Your First Business Website: What 5 Pages You Actually Need

You don’t need a 20-page website to get started. Most small businesses need five pages — and those five pages can do more for your business than a bloated site full of filler. (Not sure whether you even need a website yet? That’s worth working out first.)

Here’s the short version: every page on your website exists to answer a question your customer has before they contact you. Get those five questions answered and you’ve got a website that works.

Page 1: Homepage — “What do you do?”

Your homepage has one job. Help someone answer: “Am I in the right place, and what should I do next?”

That means a clear headline that says what you do and who you help. Not a rotating image slider. Not a three-paragraph welcome message. Not a wall of buzzwords.

Say what you do. Show your main services. Make it obvious how to contact you. Done.

If you want the full breakdown of what goes wrong on homepages — and it’s a long list — I’ve written a detailed page-by-page guide that walks through the common mistakes.

Page 2: Services — “What exactly do you offer?”

This is where you explain what you do in enough detail that someone can decide “yes, this is what I need.”

The biggest mistake I see is describing services from the business’s perspective instead of the customer’s problem. “Website Development” doesn’t tell anyone anything. “Need a simple website for your business? I build clean, fast sites that help customers find you and get in touch” — now the visitor recognises themselves.

If you offer more than three or four services, consider giving each one its own page. It’s better for Google and better for the person reading it.

Page 3: About — “Can I trust you?”

The About page is the second most visited page on most small business websites. Over half of visitors look for it first. And here’s the thing — it’s not really about you.

It’s about helping the visitor feel confident choosing you.

Skip the life story. Skip the corporate buzzwords. Instead: explain why you started your business, mention your experience or qualifications, include a real photo of yourself, and show some personality.

People hire people they trust. Your About page is where that trust gets built.

Page 4: Reviews — “Has it worked for others?”

This is the page most small business websites are missing. Only about 13% of Australian small business sites include testimonials — which means adding this page puts you ahead of the vast majority.

Real testimonials from real clients do more for trust than any amount of polished marketing copy. If you don’t have testimonials yet, start asking. Every client. Every time. And link to your Google reviews in the meantime.

Page 5: Contact — “How do I get started?”

When someone lands on your Contact page, they’ve already decided they’re interested. Your job is to make the next step as easy as possible.

Phone number. Email or a short form. Your service area. Maybe a note about when they’ll hear back. That’s all you need.

Don’t make people fill out 15 fields just to ask a question. The more friction you add, the more people leave.

Do I need anything else?

Not to start with. A blog is great for SEO but it’s not essential on day one. A team page doesn’t make sense if it’s just you. A “Latest News” section is fine — until the latest news is from 2019.

Get these five pages right first. Each one earning its place. You can always add more later when your business needs it.

If budget is genuinely tight and you can only manage three pages — and the cost is probably lower than you expect — go with Homepage, Services, and Contact. But if you can stretch to five — do it. The About page and Reviews page are where trust gets built, and trust is what turns a visitor into a customer.