What should a small business website include?
At minimum: a homepage that states what you do and who for, a services page or set of pages, proof of past work, your service areas, an about section with real people, and at least two ways to make contact. Five complete pages outperform twenty thin ones.
The pages
- Home — what you do, who you do it for, and the next step.
- Services — one page per service if each is genuinely different.
- Work or gallery — evidence you have done this before.
- About — real people, real experience, no stock photography.
- Contact — form, phone, WhatsApp, service areas and a map.
The content basics
- Plain language describing what you sell and what it costs, at least in ranges.
- The areas you serve, named honestly.
- Answers to the questions customers ask you most often.
- Photographs of your actual work, team or premises.
The technical basics
- HTTPS on every page.
- Mobile-first responsive layout.
- Unique title and meta description per page.
- One meaningful H1 per page and a logical heading order.
- A sitemap.xml and a sensible robots.txt.
- Compressed, lazy-loaded images with descriptive alt text.
- Google Search Console and analytics connected.
What you can skip at launch
A blog you will not write, a live chat nobody monitors, and animation for its own sake. Add them when they earn their place.