Step #18 of my Top 20 Tips for Small Business Start Ups is crucial to marketing your business: building your own "digital shop window". It's the first place many customers will go to check you're real, see what you offer and decide whether to get in touch.
It's not as complicated or expensive as you might think to build one, and there are plenty of options depending on how involved you want to be. Let's break down some choices.
1: Decide what your website is for
Before you pick a platform, decide what you want visitors to be able to do on your website. Be specific. Usually it's one main thing:
• Browse information on your business
• Contact you or book a call
• Purchase something
• Sign up to your email list
• Find your address and opening hours
Everything on the site should nudge people towards the actions you want them to take in a slick customer journey. A website with ten competing goals, dead-end pages with no clear steps on where to go next, will not achieve anything for you.
2: Plan the pages you need
For most small businesses, a handful of pages is plenty to start:
• Home. Who you are, who you help and what to do next, with your USP up front.
• About. People buy from people. Tell your story and show your face.
• Services or products. What you offer, clearly and simply. Add prices if you can.
• Contact. Make it easy. Include a form, email, phone and location.
• Proof. Testimonials, case studies or reviews (with permission).
• FAQs. Answer the questions you get (or think you’ll get) asked repeatedly.
• Legal pages. Privacy notice, cookie information and terms (more below).
A blog is a good extra but not essential on day one.
Step 3: Choose how to build it
There are three main routes:
DIY website builder (such as Squarespace, Wix or WordPress)
Best for starting out and on a tight budget and fine if you’re quite digi-savvy. It is low cost, but you will need to do the work on building the content into templated pages.
Freelance website designer
Depending on how much you’re prepared to pay, you can be more prescriptive about what you want in your layouts. Costs will be higher, but less stress on you to get it done right
Marketing agency
If you’re after something more complex, and a larger site with many pages and functionality. Obviously this is highest cost. I’d question whether this is needed in the early stages of your business journey.
Some tips on choosing:
• If you're selling products online, check out platforms that supports the payments, shipping and stock features you need.
• If you go DIY, use the template's basics and resist the urge to customise everything. Simple often looks the most professional.
• If you hire someone, ask to see their previous work, agree what's included in writing. I can help here and refer you to trusted suppliers. Check you'll have the ability to edit it yourself, as you don’t want to be locked into having to keep asking a supplier to make small tweaks to your pages.
• Think about the long term. Can you add pages later? Can you move your site if you need to?
4: Get your domain name right
Your domain is your website address. Choose one that matches your business name (and check it's available before you finalise the name in Step #6). Keep it short, easy to spell and easy to say. Two tips from experience:
• Register it in your own name or your business's name. If a designer registers it for you, make sure you're the registered owner. Otherwise, you could lose control of your own website address.
• Keep the login details safe, and set a reminder for renewal.
5: Write for your customer
Content matters more than design. Some guidelines:
• Lead with your USP. Visitors should understand what you do and why you're different within a few seconds.
• Use plain English, the way you'd talk to a customer. Skip the jargon (you know how I feel about it). Of course AI can help you achieve the tone you want.
• Be specific. "We help local cafes cut food waste" beats "innovative solutions".
• Add clear calls to action. "Book a call", "Get a quote", "Shop now".
• Use real photos of you, your work and your products where you can.
6: Make it accessible
A good website works for everyone, including people using screen readers or with visual impairments. The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines are the international standard. In practice, that means readable text with good contrast, descriptions for images, clear headings and links that make sense.
7: Get the basics of search right
This is getting a bit technical now and I can help you with this, if it’s not an area that interests you.
You need people to find you on Google and other search engines. AI Platforms such as ChatGPT also need to find you. Here are the fundamentals to consider:
• Use words customers use. Tools like Google Trends can show you how often people search for different phrases.
• Give each page a clear title and description, and use headings in a sensible order.
• Mention your location if you serve a local area, and set up your Google Business Profile.
• Connect Google Search Console. It's free and shows how your site is performing in search: Google Search Console.
• Keep it fast and mobile-friendly. That means ensuring your images and videos are not too large a file size. Website builder platforms tend to do this for you.
Search takes time to build, so be patient. It can be easier to use an expert for this, so do give me a call.
8: Cover the legal bits
This is the part people skip, and it's a mistake:
• Privacy notice. If you collect any personal data (contact forms, newsletter sign-ups), you need to say what you do with it. See Step 16 and the ICO's advice for small organisations.
• Cookies. Some cookies and similar technologies, such as certain analytics and advertising tools, need consent. The ICO's direct marketing and electronic communications guidance is a good place to start.
• Selling online. There are rules about what information you must provide and the rights customers have. See GOV.UK's online and distance selling guide and Business Companion.
• Copyright. Only use images, fonts and text you have the right to use.
• Security. Keep your platform and plug-ins updated, use strong passwords and two-step verification, and back up your site. The NCSC's small organisations guide walks you through the basics.
9: Launch, then improve
I speak from lots of experience when I say ‘a website is never really finished’. Before you go live:
1. Test every link and form. Send yourself an enquiry.
2. Ask two or three people to try it and tell you where they got stuck.
3. Set up analytics so you can see what's working.
4. Share it everywhere: social profiles, email signature, business cards, Google Business Profile.
Then review it every few months. Update your content, refresh your photos and fix whatever your analytics show isn't working. Making regular changes and additions to your website will help its performance in search.
What to do next from this advice
Don't panic, you don't have to do everything today!
• ☐ Write down the one main action you want visitors to take
• ☐ List the five or six webpages you need
• ☐ Compare two or three ways to build it, including costs. Call me to talk it through.
• ☐ Check your domain name is available
• ☐ Draft the text for your home page, leading with your USP
Need a website that works?
Let me tell you how I can help. I can personally build you a website using Squarespace, Wix or Wordpress. If you want a more bespoke option, I can refer you to website designers who I personally recommend. Or I can spend time with you guiding you through using a template website builder. Book a call with me here to discuss options.
Next up in the series: Step 19, Insurance and Tax Considerations. Not the most glamorous, but vital.
