What a small business website should have: the complete checklist

Before the list: what the website is for

Someone finds you on Google, on the map or through a link their brother-in-law sent. The website has about a minute to get them to message, call or drop in. Whatever helps with that stays. The rest is in the way.

That's why the list is in order. A simple site with WhatsApp close at hand sells more than a beautiful one with the phone number hidden at the bottom. If you can only fix two things this week, fix the first two.

1. What you sell and where, without scrolling

What shows on a phone as soon as it opens has to answer one question: is this what I'm looking for? «Quality and passion since 1998» answers it for nobody. «Car repair in Getafe, same-day appointments» does, in six words.

Below that, a line on who you work for and the button to get in touch. The most common mistake is the opposite: a huge full-screen photo of the premises with the text starting further down. It looks great on the designer's computer. On a phone, the customer sees a shopfront and can't tell what it is.

2. Prices, or at least a «from»

It's what people look for most and what businesses hide most. We understand the worry: your competitors will see it, and some jobs genuinely have no fixed price. But a «from €35» or a «set lunch €14» turns away people who aren't a fit and gives a nudge to those who are. With no figure at all, many people assume you're expensive and don't even ask.

If you show prices to consumers, say whether VAT is included. It's mandatory. And it saves you an awkward conversation at the counter.

3. How to reach you, without hunting for it

• A WhatsApp button that's always visible on mobile and opens the chat with a message already written. A warning: if it's your personal number, people will message at eleven at night. Use WhatsApp Business and set an away message.
• The phone number as a link that dials when tapped, not a number that has to be copied by hand.
• A short form, three fields at most, for people writing from a work computer. It will attract some spam, and someone has to check that inbox every day.
• When you reply. «We answer the same working day» removes the doubt about whether anyone will read it.

4. Address, opening hours and map

If customers come to you, they need to know where you are and when you're open without leaving the page. The full written address, the hours including closing days, and a map that opens directions on their phone. If parking is hard, you're on a first floor or the entrance is round the back, say so.

The hours must match your Google Business Profile. When they don't, customers trust the worse one, and sometimes end up outside a closed shutter. If you work at customers' homes, swap the address for the neighbourhoods or towns you cover.

5. Your own photos

The premises, the team, the goods, finished jobs. Stock photos are spotted a mile off: the same smiling couple appears on a thousand websites. A bakery with its counter full at eight in the morning convinces more than any well-lit generic image.

They don't need a photographer. They do need to be sharp, in natural light and from this year. If the premises changed, change the photos.

6. Reasons to trust you

• A few Google reviews with names, and a link to see them all. Nobody believes anonymous testimonials.
• How long you've been open. «In the neighbourhood since 2009» says a lot in one line.
• Who's behind it, with a name and a photo. With a small business, people are partly buying the person.
• Anything that can be checked: professional registration number, certificates, brands you work with.
• The guarantee you give, if you give one, written the way you'd say it to a customer.

7. Works well on mobile and loads fast

A large share of your visits will come from a phone, in a hurry and sometimes with poor signal. It has to be readable without zooming, buttons have to be tappable with a thumb and nothing can cover the text. Test it yourself, on mobile data rather than home wifi.

If it's slow, people go back and click the next result. The culprits are nearly always the same: photos uploaded straight from the camera, a background video and tools added «just in case». Google measures speed too, so a slow site loses visits on both fronts.

8. Google can understand it

• A page title that says what you do and where. It's the blue line shown in the results.
• Real text about your services and your area. If it's inside an image or a scanned poster, Google can't read it.
• The website linked from your Business Profile, and the profile from the website. For a business with premises, that profile often brings in more customers than the website itself.
• The same name, address and phone number everywhere, written the same way.

9. The legal texts

In Spain every business website needs a legal notice with your details, a privacy policy as soon as it has a form, and a cookie policy with its banner if you use analytics or other third-party tools. They're linked in the footer. Don't copy them from another site: there's more than one out there with another company's tax ID still inside. Our guide to legal texts covers what each one must contain.

10. A domain of your own

yourbusiness.es, not yourbusiness.platform.com. It gives you an email address with your name and, above all, it's yours: if you change provider one day, you take it with you and Google doesn't forget you. Register it in your name. It's common for whoever builds the site to register it, then disappear, and nobody knows how to renew it.

What to leave out

• Carousels on the home page. Hardly anyone gets past the first image, and the message changes before there's time to read it.
• Music or video that plays on its own. Anyone on the metro or in an office closes the page.
• Popups and intro animations that get in front before the customer knows what you sell.
• A blog with three posts from 2021. It looks like an abandoned business. If you won't write, go without a blog.
• Social media icons leading to empty profiles.

Check it in five minutes

Open your website on your phone, on mobile data, and answer honestly:

• Can you tell what I sell and where without scrolling?
• Is there any price or a «from»?
• Can I message or call with one tap?
• Are the address, hours and map there, and do they match Google?
• Are the photos mine and from this year?
• Are there reviews with names?
• Does it load fast and read without zooming?
• Does the title say what I do and where?
• Are the legal notice, privacy and cookie policies in the footer?
• Is the domain in my name?

Every «no» is a task, and almost all of them fit in an afternoon. Start at the top.