Single-page website themes seem to be a growing trend nowadays, due to the fact they are simple to set up, quite visually pleasing, and very easy to use. By simplifying the website building process to a single page, they allow for a website to be created in almost no time at all, with fewer of the complexities that are sometimes associated with multi-page themes.
What is the difference between a single-page and a multi-page theme?
The primary difference between a single-page theme and a multi-page theme is simply the fact that single-page themes provide all of the website content on a single page of the site, the home page. On single-page themes, when clicked, each navigation option (About Us, Services, Contact Us, etc.) simply moves down the home page to show the user the most relevant piece of content on the home page, while a multi-page theme would instead go to a completely new page for each option. Both treatments work, but single-page themes and multi-page themes both have their own advantages and disadvantages, so knowing which one suits your web design needs best is important to know. Below are 3 advantages and 3 disadvantages in regards to using single-page themes for your small business website.
3 Advantages of Single-Page Themes:
1. Fast & Easy To Set up – Due to the fact that single-page themes are built using only a single page, they require less time and effort to build. This means that your new single-page website can be built very quickly, without much effort and fewer of the complexities that are sometimes seen with multi-page websites.
2. Simple User Experience – Multi-page themes can get a little complex at times, which doesn’t always provide the best user experience. Single-page themes fix this problem by making the user experience as simple as possible. With single-page websites, a user simply needs scroll down a single page to view each section of content, from the about us, to what services they offer, and how to contact them. Sometimes simple is better, and single-page themes are a great way to keep it simple!
3. Highly Controlled Messaging – Since all of your website visitors will be landing on the same page of your website (the home page), your overall website messaging is a lot more controllable. With single-page themes, you know that every single user who comes to your site will land at the top of your home page. Because of this, single-page themes allow you to show every single website visitor the exact same message or call to action in a highly controllable way.
3 Disadvantages of Single-Page Themes:
1. Only 1 Page Indexed by Google/Yahoo/Bing – Since single-page themes are designed to have only a single page, the number of pages indexed by the major search engines such as Google, Yahoo & Bing will also be limited to 1 page. This means that all your website SEO rank will be trapped on a single page of your website. Overall, this might be fine if you want to only rank for a few keywords, but if your goal is for your site to rank for a wide range of keywords, doing so using a single-page can be extremely hard. Basically, single-page themes are not ideal for websites with aggressive SEO in mind.
2. Less Direct Targeted Content – With single-page themes, all of your users land on your home page, no matter what keyword they used to find your website. In some cases, this is good, but in others, it can be less than ideal. Sometimes you want a user to land on more exact/specific content that better matches their current wants/needs, based on what they searched for. For example, if you remodel homes and have a wide range of specific services, such as kitchen remodeling, bathroom remodeling, basement remodeling, etc., it would be best for a user who found you by searching for the keyword “kitchen remodeling” to land on your kitchen remodeling page. But if you have a single-page website, you won’t have a dedicated kitchen remodeling page. That user might still land on your website, but they may not have as good of a user experience as they would have if you had a multi-page website with dedicated pages for each specific service.
3. Limited Ability To Expand Content – A single-page theme may work well at the start, but if your business ever decides to branch out into a more complex setup with more content, single-page themes don’t cater well to this content expansion. It is true that you can simply keep expanding your single-page (home page) to have more and more info on it, but truth is, you don’t want to over-do it and end up with an endless homepage with too much info on it. Single-page themes are designed to be simple with fairly limited content, so if you plan on adding lots of content to your website, a single-page theme probably isn’t your best option.
In the end, single-page themes have their place in the web design world, but are not the right choice for everyone. If you want a complex website or are planning highly aggressive SEO, then more standard multi-page themes are probably the better choice for you, but if you are planning a simple, smaller-scale website build, then a single-page theme might be perfect for you!
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WordJack Media provides a wide range of website design and online marketing solutions to clients throughout Canada and the US, including Collingwood ON, Ottawa ON, Barrie ON, Miami FL, Lakeland FL, Orlando FL, Charlotte NC, Hickory NC, Asheville NC and more. Contact WordJack Media today for more information about how we can help your business win on the web!