The short answer
A small business website needs your services, the area you serve, a phone number and form on every page, your hours, real photos, proof such as reviews or licenses, and an about section with real names. It must work well on a phone, load fast, use your own domain and carry clear page titles.
How to read this checklist
This small business website checklist starts from what a visitor wants to know, and that comes down to three questions. Do you do what I need? Can I trust you? How do I reach you? Everything below earns its place by answering one of those, or by helping the right person find the page in the first place.
Most local business sites need five to ten pages, and a one-page site can hold all of this if your business is simple. Items near the top matter most, so if you're short of time, start there. There's a summary table at the end.
A first screen that says what you do
Someone landing on your site should know within seconds what you do, where you do it and how to reach you. Put all three above the fold, the part they see before scrolling.
- Say it plainly. "Emergency plumbing in Dayton and Kettering" beats "Quality solutions you can trust".
- Add one main action. "Call 937-555-0142" or "Book online", whichever you'd rather they did.
- Use a real photo. Your van, your shop or your team.
Why it earns its place. Visitors decide quickly whether to stay, and many arrive from a search on a phone, with one question in mind.
Contact details on every page
Your phone number belongs in the header and footer of every page, as text a phone can tap to call. Add your email, a form, and your address if customers come to you. Text in an image can't be tapped, and it can't be read by a search engine or a screen reader.
Use the same name, phone and address you use on your Google Business Profile, word for word.
Why it earns its place. Reaching you is what the whole site is for. Don't make people hunt.
Your hours
List your opening hours where people look for them, with holiday changes kept up to date. If you answer calls after hours, say so. If you work by appointment, say that.
Why it earns its place. "Are they open?" is a question people will often answer by calling someone else.
A clear list of services
Name what you do in the words customers use, and say what you don't do. If a service earns real money, give it a page of its own, with what's included, roughly what it costs, and photos of real jobs.
A roofer's site might have separate pages for roof replacement, roof repair and gutters. A dentist's might have checkups, crowns and whitening. Our trade pages, such as plumbers, roofers and dentists, show what each kind of business usually needs.
Why it earns its place. A page about one service is what someone searching for that service wants to find. It's also the fastest way to answer "do you do what I need?"
Where you work
Name the towns or neighborhoods you serve, in plain text. If customers come to you, add your address, a map and notes on parking.
Don't build a separate page for every town by swapping the name. Google's spam policies call that doorway abuse. A single, honest list is better, and a town page is worth writing only when you have real work to show there.
Why it earns its place. "Do you come to me?" is often the first question. People also search with the town's name in mind.
Prices, or how you price
You don't have to publish a full price list. Say what you can: a starting price, a range, a callout fee, or how a quote works.
Most water heater replacements run $1,400 to $2,200 installed. We'll give you a fixed price before we start.
Those figures are made up for the example, and yours should be your own.
Why it earns its place. It saves you from calls that were never going to book. It also tells people you won't surprise them, which is its own kind of proof.
Proof you're real and good
Strangers need a reason to believe you, and the best reasons can be checked.
- Reviews. Link to your Google reviews, and quote a few with the customer's permission. Never invent one. See how to get more Google reviews.
- Photos of real work. Before and after, or the team on a job.
- Licenses and insurance. Give the license number where your trade has one.
- Memberships. Trade bodies and any warranties you really offer.
- How long you've been open. Only if it's true and it helps.
Why it earns its place. Every local business says it's good. Proof is what separates you, and one fake testimonial can undo all of it if a customer spots it.
Real people behind it
Add an about section, or a page, with your name, your team, how you got started and why you do this work. Use a photo of you, not a stock handshake.
Why it earns its place. For a local business, the visitor is deciding whether to let you in their house, or trust you with their teeth, their taxes or their dog.
A way to act now
Give people more than one way to reach you, and make each one easy.
- Call. Tap to call, for urgent work.
- Form. Keep it short. Name, phone and what they need is often enough. Make sure replies reach someone.
- Booking. If you work by appointment, let people pick a time.
Then test each one. Send yourself a form, make a booking and call the number. Broken forms lose customers quietly, and nobody tells you.
