Does your business need a one-page website?

A one-page website can carry a whole business. It can also be the lazy answer for a business that needed six ways in. The question that separates them takes about a minute to answer.

Before the question, it helps to pull apart two kinds of page that often share a name.

Landing page or one-page website?

A landing page sells a single offer and asks for a single action. It suits a campaign, a course, a workshop or a new service, and everything on it points at that action. It often sits beside a main website, as the page an advert or an email links to.

A one-page website introduces the whole business on a single scrolling page: your services, your story, what people say about you and how to reach you. New visitors get the full introduction without clicking between pages, and the menu links jump down the page to each part.

A landing page is built in 24 to 48 hours, as an investment from $500. A one-page website is built in 48 to 72 hours, from $700.

Is a one-page website enough for your business?

Do people find you by your name, or by their problem?

If they come by name, a single page can carry you. They heard about you from a friend, saw you speak, or followed a link from your social profile. They already know who you are, and the page has to confirm it and make the next step easy.

If they come by their problem, typed into a search box, each problem needs its own page. A person searching for help with a specific worry wants the page that answers it. A long scroll that mentions it halfway down is unlikely to come up in that search, and less likely to hold them if it does.

The answer can be mixed. If most come by name and a few by search, start with a single page, and add pages later for the searches that bring your best customers.

Which of my websites are single pages, and why?

My five websites show both answers.

Nia Amani, a career coach, is a single page. Her visitors need to trust her before they send a first note, so the page introduces Nia after their problem, shows each offer with its investment and ends on a short form.

Northline Works, a coworking space in East London, is a single page too. Its visitors want the practical details without clicking through several pages, so the scroll moves from the feel of the space to memberships, meeting rooms and a tour booking.

LUX Studio, an interior designer, runs to five pages, because the work needs room: large project photographs, and services explained the way a homeowner talks about their house.

Morrow & Vale, a law firm, runs to eighteen. Its visitors are worried and searching for their own situation, so each practice area has its own page and each lawyer a profile.

What order should a one-page website follow?

A single page has no separate pages to lean on, so the sequence carries it:

1. Say what you offer and who it is for, before anything else.
2. Put the proof beside your services, where doubt usually starts.
3. Leave the way to get in touch at the end, where the reader is ready for it.
4. Keep it in the menu too, so nobody has to scroll back.

On a phone, a single page is a long scroll, so each section needs a heading that tells the reader where they are. A visitor should know what you sell before the first photograph has scrolled away.

When does a business outgrow a single page?

The signs are easy to spot once you look. You keep adding sections for different kinds of customer, or you want to come up in searches for specific problems.

When your offer needs more than a page to explain, a five-page website gives it room, built over five booked working days from $1,350, and larger sites are scoped and quoted from $1,750. A one-page website is still a sound start for a business that expects to grow, because the copy and photographs you prepare for it carry over into the larger site.

Questions people ask about one-page websites