What Should a Small Business Website Have?

Your homepage is often the first place people go when they find your business online. A visitor should be able to answer three basic questions within a few seconds:

• What does this business do?

• Who does it help?

• What should I do next?

Make the main message clear and specific. Avoid forcing visitors to figure out what you offer by reading several paragraphs or clicking through multiple pages.

Your homepage should also make it easy to find important information such as your services, location or service area, contact information, and the next step you want visitors to take.

The goal isn't to make your homepage complicated. It's to make it easy for the right visitor to understand your business and take action.

Visitors shouldn't have to guess what your business offers.

Your website should clearly explain your main products or services and the type of customer you help. Use simple language that your customers would recognize. Avoid technical terms or marketing language that makes your offer harder to understand.

For example, instead of saying:

“Comprehensive exterior property enhancement solutions.”

A landscaping business could simply say:

“We provide lawn care, landscaping, and yard maintenance for homes and businesses in Salinas.”

The second version tells the visitor exactly what the business does and who it serves. Clear information helps both people and search engines understand what your business is about.

Before people contact a business, they often want to know if they can trust it. Your website should give visitors clear reasons to feel confident about choosing your business.

Useful trust signals can include:

• Customer reviews or testimonials

• Photos of your work

• Clear business information

• Years of experience, when relevant

• Certifications or professional credentials, when applicable

• A real business location or service area

• Clear contact information

• Links to active social profiles, when appropriate

You don't need to use every possible trust signal. Start with the ones that are real, relevant, and useful to your customers.

The goal is simple: give visitors enough information to feel comfortable taking the next step.

Once a visitor decides they are interested, contacting your business should be easy. Don't make people search through your website to find your phone number or contact form.

Depending on your business, you might include:

• A phone number

• A contact form

• An email address

• A request-a-quote button

• An appointment or booking option

• Your business location or service area

Your main contact option should be easy to see, especially on your homepage. Think about what you want a potential customer to do next and make that action obvious. For a local service business, a button such as Call Now, Request a Quote, or Get Started may be more useful than a vague button such as Learn More

People need enough information to decide whether your business can help them. If you offer several services, don't simply list their names. Give visitors a short explanation of what each service includes and who it is for.

For products, provide useful information such as what the product does, who it is for, and how someone can buy it. You don't have to explain everything on one page. You can give visitors a simple overview and then link to individual service or product pages when they want more information.

The goal is to answer the basic questions a potential customer is likely to have before contacting you.

Many people will visit your website from a phone.

Your website should be easy to read and use on a smaller screen.

Check that:

• Text is easy to read.

• Buttons are easy to tap.

• Phone numbers can be tapped to call.

• Images don't make the page difficult to load.

• Important information isn't hidden or cut off.

• Visitors don't have to zoom in or scroll sideways.

A website that looks good on a desktop computer but is difficult to use on a phone can create unnecessary friction for potential customers.

A website also needs to make it clear what your business does and where you operate.

Use clear information about your business, services, products, and service area throughout the website. For example, a local landscaping company might clearly explain that it provides landscaping and yard maintenance services in Salinas and the surrounding service area.

Your page titles, headings, content, and business information should describe the topic of each page clearly.

Don't write for search engines by stuffing keywords into every sentence. Write useful information for people first and make the subject of each page clear.

This helps search engines understand what your pages are about.

Every important page on your website should give visitors a clear next step. That doesn't mean every page needs a large sales pitch.

The next step could be:

• Call the business

• Request a quote

• Schedule an appointment

• Contact the business

• View a service

• Read another helpful article

Choose the action that makes the most sense for the visitor at that point.

For example, someone reading about your services may be ready to request a quote. Someone reading an educational article may simply want to learn more. Make the next step easy to find.

Use this quick checklist to review your website:

• Can visitors immediately understand what your business does?

• Is it clear who you serve?

• Are your main services or products easy to find?

• Does your website provide real trust signals?

• Is your phone number or contact option easy to find?

• Can visitors use the website comfortably on a phone?

• Does your website clearly explain what you offer and where you operate?

• Does each important page have a logical next step?

• Can visitors easily find the information they need before contacting you?

If several answers are “no,” your website may have simple problems that are worth fixing.

You don't have to rebuild your entire website to make it more useful.

Start with the problems that create the most friction for visitors.

Make your main message clearer. Make your contact information easier to find. Add real trust signals. Make sure your website works well on mobile devices. Then review each important page and ask whether a potential customer can easily understand what you offer and what to do next.

Small improvements can make a website easier to understand and easier to use. If you're not sure what is holding your website back, start with a simple audit.

Read Why Your Business Website Isn’t Getting Customers to look at some of the common problems that can prevent a website from turning visitors into leads.

Want a simple way to review your website?

Get the Free Website Checklist and use the 11-point checklist to identify areas that may need attention.