The more web pages you have the better. But quality trumps quantity.
As a service business, you need a website. To be more specific, you need a lead generation website. Unlike other types of websites such as eCommerce or publishing websites, a lead generation website is designed to reach and engage consumers, and convert those consumers into leads and customers.
In terms of reaching consumers, your website needs to have web pages aligned with what consumers are searching for. Think of every web page within your website as an opportunity for consumers to find your business when they perform a search on Google or other search engines.
The more web pages you have the better odds you have of consumers finding your business the moment they want or need the services you offer. Not only that, the more web pages you have the more opportunities you have to convert those consumers into leads and customers.
According to research conducted by Hubspot, increasing the number of landing pages on your website from 10 to 15 increases leads by 55%. Further, websites with more than 40 landing pages generate 12 times more leads than businesses with only 1 to 5 landing pages.
websites with more than 40 landing pages generate 12 times more leads than businesses with only 1 to 5 landing pages
So, the more web pages you have the better. However, there is a big BUT to this… But those web pages have to provide value to their intended audience. Don’t create web pages for the sake of having more web pages. Web page quality trumps web page quantity.
Don’t start adding more web pages to your website because you want to reach more consumers and generate more leads and customers. You won’t get the results you want unless the pages you create provide value to the audiences you are trying to serve.
Every web page on your website needs to serve the needs of three audiences - consumers, your business, and search engines. With that said, providing value to consumers should be your primary focus.
When I use the word “consumers”, I’m referring to any person that has a want or need for the services you offer. So, it’s not enough to say that you’re web pages are created for consumers, you need to specify which consumer a specific web page is intended for.
Your services aren’t for everyone - at least they shouldn’t be. You can’t be all things to all people. Just like you need to clearly understand who a specific service if for, you need to clarify who each web page is intended for. It’s when you clearly define who a web page is intended for that you can truly provide value.
Think about how consumers will interact with your business if they were presented a web page with general information versus a web page that speaks directly to them.
Let’s look at a quick example for a law firm that specializes in helping people who have been inured in a car accident. This law firm could have a general web page for people who have been hurt in a car accident or they could have a web page for people who suffer from paraplegia due to a car accident. If you are confined to a wheel chair due to a car accident and you want to find a lawyer that can help you, which page do you think will resonate more? This is just one example. The more specific you get, the more likely it is that you’ll reach the right people and convert them into leads and customers.
In addition to providing consumers with quality content, you need to provide them with a way to take action. What is it that you want consumers to do that will provide value to your business? Do you want consumers to request a quote or schedule a consultation? Whatever it is, you need to make the process simple.
Every web page should contain a call to action (CTA). Creating web pages is not just about providing quality content, it’s about providing a quality experience. Helping consumers by providing quality content and then helping them take action
There’s one more thing to consider. We’ve address the consumer and your business, but don’t forget about search engines. When you focus on creating a quality experience for consumers, you’ll naturally address many search engine optimization (SEO) items. But that doesn’t mean you can take your eye off of SEO.
As you define the consumers you want to reach and determine the type of content that will provide them with value, give consideration to how all of your decisions will impact SEO. While you do not want SEO to skew the consumer experience in anyway, you should give consideration as to how you can use SEO to your benefit. Conduct keyword research, ensure your meta data, headings, and content are properly structured.
Again, I want to reiterate that your primary focus needs to be the consumer, but don’t forget to keep the needs of your business and SEO in mind as you create new web pages.
Now that you know adding web pages to your website is a smart way to reach more consumers and generate more leads, you are probably wondering what web page you could add to your website.
It is easy to hit a mental roadblock when trying to determine what web pages you could add to your website. However, once you start the process and get your brain warmed up, you’ll quickly discover there are hundreds if not thousands of web pages you could add to your website - even if you are a local small business.
Below are four types of web pages you should consider adding to your service business website.
These are just a few of the types of web pages you could add to your website. The are lots of options and they will vary depending on your industry and market.
One of the best ways to build a future proof website that is easy to manage and scale, is using dynamic web pages. A dynamic web page is a web page where the content is dynamically generated - the content is pulled from a database.
A common example of a dynamic web page is a blog. The layout of each blog post is the same but the content is different. If you’ve ever published a blog post before you’ll know what I mean. If you’re not familiar with this concept this is how it works. A blog may have 100 blog posts. But the person who created those blog posts didn’t have to manually design and create a web page for each blog post. Instead, they design and create one web page and the content on that page changes depending on the blog post a consumer wants to view.
You can create dynamic web pages for any type of web page you’d like. In fact, I would recommend creating the majority of your web pages using this method. The technical details of how this works is beyond the scope of this post, but your website designer and/or developer should be able to assist you with this.
You can use this method to create hundreds of web pages in a very short period of time. As an example, we recently created over 200 web pages for a customer in a few days. Here’s how we did it.
After we pushed the publish button, our customer had over 200 new web pages on their website. Within a few months, many of these web pages were ranked number one on Google for the geographic areas we were targeting. This has led to an increase in phone calls and web form submissions for this customer. While this may seem like a lot of work - and it was - the results are well worth the effort.
If creating quality web pages at scale sounds like a lot of work - it is. That’s why a lot of business websites fail to live up to their potential.
Creating web pages isn’t a race, it’s an ongoing process. Take your time and stick with it. Remember, websites with more than 40 landing pages generate 12 times more leads than businesses with only 1 to 5 landing pages.
If you regularly and consistently create new web pages that provide value to the consumers you are trying to reach, over time you’ll out-compete your competition and reap the rewards - more leads and customers.
Don’t forget - quality trumps quantity.
Until next time, I wish you much success!
Toby is the founder of STRADEGY.CA and principal Advisor. He's been helping service businesses navigate the digital economy since 1996.
Getting more leads and customers from your website is easier and more affordable than you think. Talk with an Advisor to learn how.
Toby is the founder of STRADEGY.CA and principal Advisor. He's been helping service businesses navigate the digital economy since 1996.
Discover the 6 step digital marketing strategy local service businesses are using to out-compete the competition and win new leads and customers.
Discover the 6 step digital marketing strategy local service businesses are using to out-compete the competition and win new leads and customers.