GUIDE · SMALL BUSINESS WEBSITES
How to make a small business website (and what it actually needs)
Most small business websites are built in a weekend and then ignored for three years. They look fine but they do not show up on Google, the phone number is buried, and there is no clear way to contact you. This guide walks through what actually goes into a site that works: the pages to build, the costs to expect, whether free tools are good enough, and the one part most owners skip that costs them the most calls.
THE SHORT ANSWER
The short version: you can make a small business website in a day using a builder like Squarespace or in a few weeks with a developer. Either way, the essentials are the same: a home page that explains what you do and where, a services page, a contact page, and a way for Google to find you locally. The part most sites skip is local SEO and a clear call-to-action, and that is what separates a website that generates calls from one that just sits there.
How to make a small business website, step by step
Start with what you need to decide before you open any tool, then move through build to launch. Skipping the early decisions is what causes owners to rebuild the same site two years later.
- Step 1: Nail your domain name. Pick something short and close to your business name or what you do. Buy it through Namecheap, Google Domains (now Squarespace Domains), or GoDaddy. A .com is still the default; .co or a city-specific domain works if .com is taken. Do not agonize over this for long.
- Step 2: Choose how you will build it. A website builder (Squarespace, Wix, Webflow) gets you live fast at low cost and is a reasonable choice for most service businesses. A custom-built site from a developer or agency takes longer and costs more upfront but typically performs better in search and converts visitors more reliably. If you are comparing those options in detail, the guide at /guides/custom-website-vs-builder-vs-agency walks through the tradeoffs honestly.
- Step 3: Set up hosting. With a builder, hosting is bundled in the subscription. With a custom site, you need a host: Firebase Hosting, Vercel, Netlify, and managed WordPress hosts like Kinsta are all reasonable. Shared hosting (GoDaddy, Bluehost, Hostgator) is cheap but noticeably slower, and site speed is a ranking signal.
- Step 4: Build the core pages. You need a home page, a services page, an about page, and a contact page at minimum. If you serve multiple locations or service types, add a page per service and per city. More on what each page needs below.
- Step 5: Set up Google Search Console and Google Business Profile. Submit your sitemap in Search Console so Google can index you quickly. Your Google Business Profile is separate from your website and is often how local customers find you first; set it up even before your site is done.
- Step 6: Launch, then improve. Most small business websites never launch because the owner keeps tweaking. Get it live with the core pages, then improve based on what you see in Search Console over the next 90 days.
What pages does a small business website need?
For most local service businesses, six pages cover the essentials. You do not need more than this to start; you can add depth later once you know which searches are sending you traffic.
- Home page. Your most important page. It needs to answer three questions in the first five seconds: what you do, where you serve, and how someone reaches you. Lead with your city and service in the headline. Put a phone number and a "Get a quote" link above the fold. Do not bury these below a stock photo of a happy family.
- Services page (or one page per service). List what you do with enough detail that a potential customer knows whether you are the right fit. If you do five different things, consider a page per service. Those individual pages rank better for specific searches ("roof repair in [city]") than a single page listing all services.
- About page. People hire people. A brief paragraph about who you are, how long you have been doing this, and why you started is more useful than a corporate mission statement. A real photo of you or your team helps more than most owners expect.
- Contact page. Phone number, contact form, service area map or description, and your hours. Make the phone number clickable (a tel: link) so mobile visitors can call with one tap. This is the page most sites under-invest in.
- Reviews or testimonials section. Not a standalone page, but a section on the home page or a dedicated reviews page. For local service businesses, social proof is often the deciding factor. Link to your Google Business Profile so visitors can see the full review count.
- Location or service area page (if you serve multiple cities). One page per city you want to rank in. These pages follow a simple pattern: your service plus the city, proof you have done work there, and a local contact or quote form. This is what drives local search rankings for businesses that serve multiple areas.
How much does it cost to make and maintain a small business website?
Ranges vary a lot depending on how it is built, and most online estimates are out of date or skewed by agency cost structures. Here is an honest breakdown based on what options look like in 2026.
- DIY builder (Squarespace, Wix, Webflow). Squarespace runs roughly $16 to $23 per month (as of 2026, billed annually); Wix is similar. You do the design and writing yourself. Total first-year cost including a domain: $200 to $300. The real cost is time, which for most owners is not free.
- Freelancer. A competent freelancer charges roughly $500 to $3,000 for a small business site depending on scope and their market. You get a custom design and you are not on the hook for building it, but ongoing support, updates, and SEO work are typically billed separately.
- Agency. Full-service web agencies typically start at $2,000 to $5,000 for a small business site and can run much higher. The better agencies bundle hosting, ongoing updates, and local SEO into a monthly retainer so you have one point of contact for the whole thing.
- Ongoing costs. Budget for domain renewal ($12 to $20 per year), hosting ($10 to $50 per month for managed hosting; bundled if you use a builder), and any updates or SEO work. A site with no ongoing investment tends to drift down in rankings over 12 to 24 months as competitors update theirs.
Can you make a small business website for free?
Yes, and for some businesses it is the right call. Honest answer: free website platforms (Google Business Profile's site feature, Wix free plan, WordPress.com free plan) give you something live and findable, but they come with real limits worth knowing before you commit.
- What you actually get for free. A basic site with your contact info, services, and a way for people to reach you. That is not nothing. For a solo operator who just wants a web presence while they test a business idea, free is fine.
- What you give up. A branded domain (free plans force a subdomain like yoursite.wix.com, which looks less professional and is harder for Google to rank), faster hosting, the ability to remove the builder's branding, and typically full control over page structure and SEO settings.
