Structuring a services page

One page per service

Somebody searching for a specific service should land on a page about that service rather than on a list where it is one item among eight. A combined page competes with itself for every service on it, and neither a search engine nor an answer engine can tell what it is mainly about.

The exception is where two services are genuinely the same job with a different name. Those are one page, and our page on competing pages covers why splitting them would do damage rather than adding coverage.

A services menu still has a place as a hub linking to each one. Our page on service menus covers that page, which is a choosing page rather than a selling one.

Open with the problem, not the service

Customers do not know your service names and do not care about them. They know what is wrong. A page opening with the situation lets somebody recognize themselves in the first line, which is the whole job of an opening.

Then say what you do about it, plainly. The description of the work belongs in the second paragraph, after the reader has established that they are in the right place and that you understand the situation.

Our page on answer-first writing covers the pattern. It applies to a service page as sharply as to anything else on a business site.

Say what is included, and what is not

List what the price covers, what happens on the day, how long it takes and what the customer needs to have ready. Vagueness here is why people call three competitors rather than booking with the first one they read.

The exclusions matter as much. What is not covered, what would be charged separately, and what you would refer elsewhere. Stating them reads as confidence and prevents the argument that otherwise happens afterward.

Everything you write here is a claim. Our page on honest claims covers keeping it supportable, and a service page is where unsupportable ones enter a site most easily.

The shape of a service page

The arrangement below is what works for almost every small business service page. It is ordered by what a visitor is deciding in the order they decide it, rather than by what the business finds most interesting.

• The problem, named in the customer's words
• What you do about it, in plain terms
• What is included and what is not
• What it costs, or what determines the cost
• Photographs of this work, actually done
• The three objections you always hear, answered
• One clear next step, repeated at the foot

Price, addressed rather than avoided

You do not have to publish a figure and you do have to address the question, because it is the one behind most enquiries and silence loses the people who would have been happy with the answer.

Say what a typical job involves, what makes it more expensive and whether there is a call-out charge. Our page on pricing pages covers the wider treatment where you publish figures.

Whatever you publish has to stay current. A price left unchanged for two years is a claim about what you charge, and correcting it at the point of quoting starts the relationship badly.

Proof, specific to this service

Photographs of this particular kind of job rather than a general gallery. A visitor is checking whether you have done work like theirs, and a picture of an unrelated service does not answer that.

Reviews that mention this service, in the customer's own wording. Our page on reviews covers what you may do with them, and the awkward phrasing is what makes them believable.

Where you hold a credential relevant to this service, name it here with the issuing body rather than only on an about page nobody reached.

One next step

A service page offering four equal actions is asking the reader to choose, and most of them will not. Decide what you want and make it the obvious thing, with everything else quieter.

Repeat it at the foot as well as near the top. People become ready at different points, and somebody who read to the end should not have to scroll back to act.

Say what happens after they take it. Our page on contact forms covers the mechanics, and knowing what follows removes the last hesitation before somebody commits.