What a small business website actually needs

Say you run a landscaping company, or a bakery, or a nonprofit with three staff and a board. You need a website. Someone has quoted you a number that made you sit down, along with a list of features you never asked for.

Here's what I'd tell you on the first call. Most small business sites need less than they're sold, and more care in the few parts that matter.

Start with the person arriving

Before pages, think about who shows up. They searched for what you do, or a neighbor mentioned you, or they're sitting in a parking lot looking at your sign. They're on a phone. They have a handful of questions. Do you do what I need? Are you open? Roughly what does it cost? How do I reach you?

They might give you thirty seconds. The site's job is to answer those questions inside that window.

What it needs

A clear first screen. What you do, who it's for, where you are. In the words your customers use, not the words in your business plan. On a behavioral-health portal I built from a partner firm's design, the enrollment page says what the program gives you in two sentences, says it's free, and offers two ways forward. Everything else lives behind the buttons. A small business homepage can work the same way.

One obvious way to reach you. A phone number you can tap. A contact form that works, and that says plainly what went wrong when it doesn't. "Email address requires @ symbol" beats "invalid input" every time. That's a line from a childcare provider portal I designed. It's small, and it saves someone a second try.

Proof you're real. Your hours, your service area, photos of actual work, an actual name. A Google Business Profile that matches the site, because for a lot of local customers that listing is the first thing they see.

It works on phones. Not "it fits on phones." It works: buttons big enough for a thumb, text you can read without pinching, a form you can fill in standing up.

It works for everyone. I build to WCAG 2.2 AA by default. In plain terms: real headings, readable contrast, labels on every form field, and a site you can use with a keyboard or a screen reader. On a disability-services site I worked on, the footer carries an accessibility statement and a direct line for anyone having trouble with assistive technology. Small detail. It only survives if someone argues for it early. Some of your customers use assistive technology too, and you won't hear from the ones who gave up.

You can edit it yourself. Your hours will change. Your prices will change. If every update means paying someone and waiting a week, the site will be out of date by spring. I build small sites on platforms you can manage, and I spend an hour at handover showing whoever will keep it current how it works.

Analytics, set up and boring. Enough to answer three questions: how many people came, where they came from, and whether they got in touch. That's your baseline. Without it, you'll never know whether a change helped.

What it usually doesn't need

• A custom-built site. For most small businesses, a well-set-up Squarespace, Wix or WordPress site is the right call. Save custom code for when you actually need it.
• Fifteen pages. Five covers most businesses. One is enough for some.
• A video on the first screen. It slows the page on a phone with a weak signal, and it doesn't answer any of the questions your customer came with.
• A pop-up asking for an email before anyone's read a word.
• A blog you won't keep up. A "News" page whose last post is three years old does more harm than no news page.
• A big SEO package up front. For a local business, the basics cover most of it: clear page titles, plain descriptions, and a business listing that matches your site. Start there.

What it costs

A one-page site from me starts at $1,200. It works on phones, has a contact form and basic SEO, and you can edit it yourself. A small business site of up to five pages starts at $2,900, adds the Google Business Profile and analytics setup, and includes that one-hour handover. Domains, hosting and any templates are passed through at cost.

If you'd rather not touch it after launch, website care starts at $150 a month: small changes and fixes, plus a monthly speed and accessibility check.

If you're in or near Greenville, ask about local pricing. I'd rather fit the work to your budget than not do it.

The one-question test

When you're deciding whether something belongs on your site, ask one thing: does this help a customer do what they came to do? If yes, it stays. If it's there because a competitor has one, or because it looked nice in the template, it can go.

If that sounds like your situation, let's talk.