Do you have a small website that you want to change up?
Maybe you’re not sure how to make your website more exciting, especially when comparing it to your larger competitors. But stuffing your website with content and information that isn’t necessary can actually bring down the quality of your site.
Single page designs are becoming a popular alternative for sites that are on the smaller side. Perhaps it can be a great option for you, too. Let’s find out more about what this type of design looks like, what the benefits are and what situations it’s best for.
What is a Single Page Website?
A single page website is exactly as it sounds. It’s a website that is one single page. It can also be referred to as a pageless design or a smart website. Regardless of what you call it, many people argue that a single page website is the future.
A pageless design is clutter-free, intuitive and easy to digest. There are no additional pages (about us, contact, services). Instead, all important information is front and center. The purpose of this type of website is to direct the user’s attention toward the most important content.
What are the Benefits of a Single Page Design?
Single page designs are not the best choice for every project. But when they are, there are many benefits that can be enjoyed. Let’s take a look at what they are.
Seamless and Intuitive
All a user has to do to enjoy your website is scroll. Luckily, this is something that comes natural when navigating a website. This means that users will be able to get the full experience just by scrolling.
On occasion, there may be an arrow or two pointing users in the right direction, but overall, you can expect that the experience with your brand will be seamless and intuitive. You’ll never have to worry about overloading your visitors with information, or losing them in endless pages of material.
Faster and Easier to Maintain
In general, a single page design is faster than a multiple page one. Of course, there are coding issues that need to be considered, as a well-coded multiple page design is still going to run better than a poorly-coded single page design. Websites that load quickly improve the user experience and perform better in terms of SEO.
Additionally, pageless designs are easier to maintain because of the obvious. You only have one page to worry about as opposed to multiple ones. Again, it all lies in the code and how well-written this was to begin with.
When performing updates and maintenance, you’ll find that things go much more smoothly. With one page to deal with, you don’t have to take as much time ensuring that all of your pages match up with accurate, up-to-date information. You’re forced to get to the point right away. If you want to expand on certain points, there’s always your blog or your emails that customers can choose to read on their own time.
Better for SEO
How well a website performs in the search engines is largely based on quality inbound links. Since a good chunk of traffic comes from the search engines, it’s important to manage SEO so that your site ranks well.
A pageless design has only page that is being linked to, which increases the number of links and the importance of your site in terms of SEO. If you currently have a website that has multiple pages but you can fit things onto one page, you may find that your rankings immediately increase when moving to a single page design.
Improved Storytelling
Storytelling is the bread and butter when you want to connect with your audience in a meaningful way. Fortunately, single page designs make storytelling a whole lot easier. All a user has to do is scroll through your site to get the full storytelling experience with no interruptions.
Multi page designs, on the other hand, are more cluttered and don’t allow for an immersive and interactive storytelling experience. It’s much easier for a visitor to be lost when they venture to a different page.
Perfect for Mobile Friendliness
Many people think that making an existing website responsive is enough to make it mobile. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Just because you make a large website responsive doesn’t mean it’s mobile friendly.
The things that make a website mobile friendly include features like simple navigation, fast loading times, readable font and clickable buttons and links. A single page design is ideal for mobile friendliness because of its simpler nature that adapts well to small screen sizes. If you have a large mobile audience, a pageless design may be best.
To Use or Not to Use a Pageless Design?
Even though there are many benefits to a single page design, there is a place for them. They are not a perfect, one-fits-all solution.
Single page designs are ideal for the following:
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Small websites with a handful of pages
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Single-product ecommerce sites
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Pre-launching of a website
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Simple online stores (up to 15 products)
They are not best choice for these types of websites:
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Large websites with many pages
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Complex websites
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Products/services that require a lot of information
Determining the Best Choice for You
If your website fits the criteria for a single page design, you can move forward at any time with a site makeover. Your audience will appreciate the streamlined design that is lighter on their mobile devices, and you’ll be proud of the simple, modern look that will give your brand a competitive edge.
If, however, your website is large, complex or heavy on information that is needed for customers to make an informed purchase decision, you will find it best to stick with traditional site architecture.
Still not sure? Give SEMGeeks a call.