What to put on a small business website, section by section

A bakery page and a dog walking page are not the same page, but they answer the same questions from the same person: someone deciding whether to spend money with a business they have never used. Here is the walkthrough I would give either of them, section by section.

Lead with one sentence a stranger could repeat

Before anything clever, a visitor needs one sentence they could say out loud to a friend. "Fresh bread and celebration cakes, north side of town, order by Thursday." Or: "Weekday dog walks around Riverside, six dogs at most."

Test it by covering your logo. Does the page still say what you sell, who it is for and roughly where you are? If someone has to read three paragraphs to work out that you are a bakery, the page is working against you.

Give the first screen one action

The first screen, the part someone sees before scrolling, has one job: say what you do and offer one next step. One, not five.

For a bakery that step is usually "see the cake list" or "order for Saturday". For a dog walker it is "check whether your street is covered". Four equally loud buttons ask a visitor to make a decision you have not made yourself.

Put the practical facts in one block

The questions people ask before spending money are predictable. Where are you, and is there parking? When are you open, and does that change on public holidays? What does it cost, or at least what is the range? How do I book, and how far ahead? What happens if I need to cancel?

A bakery that hides "closed Mondays" at the bottom of a long About page will get phone calls about it every Monday. A dog walker who never says which neighbourhoods they cover will get enquiries from across the city. Write these as a plain list near the top. Dull and useful beats elegant and vague.

Use photos as evidence

Two or three honest photos of your actual work beat a stock photo of a smiling stranger in a shop. If you have nothing polished yet, photograph a normal day: the tray coming out of the oven, the street sign outside, the van, the lead and the dog. Show the thing the customer will get, not the mood you wish surrounded it.

Say what you can honestly show

Reviews, awards, years trading: if you have them, state them plainly and stop. If you are new, do not invent them and do not write "trusted by hundreds".

Answer the fear behind the question instead. A dog walker in their first month can say: "You meet me before the first walk, and you get a photo and a short message after every one." That is proof of how you work, and it is true on day one.

Make contact one step, not a maze

One main way to reach you, plus a phone number if people usually ring. A bakery form wants a date and what you would like. A dog walker's form wants a postcode and which days. Four or five fields is plenty for a first reply, and short enough to finish one-thumbed while standing outside your shop.

Cut the sections that cost you

"Coming soon" notices. A blog with two posts from three years ago. A gallery of forty near-identical photos. A founder history nobody asked for. Empty sections read as neglect. Six sections that each do something beat twelve that half do.

The same page, two businesses

Section	Bakery	Dog walker
First line	Fresh bread and celebration cakes, north side	Weekday walks around Riverside
First action	Order for a date	Check your street
Facts block	Opening hours, order cut-off, collection	Areas covered, walk length, rates
Proof	Real bakes, real reviews	Meet before the first walk
Contact	Date and cake type	Postcode and days needed

A checklist you can fill in tonight

• One sentence: what you sell, to whom and where.
• One action on the first screen.
• Hours, area covered and price range in a single block.
• Three photos of real work.
• One honest answer to "why trust a business I have not used".
• One form with four or five fields.

None of this needs a developer. It needs an hour of writing and a few honest photographs, and it is worth doing before you decide how the site gets built. Sitewright is still being built and is not available yet; the waitlist on the home page is the only thing that is open. Writing this brief now means it is ready when there is something to try. If early access sounds useful, you can join the waitlist.