When you’re creating a website for your small business, you need to think about how to build a meaningful online presence that serves real business goals. A well-designed site can be a powerful way to reach new customers, explain what your business is about, and build credibility in a competitive market. Whether you’re starting from scratch or aiming to upgrade an existing site, an effective small business website should be both appealing and purposeful.

Below, we’ll explain each step you should take when creating your business website, from choosing the right platform to crafting user-friendly design elements, writing content that speaks to your audience, and keeping up with best practices for search engine optimization (SEO). We’ll cover practical ways to structure your site, refine it for search engines, and keep visitors engaged. With these tactics, your website can become a major tool for growth.

What’s in this article?

• Why every small business needs a website
  
• How to choose the right website platform for your small business
  
• How to build a small business website from scratch
  
• How to design a website that represents your brand
  
• How to refine your website for search engines
  
• How to maintain and update your small business website
  

Why every small business needs a website

In an increasingly online-first world, a well-made website is one of the simplest ways to help your business grow and adapt. Nearly 80% of people research a business online before visiting a physical store, and a website serves as your digital storefront, available 24/7. Whether someone’s looking for your business’s hours, location, or services, they’re more likely to find you if you’re online. Having a website as a central hub ties together all your other digital presences, such as social media pages and online directory listings, and allows you to control how your business is represented. You can customize it to reflect your style, values, and brand message and create a consistent experience that aligns with what you want your customers to know.

Businesses with strong websites are often seen as more trustworthy, and even a simple site helps legitimize your business and show potential customers that you’re established and professional. Think of your website as a blank canvas where you can share what you do and why it matters. Use photos, videos, and compelling descriptions to highlight your products or services in a way that’s easy to understand and visually appealing. Add customer reviews, testimonials, and an “About Us” page to reinforce your reputation and help connect with your audience.

Once your website is up and running, you can use it to attract customers to your business as well. Through SEO, your website can attract people who search for services like yours, even if they’re not in your immediate area. By appearing in relevant search results, you can connect with customers who otherwise might not have discovered your business.

How to choose the right website platform for your small business

The choice of which website platform to use depends on your specific goals and needs. To get started, define what you want your website to accomplish. Here are some factors to consider:

• Purpose: If your website is just a place for people to get a basic idea of your business and contact you, choose a straightforward setup. But if you’re planning on adding regular content such as blog posts, resources, and updates, choose a platform that’s easy to manage as you edit and add content.

• Design: Some platforms have limited design options, such as the ability to change colors or fonts. Others offer full access to the code to customize your site’s appearance. If you have a strong brand aesthetic or specific layout needs, look for an option with more flexibility—but remember this requires more time and expertise to build and maintain.

• Content type: Choose a platform that’s fine-tuned for the type of content you’ll be publishing. If you’re a photographer or creative with lots of media to showcase, ensure the platform can handle high-resolution images or videos without slowing down. For a business that publishes a high volume of written content, consider how easy it is to organize and update posts or articles.

• Selling options: If you plan on selling through your site, check whether the platform has a solid setup for products, inventory, and checkout and what payment processors it supports. Most major platforms have options for Stripe integration, which is convenient if you’re looking for wide compatibility and integrations with other software.

• SEO options: If searchability matters (and it usually does), pick a platform that lets you edit page titles, URLs, and image descriptions. This helps with SEO and makes it easier for people to find you on search engines. Gauge whether it’s compatible with your email tools, landing pages, or any customer outreach features you’re already using.

• Growth: Think about what you might want to add later and look for platforms that allow you to add these kinds of features without requiring a whole new setup. Will you be selling more products or offering online bookings? Some systems are better than others at connecting with third-party software or offering flexibility with add-ons.

• Mobile experience: Assure that your site will look good on mobile, too. Most platforms have mobile-responsive options, but it’s worth double-checking how the site looks.

• Support: Consider how much guidance you might want in the future. Some platforms have great user communities, where you can get help from other users, while others focus more on direct support.

How to build a small business website from scratch

Building a website from scratch takes effort, but the result is something truly customized to your business and ready to grow with it. Your first step is to decide on your site’s purpose and structure, whether that’s learning about your services, buying products, signing up for a newsletter, or booking an appointment. Once you’ve determined the purpose of your site, use that to outline what site pages you’ll need. These might include the following:

• Home page: Keep it clean, welcoming, and straightforward. Show visitors who you are and what you do, and give them a simple call to action (e.g., “Learn More,” “Browse Products”).

• About page: Share your story, your mission, or what makes your business different. People want to know who’s behind the business, so make it relatable and pleasant.

• Products or services page: Display what you actually offer in as much detail as your business requires. For products, include descriptions, pricing, and high-quality photos. For services, break down what each service involves, how it can benefit the customer, and what it costs.

• Contact page: Include ways for people to contact you (e.g., phone, email, a form, or even your physical address, if that’s relevant). You can also link to your social media here. The more options, the better, but keep it simple and ensure someone regularly checks for inquiries.

• Testimonials or case studies: A few honest testimonials or short case studies help build trust and show that real customers have had positive experiences with your business. If you can, add photos or names for that extra authentic touch.

• Blog or news section: If you plan on sharing updates, tips, or news, a blog can help. You don’t need to post constantly; just update it when you have something relevant to share. Even a handful of helpful articles can show your expertise and give people a reason to come back.

