If you’re thinking about getting a website for your business, you might be wondering what it actually needs to have. It’s a question I get asked a lot — and the honest answer is that most small business websites don’t need to be complicated. But there are certain things that every good one should include.
Here’s what I recommend for any small business website in 2026.
1. A Clear Explanation of What You Do
This sounds obvious, but you’d be surprised how many websites fail at this basic hurdle. Within a few seconds of landing on your homepage, a visitor should be able to answer three questions:
- What does this business do?
- Where are they based?
- Who do they help?
If someone has to dig around to find that information, they’ll leave. Keep your homepage headline clear and specific. “Plumber serving Washington and Sunderland” is far more effective than “Welcome to our website.”
2. Your Contact Details — Front and Centre
Make it as easy as possible for people to get in touch. That means:
- A contact page with a simple form
- Your email address (a professional one — not Gmail)
- Your phone number if you’re happy to take calls
- Your general location so people know you’re local
Don’t hide your contact details at the bottom of the page. Put them in your header, your footer, and on a dedicated contact page. The easier you make it to reach you, the more enquiries you’ll get.
3. A List of Your Services
People want to know exactly what you offer before they get in touch. A clear services page — or even just a section on your homepage — removes the uncertainty and saves you time answering the same questions over and over.
You don’t need to list every single thing you do, but you should cover your main offerings and give people a sense of what working with you looks like.
4. Pricing — or at Least a Guide
This is a contentious one. A lot of businesses prefer not to show their prices, and there are valid reasons for that. But if you can show at least a starting price or a price range, it filters out time-wasters and builds trust with serious buyers.
“From £X” is enough. People just want to know they can afford you before they pick up the phone.
5. Social Proof
This is one of the most powerful things you can add to any website, and it costs nothing. A testimonial from a happy customer — even just two or three sentences — tells potential customers that you’re trustworthy, you deliver on your promises, and real people have paid you and been happy with the result.
If you don’t have any testimonials yet, ask your most recent satisfied customers. Most people are happy to help if you just ask.
6. A Professional Email Address
Your email address appears on your website, in your contact form submissions, and in every email you send. Using a free address like yourname@gmail.com or yourname@hotmail.com undermines the professional impression your website is trying to create.
A professional email address — like josh@joshualong.co.uk — costs very little and makes a significant difference to how seriously people take your business.
7. Mobile-Friendly Design
More than half of all web traffic in the UK now comes from mobile phones. If your website doesn’t work properly on a smartphone — if text is too small, buttons are hard to tap, or the layout breaks — you’re losing customers every single day.
Every website I build is fully mobile-responsive as standard, meaning it looks and works perfectly on any device.
8. An SSL Certificate
This is the padlock icon in the browser bar that tells visitors your website is secure. Without it, some browsers will show a “Not Secure” warning to anyone who visits — which is an immediate trust killer.
SSL certificates are standard on any professionally built website. If yours doesn’t have one, it’s worth fixing as a matter of urgency.
9. Basic SEO
SEO — search engine optimisation — is how Google decides where to rank your website in search results. You don’t need to do anything complicated, but every page on your site should have a clear title, a short description, and content that mentions what you do and where you’re based.
For a local North East business, this means making sure your town or city appears naturally throughout your site — so when someone searches “web designer Washington Tyne and Wear” or “electrician Sunderland,” Google knows to show your site.
10. A Clear Call to Action
Every page on your website should have one job — to move the visitor one step closer to getting in touch with you. That means every page needs a clear call to action: a button, a link, or a prompt that tells the visitor what to do next.
“Get a free quote,” “call us today,” “book your appointment” — it doesn’t need to be clever, it just needs to be there.
What About Everything Else?
There’s plenty more you can add to a website as your business grows — a blog, a portfolio, online booking, ecommerce, and more. But if you get the ten things above right from the start, you’ll have a website that works hard for your business from day one.
If you’re a small business in the North East and you’d like a website that includes all of the above — built, hosted, and looked after for you — I’d love to help. Get in touch for a free, no-obligation chat.
Joshua Long offers affordable website design and monthly care plans for small businesses across the North East. Based in Washington, Tyne and Wear.