A website can be split up into several “building blocks” as follows:
- Header
- Navigation
- Content
- Sidebar
- Footer
Each of these has a specific role to play, but you’ll often find that the footer gets left as a big vacuum of space. Perhaps you’ve put your logo there and decided that’ll do?
A good way to think about the footer of a webpage is like the footer on a formal document. This is the place you’d look to either look up information about a company quickly, find contact information, or seek clarification on credibility.
Not to toot our own horn, but take a look at the footer on this very page you’re reading at the moment and you’ll see how we believe a website footer should be utilised. Key elements are:
- Registered company name
- Company number
- Links to legal documents
- Contact telephone number
- Address & contact details
- Social links
- Accreditation, standards agencies, or trust elements
Have a look at your own footer, what does it say? It’s it just a big Gray box that you meant to populate but never got around to? It might seem like a small and insignificant thing, however it’s actually an area that users will often scroll to for referencing information.
Personally, if I’m looking at a website and want to check out the social channels, the first places I look for these are the header and the footer. Make sure you’ve got key elements like this if you’ve got social channels worth visiting. Perhaps you’re active on YouTube, having a link to your channel is a nice easy way of pushing website visitors towards your content.
Beyond the obvious bits above, you could use actively use the footer. An example of this would be for data capture. If somebody has reached the bottom of your page, chances are they’re probably interested in something you’ve got. Why not use the footer space for some data capture? Sign the users up to a mailing list or give them a space to register interest in your service?
The main takeaway here is that a footer is not just the boring bit at the bottom of a site where you put your company name and an auto-updating year. There’s so much more you can do with it.