10 Things Every Small Business Website Needs
A short, practical checklist — no fluff — for anything that generates calls, leads or bookings.
Each point comes with a 30-second test you can do on your phone right now.
Tick each one your site already does. Your score is at the bottom.
Clarity
1. Pass the three-second test
Nobody reads a homepage. They glance, decide, and either call or go back. "Excellence in residential solutions" says nothing. "Ottawa plumber, same-day repairs" says everything.
Try this now
Show your homepage to a friend on a phone for three seconds, then take it away. Can they tell you what you do and which area you serve?
The fix
Make the first line your service, your area and the result: what you do, where, and why you.
Calls
2. Put your phone number one thumb away
Most local customers are on a phone, often standing in the problem: a leak, a broken tooth, a flat tire. Every extra tap between them and your number is a chance to call someone else.
Try this now
Open your site on your phone and count the taps it takes to start a call. More than one is too many.
The fix
A tap-to-call button that stays visible as people scroll, plus your number at the top of every page.
Speed
3. Be fast on mobile data, not just office Wi-Fi
Your site probably feels fine on your office connection. Your customers are on a phone in a driveway with two bars of signal. If they're staring at a blank screen, they're already back on Google.
Try this now
Turn off Wi-Fi and load your site on mobile data. Count out loud. Still waiting at three? So are your customers. Then run it through Google's free PageSpeed Insights.
The fix
Compressed images, lighter pages and decent hosting. Speed is usually the cheapest fix on this list.
Google Maps
4. Make your Google profile and your website agree
Most local customers meet you on the map before they ever see your website. When your name, phone, hours or area differ between the two, Google and AI assistants trust you less, and so do people.
Try this now
Google your business name. Are the name, phone number, hours and service area on your Google profile identical to your website?
The fix
Complete your Google Business Profile with every field, keep the details identical everywhere, and link it to your site.
Trust
5. Show reviews where the decision happens
Strangers trust other customers more than anything you say about yourself. Reviews also help decide who shows up first on the map, so they work on two fronts at once.
Try this now
Can a new visitor see proof you're good without scrolling? And does your top competitor have more recent Google reviews than you?
The fix
Feature two or three real reviews with names near the top, link to your Google reviews, and ask every happy customer for one, every time.
Search
6. Give every service its own page
A single "Services" page listing eight things rarely ranks for any of them. Google shows the page that best answers the search, and "furnace repair in Kanata" deserves a page about exactly that.
Try this now
Search "[your main service] [your neighbourhood]". Does a page from your site come up, or only directories and competitors?
The fix
One focused page per main service, and area pages for the places you actually want work from, each written for real people, never copy-pasted.
AI search
7. Write so AI assistants can recommend you
More people now ask ChatGPT, Gemini or Google's AI "who's a good electrician near me?" instead of scrolling results. Those assistants recommend businesses they can clearly read and cross-check.
Try this now
Ask ChatGPT: "Who's a good [your service] in [your area]?" Are you named? Are your competitors?
The fix
Plain answers to the questions customers really ask (areas, hours, what you do and don't do), structured data on your site, and the same facts everywhere you're listed.
Trust
8. Use real photos of real people
Stock photos of smiling models in hard hats fool nobody. A photo of you, your truck or your actual work says "real business, real person" before anyone reads a word.
Try this now
Count the photos on your site that show you, your team or your own work, then count the stock ones.
The fix
Ten honest phone photos beat a hundred stock images. Put the same photos on your Google profile too.
Conversion
9. Make one next step obvious
When a page offers five equally loud choices, visitors pick none. The best local sites ask for one thing: call, book or request a quote, and they make it impossible to miss.
Try this now
On each page, is there one button that clearly stands out? Does your contact form ask for more than three or four things?
The fix
One main button, repeated down the page. A short form with a name, phone and what you need. You can ask the rest on the call.
Care
10. Have someone watching it after launch
Websites don't break loudly. A form stops sending, a price goes out of date, the holiday hours from last December are still up, and nobody notices for months while leads quietly disappear.
Try this now
When did you last fill in your own contact form to check it arrives? Is everything on the site still true today?
The fix
A monthly check: test the form, update hours and offers, post on your Google profile, and look at what visitors actually do.
Your score
0 / 10
Tick the points your site already does to see where you stand.
We check these ten points for you, plus where you rank on Google Maps and in AI answers. Free, and useful whether you hire us or not.
Want us to check these against your site?
Tell us your business and the area you serve. We'll check Google Maps, regular search and AI answers, then send back what's holding you back and what we'd fix first. Useful whether you hire us or not.