One-Page vs. Multipage Website: The One Decisive Factor
5 min read
Forget multi-page bullet point lists comparing the pros and cons of one-page vs multipage sites. Let’s talk about the ONE thing that will determine which you need.
Have you ever landed on a website and everything you needed was right there, neatly organized on one page?
Sounds convenient right?
That’s what, ideally, a one-page site is for.
I see other blogs talk about how a one-page site is cheaper, easier to navigate, easier to maintain, faster to load, and better on mobile- and while this is all true none of these things are what should make you pick a one-page site.
At the end of the day, there’s really only one thing that dictates whether you need a one-page site: how much content you have.
And it’s frustrating as hell that I don’t see anyone talking more about it!! See, it’s impossible to design a site content unseen. Too often I see people trying to force content and design together that simply doesn't gel. Content DICTATES design. Not the other way around.
Ever come across a site that seems like a jigsaw? All the pieces are there, but it’s not well organized? It seems like some topics don’t go on long enough and others ramble on for far too long? Or maybe you’ve seen the site that has 6 different ideas all on one-page.
That’s a red flag. It means there wasn’t synergy between whoever wrote the content of the site, also known as copywriting if we’re getting technical, and whoever designed it.
One-page Websites
I tell my clients to have only one idea per page. This gives the viewer a cohesive experience on your site. This is great if you have one thing you do. If you are a voice-over artist, or painter, or you have a book you want to promote then a one-page site is perfect for you.
A one-page site will allow you to tell your story in a truly beautiful way. It allows for narrative flow and along with good design, guides the visitor visually through your content seamlessly. One-page can be visually striking and simple all at once. Another benefit is navigation is simple so your visitors will not get lost or have any trouble finding what they need from you. Plus, you need WAY LESS CONTENT than you do for a multi-page site. So for those of you just starting out, this is 99% of the time the way to go.
When building your site this ‘One-page One-idea’ concept is super important to refer back to. It can be very easy to find your page growing into a never-ending story. That’s why you really have to be good about killing your darlings as you make your one-page site. If you DO want to do multiple things (hey, we’re creative multi-hyphenates after all.) Then you’ll need to start separating things out for ease of use.
One downside of one-page sites is that there are not a lot of places to add new content if you want to in the future and are harder to expand to a multi-page site later on. So if you aim to expand your creative endeavours in the near future, a one-page site might be too restrictive for you.
Finally, no blog about websites is complete without talking about SEO. It is true that on a one-page site, you will have fewer opportunities to utilize keywords and optimize for search engines; but, 90% of my clients are entreprenurs in creative fields, and 99% of their work comes from referrals and networking. NOT someone searching them and finding them online. BUT, you DO still need a professional site for when those referrals and networking connections check you out. This is where I find having a professional online presence and website make a big difference. It gives you a big confidence boost to put yourself out there for things that you might have though were outside of your “abilities”.
Multi-page Websites
Multipage sites in contrast offer more flexibility and scalability over time. If you are like me, and have your hands in a few baskets, this might be perfect. They do take more planning to set up and maintain but there is no way I could fit everything I need on my web design site on one-page.
If you find yourself building your one-page site and find it hard to fit everything you need on one-page and are worried that it doesn’t flow this is a sign that you are better suited to a multipage site.
You can create dedicated pages for your portfolio, a blog, an about page, and contact information. The downside being that they’re more time consuming to build and maintain. Maintenance will take a lot more time than you think! Especially if you have several things on the go every month (guilty).
To put this into artist terms, imagine if…
You try to put the whole shebang on one page, your acting, directing and producing and oh that side hustle you do where you do web design and branding, oh, and also, you’re going to start offering coaching as well, and…
I’ve lost you right? (👆Those are all things I do, and yeah, it’s a lot. Hence I have 2 separate multi-page websites.)
That’s my point.
If you try to put all that on one page anyone viewing your site will be lost too. That’s why you need to section it out into multiple pages. (Or websites!)
Each page for each artistic endeavor.
Now if you have multiple plays going on (bravo! I don't know how you find the time to eat) you can put them all under one page, but if they are different endeavors like painting vs book writing they need to be separate. Otherwise, you will confuse your reader.
Unless…
You are making illustrations FOR your book. I know it can get kind of confusing but to put it into marketing speak: you want to have ‘one product’ ie the thing you are doing, on one page.
Confusing Enough?
Okay, I’m hoping you are still with me here. I know that last bit was like- what the hell? Where do I know where that line is? The honest to god answer is it depends, and I am so sorry to give you that because I HATE that answer myself. At the end of the day just thinking about what groupings of content you want on each page sets you above a large swath of websites. Trust me. I recommend content grouping during the design phase so that you can visually see how many things you have on each page. Make Folders. Write your copy in a Google Doc or Word Doc etc. (Don’t write it ON your site as you design… remember, content dictates design. But that’s for another post.)
If you’re thinking- Nadine! Why are you dropping another concept near the end of your post!?
Don’t worry, all things design will be coming later on down the pipeline. For now, just focus on gathering and grouping your content. You can even literally take a piece of paper, list out everything you want on your website, and then group them in rough themes. It should take you all of ten minutes, and by the end of it you will have this one-page vs multipage debate all sorted.
And remember, kill your darlings. ;)
