Not sure if your website is actually doing its job? Most small business sites are missing at least a couple of things customers expect before they’ll pick up the phone or fill out a form. Here’s a simple small business website checklist you can run through in about ten minutes — no technical background required.
Your Quick Small Business Website Checklist
Run through these 10 items to see where your small business website checklist stands today:
1. Your business name, and what you do, above the fold
A visitor should be able to tell what your business is and what it does within about five seconds of landing on your homepage, without scrolling. If someone has to hunt for that, they’ll leave.
2. Contact information that’s easy to find
Your phone number, email, and location (if you have one) should be visible on every page, not buried three clicks deep. A simple header or footer with this information covers most visitors’ needs.
3. A clear next step for visitors
Every page should point toward one clear action: call, email, fill out a form, or visit in person. If a visitor finishes reading and isn’t sure what to do next, that’s a sign your site needs a clearer call-to-action.
4. Mobile-friendly design
More than half of web traffic now comes from phones. If your site is hard to read or navigate on a phone screen — tiny text, buttons that are hard to tap, horizontal scrolling — you’re losing visitors before they even see what you offer. You can check your own site with Google’s free Mobile-Friendly Test.
5. Reasonably fast page loads
A site that takes many seconds to load will lose visitors before it ever appears. Large, unoptimized images are the most common cause on small business sites, and usually the easiest to fix.
6. An About section
People like to know who they’re doing business with, especially for local or service-based businesses. A short About section — who you are, how long you’ve been around, what makes your business different — builds trust before someone ever contacts you.
7. A basic services or products page
Whatever you sell or offer should be listed somewhere clear, with enough detail that a visitor understands what they’d be getting. This doesn’t need to be elaborate — a simple, honest description is what matters.
8. Some form of social proof
A few real reviews, testimonials, or even a mention of how long you’ve served your community can go a long way toward reassuring a new visitor they’re making a safe choice.
9. Basic security (the padlock icon)
If your website address starts with “https://” and shows a padlock icon in the browser bar, you’re covered. If it doesn’t, visitors — and Google — may flag your site as untrustworthy. This is usually a quick, low-cost fix.
10. A Google Business Profile connected to your site
For local businesses especially, showing up in Google Maps and local search results often matters as much as the website itself. Make sure your website links to (and matches) your Google Business Profile listing.
Don’t have time to check all of this yourself?
That’s exactly what our free consultations are for. Our nonprofit team will look at your current site (or help you figure out where to start if you don’t have one yet) and walk you through what to fix first — no cost, no pressure.
Get a Free Website Consultation →
Want to understand more about why a website matters in the first place? See our guide: Why Every Small Business Needs a Website.