What a business website needs
A business website has one job: to let a customer check who you are, what you do and where you work, and then contact you. This guide lists what the site needs to do that job, and a few things it can leave out.
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Who you are, on the first screen
A visitor should not have to scroll to find out whose website it is. Put these at the top of the home page:
- your business name
- what you do, in the plain words a customer would use
- the area you work in
- a button to call or message you
Many visitors will be on a phone, often in a hurry. Make the first screen answer their first questions.
A way to contact you on every page
Do not make people hunt for a phone number. Put a call button and a message option on every page, in the same place each time. On a phone, the number should start a call when it is tapped.
If you use a contact form, keep it short. Ask only for what you need to reply: a name, a way to reach the person, and what the job is.
Your services, in the words customers use
List each service you offer and say in a sentence or two what it covers. Use the names customers use, not industry jargon. Google’s starter guide for website owners (opens in a new tab) gives the same advice: think about the words a person might type to find what you offer.
If a service is a big part of your work, give it its own page. If it is a small one, a short section is enough.
The areas you cover
If you serve a local area, name the towns, cities or postal areas you cover. A customer wants to know one thing: do you cover where I am? A short, honest list answers that faster than a map.
Keep this list the same as the service area on your Google listing. The guide Why your website and Google listing details should match explains why.
Real photos of your own work
Show your own work. Real photos of jobs you have done, products you sell or the place you work tell a visitor that the business is real. Stock photos of someone else’s work do not.
Put each photo next to the text it belongs with, and give it a short written description. Google’s starter guide recommends high-quality images placed near relevant text, and the description helps people who use a screen reader.
Pages that work on a phone
- Text is large enough to read without zooming.
- Buttons are big enough to tap with a thumb.
- Nothing runs off the side of the screen.
- Pages open quickly, even on a weak signal.
Check your site on your own phone, away from your office wifi. That is how many customers will see it.
Clear writing and a clear structure
Write the way you would explain your work to a customer in person. Short sentences. One idea in each paragraph. A heading above each section, so people can find what they came for.
Google’s starter guide describes useful content in similar terms: easy to read, well organized, written by you and not copied from someone else, and kept up to date.
A clear title for every page
Every page has a title that shows in the browser tab. According to Google’s starter guide, it is one of the sources Google uses for the headline of a search result. Give each page its own title that says what the page is about, such as the service and your business name.
The same details as your Google listing
Your business name, phone number, opening hours and service area should read the same on your website as on your Google Business Profile. If you have never looked closely at your listing, start with How to check your Google Business Profile for problems.
What it does not need
- Long lists of keywords. Google’s starter guide says that Google Search does not use the keywords tag, and that repeating the same words over and over is against its spam policies.
- Copied text. Write about your own business in your own words.
- Pop-ups that cover the page before a visitor has read anything.
- Pages that say nothing. A few useful pages are better than many thin ones.
Keep it up to date
A website is not finished on the day it goes live. When your phone number, hours, services or areas change, change the site the same day. Add photos of recent jobs when you have them. Remove anything you no longer offer.
Sources
Statements about Google in this guide are based on these official Google pages, checked on the date above.
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