What to (and What Not to) Include in a Website Footer

March 16, 2021 8:30am Robyn Rivera

A common misconception about website footers is that they’re pointless and totally worthless. In fact, the footer is probably the most underrated part of your entire website.

The reason the footer is so undervalued might be because it’s located at the very bottom of the site, and most people focus the majority of their attention above the fold. But, there’s something to be said for a good website footer.

The reality of the situation is that your footer is actually one of the most important pieces of real estate on your website. Why? Because it appears on every page of the site. That means that anything you put in your footer is virtually guaranteed to be seen by anyone who visits your website.

Not only do your visitors see the footer of your website over and over again on every page, but so do search engines. Information that’s exposed to search engines repeatedly will be prioritized over other information on your site.

What to include in your website’s footer

#1. Contact Information

People need to get ahold of your business for all kinds of reasons. Whether they want to request a free estimate, schedule an appointment, make a return or ask a question, they need to be able to contact you in order to do so.

Ensure that your visitors can get ahold of you easily, no matter what page of your site they’re on, by including your contact information in your footer.

It might seem redundant to have contact information and a contact page, but your contact page could include a contact form in addition to your contact information, as well as alternative ways to contact you.

#2. Links to your social profiles

People will often check out a business on social media before ultimately deciding to work with them. They’ll go on social media to learn about what others are saying about the business, to get to know the business and to read reviews. You can make it easier for them to do so by including any applicable social icons in your footer with links to your social profiles.

Another reason to include your social profiles in your website footer is that it makes it easier for your website visitors to follow you on social media.

If someone is interested enough in your brand to check out your website, there’s a good chance they’ll be willing to follow you on social media. Having social icons in your footer prevents them from having to search for your social profiles on their own.

#3. Links

If someone has scrolled all the way down to the bottom of whatever page they’ve landed on — be it your homepage, a blog or a landing page on your website — there’s a good chance that they are interested enough in what you have to offer to check out more pages on your website.

Make sure that you include links to the other pages of your website in your footer. You don’t necessarily have to include every link — and shouldn’t, if you have a large website — but it’s a good idea to include the most important pages.

For instance, if you have an e-commerce store, consider including the main categories and leaving out the subcategories.

#4. Copyright, year and brand

It’s important that people who visit your website know that your content is protected and that it’s not acceptable for them to copy your content and paste it onto their own website. Use the copyright symbol next to your brand name and the year.

Including the year will tell any visitors to your website that it’s up to date and current, and that you’re not a negligent website owner. If you’re worried that you’ll forget to change the year come January, with a small snippet of code, the year will update automatically.

Here’s an example of what it will look like:

#5. Newsletter signup box

Email marketing is a great way to introduce information to new clients and customers, as well as to nurture your relationships with existing ones.

You can send out all kinds of information to a wide audience via email marketing, including announcements for new services and products, information about upcoming promotions and offers and invitations to upcoming events. But first, you need email addresses.

Staying on your website long enough to get to the bottom of the page is a pretty good sign that a visitor is, at least, somewhat interested in what you have to offer. Chances are, they’ll be more likely to be interested in what more you have to say in your newsletter. Including a newsletter signup box in your footer makes it easy for them to sign up.

#6. A call to action

The whole point of having a website is to get conversions, which means that you need to encourage your visitors to take the next step by calling them to action.

Whether you want your visitors to sign up for a subscription, schedule a service, shop your products or fill out a contact form, make it clear to them and ensure it shows up on every page of your site by including a call to action (CTA) in your footer.

Your CTA will likely stand out more than any other element in your footer, so make it a point to design it with the end-user in mind.

What not to Include in your footer

When designers start understanding how important the footer really is, they’re often tempted to overstuff it with too many links and other elements. But, the last thing you want is for your website footer to look too busy and crowded.

There are a lot of elements you could include in your footer, but only a few that you absolutely should. However many you choose to include, make sure to design it in a way that’s visually pleasing.

Now that you know what to include — and not to include — in the footer of your website, it’s time to start designing it. Build your own website with the Websites 360® website builder today. Get started.

Originally published 2/21/20