How to Get a Small Business Website Built, From First Plan to Launch Day
A good small business website starts with one clear goal and a short list of pages. Content, a draft, corrections and a careful launch follow in that order, and this guide shows what to prepare and check at each step.
Start with the job the website has to do
Before anyone opens a design tool, write one sentence: what should a visitor do after reading your site? Call you, request a quote, book a table, find your opening hours? Choose one main action and, at most, one backup. Everything else on the site supports that action.
Next, describe the visitor. A homeowner with a leaking pipe needs a phone number she can tap with one thumb. A cafe owner shopping for a new bookkeeper wants to see how you work before writing an email.
Then list the pages. A small core covers most businesses: a home page, one page for each main service, an about page and a contact page. Add a page only when a customer question needs one, such as how your quotes work, the area you serve or a gallery of finished jobs. If you offer several services, give each its own page, because people search for them separately. Not sure whether one page or several fits? The guide on one-page vs multi-page websites helps you decide.
Answer three questions on paper before you talk to anyone:
- What do I want visitors to do?
- Which two or three kinds of customers do I want more of?
- What do those customers ask before they contact me?
The answers to the third question become your content later.
Collect your content before the design starts
Design goes faster, and turns out better, when texts and photos exist before the first draft. Gather these items:
- Your logo files and brand colors, if you have them
- A few lines on each service: what it is, who it is for and how it works
- Business name, address, phone number, email and opening hours, written exactly the way they should appear everywhere
- Real photos of your work, your team and your premises (a phone camera is fine in good light)
- Customer reviews you have permission to quote
- Answers to the ten questions customers ask you most often
- Licenses, certifications and memberships you actually hold
Rough notes are enough. A designer or copywriter can shape them, but nobody can invent your facts. This is usually the slowest part of a project, so start while you are still comparing providers. If you want help turning notes into text, read website copy that turns visitors into inquiries.
Choose who builds it
There are three common routes: build it yourself with a website builder, hire a freelancer or work with a studio. A builder costs you time instead of a quote and suits owners who enjoy the work. A freelancer brings one person's skills and calendar. A studio usually covers design, writing and technical setup in one process.
Whichever route you take, get four things in writing: what is included, who owns the domain and the files, how many rounds of corrections you get and what happens after launch. The factors behind a quote are explained in what a small business website costs, and how to choose a web design agency lists the questions to ask before you sign.
Review the first draft in a useful order
When the draft arrives, resist reading it from top to bottom on a big screen. Work through it in this order:
- Open it on your phone first. Can you find the phone number at once, and does tapping it start a call?
- Read the home page as a stranger would. Does it say what you do, for whom and where?
- Check every fact: names, addresses, hours, services and certifications.
- Test every button, link and form.
- Put all corrections into one list and send them together.
One list matters because corrections come in rounds. Feedback sent in pieces uses up rounds and invites mistakes. Keep the scope stable as well: asking for a new design direction after the draft arrives starts a new project.
Launch checklist, and the first quarter after
Before the site goes live, confirm each of these:
- The domain is registered in your name, and you hold the login
- The site loads over HTTPS, shown as a padlock in the browser, without warnings
- Business email works, with a test message in both directions
- The contact form delivers to a mailbox somebody reads every working day
- Phone number, address and hours match your Google Business Profile letter for letter
- Every page has its own title and description
- The privacy notice and any legal information required where you operate are in place. Requirements differ by country and industry, so ask a qualified professional. This article is not legal advice.
- The site works on a phone and in at least two browsers
- If an old site existed, its addresses lead to the matching new pages
- Google Search Console is set up, so you can see how Google reads the site
Google's own SEO starter guide explains the basics of how Google Search works with a website.
A site is not finished at launch. Set a quarterly reminder: check hours and services, test the form, replace tired photos and ask what customers asked you this quarter that the site did not answer. Agree before launch who makes changes and how quickly.
Next step, without pressure
If you first want an outside view of your current site, the free website check is a low-key place to start. More topics are collected in the guides overview.
Frequently asked questions
How long does a small business website project take?
It depends less on the building than on how quickly texts, photos and decisions arrive. A clear brief and quick answers keep a project moving, and missing content is the usual cause of delay. Ask any provider for a schedule that states what they need from you and by when.
Do I have to write the text myself?
No. Rough answers to questions about your services, customers and service area give a writer or designer enough to work with. You do need to review the result, because only you can confirm that every statement is true.
Who should own the domain and the hosting account?
You should. Register the domain in your own name and keep the login, even if someone else sets it up for you. That way you can change providers later without negotiating for your own web address.
Do I need a blog from day one?
No. Start with the core pages and add articles later if you have something useful to say and the time to keep writing. An unmaintained blog with old dates looks worse than no blog.