Your website doesn’t need dozens of pages, just the right information in the right places so customers can find what they need.
When you’re planning a new website for your business, it’s easy to get carried away thinking about colours, fonts and what the homepage should look like. But one of the first things worth deciding is actually much simpler. What pages do you need?
We’ve seen plenty of small business websites that try to squeeze everything onto one page, while others have so many different sections that finding a phone number feels like a challenge. Neither approach is particularly helpful if visitors can’t find what they’re looking for.
The truth is, most small businesses don’t need a huge website. A handful of well planned pages with useful information will often do a much better job than twenty pages that don’t really say anything.
Of course, the right structure depends on what your business does. A local electrician probably needs something quite different from an online store selling hundreds of products. But there are a few business website pages that we’d recommend considering, regardless of your industry.
Start With a Homepage That Actually Explains What You Do
It might sound obvious, but your homepage should tell people what your business does. Ideally, they should understand within a few seconds of landing on it.
You’d be surprised how many websites open with a large photograph, a vague headline about delivering excellence and very little explanation of what the company actually offers.
There’s nothing wrong with having an attractive design, but it shouldn’t come at the expense of useful information.
Imagine someone searching Google for a local building company. They click through to your website and find a homepage filled with impressive photographs, but nowhere does it clearly say whether you specialise in extensions, renovations or general building work.
They’re left guessing, which isn’t a particularly good first impression.
We think a good home page should give visitors a clear introduction to the business, explain the main services and make it obvious where to go next.
That doesn’t mean cramming every piece of information onto the homepage. You can use short sections that introduce your services, show examples of your work and link to other important pages where people can find more detailed information.
A clear call to action matters too. If someone wants a quote or needs to ask a question, they shouldn’t have to spend ages searching for a way to contact you.
The homepage also helps establish your brand identity. Your colours, photographs, wording and other design elements should give people a feel for the company, but we’d always put clarity ahead of anything overly complicated.
Sometimes a simple layout with plenty of white space works better than an unconventional layout that looks interesting but leaves people wondering where to click.
Your About Page Doesn’t Need to Sound Like a Corporate Brochure
The About page is one of those sections that businesses often struggle to write.
It’s tempting to fill it with phrases about being passionate, dedicated and committed to excellence. The problem is that almost every company says those things, so they don’t tell potential customers very much.
We’d rather read something that explains who you are, how the business started and why you do the work you do.
If you’re a family run plumbing company that’s been working in Reading for twenty years, that’s worth mentioning. If you started your business because you wanted to offer a more personal service than the larger companies in your industry, explain that.
People don’t necessarily need your entire life story, but they often want some reassurance about who they’re dealing with.
This is particularly true for small businesses offering services where customers might invite someone into their home or trust them with an expensive project.
A few genuine photographs can help too. You don’t need a professionally produced video or an elaborate company timeline. Sometimes a simple picture of the people behind the business makes a much stronger impression than generic stock images.
Your About page is an opportunity to show some personality. It should sound like your company, not something copied from a template that could belong to absolutely anyone.
Give Your Services Their Own Space
This is probably one of the most important parts of a small business website, particularly if you’re hoping to attract enquiries through Google.
People want to know what you actually offer, and they don’t always arrive at your homepage first. Someone searching for a specific service might land directly on a page about that service.
That’s why we often recommend creating separate service pages, especially when a business offers several distinct things.
For example, imagine you run a landscaping company. You might offer garden design, fencing, patios and ongoing garden maintenance. Rather than squeezing everything into one short paragraph, you could create individual pages explaining each service.
That gives you space to answer the questions prospective customers are likely to have. What does the work involve? What sort of projects do you take on? Which areas do you cover? How can someone request a quote?
It also helps search engines understand your website content. A page focused on patio installation, for example, gives Google clearer information about that service than a homepage that briefly mentions patios alongside ten other things.
But don’t create separate web pages simply for the sake of having more pages. If two services are closely related and don’t need much explanation, they might work perfectly well together.
The aim is to organise your site’s content in a way that makes sense to the people using it.
A little thought about your target audience goes a long way here. Consider what someone would want to know before contacting your business and make sure your services pages actually answer those questions.
Show People Examples of Your Work
If your business produces something customers can see, we’d strongly recommend having a portfolio, gallery or recent projects page.
For builders, decorators, gardeners and similar businesses, photographs can often explain the quality of the work much better than several paragraphs of text.
Someone considering a new driveway probably wants to see examples of driveways you’ve installed. They might be interested in the materials you’ve used, the types of properties you’ve worked on and what the finished results look like.
