The pages every small business website needs

Start with the visitor's questions

A new visitor usually wants to know four things quickly: what you do, whether you do it where they are, whether they can trust you, and how to get in touch. Every essential page answers one or more of those questions. If a page does not, it can probably wait.

The essential pages

Home

Say what you do and where, in plain words, in the first line. Then show your main services, a reason to trust you and a clear way to make contact. Avoid slogans that could belong to any business. "Boiler servicing and repairs in Utrecht" tells a visitor more than "Your comfort, our passion".

Services

Either one page listing your services, or one page per service if you offer several distinct ones. Separate pages help search engines match you to specific searches. For each service, explain what is included, who it is for, roughly how it works and what the customer should do next.

About

Visitors use this page to decide whether you are real and reliable. Say who runs the business, how long you have been doing this, where you work and what you care about. A photo of the actual people helps more than any stock image.

Contact

Include a short form, a phone number, an email address and, if customers visit you, your address and opening hours. Tell people how quickly you reply. Keep the form short: name, contact details and a message box are often enough.

Privacy notice

If your site has a contact form, you collect personal data, so you need a privacy notice explaining what you collect, why and for how long. See our GDPR checklist for what to include.

Terms

Terms of use, or terms of sale if you sell online, set out the basics of your relationship with customers. Keep them readable.

Pages worth adding next

• Prices or packages. Even "from" prices reduce time-wasting enquiries and build trust.
• Work examples or a portfolio. Photos of real jobs, with a sentence about each.
• Frequently asked questions. Answer the questions you hear on the phone every week.
• Area pages. If you serve several towns, a page per area can help local searches, as long as each page says something genuinely specific.
• Booking. If customers book appointments, let them do it online.
• Blog or news. Useful if you will actually write. A blog last updated years ago looks worse than no blog.

What every page should have

1. A unique page title and description, written for that page.
2. One clear main heading.
3. A next step, such as a contact button or link to a related page.
4. Internal links to related pages, so visitors and search engines can find their way around.
5. Images with alt text describing what they show.
6. Your contact details in the footer.

Common mistakes

• Too many thin pages. Ten pages with two sentences each are weaker than four complete ones.
• Hiding the contact details. Put them in the header or footer of every page.
• Copying wording from competitors. It does not help you stand out and can hurt you in search.
• Forgetting mobile. Check every page on a phone before you publish.
• Burying the next step. If a visitor reaches the bottom of a page and does not know what to do, add a clear button or link.

Once your pages are in place, the next step is helping people find them. Read how to get your business found on Google. If you work in a particular trade, our websites for different industries pages show typical page sets.

Get the essential pages written for you

Our builder asks six questions and in about ten minutes produces a complete site with pages, wording and photographs, including home, services, about and contact. One button adds privacy and terms pages if they are missing. You can add unlimited pages and blog posts, with a writing assistant to help. Every form enquiry becomes a client record with a person assigned and a notification, and visitors can book appointments straight into your diary. It costs €29.95 a month, cancel any month. Start building.

Frequently asked