If you are going to build a website for your business then you should consider what kind of website you want to have. Is it going to be a one-page website or maybe a multi-page website? Nowadays, one-page websites are taking the reins; they are minimalistic, effective, and easier to view on mobile devices.
But multi-page websites are also popular and very useful. It all depends on your preferences and what your business specifically needs. Whether you have a small business or a large prosperous company. Whether you want to sell one particular service or your range of services is large and complex.
In the following article, we explain the differences between these websites, their advantages and disadvantages, and which type of website will be best for your business.
One-Page Website vs Multi-Page Website?
When considering which site you should choose whether one page or multi-page, you should answer the following questions:
- What are the purpose/goals of the site?
- What will be the content of the site?
- How will you make navigation easy for your users?
- How will you make the site informative and beneficial to your visitors?
- Is your service complex or straightforward
Do you know the answers? So let’s get into the article
What is a One-Page Website?
A one-page website is, as the name suggests, a website consisting only of one single page on which all the most important information about the business is posted.
This page does not contain additional pages and links such as services, about us, or contact us. We have everything in one place
One-page websites are designed to provide the user with just enough information to make a decision and act on it. That’s why the one-page design is often used for landing pages, portfolios, and event-related sites. This minimal website design removes any unnecessary noise from the interface, focusing the user’s attention on the most important content.
The pros of a one-page website
Simple Clean and Straightforward
The simplicity and modernity of one-page designs can be used to your advantage by attracting attention and interest from visitors. Also, since it’s more fluid, navigation is easy, users only need to scroll up and down to see everything. One-Page websites are less chaotic, so it promotes focus. With its narrow view, you can maximize the promotion of the single target you have in mind.
Combined with the right elements, you can motivate your customers/visitors to respond to your call to action. This has been proven by many through higher conversion rates.
Works Great for Mobile
In addition to looking good on any device, the simple, uncluttered UI makes the One-Page design very responsive on mobile browsers and easier to navigate.
There’s no need to navigate to page after page, which isn’t much fun when browsing on a phone. All information is easily accessible and effectively presented
Simpler to Build and Maintain
Fewer pages, less content, less work to do in building as well as maintaining. With one-page websites, we don’t have to spend a lot of time updating content, fixing bugs, or even building the site, because there are few of them anyway, thanks to the simplicity of the site.
For example, in our case, it’s taking us a maximum of five days to develop a one-page site.
Cheaper
As one-page sites are easier to make, better to maintain, and generally simpler, they are also cheaper to make. Less work for us means less price for you. As we have already mentioned one-page websites are very friendly, from customers to owners to developers.
The cons of a one-page website
Limited Scalability
If you want to grow your brand or business, it will be difficult to expand your site using a One-Page design. You may want to add more words, content, or sections, but visitors are unlikely to scroll to the end of a very long page. So sooner or later you will need to jump from a one-page website to a multi-page website.
Not SEO-Friendly
As mentioned earlier, one-page sites have less content, which is not very helpful for Search Engine Optimization. You won’t be able to maximize keyword usage, so it will be very difficult to do. Plus, you only have one URL link to work with, which affects Google Analytics and the number of times your site will appear as search results.
In this case, it just depends on the personal preferences of the user. For some users, scrolling from the bottom to the top of the page to find out some information may be more annoying than moving from one sub-page to another – that’s why the back-to-top button at the bottom of the page is recommended.
Best for:
- Landing Pages
- Event Promotion
- Portfolio
- Small Business
What is a Multi-page Website?
Although one-page websites are gaining in popularity, multi-page websites continue to be the most popular ones. If you have a diverse range of services and products, and your business has quite a long history that would be difficult to fit on a single page, a multi-page site is your go-to.
Multi-page websites offer multiple pages, each of which can be fully dedicated to a particular topic, such as company information, contact info, or a detailed description of services provided by the company.
All of this can be navigated through the main menu so that even if you have tons of information on your site everything can be nicely organized and not overwhelming.
The pros of a multi-page website
Easy to Scale
This means that a multi-page site has no limits. If your business plan includes constant expansion of your business, then multi-page is most appropriate here. On this type of site, you can constantly add new content wherever you want. Be it adding new pages or creating a blog.
When your service is really advanced or you have more than one service, you create separate sub-pages dedicated only to them. As mentioned above, multi-pages have no limit and if your business is diverse and extensive – this is something you should opt for.
Long before we started using our thumbs to scroll through pages, we clicked on links and menus to get where we wanted to go.
There’s a lot to be said for traditional navigation. People are used to it. They know how it works and what to do. A multi-page site gives that familiarity.
However, be careful how many items you add to the menu. The larger the navigation menu, the more “screen space” it takes up. This can make it difficult for visitors to find their way around.
Greater SEO Capabilities
Finally, sites with multiple pages have powerful SEO capabilities. We’ve found that sites with multiple pages are more likely to have more content than those with one page. And while the SEO potential of each site largely depends on your digital marketing strategy, just having the potential for SEO-optimized content is a great start.
Thanks to SEO you can, among many other things, increase traffic to your site, you can learn about it here.
The cons of a multi-page website
Constant need for Maintenance
What can be an advantage can also be a disadvantage. Having a large, complex website can be quite troublesome because, with so much content and functionality, you have a lot of work to do when in need of updating or fixing something.
Harder to adapt to mobile
Multi-level menus and multiple pages can make the mobile experience poor, especially if the site is not optimized for responsive design.
When deciding on a multi-page design, it’s important to choose a responsive theme that adapts to any display (regardless of size). It’s a good idea to test the template on different devices using a tool like Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test Tool to see how the site performs on smaller screens.
Bounce Rate
Another thing to consider is your site’s bounce rate. Pages with a lot of content are often slow to load, distracting, and can cause users to bounce off the page. And while not every multi-page site is loaded with content, with all the room to scale, it’s something worth paying attention to.
User Distractions
Multi-page websites are built for exploration, and visitors are encouraged to leave and learn more about the company with clear menu links and call-to-actions.
This is great if you want people to stay on your site, but less so if you’re trying to focus them on one topic or direct them to take a specific action. Traditional navigation means you’ll always be fighting to keep the reader’s attention on the page.
Best for:
- E-commerce
- Business with several services
- Large/Growing Business
Which site is right for you?
The type, size, and goals of your business are crucial in this case. As you can see from the article, there is no typical favorite here, each type of site has its pros and cons, which will suit some people but others not.
Therefore, before such an important choice, it is necessary to determine what we require from our future website and what are our business goals.
To sum up: a one-page design is great when you’ve got a narrow focus and you have specific service and information about it that you want to present (Small Business typically). It’s also ideal for mobile-first design.
On the other hand, the multi-page design allows you to widen your reach potential, present more details about your business, stick to traditional navigation systems and optimize your SEO strategy (larger company).
Make your choice
Both single-page and multi-page pages contribute a lot. The question is: do the advantages outweigh the disadvantages?
If your business is narrow in scope with a specific desired action and you can deliver your message concisely, a user-friendly one-page website design works best.
On the other hand, if your business is e-commerce or offers many services, a multi-page design will grow with you. It will also make it easier to get more eyes on your brand through SEO.
Define your goals. Work out what you want to achieve with your website and consider which option provides the most satisfying experience for your customers. Because when the customer is satisfied – you will be too.
