Your website is arguably one of- if not the most important marketing asset at your disposal. It can generate leads and customers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week- but only if it’s optimized properly.
Your website is arguably one of- if not the most important marketing asset at your disposal. It can generate leads and customers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week- but only if it’s optimized properly.
One area of website optimization businesses struggle with is how they organize and present services on their site.
How you organize and present services on your website not only has a huge impact on the overall success of your website, but also the success of your business.
In this post, I’ll share some tips on how to organize and optimize your service web pages, so you can convert more website visitors into leads and customers.
The reason your target audience is visiting your website is because they’re trying to find a solution to their problem. The solution they’re looking for is the service you offer.
How you organize and present services on your website not only determines whether or not your target audience can find the solution they’re looking for, but also if it’s the right solution for them.
Here’s the first rule: Whether you offer one service or hundreds, you need to have a separate web page for each service. This isn’t a tip, it’s a rule. Do not list all of your services on one page.
Having an individual web page for each service provides numerous benefits. Two of the more notable benefits have to do with search engine optimization and conversion optimization.
Having a separate page for each service you offer helps scale your digital footprint. The more web pages you have (that are optimized properly), the more chances you have for your target audience to find you in search engines such as Google.
In addition to helping your target audience find you on search, having a separate web page for each service enables you to create highly targeted messaging. The more specific your messaging is, the more likely it is that you will convert your target audience into a lead or customer.
Example:
Let’s say you own a plumbing company. If you list all of your services on one page there is no way for you to realistically address the questions and concerns your target audience has about one specific service. The information you are conveying is too broad- it’s not specific to any one service.
On the other hand, if you have a web page for each of the plumbing services you offer, you can provide your target audience with the information they are looking for. On the web page page for bathroom renovations, you can address any questions or concerns they may have specific to bathroom renovations.
When you create a separate page for each service you offer, it enables you to tailor your messaging to your target audience. By doing this, you can substantially improve your website’s conversion rate - more leads and customers.
If you offer more than one service, you should consider creating a services page that lists all of the services you offer.
Wait a minute- didn’t you just say, “Do not list all of your services on one page and call it a day?” Yes. But there is one caveat - as long as you link each service to its own separate web page, it is allowed. The point is you don’t want to limit your services to one web page on your website.
Having a web page that lists all of the services you offer is just another way to help your target audience quickly and easily find the solution they’re looking for. But it only works if they can click on each service to get the specific information they’re looking for.
Example:
Let’s say you own a law firm. If you specialize in corporate law, you may provide services related to incorporation, trademark, litigation, etc. You should have a webpage that lists all of the individual corporate law services you offer. The important part is remembering to link each service to its own web page.
If you offer a lot of services, some of which are related to each other and can be grouped or categorized together, you should consider creating service category pages.
Service category pages can help you organize your services in a logical way, so your target audience can quickly and easily find what they’re looking for.
Example:
Let’s say you own a mechanical trades company. You offer plumbing, heating, cooling, and electrical services. Each of these services can be considered a service category, as there are many services that can fall under each one.
Under the category of plumbing, you may have bathroom renovations, hot water heater installation, leaky pipe repairs, etc. Under the category of heating, you may have furnace installation, furnace maintenance and repair, In-floor radiant heating, etc., and so on and so on for each service category.
Organizing your services into service categories is a great way to make your services easy to find.
If you can benefit from organizing your services into service categories, you’ll want to create one web page that lists all of your service categories. Again, this page can help your target audience quickly and easily find what they are looking for.
Example:
Continuing from our above example, you would have a service categories page that would list plumbing, heating, cooling, and electrical service. Each of these service categories would link to the corresponding service category page which displays all of the services in that category.
All of these options can seem complicated or a little overwhelming. But when you put pen to paper and start planning, it will become clear and much easier to understand.
The overall purpose of organizing your services in this way is to make it as easy as possible for your target audience to find what they are looking for. The easier it is, the better experience they’ll have. The better experience they have, the more likely they are to convert into a lead or customer.
Now that you know how to organize your service pages on your website, the next logical question is, “How should I organize all these pages in my website’s navigation?”
The subject of website navigation can easily fill a book on its own. We’re not going to get into the details of how to structure and design your overall navigation. We’re only going to discuss how you can integrate your services into your navigation.
With that said, we’re going to follow one navigation best practice - limit the number of top level links you have in your navigation. For our purposes, we’re going to define this best practice as having no more than seven top level links.
Apart from listing your services in your navigation, some other common links you may include are projects, resources, about, and contact. These links will vary depending on your industry and organization, but for simplicity’s sake, we’ll use these links for the following examples.
Following the best practice of limiting your navigation to no more than seven links, you can only put up to three services in your navigation. Here’s how to organize your navigation based on the number of services you offer.
If you offer one to three services, you can simply list them in the top level of your navigation. If you include them with your links for projects, resources, about, and contact, you’ll be at seven top level links in your navigation. Perfect.
Example:
Let’s say you are a home builder. If you provide renovation, design and build services, you could have renovation as one link and design and build as another link. Here’s what your navigation could look like:
In this example you’d end up with 6 top-level links in your navigation. Perfect.
If you offer more than three services, create a “Services” dropdown menu in the top level of your navigation where all of your services are listed. A dropdown menu is a link that reveals more links below it when clicked.
Example:
Let’s go back to our example of a law firm. In your navigation, create a link called Legal Services (or whatever makes sense for your organization). When someone clicks on “Legal Services” a dropdown menu will be displayed listing all of the various legal services you offer. Such as…
In this example you end up with 5 top level-links in your navigation. Perfect.
If you provide multiple services that can be organized into one to three categories, list each category as a dropdown menu in the top level of your navigation, and then list all of the services under each dropdown menu.
Example:
Let’s say you own an accounting firm which provides services under the following categories: Personal, Corporate, and Non-Profit. You could structure your navigation as follows:
In this example you end up with seven top-level links in your navigation. Perfect.
If you provide multiple services that can be organized into more than three categories, create a “Services” dropdown menu in the top level of your navigation and list each of your service categories in the dropdown menu.
Going back to our example of the mechanical trades company which had four service categories, you could structure your navigation as follows:
In this example you end up with 5 top-level links in your navigation. Perfect.
You now know how to organize the service you offer, on your website. It does require an investment of time, but it’s an investment that will pay for itself if you do it properly.
If you want your website to add value to your business, every part of your website needs this level of attention to detail.
If you own or operate a service business and have questions or would like help with your website, just let us know. We’re here to help.
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.
