In order to be found, the search robots, spiders, or crawlers need to index your website. The search bots are scanning your HTML for content, links, images, headlines, meta tags, and more. They will then combine the information they find to determine your search engine page rankings.

In order to have your site crawled by search robots, they need a reason to visit your website and index your web pages.

The number one way to get your site indexed by the search engines is to update the content frequently and consistently. You need to be kind to the search engines by giving them what they want – fresh content, clean coding, and user friendly design.

Most website owners submit their site to the search engines when it originally launches and then they do nothing for weeks, months, or even years! They just let their site sit there like a boring, lifeless, standard, tri-fold print brochure.

Unfortunately, this strategy doesn’t work. That is why a lot of small business websites stink!

As an example, say a search bot scans your website and sets itself to come back in one week. One week later it comes back and because nothing has changed, it sets itself to come back in two weeks. Two weeks later it comes back and because nothing has changed, it sets itself to come back in four weeks.

Do you see how a lack of fresh content and website updates can hurt your search engine results?

Now, on the other hand, if in one week the search bot came back and saw new content, it may set itself to come back again in a week. A week later the bot comes back and because it saw more new content, it sets itself to come back in four days. Four days later the search robot comes back and because it sees more new content, it sets itself to come back every day.

These are just examples, but you can easily see how consistently updating website content through news rooms, press releases, blog posts, articles, and more can drastically impact how often you are found by your target market online.

Got a different idea on updating content and how it can help your business and your website? Let me know!

The one part of website development that every entrepreneur and business owner gets stuck in is the content development and what pages they need to include in their website.

Some of the questions that are repeated over and over are:

• Do I need a testimonials page and do I have to call it that?
• What if I don’t have any testimonials right now?
• How do I know what to include on each page?
• Do I say about us, or about me, or just about?
• What pages do I need to include on my business website

There are a 10 standard web pages that every business website needs. The way the content is presented on the pages may change from site to site, but the pages remain the same.

Below is a list of the top 10 standard web pages and some information on what should be included on each one:

HOME: This is your opportunity to provide a summary of who you are and what you offer. You must make your home page content interesting and engaging, because it needs to grab your visitors’ attention in the first few seconds they are on the page.

What to include: A brief explanation of who you are and what you do, a short description or bulleted list of your products and services, and maybe a brief explanation on how your products and services will benefit the visitor.

ABOUT: This is your opportunity to provide an overview of the history of your business and educate your visitor about how you are different from your competitors.

What to include: An overview about the business including the history of the business, information about the business officers, if your a solopreneur a bio and photo, any awards or special recognition you have received, and your unique points of differentiation.

SERVICES: This is your opportunity to provide information about all of the services you offer. Start the page with a brief overview or summary of your services and then list them below. If you have a large number of services or a lot of information about each service, you may want to think about separating them into categories and including a link to a landing page to learn more about an individual service, which is what I do for Bourn Creative’s services.

What to include: A summary of services offered, a list of services with brief descriptions, links to learn more about specific services (optional), the benefits the visitor will receive from the service, and how your services are different from the competitors’ services.

PRODUCTS: This is your opportunity to provide information about all of the products you offer. Start the page with a brief overview or summary of your products and then list them below. If you have a large number of products or a lot of information about each product, you may want to think about separating them into categories and including a link to a landing page to learn more about an individual product.

What to include: A summary of products offered, a list of products with brief descriptions, links to learn more about specific products (optional), the benefits the visitor will receive from the products, the product features, and how your products are different from the competitors’ products.

FAQ: This is your opportunity to answer questions that your prospects and customers ask you over and over again, with the idea that the FAQ on the website will serve your visitors better and cut down on the questions you receive. Always pose the questions in a positive fashion and, while you must always answer the questions honestly, you also want to make sure you keep them interested. Your answers should help persuade the visitor to take the next step or action to hire you or purchase your product.

What to include: questions you are asked repeatedly, questions that always come up when speaking with prospects, questions that address (and solve) possible objections your prospects have, questions that can help remove any barriers or perceptions prospects may have.

TESTIMONIALS: This is your opportunity to show your visitors that you are awesome. Testimonials, especially ones that also include a photo and contact info or web address help enhance your credibility, trustworthiness, and your dependability. Testimonials show your prospects that other people have hired your or bought your product and had success and it encourages them to do the same.

What to include: A short sentence or two about the page or an introduction, testimonials with photos and contact info or web addresses, headlines for each testimonial. See how I display my testimonials.

CONTACT: This is your opportunity to provide your site visitors all of the different ways they can get in touch with you. This page is in no way optional. I recommend you also have your contact email and phone number in the footer on every page of your website.

What to include: Mailing address, phone number, fax number, email address, social media profile web addresses such as your Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn profiles, directions if you have a bricks and mortar location, hours of operation, and the best way to reach you. I also recommend a contact form the visitor can fill out to reach you.

PRIVACY POLICY: This is your opportunity to let your site visitors know that their information is safe with you … or if it isn’t! This is the page where you need to outline how any information you collect will be used and if it will be shared or not. Your privacy policy must be strictly adhered to.

What to include: A list of the information you collect, how the information you collect is used, how they can request a copy of the information you have about them, whether or not your information will be shared and if so, with who, and the policies you have to protect your business and your site visitors, prospects, and customers.

NEWSROOM: This your opportunity to speak to the media and the one place it is okay to brag a bit about how cool you are! Your newsroom is where you can post links to news articles that feature you or your business and press releases about your accomplishments and your business accomplishments.

What to include: How the media can reach you, how you can help the media, links to download your head shot(s), short, medium, and long versions of your bio, a list of and links to news articles, and a list of and links to press releases.Check out my newsroom.

PORTFOLIO: If you create something, this is your opportunity to show it off to the world! Typically a must have page for designers, copywriters, photographers, artists, builders, etc., the portfolio page is where you get to show off your work in any way you want and show your visitors what you can do. This is where I get to show off my graphic design work!

What to include: Samples of your work! Try to show a diverse range of samples because variety will provide more opportunities for your site visitors to connect with a piece of your work.

Did I miss a standard page that should be included in every website design? Is there one that you feel is so important it needs to be added to the list? Should one be removed? I’d love to hear your opinion!