Why it earns its place. Some customers won't phone. A person browsing at 10pm can still ask for a quote.
A site that works on a phone
Google uses the mobile version of your site for indexing and ranking, and many local searches happen on a phone. Read yours on your own phone, and check that:
- text is readable without zooming
- buttons are big enough for a thumb
- nothing runs off the side of the screen
- pop-ups don't cover the page
It should load quickly too. Google's target is for the main content to appear within 2.5 seconds. Huge images are the usual cause of a slow site.
Why it earns its place. A site that's hard to use on a phone is hard to use for many of the people looking for you.
The search basics
These take minutes, and most builders make them easy.
- Your own domain.
yourbusiness.comis easier to remember and trust than a free address. It also stays yours if you change builders. - HTTPS. The padlock in the browser. Most builders set it up for you.
- A title for each page. Name the service and town. Google asks for distinct, descriptive titles. Test yours in the search result preview.
- A description for each page. Google may use it in results, so write a sentence that's true and useful.
- Image descriptions. Alt text helps search engines and people using screen readers.
- Structured data. Local business schema states your details in code. There's a free generator.
- A sitemap, sent to Google. Search Console is free, and shows what people searched to find you.
Why it earns its place. None of it promises a ranking, but each one removes a reason not to be found. The local SEO checklist has the rest.
Accessibility and privacy
Make your site usable for people with disabilities. The US Department of Justice's guidance on the ADA says the law's requirements reach what businesses open to the public offer on the web, and names common barriers: poor color contrast, images without text alternatives, videos without captions, and forms without labels. Fixing those four is a good start, and a lawyer can say what else applies to you.
If you collect names and emails or use tracking, you'll generally want a privacy page saying what you collect and why. Laws differ by place, so ask a lawyer if you're unsure.
Why it earns its place. It lets everyone use your site, and it can reduce a legal risk that small businesses often don't know they have.
A way to measure
Add a simple analytics tool, so you can see how many people visit and what they do. Your Business Profile's Performance report adds calls and clicks from your listing. Ask new customers how they found you as well.
Why it earns its place. You can't tell what's working without it, and you'll spend the next dollar better for knowing.
What you can leave out
Every extra thing is something to keep current, and a stale site looks closed. Leave these until you have a reason.
- "Welcome to our website." It uses your best space to say nothing.
- Sliders and autoplay video. Anything on a later slide is easy to miss, and video slows the page.
- Stock photos of smiling strangers. They signal that you have nothing real to show.
- A blog you won't keep up. A last post from two years ago makes people wonder if you've closed.
- A chatbot with nobody behind it. A form with a fast reply is better.
- Pop-ups on arrival. They get in the way of the thing people came for.
- Long mission statements. Say what you do instead.
The checklist on one page
| Item | Why it's there | Priority |
|---|---|---|
| What you do, where, how to reach you, on the first screen | Answers the first question | Must have |
| Phone on every page, tap to call | Reaching you is the point | Must have |
| Hours | Saves a wasted trip or call | Must have |
| Services, with a page for each main one | Matches searches and needs | Must have |
| Towns or address | "Do you come to me?" | Must have |
| Real photos | Shows you exist | Must have |
| Reviews, licenses, insurance | Proof that can be checked | Must have |
| Form or booking | For people who won't phone | Must have |
| Works on a phone, loads fast | That's where many customers are | Must have |
| Own domain, HTTPS, page titles | Trust, and being found | Must have |
| Prices or how you price | Filters and reassures | Strongly advised |
| About, with real names | People buy from people | Strongly advised |
| Image descriptions and contrast | Everyone can use it | Strongly advised |
| Structured data and sitemap | Search engines read it directly | Strongly advised |
| Privacy page | Required in many places | If you collect data |
| Analytics | Tells you what's working | Nice to have |
| Blog | Only if you'll keep it up | Nice to have |
Building your own? Read how to build a small business website. On Shingle, the publish panel lists your phone, email, hours and a way to call or book before a site goes live, so you can add whichever is missing first.
