Every business website needs exactly five pages that work: a homepage, a services page, an about page, a contact page, and an FAQ or pricing page. Most small business sites have eight to fifteen pages, and half say nothing useful. Fewer pages with clear jobs outperform bloated sites every time.
The data backs this up. 44% of B2B website visitors leave if they cannot find contact information (HubSpot, 2024). A one-second delay in page load time drops conversions by roughly 7% (Portent, 2022). Personalized calls to action convert 42% more visitors than generic ones (HubSpot, 2024). These are not arguments for more pages. They are arguments for better pages. An “Our Values” page with stock photos and vague statements about innovation is not helping anyone.
Each of these five pages has a job. If it does that job well, your website works. If it does not, adding more pages will not fix it.
What makes a good homepage?
Your homepage has about three seconds to answer one question: “Am I in the right place?” That is it. Not your company history. Not your mission statement. Not a carousel with four slides nobody reads.
A good homepage has:
- A clear headline that says what you do and who you do it for
- A subheading that explains why that matters
- One or two calls to action (get in touch, see pricing, learn more)
- Social proof (logos, testimonials, numbers)
- A brief overview of your services
Everything else is optional. If someone lands on your homepage and cannot figure out what your business does in three seconds, the design has failed. It does not matter how beautiful it looks.
What belongs on a services or product page?
This is where you explain what you actually sell. Not in marketing language. In plain terms that a potential customer can understand without a glossary.
For each service or product, answer these questions:
- What is it?
- Who is it for?
- What does the customer get?
- How much does it cost (or how does pricing work)?
- What happens after they buy?
The last two are the ones most businesses skip. They hide pricing behind a “contact us for a quote” button and never explain the process. That creates friction. Visitors who cannot find pricing information leave and go to someone who is more transparent.
If you cannot list exact prices, at least give ranges. “Projects typically start at € 2.000” is better than nothing. “Our plans range from € 295 to € 550/month” is better still.
What should an about page actually say?
The about page is not about you. It is about building trust. Visitors go there to answer one question: “Can I trust these people?”
What builds trust:
- Real names and faces (not stock photos)
- Your story in two paragraphs (how you started, what you believe)
- Proof of competence (years in business, clients served, relevant experience)
- Location and how to reach you
What does not build trust: a wall of text about your “passion for excellence” written in third person. Nobody reads that. Nobody believes it.
Keep it short. Two to three paragraphs of text, a team photo or headshot, and a link to your contact page.
How do you build a contact page that converts?
This page has the highest conversion intent on your entire website. Someone who lands here is ready to talk. Do not waste that moment.
A good contact page has:
- A simple form (name, email, message, maybe phone number)
- Your email address and phone number in plain text
- Your physical address if you have one
- Response time expectation (“We typically respond within 24 hours”)
Do not ask for fifteen form fields. Every additional field reduces the chance someone fills it out. Name, email, and message is enough. You can ask follow-up questions in your reply.
And test your contact form. Send a test message. Check that it arrives. An alarming number of business websites have contact forms that send to an inbox nobody checks, or worse, forms that are broken entirely.
Why does every business website need an FAQ or pricing page?
This page does the work of a sales conversation. It answers the questions that potential customers have before they commit. Good FAQ pages reduce the number of tire-kicking emails and increase the quality of leads.
Write the questions your customers actually ask. Not the questions you wish they asked. If people keep asking “What is your turnaround time?” or “Do I own the website?” those are the questions that belong on this page.
Structure matters here. Group questions by topic. Keep answers short. Link to relevant service pages where it makes sense.
If you have clear pricing, put it on this page or give it its own page. Pricing transparency is one of the strongest trust signals on a small business website.
Should a small business website have a blog?
A blog is valuable if you commit to it. Regular, useful content helps with search rankings and builds authority. But a blog with three posts from 2022 does more harm than good. It signals abandonment.
If you are going to blog, plan for at least one post per month. If you are not sure you can maintain that, skip the blog and focus on making your five core pages excellent.
How do you test if your website is working?
Open your website. Can you find clear answers to these five questions within thirty seconds?
- What does this business do?
- What do they sell and what does it cost?
- Who are the people behind it?
- How do I get in touch?
- What happens after I reach out?
If the answer to any of those is “unclear” or “I have to dig,” your website is not doing its job. Five focused pages will fix that faster than fifteen mediocre ones.