Single Page Website Design

Single page website designs can be an excellent technique for tackling smaller websites, even those that you might not think could ever be done without multiple pages. There are tons of great reasons for using a single page site, from ease of maintenance to reduced bandwidth needs. If you’re tackling a shorter site, one that would normally have a handful of pages, consider using a single page, and see if it will make the project easier and more user friendly.

SINGLE PAGE WEBSITE BENEFITS

Obviously, single page website design is not ideal for every project. But there are a host of reasons to use them if they’re a possible fit.

INFORMATION AT A GLANCE

By far the biggest advantage of single page website is that it puts everything the customer needs in one place at their fingertips. A typical one page website has your email address, phone number, a map, a contact form, some information about the company, and some information on your product or service. All in one place. The customer doesn’t want to waste their time trying to find this information out, and with a single page design they don’t need to because everything they need is on the first and only page.

TO THE POINT 

When you have a single page website you are forced to concentrate on your content more. You can’t shove every little idea you think of onto the site and this forced economy will work in your favour. Your customers aren’t looking for essays, if you want to supply information to the world then start a blog and link to it from your site. What your customers want to know is who you are and what you do.
A good single page website lists what people want to see up-front. A photographer would showcase some of their top work. An antiques shop might show off some of their prize sales. A singer might place her most popular song. The one page website is all about showing off, boasting a little, bragging about what you’re good at and telling the customer that YOUR company is the one they’ve been looking for.

LOWER COSTS

Single page websites tend to be smaller which saves you web space and bandwidth which could very well reduce your hosting costs. A single page website design is often cheaper to buy than a larger site as the designer does not need to be concerned with large volumes of content or page-specific requirements that are common with larger sites.

STORYTELLING CAN INCREASE ACTION

Single page websites often use a storytelling angle that multi-page sites aren’t as good at. This can increase conversions and inspire visitors to take action. People are used to following stories, both online and off, so this has obvious user experience benefits. We’ve been reading and hearing stories since we were children, so it’s something that comes naturally to us.

SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMISATION

It won’t improve your search engine ranking to have only a single page on your site, but it will certainly simplify the task of optimising the site. This simplicity might make it attractive.

ELIMINATE MOBILE SITES

Responsive design is, of course, not limited to single page websites. But the more complex a site is, the more difficult it is to make it work well on a smaller screen, even with a responsive design. A single page website is, by necessity, not complex. Making the design responsive is generally easier. Simplified navigation and similar changes also make a design that works well on small screens easier.

IS IT RIGHT FOR YOU

While there are a lot of benefits to single page websites, they’re not a perfect, one-size-fits-all solution. There are plenty of times when you shouldn’t use a one page design, while there are plenty of other times where a single page site makes a lot more sense than a multi-page one.

If you’re setting up a site that would only have a handful of pages anyway, then a single page site might be perfect. Condensing everything onto one page can give the overall site a more modern look, and if it’s light on content anyway, then a single page site can make it look like it has more substance.

Another common example of the one-page site is the pre-launch website. These are, more often than not, a single page, often with a form for a newsletter sign-up. In most cases, the information provided to the public during the pre-launch can easily be organised on a single page, so it makes sense to consider this style first when designing these pages.

Single-product e-commerce sites are another place where single page sites can be great. If you’re only selling one product, whether that be a physical product or a digital one, then why bother with multiple pages? A simple, single page site can be a much better sales tool.

You might think that a more complex e-commerce site isn’t a good fit for a single page site, but it still can be. Granted, I would avoid it for sites that have more than a dozen or so products, but a simple online store can easily be held on a single page, with modal windows for loading product details and the checkout process.

When not to use a single page site is pretty straightforward: sites that are large, complex, or by default need to have large amounts of information are not suited to a single page site. In those cases, you’re much better off with a more traditional site structure.

GET IN TOUCH

Find out if a single page website is right for your business call 0191 280 2023 or email john@bigpurplebox.co.uk

Have a quick look at these examples:  Prima Cottage and Alice Coopers Nightmare

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