There's no such thing as a 10-page website

I do marketing for a living and the culmination of all my combined marketing talents has led me to website design. I build big websites - 50 to 300+ page behemoths that wow and impress the pants off anyone who visits them.

Your website is your digital face to the world and should showcase your products and services. © macrovector - za.Fotolia.com

So it grates me no end when I sit on front of client who tells me that XYZ person will build them a website for R1000, or they just want it to be 10-pages big.

Here's why...

SEO works because it's specific

So if you want to be found for service A and services B, C, D & E then you need a dedicated page for each.

Because that's how SEO works.

SEO is specific... and your keywords match your copy, match your URL, match your page display, match your metadescription - and you need to tie all those elements up to the service or keyword you want to be found for in search.

If you list all your products under products, the Internet will index that page under the word products and people searching for the word products will find it.

If your page is about hairdryers and you sell another product that is a hot air dryer, then you need a separate page for hot air dryers.

Similarly, the Internet will also stop searching the copywriting on your page a short way into it - so no, it won't help to list all your products on one page.

The crux is that every product and service needs its own dedicated page if it stands a chance of really being found.

Speaking of which...

Designers and developers are not copywriters

Usually the reason they can't come up with the menu breakdown and SEO for you is that they don't have the knowledge to do it.

Websites are built on copywriting and the copywriting starts from the SEO. If the designer/developer cannot copy write they won't be able to build you a customised menu structure or categorise your products and services or write your SEO or your copy... and without these elements you will land up with a cheap, 10-page website that won't impress anyone. If it is ever even found.

Marketing is not a function - it is the entire company seen from the customer's point of view

So if someone gets to your site and sees a cheap, poorly put together 1, 2 or 10 page website, they'll think you are a cheap, poorly put together company.

Your website is your digital face to the world and should showcase your products and services, making you look large and professional and like the kind of company that you'd want to do business with.

Speaking of showcases...

Your menu is 70% of your website

In a great website people will know everything they need to know about you, what you offer and how they can use you by simply scrolling over your menu structure.

Your website is a huge, comprehensive company profile that tells people everything they need to know about you in one go - and clearly takes into account the fact that people don't read much and will mostly scan.

There should be a well-defined menu that tells everything at a glance, loads of space and clear focus on the elements you want to have people focus on.

How can you tell if this is happening? Simply open your website and look at it.

What is your eye drawn to? If you shut the page after 3 seconds, what do you remember?

Marketing is common sense

Too many people get too wrapped up in research and analytics, forgetting the basics - will I be found, what do people remember, does it look good and is it easy to understand and read?

If your website looks good to you and is easy to understand it will be successful. If it's messy and all over the place that's what people will remember.

It's going to take a professional with polish to achieve the simplicity you're after though, because putting together a good, presentable website requires a professional touch.

Anything under 20 - 30 pages will never get you the specific search results you need to turn your website into actual business.

Any half-decent copywriter will easily be able to split your company up into 30 pages of specific search results.

And if your web development company cannot do the menu, SEO and copy for you, you're wasting your money, because your website is never going to work the way you want it to.