The five things every small business website needs, and nothing else

Most small business websites fail by having too much, not too little. Eight pages nobody reads, a slider nobody waits for, a blog abandoned in 2022. Here is the short list that actually does the work.

1. What you do and where, in the first sentence

Somebody lands on your site and gives you about five seconds to answer one question: am I in the right place. Family owned and committed to excellence does not answer it. Septic pumping and repair in Carroll County since 1998 answers it completely. Name the service, name the place.

2. A phone number that is large and tappable

For a local business this is the single most used feature on the entire site. It belongs at the top of every page and it must be a real link so a tap dials it. This sounds obvious. It is missing or buried on roughly half the small business sites I look at.

3. Proof you have done this before

Photos of your actual work, a few real reviews, how long you have been open. This is the difference between a site that looks like a business and one that looks like a placeholder. Real photos taken on a phone beat professional stock images every time, because people can tell.

4. Prices, or at least a range

Everyone is afraid of this and everyone should do it anyway. You do not have to publish an exact number. Most repairs run $150 to $400 tells somebody whether to call you, and it filters out the people who were never going to hire you. Hiding price entirely makes a share of visitors assume it is too expensive and leave.

5. One clear next step

Call, book, or request a quote. Pick one, make it the most visible thing on the page, and repeat it. Three competing buttons produce fewer actions than one.

What you can leave out

A blog, unless you will actually write it. Social feeds embedded on the page, which slow it down and send people away. A photo carousel. An About page longer than two paragraphs. A newsletter signup when you have no newsletter. Live chat you will never staff.

Four pages is usually enough

Home, services, about, contact. Some businesses do better with everything on one page. If you are a restaurant, add the menu. If you are a trade, add photos of your work. That is a complete website for most businesses in a small town.

I build exactly this, up to four pages, for $549 once, and you own it. See yours before you pay anything.