Today’s question comes to us from Melissa Woolridge. (*waves hi*)
In addition to website themes that look a lot like Pinterest, there are a lot of websites now coming out that appear as just one page – this theme from WooThemes is a good example.
Melissa’s question was, simply, are website layouts like this a good idea? And the answer is, of course, it depends on your business (and your ideal client).
“One Pager” sites are good because…
Layouts like these are nice because everything is on one page. It is sticking to the principle of keeping it as simple as possible. You can’t get lost, right – everything’s right here. And these sites look great on mobile phones – because it’s basically the same!
If you’re a service provider with a very simple online needs (for example, an emergency plumber and mostly people want to know how much and where to call), a site like this can be perfect.
Where One Pager’s can go wrong…
However, if you’ve got an eCommerce shop, or a rich archive of content (and you should), then these one page sites start to feel overwhelming with all the million options you have to choose from right now.
Conventional website optimization wisdom says that the fewer steps the possible – and this is true – but if you give someone too many options at once, they choose none, as overwhelm kicks in and they head for the virtual exit door.
I have also noticed that if your clients are very unsophisticated web users, these sites can be a little confusing – it is a little jarring to choose a menu item and simple be whipped down into a section on the same page.
In Summary…
To wrap up the answer to Melissa’s question, I think this style of sites can be great, but make sure that you’re checking in with customers to make sure they are “getting it” and slim down that homepage – just because you can put everything on one page doesn’t mean you have to.
Need more help? Get in touch. I’d love to hear from you.