You don’t necessarily need dozens of examples either. A curated selection of your best work can be more effective than uploading every photograph you’ve ever taken.
It’s worth including a little information alongside the images, rather than leaving visitors to work everything out for themselves.
For example, you could explain what a particular project involved, what the customer wanted and whether there were any interesting challenges along the way.
This sort of visual content helps potential clients understand what you can do and gives them something tangible to judge your work by.
And if your business doesn’t lend itself to photographs, there are other ways to demonstrate experience. You might include case studies, examples of completed projects or explanations of how you’ve helped previous customers.
The important thing is giving people some evidence of the work you do, rather than simply asking them to take your word for it.
Don’t Make People Hunt for Your Contact Details
There’s something particularly frustrating about finding a business that looks promising, deciding you want to get in touch and then struggling to find a phone number.
Your contact page should be one of the easiest pages to find on your entire website.
For most small businesses, this means having a clear contact page linked from the main menu, along with a phone number or enquiry button in other sensible places throughout the site.
What you include depends on how your business operates. A company with a physical location might need an address, opening hours and directions. A business that visits customers may be better off explaining its service area rather than publishing a home address.
A contact form can be useful, but we’d avoid making it unnecessarily complicated.
If someone just wants to ask about a quote, do they really need to complete fifteen different fields before they can send a message?
Usually not.
Ask for the essential information you need to respond, and leave the more detailed questions until you’ve actually spoken to them.
It’s also worth checking that your contact details work properly on different devices. Mobile users should be able to tap your phone number to call, and forms should be easy to complete on a smaller screen.
A good contact page doesn’t need to be particularly exciting. It just needs to make contacting your business straightforward.
Reviews and Testimonials Deserve a Place Somewhere
Most people look for some reassurance before choosing a business they’ve never used before.
You could have a beautifully designed website with compelling content explaining why your company is fantastic, but potential customers are still likely to be interested in what previous customers have to say.
That’s where reviews and testimonials come in.
You don’t necessarily need a dedicated reviews page, although it can make sense if you’ve collected plenty of genuine feedback. For smaller websites, a selection of testimonials on the homepage or relevant service pages might be enough.
We’d recommend using real customer feedback rather than rewriting everything into polished marketing language. A natural review that mentions something specific about the service is often more convincing than a generic statement saying the company was excellent.
You can also link to your Google reviews if they’re available.
This provides a form of social proof, giving website visitors some reassurance that other people have used your services and had a good experience.
Of course, customer feedback shouldn’t replace clear information about what you offer. It’s there to support the rest of your website, not do all the work on its own.
Does Every Business Need a Blog?
Not necessarily, and we’d be cautious of anyone telling you that every small business must publish articles every week.
A blog section can be useful, particularly if you have things worth talking about. You might want to answer common customer questions, explain different services in more detail or share advice related to your industry.
For example, a roofing company could write an article about the signs that a roof might need repairing. A web designer could explain what makes a good business website or why mobile design matters.
These articles can help visitors find useful information and give search engines more relevant content to understand.
But there’s little point creating a blog if you’re going to fill it with generic articles that don’t really help anyone.
We’d much rather see five genuinely useful posts than fifty articles written purely to target search terms.
If you decide to include a blog, think about whether you’ll have the time and interest to maintain it. Ongoing maintenance doesn’t necessarily mean publishing constantly, but you should occasionally review older articles to make sure the information is still accurate.
A blog can be a worthwhile part of your content strategy, but it’s not something you should add simply because other businesses have one.
What If You Sell Products Online?
If you run an online business selling physical or digital products, your website will need a different structure from a typical service based business.
An online store usually needs product pages, category pages, a shopping basket and a checkout process. Customers need to understand what they’re buying, how much it costs and what happens after they’ve placed an order.
Clear product descriptions and good photographs make a big difference here.
You might also need information about delivery, returns and payment methods, along with the relevant policies for your business.
E commerce functionality can make a website more complicated, so we’d recommend thinking carefully about how customers will move through the buying process.
The last thing you want is someone finding a product they like but giving up because the checkout is confusing or important information is missing.
Depending on the products you sell and the questions customers typically ask, a frequently asked questions page or help center might also be worth including.
But again, there’s no reason to add pages that don’t serve a purpose.
What About Privacy Policies and Other Legal Pages?
These aren’t usually the most exciting parts of a website project, but they’re important.
Depending on what your website does and how your business operates, you may need a privacy policy, cookie information, terms and conditions or other legal details.
For example, if your website collects personal information through contact forms, newsletter subscriptions or online purchases, visitors should be able to understand how that information is used.
