The 5 questions your Services page should answer
Service-based businesses usually have one or more pages that describe the services they offer. The Services page is the most important informational section of your website. If you offer several types of services that need lengthy descriptions, it's best to create a general Services page that links to pages for each of the individual services you offer.
What your Services page does
Each Services page tells people exactly what you do and may also explain the service if it is something that most people aren't familiar with. If possible, it explains how much your service costs and should also include a way to get in touch with you or schedule an appointment.
If someone has opened your Services page, congratulations! That means the Home page of your website has already reassured the visitor that what you have to offer is interesting enough to find out more about what you do. It means the visitor is taking another step toward hiring you. The Services page presents a deeper level of information and its purpose is to convince the visitor to take the next step in hiring you—which can be learning more through a consultation, participating in an online or in-person event, or scheduling an appointment and actually hiring you.
The five questions your client wants you to answer
The Services page should answer these questions for your ideal client (the person who is most suited to your business):
What is the service?
What are my choices for your services?
How much will your service cost?
What will the experience be like?
How do I take the next step of learning more or hiring you?
What is the service?
Unless you can describe different services very succinctly, you should create one page for each type of service, so you can describe each service fully. Describe the service in a friendly, approachable way, avoiding jargon or other terminology that would be off-putting to your ideal client. For example, for my ideal clients, who are computer-literate, but don't really care to learn about the ins and outs of the technology underlying their websites, I describe the website services I offer using terminology they've heard of, avoiding industry acronyms and leaving out details about how I accomplish those services for them.
What choices do you offer for the service?
Even if you offer one service, you may have different variations of the service, but they will all be listed on the same Services page. For example, a Reiki practitioner may offer Reiki sessions of varying lengths of 30 minutes, 45 minutes, and 60 minutes. A career or life coach may offer a 30-day or 60-day package for coaching services.
How much will it cost?
If you have set fees for your services, you should state the fees explicitly. Answering questions about fees on your website narrows down interested visitors to those who can afford to hire you...and your ideal clients will be people who can afford to hire you. Sometimes an exact cost isn't possible because services are priced at an hourly rate as mine are or are completed by the project as those for custom carpentry are. In those cases, you can omit fees, but you can still give an impression of whether your services are priced as high-end, economy, or somewhere in-between.
What will the experience be like for your clients?
Describing the experience of working with you, from the viewpoint of your ideal client, reassures people about what is in store for them if they hire you. This information is especially useful for services your ideal clients may not be familiar with. For example, I could describe the website building process of filling out the client questionnaire, choosing a design, creating pages, reviewing designs, and launching the website. For websites of healing arts practitioners, the Services page can include a photo of the area where sessions take place. It can describe what the person may experience during the session, whether the session is experienced while sitting or laying down, and what happens after the session. Career and life coaches could describe the intake interview, what happens at different stages of the coaching process, and what followup or support is available after the coaching ends.
If you have testimonials from previous clients who have hired you for this service, you can add a few testimonials to the Services page. By hearing about your service from the perspective of someone who has experienced it, potential clients benefit from extra reassurance that this is a service they want too.
What's the next step?
Potential clients may visit your Services page several times before they decide to learn more about you through a personal interaction. To make it easy to take the next step when they are ready, potential clients should see a button or link on the Services page that takes them to the next step in the information process. We call that next step a "call to action" on your website, the action you want people to take as the next step to hiring you. If you offer a free consultation, the button or link could open a Contact form that a potential client fills out to schedule a consultation. Or the call to action can lead directly to a form where the potential client can select an appointment time right away.
Examples of Services pages
Kerry A. Thompson, my business website, has a Services page that has evolved over time. I originally created it as a Frequently Asked Questions page, but as my business matured, the types of services I offer became clearer. The Services page leads to three other Services Details pages for the specific services I offer.
Nourishing Life Qigong is a healing arts practice that offers a variety services and events. The owner wanted to describe each service in detail, so there are four Services pages, one each for Qi Healing, Sound Therapy, Sound Bath, and Chanting. They are listed individually in the navigation area and are also summarized on the Welcome page for easier navigation to each page from a smartphone. Each Services page has the same design so someone browsing through the different services can scan each page and see a consistent presentation of information. The business has a sliding-scale fee structure, identical for each type of service, so each Services page has a link to a separate Fees page. A button goes to a Contact form to schedule an appointment. This website is an example of a business that has a lot of information to impart, but uses structure and design to organize it in a way people can browse easily.
Write your Services page in advance
There is no one-size-fits-all for pulling together your Services page or pages. These pages are the hub of detailed information on your website, so unlike other pages where you can write the text as you're designing the page, you'll need at least a rough draft of the information for each Services page before you begin to design. Plan to answer these questions for each service you offer, keeping in mind your ideal client and what tone and level of detail will be appropriate:
What is the service?
What are the choices for your services?
How much will the service cost?
What will the experience be like?
What's the next step of learning more or hiring you?
If you have multiple Services pages, you should also attempt to write about the same amount of text for each so that you can have a consistent design for each page, making it easier for potential clients to browse and compare the different services you offer.
Services pages are the entry point for potential clients becoming valued clients. Take the time you need to write helpful information and ask others to review what you've written to ensure that the descriptions are clear and that they are free of jargon. Services pages must also help to inspire confidence in your services. The result will be valuable and informative Services pages that lead people to the next step in the process of hiring you.
