Publishing your website feels like a daunting task.

How will you know when your website is ready for prime time?

The reality is that you can publish your website quickly with just the essential pages you need to start, and then learn about what pages to add and optimize later.

Four pages you need to get your website ready to publish:

1. Homepage

Purpose: To introduce visitors to your business and point them to the next action.

Your homepage is the first impression potential customers have of you and your brand.

Your homepage should answer these questions about your business:

• What is it?
• Who is it for?
• So what?
• What should the visitor do next?

Remember to keep your homepage content focused on helping visitors solve their problems.

Here are more tips to create a stunning homepage in no time.

2. Products/Services Overview

Purpose: To let visitors know what you sell and/or how they can do business with you.

Your Products/Services page should detail, clearly and concisely, what you offer as a business and what makes it (or you) special. What differentiates your products or services from similar ones in the industry? What sets you apart from your competitors?

If you have many products or services, list your bestsellers and/or top services on this overview page. You can point visitors to more detailed pages where you can focus on writing product descriptions that sell.

Don’t forget to let your visitors know the next step to doing business with you! That could mean visiting a product page, calling you, or filling out a form. Make it clear what your visitors should do next.

Find out more about how to create a services page.

3. About

Purpose: To share your story from the ideal visitor’s point of view.

The About page should explain who you are, but it should do so from the perspective of your visitor. The people reading the “About” page are looking for reassurance that you can deliver, so give that reassurance. Share what you do, your history, and qualifications.

Let your personality shine and don’t be afraid to add a dash of humor (if that’s part of your brand). If you’re business-like but not boring, reveal that in your tone.

4. Contact

Purpose: To make it easy for visitors to find and contact you.

A Contact page is one of the most visited pages of a business owner’s website. Don’t expect your customers to do a lot of work to find out how to contact you. Make it easy or they’ll leave and find someone else who is easier to contact.

The Contact page should again summarize what you do (in about three sentences) and then give all your contact details.

Your visitor wants to know:

• Where can I find you?
• When can I find you?
• How can I contact you?

Get more tips on creating a stellar contact page.

You’re almost ready to publish!

Now you know which pages you’ll need and what to say on them to feel confident about publishing your website. You can also check out these content writing tips for more.

Once you have content ready for these pages, you can then move on to customizing the template for your new website.