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It is a New Year and that means new plans. You might have thought of a brilliant business idea over the holidays and are wondering how to get that idea out onto the web. Or you might have realised your existing small business website is not looking or performing the way you want, and it is time for a fresh start.
As a web developer with 25 years of experience, I know how easy it is to feel overwhelmed by all the different elements of building your own website. That is why in this New Year's Guide to Creating Your Small Business Website I walk you through 10 essential elements to consider so the process is as simple as possible.
For each of the 10 items, I show you where small businesses often get it wrong and how you can fix it. So whether you have a brand new business idea and need a website quickly, or you are ready to update your established website so it is more usable and accessible, I have got you covered.
You can even book a free 20 minute consultation with me for extra support or hire me to collaborate with you on your website build.
Before you even begin building your small business website, it is important to research what other people are doing and the sort of websites you like.
I always say to people to write two lists: 10 things you like and 10 things you do not like about different websites. Try to research within your business area or industry to get an idea of what you like and what you do not.
This process is important because when you are using the web normally, you do not really think about web design – but when you are building your own website, it is crucial to be conscious of this so you can avoid making the same mistakes.
Looking at the websites of other people will give you fresh ideas you may not have considered yourself. But just because they have done it does not mean that you should as well. Be discerning about what you choose to use!
In particular, looking at other businesses in your sector will give you ideas of things you need or might want on your site that you may not have considered. It will help you understand the sort of content you need to start getting it together, and how you can group that content on your website by seeing how competitors have done it.
Set aside time to look at websites of people in your industry. Think about the features on their sites that you like and do not like so you can create two lists to use later in your build.
In this process, look at the web with a critical eye rather than just as a consumer. Browse websites to examine their design, rather than just for fun or to buy something!
Think carefully about who you want to visit your website and what you want them to do while they are there. Then consider how you can help your target customer do that in the minimum number of steps.
The best designs are simple and intuitive. Think about the Google home page, which has one clear thing for you to do with no frills. Because the best designs are simple, you will not notice them until you look closely – so do your research!
Choosing the right domain and hosting is important for your small business because just like your phone number, it is unique to you and your business. You might not get to choose your phone number, but the cool thing is you can choose your website name.
Everybody goes to the big names like Wix, Squarespace and GoDaddy for their domain and hosting. But as a small business, this can be expensive in the long run. Invest your money with a smaller or cheaper provider for your domain and hosting instead, then scale up as you need. These smaller providers can give you a longer term, lower cost option compared to the monthly subscriptions and annual fees that bigger companies charge.
You also need to be aware of hidden costs. When I first bought my domain, the company I bought it from wanted me to pay to move it from one host to another. This may not happen anymore, but be aware of potential problems like this otherwise you could end up stuck with an expensive provider or paying for additional things that actually should be included for free.
When it comes to your domain name, you want to register one that is relevant to your business quickly – before someone else takes it. You might not be able to buy the exact domain you want, or it might cost you £10K, so think of some options before you buy anything. You should also think about buying .com and .co.uk to cover all bases. Your domain name should be like your phone number, totally unique and easy to remember.
I recommend Hostinger as a starting point for anyone I work with. When you register with them, you get one domain free for a year, and it is quick and easy to set up with a no-quibble refund policy. A good, cheap alternative is Dynadot. When you buy the domain with them, you get one-page free hosting. These are good options to get your business out there quickly and scale up later.
Make sure to do your research into what you want on your website and your competitors, so you can start building with everything you need rather than working it out as you go.
Use a trusted website to search for available domains, alternative options, and to find out how much it costs. Two trusted options for searches are Cloudflare domain search and Namecheap domain name search. Choose a domain name and business name that is easy to spell, type out, remember and share. Avoid underscores and dashes in your name as these are difficult to read and hard to describe when reading out your domain name.
Ensure your domain name provider offers domain name privacy, called whois protection. This means your contact details are not publicly available when people search for your chosen domain on domain registration sites. Your provider should also give you your SSL certificate for free. This creates a secure environment for your website.
