What should a small business website include?
Most small business websites have too many pages and not enough information. Five pages that answer real questions beat twenty that restate the same claims about quality and reliability.
This is what a site genuinely needs, roughly in order of how much each part earns its place, and what the law requires whether you find it interesting or not.
The four pages that do the work
A home page that says what you do and where, in the first line, with a way to contact you visible without scrolling. Not a welcome message. The trade and the area.
A page for each service you want more of. This is the part people skip and it is the part that ranks: somebody searching for a specific job wants a page about that job, not a list that mentions it.
Proof. Photographs of your own finished work, and reviews with names attached. This is the page that converts the visitor who has already decided you might be suitable.
Contact, with every route you actually answer: phone, message, form, and the areas you cover. If you would rather not publish an address, say the towns instead.
The details that decide whether anyone rings
A phone number in the header of every page, as a tap-to-call link rather than text or an image.
The areas you cover, named. Not all of Cornwall or nationwide, which tell a reader nothing.
Prices, or a range, or an explanation of why you cannot give one. The commonest reason people leave without asking is not knowing whether they can afford you.
Your hours, if being open matters to your trade, written as text rather than inside a graphic.
Something that proves the business is current: a recent job, a recent review, a copyright year that is this year.
What UK law requires
If you collect any personal data, including through a contact form, you need a privacy policy explaining what you collect, why, and how long you keep it. This applies to a one-person business with a single form.
If you use any non-essential cookies, particularly analytics, you need consent before they load, and a cookie notice that explains them. A banner that sets cookies as the page opens does not comply.
A limited company must show its registered company name, company number, registered office address and place of registration. A sole trader must give a business address where they can be contacted, though that can be an address for correspondence rather than where you live.
If you sell online there is considerably more: terms, cancellation rights, delivery and returns information. That is a longer subject than this page.
None of this is optional and all of it is quick. It is also the part most self-built sites are missing.
What you probably do not need
A blog, unless your customers genuinely research before buying. For most trades, service pages earn far more than posts nobody reads.
A team page for a business of one or two people. Put yourself on the about page instead.
A carousel of rotating images. They slow the page and people scroll past before the second slide.
Stock photography of people in hard hats. It is recognised instantly and quietly signals that there is nothing real to show.
A chat widget nobody staffs, which annoys people more than having none.
A newsletter sign-up for a business that will never send one.
Things worth adding once the basics work
An FAQ answering what you get asked on the phone every week. It saves you time and it matches how people search.
Pages for the areas you cover, but only where you have something real to say about each. Names without substance are the doorway-page pattern and can do harm.
A simple quote form that asks for photographs, if your trade can price from them.
Accreditations and insurance details, particularly if you work for letting agents, commercial clients or main contractors, who check.
Common questions
- How many pages should a small business website have?
- Usually between five and a dozen: home, a page per main service, proof, about and contact, plus area pages where you genuinely serve distinct places. Fewer good pages beat more thin ones, every time.
- Do I legally need a privacy policy?
- If you collect personal data, including through a contact form, yes. UK GDPR applies to a one-person business the same as a large one. It needs to say what you collect, why, and how long you keep it.
- Do I need a cookie banner?
- Only if you use non-essential cookies, which most sites do as soon as they add analytics. If you do, consent has to come before those cookies load, not as they are already being set.
- Should I put my home address on the site if I work from home?
- You need a contactable address, but for a sole trader that can be an address for correspondence. A Google Business Profile can also be set up as a service-area business so the address is verified but never published.
- Is an about page worth having?
- For a small business, yes, and more than people expect. Customers hiring a trade are hiring a person. A short honest page with a photograph and how long you have been doing this often does more than a services page.
If you would rather somebody just did it
I build websites for self-employed tradesmen and small businesses across the UK: £249 to build, then £49.99 a month to host, maintain and update it. The sites I have built currently hold 97 page-one Google rankings between them.