Once you’ve outlined your site’s structure, you’ll need to manage the technical details:

• Choose a platform: Choose the best platform for your needs based on your site’s purpose and the type of content you plan on sharing.

• Pick a domain name (e.g., mybusiness.com): Choose one that’s easy to remember, pertinent to your business, and concise.

• Handle web hosting: Web hosting is what keeps your site online. Many website platforms include hosting, but if you choose an open-source option, you’ll need to buy hosting separately.

• Select your design: It’s tempting to overdesign but it’s usually best to keep things clean. Pick a few colors that match your brand and use them consistently across your pages. Use a readable font and ensure your buttons and links are easy to spot.

With the core elements of your website in place, you can consider adding the following features:

• Payment processing: If you’re selling products or services, you’ll need a way to enable customers to pay. Look for options that integrate with services such as Stripe, which works with almost any website platform and has lots of useful add-ons.

• SEO settings: Make it easy for search engines to find your site by adding SEO tags (i.e., titles, meta descriptions) to each page.

• Analytics: To know how people are interacting with your site, connect Google Analytics or a similar platform to track visitor behavior, page views, and other helpful data.

Before launching, examine each page to ensure everything works properly—buttons, forms, links, and checkout flows. Test how your site looks on mobile devices, since many visitors will likely be using phones or tablets. Once you’re satisfied, hit publish and share your new site as widely as possible: post on social media, email it to your contacts, and add the link to your business cards or any other places where you can reach your audience.

Once your site is live, regularly update it with new content, update your product or service information, and post occasional news or blog posts if that’s part of your strategy. The more current your site, the more valuable it will be to visitors.

How to design a website that represents your brand

To design a website that captures your brand, start by clearly defining who you are and what message you want to send to visitors. Here are some tips to get the most out of your design:

• Establish your brand’s tone and style, whether it’s friendly, professional, minimalist, or bold. Choose a consistent color palette and fonts that reflect this personality across all pages, from logo and brand colors to typography, images, buttons, and icons.

• Use your home page to highlight your core message, display any visuals that represent your brand (such as a featured image), and provide a straightforward way for visitors to interact, whether by browsing products or learning more about you.

• Use high-quality visuals that align with your brand’s energy and avoid crowding the design with too many elements. Create an experience that makes people remember your brand and feel confident in what you offer.

How to refine your website for search engines

SEO is how your website can be found by people searching online. Here’s how to get started with the basics of SEO in the first version of your website:

• Choose relevant keywords: Keywords are the search terms people use to find businesses like yours. Start by brainstorming terms related to your products or services. Tools such as Google’s Keyword Planner can help you see which terms are most popular. Choose a mix of broader terms and more specific “long-tail” keywords (typically three to five words long) to target.

• Enhance page titles and meta descriptions: Each page on your site needs a unique title and meta description that include your target keywords. The title should describe the page in about 60 characters, while the meta description provides a short, appealing summary of what’s on the page.

• Use headings and alt text: Organize each page with headings (e.g., H1, H2) that include your keywords where appropriate. Add “alt text” descriptions to images, too; this helps search engines understand the content and improves accessibility.

• Focus on high-quality content: Search engines prioritize content that provides value. Create informative, engaging content that answers visitors’ questions, whether through a blog, product descriptions, or FAQs. Quality content is more likely to attract links from other sites, which can boost your search ranking.

• Refine for mobile: People are browsing on their phones more than ever, so assure that your site looks good and loads quickly on mobile. Mobile optimization is a ranking factor for Google and an important part of the user experience.

• Build back links: Back links (i.e., links from other sites to yours) signal to search engines that your content is credible. Contact local organizations, make guest posts on blogs, or collaborate with other businesses to earn links back to your site.

How to maintain and update your small business website

Keeping your website up-to-date and operational is important for both visitors and search engines. Here’s how to do so:

• Refresh content: Review your core pages once every few months to update product or service details, swap any outdated photos, and ensure your contact information is current. If you have a blog, aim for consistency rather than frequency; even one reliable post a month can help keep your site active and relevant.

• Check links: Links and forms can break over time, especially if you link to external sites. Periodically click through your links to ensure they’re still active and double-check forms to verify that submissions are coming through properly. This small task can prevent a lot of frustration for visitors.

• Stay secure: Make a habit of updating your platform and any plug-ins or add-ons as developers release patches to protect against new security risks. If you’re handling payments, ensure you’re staying compliant with the latest security standards. Having a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) connection is a must, as it shows visitors that their data is encrypted.

• Track your metrics: Check Google Analytics (or whichever tool you use) at least once a month to understand how people are interacting with your site. See which pages are popular, where traffic is dropping off, or whether any blog posts are getting extra attention. This will help you decide where to focus your updates or what content might need a refresh.

• Back up your site regularly: Whether your hosting provider creates backups automatically or you set them up manually, ensure you’re covered. Try to create a backup every time you make a major update so you can restore your site if anything goes wrong.

• Fine-tune your SEO: Periodically revisit your SEO settings to keep up with search trends. Review your keywords and page descriptions once every few months—are they still accurate or could you add a few new ones that reflect recent searches? If certain pages are ranking well in search results, consider adding internal links from other pages on your site.