Bonus tip: The default for all website addresses should be your domain name without any need for the www. subdomain – for example, purpleparadigm.com rather than www.purpleparadigm.com. Make sure to use the shorter domain name on your business cards and other promotional materials.
Whatever your business does and however new it is, branding is essential for the build of your website.
Branding gives people trust. If they go through your website and see that your colours and styling are consistent, it builds visual trust with the customer. Pages that look very different can give the impression to readers they have navigated to a different website.
Your branding needs to work on a light and a dark background. If you promote your website elsewhere online, you want to make sure your logo and branding always stands out. Different users have light and dark settings on their computer, which will not affect your website design but will change how they perceive elements like your logo, favicon, and bookmark.
When it comes to your logo, you need to have one which works at different scales, from miniature in the favicon to very large. And when your customer has lots of tabs open, a colourful favicon that stands out makes your website much easier to find!
Your choice of colours is at the heart of your brand. You need a few colours to indicate different elements on your website, such as headings, text and links. Having multiple colours means you can play about with options, giving you more scope for ways to prioritise content and make it stand out on different backgrounds. Having specific colours for status messages – such as successfully completing a form – is also important to indicate to the user what is happening.
I recommend choosing colours for your site that are WCAG AA or A compliant, so the background colour and foreground text are visually different. People with disabilities, such as those who are partially sighted, need higher contrast to see information, as do older people who might find it harder to detect different colours. Colours which are too similar (low contrast) might make it harder for your customer to understand what you are trying to convey.
Your business needs branding! On your website this ensures consistency of headings, colours, fonts and more. Having consistent branding helps customers know who you are, provides recognition and builds trust.
Ensure your headings, text and other design elements are consistent across your whole website. Remember that less is more!
I have noticed a lot of small businesses either have too few or too many colours on their website. You need enough colours so your branding can be used successfully on your website, in different scenarios, without having to do a whole redesign. Pick out a range of colours, including ones you will only use for status messages on your site. This range should include a few different greys which you will end up using for borders, shadows and other small elements.
You want to make sure your website content is easy to read and accessible for a wide range of customers. You can check whether your branding choices are accessible using the
Purple Paradigm colour contrast checker, WebAIM contrast checker and University of Sussex accessible colour combinations.
First, make sure you have a logo! Then check your logo at different sizes, on different devices, looking at it different distances from your screen to check how visible it is. It needs to be recognisable when it is very small, so if it is hard to see then adjust it.
Bonus tip: Try to avoid using colours in your branding that indicate something else on the web. For example, red tends to indicate a sale or an error, which is something you might not want to associate with your business!
You want people visiting your website to read the content that is on there. To do that, you need to think about content priority: what is on the site and how it is ordered.
I think of it like this – I like to talk, but do people want to read? People want concise, snackable information when they visit your site. You can do things in long form, but often people want information quickly. They have a short attention span and if they cannot find what they want easily, they will go somewhere else. Google and ChatGPT now provide summaries for search queries, which means people may not even make it to your website! So when they do it should be very clear what you do, what you are selling, and what action you want them to take.
I describe your website home page as the shop window for your small business. If it looks messy and disorganised then no one will go in. Organising the content helps to put your best foot forward and bring people into your 'shop'.
I have noticed small business owners can get overwhelmed deciding what to put on their website. I recommend deciding what your aim is for your website and choosing content which focuses on that aim. Keep it simple – you do not need to tell people everything that is personal to you. That can go on social media!
Whatever aim you have for your website, your content should make that aim front and centre. An example might be a website for a bar: your aim is for people to visit your bar, so the site includes the name, opening hours, how to get there and a map. It is then very clear for the target customer what they need to know and what you want them to do.
Your target customer should need to make as few clicks as possible to take the action you want them to take. If you are going to do something long form then they should be able to click through to read it if they want to, not have to.
I recommend writing everything you want on your website on sticky notes or a big mind map, then grouping the different content into categories. You can then decide which content is most important based on your aim for your website and what your target customer needs. Then before you add anything to your site builder, put all your content into a Google Doc or Word document and lay it out with the headings and body text you will use. Make notes of what images and links will go where. This makes it much easier for you or someone else as it acts as a guide for your website build.
