15 small business website must-haves

Every small business website needs fifteen things to do its job: tell visitors in seconds what you do and where, make it easy to call or book, prove you are real, load fast on a phone, show up on Google, and stay under your control. Miss a few and the site still looks fine, it just stops producing calls.

I grouped the must-haves below into five blocks. Go through your own site with this list open; most owners find three or four gaps in the first ten minutes.

Block 1: Clarity in the first screen

1. A headline that says what you do and where. "Quality you can trust" says nothing. "Water heater repair and replacement in Columbus, same-day service" tells the visitor they are in the right place. Put your service and your area in the first line people see.

2. A visible phone number and a main button. On a phone, the number should be one tap away at the top of the page. Next to it, one primary action: "Get a free estimate", "Book a visit", "Request a quote". One main button, not five competing ones.

3. A service area people can understand. List the cities, counties or neighborhoods you cover. Service-area businesses often forget this, and visitors from the next town over assume you will not come.

Block 2: Pages that sell

4. A separate page for each main service. One "Services" page with bullet points cannot rank for "drain cleaning" and "sewer line repair" at the same time. Each service deserves a page that explains the problem, the process, the price logic and the next step. I explain the anatomy in how to structure a service page.

5. Some idea of price. You do not have to publish a full price list. A "from" price, a typical range or a clear explanation of what affects the cost filters out wrong-fit leads and makes the right ones more willing to reach out.

6. An about page with real people. Owners, technicians, the front-desk person who answers the phone. Real photos beat stock images every time, especially for businesses that come into someone's home.

7. Answers to common questions. A short FAQ on each service page handles objections before the call: Are you licensed and insured? Do you charge for estimates? What happens if it rains?

Block 3: Trust and proof

8. Reviews and real examples of work. Embed or quote genuine customer reviews and show before-and-after photos of real jobs. Never invent or buy reviews: the FTC rule against fake reviews has been in force since late 2024, and it applies to small businesses too. More on that in my note on the FTC fake reviews rule.

9. Credentials that your trade requires. License numbers where your state requires them for advertising, insurance, warranties, association memberships you actually hold. Only list what is true and current.

10. Legal basics. A privacy policy that matches what the site actually collects, terms where needed, and an honest cookie notice. Which ones you need depends on what you collect and where your customers live; see legal pages a US business website needs.

Block 4: Technical foundation

11. A fast, mobile-first layout. Most local searches happen on phones, often on the go. Text should be readable without zooming, buttons large enough for a thumb, and pages should load without a long blank pause.

12. Basic accessibility. Good color contrast, text alternatives for images, forms that work with a keyboard and screen readers. It helps older customers and reduces legal risk; WCAG 2.1 AA is the reference most people use.

13. Search basics and tracking. Unique page titles and descriptions, a sitemap submitted to Google Search Console, a consistent business name, address or area and phone across the site and your Google Business Profile. Plus Google Analytics 4 and conversion tracking on forms and calls, so you know which pages and ads bring leads.

Block 5: Leads and ownership

14. Forms and alerts that actually reach you. Test your forms monthly. Send leads to more than one place: email plus a CRM, or email plus a text alert. A lead that sits in a forgotten inbox over a weekend often goes to the competitor who answered first. If speed matters in your trade, read about speed to lead.

15. Your name on everything. Domain, hosting, code, analytics and ad accounts registered to your business, with your own login. If a designer or agency holds them, you do not fully own your website. My website ownership checklist helps you check in 15 minutes.

What you can skip at the start

Not every feature earns its place on day one. These can usually wait:

• a blog, until you have the time to publish useful articles regularly;
• animations and video backgrounds, which often slow the site down;
• a chatbot, until you see that visitors ask the same questions over and over;
• a second language, unless a large part of your customers prefer it.

Spending the budget on copy, service pages and tracking first usually pays back faster than spending it on effects.

How I build these into a project

When I build a business website, every item in blocks 1 to 5 is part of the plan, not an add-on. I write the copy with you, set up forms and tracking, check the site on real phones before launch, and register the domain and code in your name. Prices for a multi-page site start at $2,800; you can compare packages on the website pricing page.

If you already have a site and wonder how it scores, a free audit is a good start. I review the site against this list and send back the three to five fixes that matter most.

A quick self-check

Grab your phone, open your website as if you were a stranger, and time yourself. Within five seconds, can you tell what the business does and where? Within ten, can you find the phone number? Within a minute, can you find a price hint, a review and a way to book? If not, you have found your first fixes, and they are usually cheaper than a full rebuild.