What should a small business website have?

The short answer.

A small business website needs to tell a stranger, within a few seconds on their phone, what you do, where you do it and how to get hold of you. Then it needs to give them enough reason to trust you, and a very easy way to get in touch.

That usually means a handful of good pages rather than a big site full of filler: a clear home page, a page for each main service, an about page with a real face on it, a contact page, and the legal bits. Everything beyond that is optional, and some of it actively gets in the way.

The pages most small businesses need.

Separate service pages matter more than most people expect. Someone searching for wedding catering doesn't want to land on a page that's mostly about office lunches. A page for each main job helps visitors find their bit quickly, and helps search engines understand what you offer. Google's own starter guide asks for content that's well organised and easy to read, with each topic clearly separated.

You don't need a blog unless you'll genuinely keep it going. A news page whose latest post is from three winters ago looks worse than no news page at all. For most small businesses, this is the list:

Home: what you do, where, and one obvious way to get in touch.
A page for each main service or product range, saying what's included, who it's for and how pricing works.
About: who's behind the business, with a real photo.
Examples of your work, reviews from customers, or both.
Contact: phone, email, a short form, your hours, and your address or the areas you cover.
Frequently asked questions, answered properly.
A privacy notice, plus any other legal information that applies to you.

What your home page should say straight away.

Try the five-second test. Show your home page to someone who doesn't know the business, on a phone, for five seconds. Could they tell you what you do, roughly where, and how to contact you? If not, the top of the page needs work.

Say it in plain words. 'Wedding and event catering across West Yorkshire' beats 'Passion on a plate' every time. Put your phone number where a thumb can tap it, add one main button such as 'Get a quote' or 'Book online', and show a real photo of your work, your premises or you.

Save the backstory for further down the page, or for the about page. Nobody arriving from a search wants to read about the founding of the company before they've found out whether you cover their postcode.

Things that make people trust you.

People check you out before they get in touch. A site that feels real and current wins the enquiry over one that feels abandoned, and most of what makes the difference costs nothing but a bit of effort:

Real photos of you, your team, your premises and your work. No stock handshakes.
Genuine reviews, with a link to your Google reviews so people can see the rest.
Recent examples of jobs, each with a sentence about what was done.
Registrations, insurance and memberships you actually hold, with details that can be checked.
Prices, or at least a clear explanation of how you price.
Signs of life: current hours, this year's date in the footer, no broken links.
A named person to talk to, not just a form.

The technical basics that matter.

You don't need to understand the machinery, but you should know these are in place. Google says there's no magic word count, and it doesn't use the old meta keywords tag, so ignore anyone selling you either. What it asks for is helpful, original pages that are easy to read.

If someone else builds your site, ask them to confirm each of these:

Works properly on a phone, not just shrunk down.
Loads quickly, with photos compressed so they aren't the size of a billboard.
Secured with HTTPS, so browsers don't warn visitors off.
A different page title and description for every page, saying what that page is about.
Web addresses in plain words, such as /wedding-catering/ rather than /page?id=47.
Alt text on images, describing what's in them.
Readable text, strong contrast and forms that are easy for everyone to fill in.
A contact form that's been tested and actually arrives in your inbox.
Your domain name registered to you, with logins you hold.
Google Search Console set up, so you can see how Google sees your site.

The legal bits for UK businesses.

This isn't legal advice, and the rules do change, so check the official guidance on gov.uk and the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) website. Keeping the site simple helps. Every extra plug-in, tracker and embedded widget is one more thing to explain in your privacy notice, and possibly to ask visitors' permission for.

These are the usual things to cover:

Limited companies must show the full company name, registered number, registered office address, and where the company is registered, such as England and Wales.
If your site collects personal information, even just a name and email through a contact form, you need a privacy notice saying what you do with it.
If your site uses cookies that aren't strictly necessary, such as some analytics or advertising cookies, the ICO's guidance explains when you need visitors' consent and how to ask for it.
If you sell online, there are extra rules about what you tell customers before they buy, and about cancellations and refunds.

What you can happily leave out.

Some things turn up on small business websites out of habit rather than because they help. Every one of them takes up space that could be answering a customer's question. If a feature doesn't help someone decide to get in touch, it probably doesn't need to be there. You can skip:

Sliding banners that change before anyone's read them.
A 'Welcome to our website' headline.
Pop-ups the moment someone arrives.
Videos that play by themselves with the sound on.
A social media feed showing your last post was two years ago.
Stock photos of people who've never heard of you.
Pages for services you'd rather not do.

Keeping it working after launch.

If you'd like help, this is what we do. We design and write small business websites around the questions your customers actually ask, set them up so search engines understand them, and make everyday changes easy for you to do yourself. And if a busier inbox needs managing, we build the enquiry forms and booking systems that sort it for you.

Whoever builds it, a website isn't finished when it goes live. Every few months, run through this:

Send yourself a test enquiry through the form.
Update prices, hours, services and photos.
Add a recent job or two.
Check your Google Business Profile links to the right page.
Make sure the domain name and hosting are set to renew.
Check that software updates have been applied.

Questions people ask.

How many pages does a small business website need?

As many as you have useful things to say, and no more. For most small businesses that's a home page, one page per main service, an about page, a contact page and a privacy notice. Google says there's no magic word count, so don't pad pages out. A short, clear page that answers the question beats a long one that waffles.

Do I need a website if I'm on Facebook?

Social media is useful, but your page lives on someone else's platform, under their rules, and not everyone looking for you uses it. A website is yours. It can turn up in Google searches, explain each service properly, and give your Google Business Profile somewhere to send people. Plenty of businesses use both, with the website as home base.

Can I build my own small business website?

Yes. DIY website builders suit plenty of small businesses, especially at the start, and this checklist applies whichever route you take. The things people most often miss are clear service pages, proper page titles, compressed photos and a contact form that's actually been tested. Whatever you use, register the domain name yourself, so you can move it later.

Who should own my website and domain name?

You should. Register the domain in your own or your business's name, and keep the logins for the domain, hosting and website somewhere safe. Businesses do get stuck when a web designer moves on, or the relative who set it all up forgets the password. If someone builds your site for you, make handing over access part of the deal.