The page that matters most
Someone has died. A member of the family is on a phone in a hallway at two in the morning, and they do not know what they are supposed to do. They search, they land on a funeral director's website, and the home page tells them the firm has served the community since 1897.
The page they needed was a list of what to do, in order, starting with the first thing. That page is the most-read page on a well-built funeral site and the one most often missing. Here is how to write and build it.
What it has to answer
Four questions, in this order:
- Who do I call first, right now?
- What paperwork happens, and who does it?
- When do I need to decide anything?
- What does it cost, roughly?
The family is not browsing. They are looking for the next action. Every section should end with an action or a reassurance that nothing is needed yet.
The structure
A short opening. Two sentences, no more. That you are sorry, that the page explains what to do, and that they can call at any hour.
Where the death happened. The first steps genuinely differ, so split them:
- At home, expectedly
- At home, unexpectedly
- In hospital
- In a care home
- Abroad
Each as a short block of three or four steps in plain sentences. Who to contact, whether a doctor or coroner is involved, whether the person can stay where they are for a while, and when to call you. Families find their own situation quickly when the blocks are labelled.
Registering the death. What is required where you work, who can do it, what to take, how long there is, and what documents come out of it. Link to the official register office or equivalent rather than restating rules that change.
When to contact us. Say plainly that you can be called before anything else is arranged, that there is no obligation, and that the first call takes a few minutes. Give the number in a tappable button.
What we do next. Bringing the person into your care, the arrangement meeting, what to bring, how long it usually takes, whether it can be done at home or online.
Decisions and timings. Burial or cremation, a service or not, who might officiate, when the date is set. Frame it as decisions that will be taken together, not as a form to complete now.
Costs. One paragraph and a link to the price list, a note that a written estimate comes before anything is agreed, and a mention of support with costs where it exists.
Nothing needs doing tonight. Where it is true, say so. It is the single kindest line on the page.
How it reads
Short sentences. No marketing voice. No mission statement. Plain words rather than trade terms: "bringing them into our care" rather than "removal", "the person who has died" rather than "the deceased" where it reads more gently. High contrast and a generous font size, because a lot of readers are older and many are in tears.
No stock photography of sunsets or candles. If a photograph belongs on the page at all, it is your premises or your team.
How it is built
- A top-level menu item, worded as a family would search: "When someone dies".
- A plain URL such as
/when-someone-dies, linked from the home page above the fold and from the footer. - Each situation block as a record, so the office can add or edit one without a developer.
- The phone number as a tap-to-call button at the top, after the first block, and at the end.
- A gentle message form at the foot for anyone who cannot speak yet.
- Printable, because some families print it and work through it.
Variations by business
The funeral director sub-page version is the full one above. A celebrant writes a different sequence: how a ceremony is created, the family meeting, the writing, the approval, the day. A memorial mason writes the one families never expect, covering when a memorial can be placed, cemetery and churchyard permits, and how long the work takes. A will writing practice writes the equivalent for the person planning ahead, and separately for an executor facing probate.
Each of those is a step-by-step page with the same shape and the same restraint.
What it does for search
Families search in sentences: what to do when someone dies at home, how to register a death, how long after a death is the funeral. A page written in those words, section by section, answers them directly. Give each situation block a heading, mark up the frequently asked pairs, and the page will be found by people who are not searching for a funeral director at all yet. They will be, in an hour.
Checking it
Once a year, and whenever a local process changes: read the page against the current official guidance, confirm the register office and coroner links still work, confirm the phone number and hours are right, and read it aloud to hear whether it still sounds calm. Ask a colleague who has taken first calls for a month what families keep asking, and add those answers.
Where this sits
A step-by-step page for the first days is one of the six things we build into every funeral and life events website, and it is usually the page the site gets remembered for. It costs a morning to write properly and it meets the family at the only moment that matters.