If you’re using analytics tools or certain marketing cookies, there may also be consent requirements to consider.
An online store will typically need additional information about purchasing, delivery, returns and cancellation rights.
The exact requirements depend on your business, so it’s worth getting appropriate advice rather than copying legal text from another company’s website.
These pages might not be the reason someone chooses your business, but they still form part of running a professional website.
You Probably Don’t Need as Many Pages as You Think
When planning a new website, it’s easy to look at larger competitors and assume you need something similar.
You might see a company with dozens of landing pages, a large blog section, several product categories and all sorts of additional features.
But a great business website isn’t necessarily the one with the most pages.
For many small businesses, a homepage, About page, services pages, contact page and a selection of previous work will cover most of what customers need.
You can always expand the site later.
One of the advantages of using a flexible content management system such as WordPress is that you’re not limited to the pages you create at the beginning. You can add new services, publish articles or introduce additional functionality as your business grows.
That makes more sense to us than paying for a large website full of content you don’t really need.
The same applies to features. You don’t necessarily need email marketing integrations, complicated animations, social media feeds or all the tools available through your website builder.
Every extra feature should have a reason for being there.
If it doesn’t help visitors understand your business, find useful information or take the next step, it’s worth asking whether you need it at all.
It’s Not Just About Which Pages You Have
Something we think deserves more attention is how the pages work together.
You could have all the boxes ticked, with a homepage, services, About, portfolio and contact page, but still end up with a website that’s awkward to use.
A good website design considers the customer journey. In other words, how someone moves through your website from the moment they arrive to the point where they contact you or make a purchase.
Imagine someone arrives on your homepage after searching for a local service. They want to know whether you provide what they need, whether you work in their area and how to get a quote.
Your website should guide users towards that information without making them think too hard.
Clear navigation, sensible links and well organised content all help. So does avoiding overwhelming users with too much information at once.
This doesn’t mean every page needs to be minimal. Some services need detailed information, and there’s nothing wrong with longer pages when the content is useful.
The important thing is making the information easy to follow.
A web designer should also think about how the website behaves on different devices. A layout that works nicely on a large computer screen might need to be arranged differently on a phone.
Sometimes the smallest details, such as the position of a contact button or the space between sections, can make the biggest difference to the customer experience.
Should You Build It Yourself or Use a Web Designer?
There are plenty of website builder platforms available now, and many make it relatively straightforward to create your own site.
Some offer a free domain for an introductory period, ready made templates and drag and drop elements that allow you to put pages together without writing code.
For someone starting a very small business, that can be an attractive option.
However, having access to all the tools doesn’t automatically mean you’ll end up with a website that’s easy to use or suited to your business goals.
You still need to decide what pages to include, how to organise the content and what visitors should do when they arrive.
Choosing the right website builder matters too. Different platforms have different limitations, and moving your site to another service later isn’t always straightforward.
We use WordPress because it gives us the flexibility to create websites around the needs of individual businesses, rather than forcing every company into the same set of templates.
That doesn’t mean WordPress is the only good option, or that every business needs a custom website built by a professional web designer.
But if you’re investing in a website that will represent your company for years to come, it’s worth giving some thought to the structure and content before worrying about which platform to use.
So, What Pages Should Your Small Business Website Have?
If you’re starting from scratch, we’d concentrate on getting the essentials right before adding anything complicated.
Make sure your homepage clearly explains what your business does. Give your services enough space so prospective customers can understand what you offer. Include some genuine information about your company, show examples of your work where possible and make it easy for people to contact you.
After that, think about what would actually be useful for your particular customers.
You might benefit from a blog, a detailed portfolio, a selection of testimonials or a frequently asked questions page. If you sell products, you’ll naturally need the additional pages that come with running an online store.
There’s no single structure that’s perfect for every business.
We think the best approach is to start with your customers and work backwards. What are they looking for? What questions do they usually ask? What might stop them from getting in touch?
Once you’ve answered those questions, deciding which pages your website needs becomes a lot easier.
Need Help Planning Your Business Website?
At Website Designer Reading, we create professional WordPress websites for small businesses in Reading and the surrounding areas.
We know that planning a new website can feel a little daunting, particularly when you’re not sure what pages you need or how everything should fit together.
Our approach is to keep things practical. We want to understand what your business does, who your customers are and what you want your website to achieve before deciding on the design.
Whether you need a straightforward five page website or something with more detailed services and additional features, we’re happy to talk through your ideas.
Get in touch and tell us a little about your business. We can help you work out what your website actually needs, without adding unnecessary complications.