A small business website usually needs at least five core pages: Home, About, Services, Testimonials or Projects, and Contact. You may also need separate service pages, FAQs, a blog, booking facilities or an online shop, depending on what your business does.
You don’t need dozens of pages for the sake of looking established. You need enough useful information to answer your visitors’ questions, build their confidence and make it easy for them to take the next step.
What are the essential pages for a small business website?
For most service-based businesses, we recommend starting with these five pages.
1. Home
Your homepage should quickly explain:
- What your business does
- Who you help
- Where you work
- Why someone should choose you
- What they should do next
People shouldn’t have to scroll halfway down the page or decode a clever slogan to work out what you offer.
A strong homepage gives visitors a clear overview of the business and directs them towards the most relevant service, information or contact option.
2. About
Your About page isn’t really just about you. It is about helping potential customers decide whether you are the right person or business for them.
Tell people who you are, how the business started and what experience you bring. You can also explain how you work and what customers can expect.
Small businesses often have an advantage here. People like knowing who they are dealing with, especially when they are choosing an independent business rather than a large, anonymous company.
Real photographs are particularly valuable on an About page. They help visitors connect the website with the people behind it.
3. Services
Your Services page should clearly explain what you offer without expecting visitors to already understand your industry.
For a business with a small number of straightforward services, one main Services page may be enough. If you offer several distinct services, giving each one its own page is usually better.
Separate service pages allow you to explain each service properly. They also give search engines a clearer understanding of what your business provides and create more opportunities to appear for relevant searches.
For example, a building company might have individual pages for extensions, renovations and loft conversions instead of trying to squeeze everything onto one general page.
4. Testimonials, projects or case studies
Potential customers want evidence that you can do what you say you can do.
Depending on your business, this could be shown through:
- Customer testimonials
- Before-and-after photographs
- A portfolio
- Completed projects
- Detailed case studies
- Recognised qualifications or accreditations
You don’t necessarily need a separate page for each of these. The right format depends on what you sell and what customers need to see before they feel confident contacting you.
A photographer would benefit from a visual portfolio, while a consultant may get more value from detailed case studies showing the problem, approach and outcome.
5. Contact
Your Contact page should make contacting you feel simple.
Include the contact methods you genuinely want people to use, such as:
- A short enquiry form
- Telephone number
- Email address
- Business address or service area
- Opening or response hours
Avoid asking for unnecessary information. A huge form can make a simple enquiry feel like an application for a mortgage.
Ask for enough detail to understand what the person needs, then continue the conversation personally.
Does every service need its own page?
Not always, but separate service pages are helpful when the services solve different problems or target different searches.
Someone looking for emergency website repairs has a very different need from someone planning a completely new website. Combining both services into one short paragraph would make it harder to properly answer either person’s questions.
A dedicated page gives you room to explain:
- Who the service is for
- What is included
- How the process works
- Likely timescales
- Common questions
- The next step
This is useful for visitors, traditional search engines and AI-powered search tools because the subject of each page is clear.
However, creating lots of thin pages with nearly identical wording won’t help. Every page should have a genuine purpose and provide useful information of its own.
Should a small business website have an FAQ page?
An FAQ page can be useful if customers regularly ask the same questions before buying or making an enquiry.
It might cover subjects such as pricing, availability, service areas, turnaround times, guarantees or what customers need to provide.
You can also place relevant questions directly on individual service pages. This is often more helpful because visitors find the answer while reading about that particular service.
The best questions are real questions your customers ask. Those are far more valuable than a long list created purely to squeeze extra keywords onto the website.
Does a small business need a blog?
A blog is not compulsory, but it can be a valuable part of a long-term website strategy.
Useful articles allow you to answer more detailed questions than you can reasonably cover on a service page. They can demonstrate your experience, support your main services and help potential customers discover your business while researching a problem.
The important word is useful.
Publishing generic articles simply because somebody said you should post every week is unlikely to achieve much. A smaller collection of genuinely helpful, experience-led articles is better than dozens of forgettable posts.
What other pages might be needed?
Depending on your business, you may also need:
- Pricing
- Online booking
- Shop
- Events
- Downloads or resources
- Membership area
- Locations or areas covered
- Meet the team
- Careers
- Policies and legal information
Your website should be planned around how the business actually works. A restaurant, therapist, construction company and online retailer will naturally need very different page structures.
How many pages is too many?
There is no maximum number of pages a small business website should have.
The issue isn’t having too many pages. It is having pages that are repetitive, outdated, difficult to navigate or add no real value.
A five-page website can be exactly right for one business and far too limited for another. Begin with what customers need to understand, then build the website structure around those needs.
What should you decide before building the website?
Before worrying about colours, animations or photographs, answer these questions:
- What does the business offer?
- Who is the website for?
- What information will visitors need before contacting you?
- What concerns might stop them from enquiring?
- What action do you want them to take?
- Which services or locations should the business be found for?
The answers will usually make the required pages much clearer.
So, what pages does your business website need?
Most small business websites need a clear Home page, an informative About page, properly explained Services, evidence of previous work and an easy way to get in touch.
Beyond that, the right number of pages depends entirely on your business, customers and goals.
You don’t need to arrive with a completed sitemap or perfectly organised folder of content. Some clients come to us with a detailed plan. Others have a logo, a few photographs and a vague sense of direction.
We’re happy either way.
Need help planning your website?
Tell us what your business does, what you already have and what you would like the website to achieve. We’ll help you work out what needs to be included without making the project more complicated than it needs to be.