and give choices – social media, search engine, conference/meetup, course, etc.) AND what they’re looking for (another drop-down of choices)
- To what email address do you want the notification to go?
- Do you want an email to go to the visitor too? What do you want it to say?
- Do you want a message to be displayed after the form is submitted or do you want to redirect to a thank you page? In either case, what do you want to be displayed? Learn more about thank you pages.
- Learn more about supercharging your contact form.
About
Next let’s move on to the about page. Use the following prompts to inspire you to write a few paragraphs about you and your business.
- Name and background
- A bit of history about your business
- Why you’re the best in the business
- How you uniquely help others
- A photo of you and/or your business
- A call to action
You’ll notice that every page should have a call to action. This is the action that you want the visitor to take next.
Services
The services page should detail all of your offerings. Include an introduction for the page as well as a call to action at the bottom. Then explain each service in detail with a title and description.
Focus on the problem that you solve for your client, not on the features of your offering.
Testimonials (optional)
Having a testimonials page is optional, but having testimonials is a must! Think about how often you read reviews online. Your potential clients are doing the same thing. Testimonials are how visitors get to know, like and trust you.
If you’ll have a dedicated testimonials page, write an introduction and have a call to action.
For each testimonial, include name, title and content. Include photos if you have them.
Portfolio (optional)
If you’d like to showcase past work, include a portfolio or case studies.
The page should have an introduction and call to action as well as details about each portfolio item (including title, content, links and/or images). You could also include a short testimonial for each.
The portfolio page doesn’t have to be released with the first version of your website, either. Sometimes it’s best to get an MVP launched and then add to it later. (MVP = minimum viable product)
Blog (optional)
If you have the bandwidth to blog regularly, I recommend it because:
- It provides helpful content to your visitors
- It allows you to establish your expertise
- You build a content library over time
- It drives traffic back to your site when you share on social media
- Search engines look favorably on sites with updated content
Having a blog is optional. If you don’t think you can keep up with it, skip it. (You can always add it later, too.)
For each blog post, make sure you have:
- Title
- Category
- Excerpt
- Meta description
- Content
- Featured image
Think it’s difficult to blog? It’s not.
Looking for topics? Try these.
A quick note about categories. I recommend that clients think of 5-7 topics they’ll write about on their website and use those as their blog post categories.
Topics that I write about include: Goals, Strategy + Planning; Content + Images; Site Development; Speed + Security; Ongoing; Digital Marketing; and Freelancing. You won’t find anything about my hobbies or travels or family.
Having blog post categories planned out ahead of time can also be helpful when you’re trying to think of something to write.
Instagram (optional)
This page is commonly seen linked in an Instagram profile, but you can use it for other social media accounts too. Learn more about a customized social profile page.
You can include links to:
- Get your free gift or lead magnet
- Sign up for your email list
- Contact you or schedule a call
- Learn more about your services
- Work with you
- Read your most recent blog post(s)
- Listen to your most recent podcast episode(s)
- Learn more about an upcoming event (or find resources for a past event)
- Find you on other social media channels
Don’t include all of the above — pick 2-4 that work best for you and your audience.
Legal (recommended)
There are several ways you can go about creating website policies:
- Have your attorney write them for you
- Write them yourself
- Use a service like Termageddon or GetTerms
Privacy Policy
If a website has a contact form, it needs a Privacy Policy. Contact forms ask for a “name” and “email”, which are examples of “Personally Identifiable Information” (PII). A Privacy Policy is already required by law for websites that collect PII.
Websites that collect email addresses for email marketing or use Google Analytics also need a Privacy Policy.
Terms & Conditions
If a website offers links to third party websites (eg. Facebook, Twitter, etc), it should have Terms & Conditions.
Terms & Conditions limit a company’s liability. If you provide a link to a 3rd party website that gets hacked, you don’t want to be liable for the users that visited the site because you provided a link to it; adding Terms & Conditions helps with this.
Disclaimer
If a website offers affiliate links, it should have a Disclaimer.
A lot of affiliate programs will require you to have a disclaimer, and consumers want to know when you’re getting paid for links you put on your website.
Websites that display advertisements or give health, fitness or legal advice also need a Disclaimer.
Home
Once you have all of the content above, the home page should be pretty easy to put together.
Hero
The hero area is the first thing that people see when they land on your home page. Like with all first impressions, you don’t have much time to make an impact. Think of the content in the hero area like your elevator pitch — make it quick, easy to understand and compelling.
- Photo
- Short blurb
- Call to action
Services
Now briefly describe your services. Because you’ve already completed the service section above, it should be easy to quickly summarize or excerpt.
- Section heading
- Short blurb
- For each service, include a title, short blurb and link to the service
- Call to action to view all of your services
Portfolio
If you’ll have a portfolio on your website, decide if you want to include a bit about it on your home page. If so, add:
- Section heading
- Short blurb
- Snippets of your most recent portfolio items (if desired)
- Call to action to view your portfolio
About
Now a little about you. Again, since you’ve filled out the about section above, it should be easy to excerpt a bit for the home page.
- Section heading
- Photo
- Short blurb
- Call to action to read more about you
Blog
Some people showcase their most recent blog posts on their home page.
Testimonials
I like to show at least one testimonial on the home page. Sometimes you’ll see testimonials in a rotating slider — I don’t love sliders in any form because people rarely sit around to view all of the slides.
For each testimonial, include name, title, snippet of full testimonial (if the full testimonial is long) and a photo.
If you’ll have a dedicated testimonials page, you can have a call to action to read more testimonials there.
Contact
The call to action for your home page is most likely to contact you.
- Short blurb
- Call to action to visit contact page
Other
Social links are great to include in your footer or on your contact page. Gather links to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube and any other social networks that you are on.
And that’s it! Great work! It does take some time to write everything out but doing so ahead of time will save you tons of time when you’re building your site.
Don’t forget to snag a copy of the Google doc!
