What to Actually Put on a Small Business Website
Most small business sites have too many pages and not enough on the ones that matter. Here is what earns its place.
A blank site is intimidating! So people copy whatever the competition has, which is usually eight pages of nothing much.
You really need five things. Everything else is optional, and some of it is actively in the way!
A home page that says what you do and where
The top of your homepage should answer two questions in one line. What do you do, and where do you do it. 'Family-run plumbers in Boise since 2004' beats 'Welcome to our website' every single time!
Then your phone number, big, near the top. It's amazing how many sites hide it! Somebody who wants to call you should never have to hunt.
A services page that names prices, or names ranges
List what you actually do, in the words your customers really use. Not 'solutions'! Drain cleaning. Roof repair. Wedding photography.
Give a number if you possibly can. Even a range helps a lot! People are terrified of asking a price, and a page that gives one gets far more calls than a page that says 'contact us for a quote'.
Proof that you are a real business
Photos of your actual work. Reviews with real names! How long you have been going. A licence number if your trade has one.
This is the page that really closes people, and it's the one most sites skip. Ten phone photos of jobs you finished are worth so much more than any stock image you'll ever buy!
An about page with a face on it
Who runs this? A paragraph and a photo. People hire people, and a small business is very much allowed to look like one!
Keep it short and keep it human. Nobody wants your mission statement! They just want to know who's turning up at their house.
One obvious way to get in touch
A phone number and an email address, on every page. That really is enough! Some businesses want a booking link instead and that's great too.
Every Brennan Builds template ships with these five things built in, so you're filling in your details rather than deciding on a structure. You describe your business in the intake form and we build it out.
What to leave off
A blog you'll update twice! A photo gallery of stock images. A long history of the company. A newsletter nobody signs up for.
None of those are bad ideas in general! Some of them are genuinely great. They're just work that competes with the five things above, and the five things are what get you hired.