After you have categorised your content, create a plan so you are not trying to do everything at once. Build your website starting with the basics: who you are, what your business does, how people can get in touch. Then, plan to add in more pages as you go along. As your customers ask questions, request more information or your business changes, you can add more. Make necessity drive content.
I recommend having a prioritised list of what new content you want to add so you can work through this at your own pace. Start small and add details when it is relevant. You do not have to do everything at once!
Think carefully about who your customer is and what they need to see on a website, as well as how they might use it. For example, if you have a target audience of older people, they might want your website to be very simple with clear headings and minimal complexity so it is easy to use.
Nobody browsing a website wants to be reading for a long time to find what they need. Humans skim things. Imagine reading a magazine: on the front page it has the highlights, then you flick through and skim the articles to pick out what you want to read in more detail. This approach applies to your website as well.
Great navigation helps your people find their way around your site. This is important if you want your target audience to be able to use your site easily and therefore become a customer quickly!
There are many conventions in web design about navigation. These conventions are familiar to users and help people understand how to use your site. For example, your logo should be at the top left or top centre of your website. This ensures your customer knows what website they are on, and it should take them back to the home page if they find themselves a bit lost.
Another convention is that your navigation menu is at the top of the page and should always be prominent. This is how people will get round your website! The first thing they should see is your logo, and the second is your navigation.
If your site is poorly structured, you might find that your search function will get used a lot because people can not find their way around your site. This highlights poor usability and will be frustrating for users.
Links which are repetitive or poorly labelled will make it harder for blind users to navigate your site using their screen reader software. A skip link is essential for blind users or those using a keyboard, but not many small business owners know about them. A skip link 'skips' to the main content on a page, which means the user does not have to listen to the whole navigation being read out to them, or tab every single item in the menu to get to the main content. Remember: anything that benefits blind users has an additional benefit to search engines.
I have noticed that poor navigation is often down to poor content organisation. My rule is never have more than 7 items to navigate, whether in a primary or secondary navigation menu. Organising and grouping your content will help you keep your navigation simple and easy to find.
As well as having fewer items to navigate, try to keep secondary navigation to a minimum. Avoid using too many drop downs and keep your navigation labels concise rather than very long. A complex 'mega-nav' can be hard to navigate using a mouse, because it is unclear where the edge of the menu is, plus hover functions typically do not work on mobile devices.
Remember that the more complex your navigation, the more your potential customer will have to read through to get where you want them to go. Or in the case of people using keyboards to navigate your site, you do not want them to have to tab through 10 items or more before they reach the main content! This is also why skip links are so important.
Stick to conventional ways of navigating your website and naming the items in your navigation menu, such as 'contact' and 'about me', rather than going rogue! Trying to be different for the sake of it can make your website hard to use and frustrating for customers. I say it is like knowing what the pavement is for but choosing to walk on the road: you are making it harder for yourself and putting your business at risk at the same time.
I have noticed that many small business owners do not understand the importance of headings for their website – not just to help readers, but to help their search engine ranking as well.
I like to compare disabled or blind users to search engines. All of them look at and understand your website in the same way: by using headings to skim the page and find the content they want. Blind users will have a shortcut on their computer that reads the headings of a page in order and very quickly, just like a sighted user will skim headings based on their size.
Using the right headings is very important for search engine optimisation (SEO) as well as accessibility. Your H1 tags, or your primary headings, help explain what the page is about to search engines when they are indexing your site. There should be one H1 on every page, and each should be unique. If these headings are appropriate, your site is more likely to appear in relevant search engine results.
Because users typically read websites in an F-shape pattern, clear headings mean that when people skim your website, they will find what they need immediately. Using colour for different headings can also be useful because it can break the text up and make it easier for someone to understand the content on the page. You can use colour as an indicator with sighted people but be aware not everyone will be able to see the colours!
