Practical Guides
What should a business website include?
Most business websites share the same core problem: they were built based on what looked right, not what visitors actually need. The result is a site that exists, but doesn’t do much for the business. This guide covers what a functional business website genuinely needs — not an exhaustive wishlist, just what matters.
A clear explanation of what you do
This sounds obvious, but many business websites make visitors work to figure out what the business actually offers. The homepage — and ideally every key page — should answer three questions quickly: what does this business do, who does it help, and what should someone do next.
If a visitor can’t answer those three questions within a few seconds of landing, you’ve already lost most of them.
Contact information that’s easy to find
This is the most common omission on small business websites, and one of the most costly. If someone wants to get in touch, make it easy. That means a phone number or email address visible without scrolling — not buried on a contact page three clicks away.
A contact form is useful, but it shouldn’t be the only option. Some people prefer to call, email directly, or message you through a channel they already use.
Navigation that makes sense
Navigation should reflect how your customers think about your business, not how you think about it internally. If someone is looking for your services, they should find them without needing to work out your internal category names.
Keep it simple: five to seven navigation items is usually enough. If you have more, you probably need to decide what’s important versus what’s just filling space.
A mobile-friendly design
More than half of web traffic happens on a phone. If your website is hard to use on mobile — tiny text, links too close together, content that doesn’t resize properly — you’re creating friction for the majority of people visiting.
A mobile-friendly website isn’t a feature; it’s a baseline expectation. Search engines also factor mobile usability into how they rank pages, so it has SEO implications beyond the visitor experience.
The basics for search engines
A business website that no one can find is a significant missed opportunity. The technical SEO basics aren’t complicated, but they’re frequently missed: unique page titles, accurate meta descriptions, clear heading structure, and enough body copy that search engines understand what each page is about.
This doesn’t guarantee rankings — nothing does — but it gives your site a fair chance of being found for relevant searches.
Trust signals
Visitors need reasons to contact or buy from a business they’ve found online. Trust signals help with that without requiring a formal testimonials section. They include: a real street address or region, a visible phone number, clear descriptions of services, and photos that show the actual business rather than just stock photography.
The more real your business appears to a first-time visitor, the more likely they are to get in touch.
Clear calls to action
Every page should give visitors a logical next step — not just a footer with a phone number, but a prompt at the right moment. That might be “Request a Quote,” “Book a Consultation,” or “Get in Touch.” The wording doesn’t need to be clever; it needs to be clear and placed where people are ready to take action.
A site that’s easy to update
This one is for you, not your visitors. If updating your own website requires calling a developer every time a service changes or a price updates, the site will fall behind. Businesses change; a website that can’t keep up becomes an inaccurate liability rather than a useful tool.
Whether that means a content management system, a flat file site, or a WordPress installation depends on the site — but the ability to make basic updates without specialist help matters.
What this looks like in practice
A business website doesn’t need to be complex to do its job. A well-structured site with five or six pages — a homepage, a services page, an about page, a contact page, and perhaps a few supporting pages — covers most of what a small or growing business actually needs. The quality of what’s on those pages matters far more than the number of them.
If you’re building a new site and want to make sure it covers these foundations from the start, our Website Design & UX/UI and Website Development services are worth a look.
If you already have a site but suspect it’s missing some of these, a Website Redesign might be more appropriate than starting over.
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