- The Google Business Profile website. Google offered a free website builder tied to your GBP listing. They wound it down in 2024. If you rely on your GBP for visibility (which you should regardless), that is separate from your website. Do not conflate the two.
- The honest verdict. If you are deciding between a free site today and a better site in six months, launch the free site today. A live presence you control even partially is better than nothing while you save up for a proper build. Just plan to migrate to a real domain within a year; the SEO credit does not transfer cleanly when you switch.
Do I need an LLC to run a business website?
No. You do not need to form an LLC, incorporate, or have any formal business entity to own a domain or run a website. Millions of sole proprietors operate websites under their own name or a trade name without any formal legal structure. The website question and the legal structure question are separate decisions.
- What you do need to watch. If you are operating under a name that is not your legal name (doing business as), some states require a DBA (fictitious business name) registration. That is a county or state filing, not related to your website.
- When LLC status matters for your website. If you plan to take payments online, sign contracts through the site, or collect sensitive customer data, the liability protection of an LLC becomes relevant. But the website itself does not require it.
- Privacy for your domain. When you register a domain, your contact info is added to the WHOIS public database unless you enable domain privacy (most registrars offer it free or for a few dollars a year). You do not need an LLC to protect your home address; enable domain privacy instead.
- The short answer. Talk to an attorney if you want guidance on when to form an LLC for your business overall. For the website specifically, you can launch under your own name or a trade name today without any formal entity.
The part most small business websites get wrong: getting found and getting the call
This is the section most "how to make a small business website" guides skip, and it is the one that matters most. A website that nobody can find is just an expensive business card. And a website that people find but cannot easily contact is not much better.
- Local SEO is not automatic. Putting your city in the title of your home page is a start, but ranking for "[service] in [city]" searches requires more: a verified and complete Google Business Profile, consistent name, address and phone number (NAP) across directories, locally focused page copy, and ideally some local links. Your website and your GBP work together; neither alone is as effective as both together. The guide at /platform/local-seo covers what this looks like in practice.
- Your phone number needs to be impossible to miss. Most small business websites bury the phone number in the footer. On a mobile device, where a large share of local searches happen, this means the visitor has to scroll all the way down to find out how to call you. Put the number in the header, make it a tappable link, and repeat it on the contact page.
- Missed calls are where money leaks. If someone calls your business outside of business hours and nobody answers, most of them do not call back. A text response sent automatically when a call goes unanswered (a missed-call text-back) recovers a meaningful share of those leads. This is less about your website and more about what happens after the website does its job of driving the call.
- Reviews on Google amplify everything else. A website with 3 reviews and a 4.1 average will lose clicks to a competitor with 87 reviews and a 4.8 average, even if your website looks better. Building your review count is not optional if you want local search to generate consistent leads. You can do this manually or automate the ask after each job.
SEE IT FOR YOURSELF
Ask The Public: see what your customers Google
- What it is
- A free tool that turns a topic, or your own website, into the real questions and phrases people search for in your trade.
- How it works
- Type a topic or paste your site, and it maps the questions, comparisons, and near-me phrases your customers actually type, with real search volume.
- What it costs
- Free. The first set of results is open; the full map unlocks with your email.
Common questions
How do I create a small business website?
Start with a domain name, choose how you will build the site (a DIY builder like Squarespace or a developer), set up hosting, and build four core pages: home, services, about, and contact. Then submit the site to Google Search Console and set up your Google Business Profile. Most small business owners can get a basic site live in a weekend using a builder; a custom site from a developer typically takes two to four weeks.
What are the essential pages every small business website needs?
At minimum: a home page that states your service and location clearly, a services page that describes what you offer, an about page with some information about who you are, and a contact page with a clickable phone number and a form. If you serve multiple cities, add a page per city. If you offer distinct services, add a page per service. Those targeted pages rank far better in local search than a single catch-all page.
How much does it cost to create and maintain a small business website?
A DIY builder like Squarespace runs roughly $200 to $300 for the first year including a domain (as of 2026). A freelancer-built site typically costs $500 to $3,000 depending on scope. An agency starts around $2,000 to $5,000 and often includes a monthly retainer for hosting and updates. Budget separately for ongoing hosting ($10 to $50 per month) and any SEO or content work; a site with no maintenance slowly loses ground to competitors who update theirs.
Can you set up a business website for free?
Yes. Platforms like Wix and WordPress.com offer free plans, and you can be live with basic contact information and services listed at no cost. The real trade-offs are a non-branded subdomain (yoursite.wix.com), ads on your site, limited SEO controls, and the builder's branding. Free is a reasonable starting point if you are testing a business idea; plan to move to a paid plan with a custom domain within a year.
Do I need an LLC to run a website?
No. You can register a domain and run a business website as a sole proprietor without any formal legal entity. The website and the business structure are separate decisions. If you operate under a trade name that is not your legal name, check your state's requirements for a DBA (fictitious business name) filing, but that is a local filing requirement, not a website requirement. Enable domain privacy with your registrar to keep your personal address out of the public WHOIS record.
KEEP READING
Not sure where to start?
If you have read this far and the path still feels fuzzy, the fastest way to get clarity is a 30-minute call with a founder. We work with local service businesses exclusively, so we have seen most of the situations that make this feel complicated: old sites on bad hosting, no Google presence, sites that look fine but get no calls. We will tell you what we see and what we would do, and if we are not the right fit we will tell you that too.