The town is a typical Midwest town, not far from the sound of the semi-trucks barreling down the highway. A Midwest town with few businesses, most not using the internet for marketing, not even with a one-page website.
Businesses are friendly toward one another, but the customer base is small: aside from the occasional traveler who veers off the highway to feed the family or car. They may believe a web presence isn’t necessary, not even a one-page website, as the locals and surrounding towns make up the majority of the customer base.
But that’s all going to change in the next 6 months.
By the end of the year, a popular mega supermarket is moving into the area, known to attract over 500,000 new visitors a year. This enterprise will become the major competitor to all of the businesses, both local and nearby.
With 6 months to prepare some shop owners will close their doors permanently, some sell but most will fight for the almighty dollar. An online presence is no longer something to be done in the future, an online presence is a necessity. Afterall the mega supermarket has a multiple-page, website with established eCommerce – that will offer 24/7 shopping with local in-store pick up
In the town and surrounding area, Facebook business pages go up, twitter accounts are established, and several realize a stable easy to find secure website maybe the key between feast and fathom when this new enterprise opens its doors.
Keeping the door open is always a challenge for any business. Facebook and Twitter as marketing tools are nice and all, but someone must update those networks frequently to keep it interesting. AND to show up on the newsfeed, posts need to be made, comments need to be answered, “likes” need to be collected. All time consuming for something that does not guarantee a revenue, but neither does a website, or does it?
A one-page website or multi-page website is
- Your online brick and mortar shop. When someone goes to smithhardwareMI.com you are Mr. Smith You are easy to find, and visitors can come back again and again. And with e-commerce you can sell worldwide.
- A place people search for to find a local business, with a good SEO plan and placement on Google Your Business, both of which can be handled by your Webhost.
- The right place to have a call-to-action message for your visitor.
- Informative, it tells the World you are organized, helpful, and open for business, day and night.
- Is local and worldwide.
Once you decide a website is needed, that will express your company goals and ideals, the question then becomes how big should you make your online presence, a one-page website, or many?
This depends on you, and what you consider an advantage or disadvantage: having one page or many.
A one-page website:
- Has a faster download speed because its only one page, compared to a multiple page site which are typically slow to load.
- Usually has low bounce rates, but how could you really tell?
- Extremely responsive for web and other online devices compared to several pages that may need be tweaked.
- Usually information in very complete and organized. When writing several pages, content needs to flow and be linked properly. But there again, a one-page website does not use relevant links or a menu to sub-topics and pages
- There is no navigation. Multiple webpage sites need a navigation plan and user menu.
- Should be easy to maintain, while several pages need a fair amount of attention, checked for updates, broken links, and page errors.
- Can easily lead the visitor to complete a Call-to-action (CTA) (https://www.crazyegg.com/blog/call-to-action-examples/), while a multiple-page website may have several CTA’s, which may confuse the visitor.
- Is simple, not cluttered, compared to a several page site that requires several graphics or products.
But a one-page website may have:
- Reduced information most visitors expect multiple pages
- Poor SEO * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Search_engine_optimization) history based on low conversion rates and user engagement. A multipage website is Inherently SEO friendly. Multipage websites are also the ones that rank the highest on search engines, but you must update the website on a regular basis
- Is not scalable, lends to a narrower focus, a multipage site offers unlimited scalability.
- Has no room to grow which may limit your keywords
Difficult to analyze – Multipage websites, can immediately inform you why visitors are leaving, you can reduce your bounce rates if you know where the issues are. - A large audience like a multipage website but a multipage website can become very large, complex and time consuming to maintain.
Whether you decide on a one-page or multiple-page website, always be clear on what you offer and consistent with all the different forms of online pages and apps. Compare the differences, and select one right for you. .
A multi-page design works for every project, product or service. However, they are slow to load and sometimes distracting because they may offer to much information
A one-page website allows you to be narrower in your presentation.
Check out your competition and see what they are using, consider the best way to get your information in the hands of your customers, and call Digital Web Leprechauns if when you are ready for your website.