Make sure you have one H1 for each page of your website which is unique and describes the page accurately. For your home page, do not use the H1 for your slogan. Instead, make the H1 tag 'home page', hide it, and use a H2 tag for your strapline.
Consider the sections of your website and the content on each page. Structure the information in order of importance, so you can assign a different heading tag (H1, H2, H3 etc.) to each section of a page. Use headings consecutively for each section: visually they can look similar but change the H tag so the content is structured in a way that is easy for search engines and humans to read.
The recommendation from WCAG is that the font size for large text is a minimum of 19 pixels or bold, or 24 pixels and regular. Using an appropriately sized font for your headings makes them easy to read for everyone.
In web development, there is a concept called mobile first which means building your website with mobile phone users in mind. This is something all small business owners need to think about.
When you build your website for mobile first, it will load quickly even if your customer has a poor connection. You want the mobile experience of your website to be the optimal performance so it is fast to load and easy to navigate. This means using smaller images when compared to a desktop browser, considering your font sizes, and making sure links or buttons are clickable by fat fingers!
The reason for the focus on mobile is most internet traffic is now mobile. According to mobile traffic statistics from Exploding Topics, over 64% of website traffic came from mobile devices in 2025, and over 96% of internet users access the internet using a mobile phone.
People always have their phone on them, and it may be the main internet device they have. Think about the last time you told someone about your website – they probably typed it into their phone there and then. Even if someone has a laptop, it may only be for work. In contrast, lots of potential customers will be accessing your site through their mobile phone and on the go.
I recommend thinking about your customer and how they will be accessing your website. Think about how your audience uses their devices before you start designing. Will they be accessing your website on a tablet in landscape mode, a mobile phone used in portrait mode, on the go or elsewhere?
Your website design should consider mobile users to make it fast and simple. This means making links large enough to click and having smaller images which are quick to load. Text on your site should be big enough to be read easily – your customer should not have to zoom in to read it!
Make sure to test your website design rigorously. This means testing on mobile, tablets and desktops – and always remember to rotate the device! Ensure you test on more than one browser, including Android, Firefox, Chrome, Safari, and Edge on Windows.
It is essential your customers can get in contact with you via the information on your site. However, it should not be at the expense of your personal safety.
Putting your email on your site is common practice, but it can lead to bots scraping your email. This can then lead to lots of junk mail, spam, or your email being used in ways you do not consent to.
I also see small businesses and sole traders putting their personal number on their website. You do want potential customers to get in touch with you, but if you have a dedicated phone number for them it can be safer. Using a personal phone number can lead to unwanted calls at inappropriate times or even feeling unsafe if someone has your number who you would prefer not to. Websites like Check-a-Trade or Task Rabbit do not give out personal information – so why should you?
Similarly, if your business is big enough to have a shop or dedicated business address customers can visit, you can use a map on your website. Having a clickable map makes it easier for customers to get to you. But do not use your personal address!
Social media links are very common on small business websites. If you have personal social media links on your site, it is easy for someone to research you and your personal plans which could lead to unwanted attention. I recommend linking to your business social media that is separate from your personal accounts. A business social media account does not prevent you from talking about personal things, but it does require a little bit of thought.
I recommend getting a WhatsApp business number which you can include on your website, rather than sharing your personal number. Put your business phone number in pairs as a clickable link on your site, such as 07740 23 45 67. This makes it easy to read, remember, and call for mobile users.
If you have capacity to weed out spam, then include your email on your website. If not, use a contact form so people can get in touch with you. You can also use a service such as Cal or Calendly so people can book a call with you without giving away your personal information. These services give the option of additional email validation to give you an extra level of security.
Do not include your personal address on your website! Check your site builder as it might add a map to your address automatically, which you should delete. Only include an address and map on your site if you are comfortable with people knowing this address and it is relevant to your business. Link it to a map such as Google Maps or What 3 Words so people can navigate to you.
I advise linking to your business social media from your website, rather than your personal accounts. If you are using your business social media in a more personal way, a good tip is to post about your activities after you have done them, not before or during. This supports your personal safety while still sharing with your customers what you have been up to.
