‘One Page’ websites are becoming very trendy, which is a somewhat surprising development, because only a few years ago a single page website would have come across as unfinished. So why are they suddenly becoming so popular?

Performance

There are a number of factors, but performance is the most important one. More and more people are spending more time online, and they don’t want to waste the little time they have. With more than 50% of traffic coming from mobile devices, delivering the best possible user experience is non-negotiable. The site speed affects your Google ranking, with faster sites having a higher ranking than slow sites. With the increase in mobile Internet usage, Google predicts that by 2020 the internet will reach saturation point. It’s never been as important as it is right now to focus on your web based business. It’s easy to understand that a single page website loads faster than a website with a huge amount of content.

Information at a glance

By far the biggest advantage of a ‘One Pager’ is that it puts everything the customer needs at their fingertips. A one page website has your email address, phone number, map, contact form, some information about the company, and some information on your product or service all on the same page. Customers don’t want to waste their time hunting for this information, and with a single page design they don’t need to, as everything they need is on the first and only page. ‘One Pager’ websites are ideal for small business, single events, weddings, product launches, newsletter sign-ups, sales, competitions or subscriptions.

Less clutter

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. For bonus points tell them what sets you apart from the others. Similarly it frees the person creating the web design from some of the concerns that go with larger sites. It’s like taking photos in black and white rather than colour: The lack of colour frees you to concentrate on the form and lighting of your photo. With a single page website design the lack of additional pages frees you to focus on what matters.

Makes a bold statement

Some of the least usable websites are the ones with the most information on them. Google realised this recently and made a vast overhaul to the way their search engine rankings work. Previously the advice from search engine optimization specialists was to put as much relevant content onto your website as possible. As a result a lot of enormous websites appeared that weren’t especially useful to the end user. With the Google Panda update these sites were greatly penalised and dropped substantially  in the search engine listings. Keeping your content concise and relevant is one way to help keep Google on your side.

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.

Cheaper

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

SEO

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 optimizing the site. This simplicity might make it more attractive.

Is it right for you?