The 3 Website Pages Most Designers Forget (And Why I Include Them)
When you think about what goes into a website, you probably picture the big pages. Home, About, Services, Contact.
But there are three little pages that sit quietly in the background, and they do a lot more work than most people realise.
In every Squarespace package I offer, I include a custom 404 page, a privacy policy page and a link-in-bio page for Instagram and TikTok. Let me tell you why.
1. The 404 page
You know that "page not found" message you get when a link is broken or someone mistypes a web address?
That's a 404 page. And on a lot of websites, it's a dead end.
The visitor lands there, thinks "oh, that's broken", and leaves. Which is a shame, because they were interested enough to click in the first place.
A custom 404 page catches them. I design it with a friendly message (something that actually sounds like you), a button back to your homepage and a link to your services, so they've got somewhere to go next. It takes a lost visitor and gives them a way back in.
How I make it yours: it uses your fonts, your colours and your wording. If your brand is playful, the message will be playful. If it's calm and polished, the page will be too. It should feel like the rest of your site, so a mistake feels like a small detour instead of a broken website.
2. The privacy policy page
Honestly, nobody gets excited about a privacy policy. But if your website has a contact form, a newsletter sign-up, or uses analytics, you need one. It's one of the first things people look for when they're deciding whether to trust you with their details.
It's also the page that so often gets left until the very end, or forgotten completely, which is why I build it into the package from the start.
I'll create the page, style it so it's easy to read (not a giant wall of grey text!), and link it in your footer so it's on every page of your site. Small thing, but it makes your business look properly set up.
A little note: I'm a designer, not a solicitor, so I'd always recommend making sure the wording of your policy is right for your business. I'll make sure it's all set up beautifully around it.
How I make it yours: same fonts, same spacing, same colours as the rest of your site. It shouldn't look like something bolted on at the last minute.
3. The link-in-bio page
If you're on Instagram or TikTok, you only get one link in your bio. One!
Lots of people use a third-party link tool for this, and that's fine. But the traffic goes to somebody else's page, with somebody else's branding on it.
So I build the link page right on your Squarespace website instead. It's on your own domain, it matches your brand, and when someone clicks through to your services or your latest offer, they're already on your site and looking around. You can see who's clicking in your own analytics too, which is very handy.
I design it to work beautifully on a phone, because that's where nearly everyone will see it. A simple stack of buttons: book a call, view my work, join the newsletter, whatever matters most to you right now.
How I make it yours: your colours, your fonts, your photo or logo at the top, and buttons you can update yourself whenever your focus changes. I set it up in the same template style as the rest of your site, so it feels like part of one whole brand.
Why I do it this way
I want a website to feel finished when I hand it over. Not just the pages people see first, but the ones that quietly catch people, build trust and make life easier.
None of these three pages are big or flashy. But together they make a site feel looked after, and that's a feeling I want every client to have when they launch.
If you'd like a website with all of this built in, you can see what's included in my packages here, and have a look at my work here.
Have you got a 404 page, a privacy policy and a link-in-bio page on your own site? Or is there one you've been meaning to get around to? Let me know!