Using animations, images and video on your small business website can look pretty, but will cause a lot of accessibility issues if used incorrectly or overused, so it is crucial to consider it carefully.
Images affect the loading speed of your website. Lots of large images can slow it down, especially on mobile. Images which are well named, labelled and described will be picked up by search engines when your target customers do an image search. If you use informative images, they should be described well with appropriate alt text to be as accessible as possible. If you use purely decorative images, you might not want these details to be picked up by a search engine or a blind user because it is not relevant.
When it comes to partially sighted or blind users, or anyone using a screen reader, they are less likely to be able to read any text you include in video, animation or image. This also applies to search engines who cannot 'read' the text information contained within that media. Text that appears over a video or image is also really hard to read.
People that are neurodiverse can often be overloaded by video content or animations. Blind or older customers might want to stop an animation or video to be able to read what it says – and if they cannot do this, it is frustrating. Accessibility advice from WCAG defines the maximum duration of any animation, that a user must be able to stop it themselves, and videos should not auto-play either.
This applies to automatic carousels of images too. Carousels assume a reading speed which not everyone has, and they are almost impossible to make totally accessible to users who navigate with a keyboard rather than a mouse, or visually-impaired users. People are often happy to scroll for a while rather than waiting for important information to 'come round' again on a carousel.
I recommend avoiding animations and keeping their use to a minimum. Stick to WCAG suggestions and make any animation under 5 seconds. Anything longer needs the ability to pause it quickly and with a keyboard function.
If you are going to have videos on your website, then consider who your target audience is. If someone needs subtitles on a video, this might be distracting for neurodiverse users and not useful for deaf users. And videos should never auto-play – they should always be user-initiated.
When using images on your website, remember that informative images need alt text that is descriptive and helpful for the user. This alt text will also be picked up by search engines. Decorative images should be used sparingly and avoid placing text over images. I recommend instead of using video on your home page, use a stunning image with content underneath that is well structured and include headings so that people can skim the content to find what they need. You can even use hover states to add a little sparkle to your image – but be aware they do not work on mobile.
You want people to actually read what you have put on your website, which means the readability of your website design and text is crucial.
When I am having a bad day, whether it is with hay fever or something else, I should still be able to go on your website and read it easily. I should not have to be really close to the screen or 20 years younger to be able to read what your website says!
Although you might have better than 20/20 vision, not everyone does. Lots of people wear glasses while others are partially sighted. Your website should not have text that is so small it is hard to read, unless it is the copyright notice! In countries where we typically read from left to right, we scan a website in an F shape starting at the top left corner. Having easily readable headings and body text means people can scan the website quickly to find what they need.
The readability of your text is affected by your choice of colour, font, text size and layout. In turn readability affects the accessibility and usability of your site. Imagine going through a book and finding a page with text that is so tiny you need your glasses – you would not want to read any further.
WCAG recommends that body text on your website is a minimum of 16 pixels so it is readable – avoid any text smaller than this. Be aware that cursive or narrow fonts can be hard to read even at 16 pixels, so use these carefully. When testing your site, stand back from the screen – you should still be able to see the headings and ideally the body text.
Think about the colour contrast between your background and body text. WCAG recommends it has a minimum contrast ratio of 3:1 to be readable. You can use the Purple Paradigm colour contrast checker to look at your brand colours. Avoid using colours which are very hard to read, or using patterned backgrounds or images behind text. If this is unavoidable, use a plain coloured box behind the text to help it stand out.
Do not make your line length so long that your customer has to turn their head to read what it says, or so short that it requires them to move their eyes back and forth a lot. Restricting the width of the website content is important. I try to keep the width of the site under 1200 pixels, and the width of the text no more than 900 pixels.
I hope you found Your Guide To Creating Your Small Business Website helpful. Building a website for your small business does not have to be stressful. There are a lot of parts to consider but you do not have to do everything at once! You can also turn to an expert for advice or help.
If you are ready to update your website in 2026 so it performs well and gets your business out there, then book a free 20 minute consultation with me and let us get started.
