How to make a website for your small business, in 7 steps

Before you start: gather these

The building is the quick part. What slows people down is not having the words and photos ready. Spend half an hour collecting these first and everything after goes faster.

• Your business name, exactly as it appears on your Google listing and your invoices.
• One sentence on what you do and where.
• Your services, with a price or a "from" price for each.
• Your phone, email, service area and opening hours.
• Five to ten real photos: your work, your team, your van or shop.
• Two or three real reviews, if you have them, with the customer's permission.
• Your logo, if you have one. If not, your name in a clean typeface is fine.

The seven steps

1. Pick how you will build it

You have four realistic choices. Which is right depends on how much time you have and how particular you are about design.

There is a fuller comparison, with yearly totals, in what a website costs.

2. Write the essentials

Start with one sentence on what you do and where: "Mobile car detailing in Tampa, from $89." Then list your services with a price or a "from" price. Add your service area, hours and phone. Finish with three honest reasons to pick you, such as "licensed and insured", "same-day visits" or "family-run since 2012".

Write the way you talk to a customer. Short sentences. No "solutions", no "leveraging". If you would not say it at someone's front door, do not put it on the page.

3. Add real photos

Your work, your team, your van or shop. Real photos beat stock photos every time, because they show there is an actual business here. Take them in daylight, hold the phone sideways for wide shots, and wipe the lens first.

4. Add a way to book or ask for a quote

A phone number alone loses the people browsing at night. Add a booking form if customers book appointments, a quote calculator if jobs are priced one by one, or at the very least a short contact form with three boxes.

5. Connect a domain

A domain is your address: yourbusiness.com. Buy one from a registrar for about $10 to $20 a year and connect it to your site, or start on the free address your builder gives you and add the domain later. Keep it short, easy to spell and easy to say over the phone.

6. Set up Google

Four small jobs that decide whether anyone finds the site.

1. Give your page a title and description with your trade and town in them.
2. Add your business details as structured data, which most builders do for you.
3. Submit your sitemap in Google Search Console, so Google knows the site exists.
4. Claim your Google Business Profile and put your new website address on it.

7. Publish, then test on your phone

Tap the call button and check it dials. Send a test booking and read the email your customer would get. Read every section on a phone. Then ask a friend to do the same and tell you what confused them.

What goes on the page, in order

If you are staring at a blank template, use this order. It follows the questions a customer asks.

1. Headline with your trade and town, and a button to book or call.
2. Three reasons to trust you: licensed, insured, years in business.
3. Services, each with a line and a price.
4. A quote calculator or booking form.
5. Photos of real work.
6. Reviews from real customers.
7. About you, in three sentences, with a photo.
8. Questions and answers.
9. Footer with your address or service area, phone and hours.

There is more detail on each part in what a service business website should have.

Can you make a business website for free?

Partly. Most builders let you build and preview for free. Some have a free plan that goes live, usually with the builder's adverts on your page and an address like yourname.theirbrand.com. For a hobby that is fine. For a business, your own address and a clean page are worth a few dollars a month.

Can ChatGPT build your website?

ChatGPT can write your text and even the code for a page. It cannot host the site, connect your domain, take bookings or keep it online. You would still need somewhere to put the code and someone to maintain it.

An AI website builder is the practical version of the same idea. It uses AI to design and write the site, and it also provides the hosting, the forms and the editor, so you finish with a working website and not a file.

Mistakes first-time owners make

• Waiting for it to be perfect. A good page that is live beats a perfect one that is not.
• Writing about themselves first. Customers want to know what you do for them.
• Hiding the phone number. Put it at the top.
• No prices at all. Even a range helps.
• Forgetting phones. Check every change on yours.
• Never updating it. A site with last year's hours looks abandoned.

After you go live

• Put the address everywhere: Google profile, social pages, invoices, van.
• Ask for reviews from your next five customers.
• Check your enquiries daily and reply fast.
• Look at it once a month: are the hours, prices and photos still right?

Writing each part: a worked example

Most people freeze at the blank box. It helps to see one written out. Here is a made-up mobile mechanic, section by section, in the plain style that works.

Notice what is missing: no "welcome to our website", no "we are passionate about". Every line is a fact a customer can use. Write yours the same way, and only state what is true for your business.

Choosing a domain name

You will say this name out loud for years, so it is worth ten minutes of thought.

• Use your business name if you can. tampamobilemechanic.com is fine; luisfixescars.com is better if that is what people call you.
• Keep it short and easy to spell. If you have to spell it on the phone, it is too clever.
• Avoid hyphens and numbers. People forget them.
• Prefer .com where it is available. A local ending is fine if your customers expect it.
• Add your town only if the plain name is taken.
• Register it yourself, in your own name. Never let a designer or a friend own your domain.

A domain and a website are two separate things. You can keep the domain with one company and host the site with another, and move the site later without changing your address.

How long each route really takes

Whichever you pick, the delay is almost always the same thing: the words and photos are not ready. That is why the half hour of gathering at the top of this guide pays for itself.

The small print: privacy, cookies and access

Three things owners often miss. None is hard, and this is general guidance, not legal advice.

• A privacy notice. If your site has a form, say what you collect and what you do with it. A short, honest paragraph is better than nothing.
• Cookies and tracking. If you add analytics or advertising pixels, visitors in some places must be asked first. Many builders include a cookie bar.
• Accessibility. Give every photo a short description, keep text large and dark enough to read, and make sure buttons work with a keyboard. It helps every visitor, not only those with a disability.
• Your business details. Your real business name and a way to contact you belong in the footer.

Launch checklist

Run through this before you tell anyone the address.

1. The headline names your trade and your town.
2. The phone number is right, and tapping it starts a call.
3. Every service has a price or a "from" price.
4. You sent a test booking or enquiry and it reached your email.
5. Opening hours and service area are correct.
6. Every photo is yours, or one you are allowed to use.
7. There are no spelling mistakes in the first screen.
8. It reads well on a phone, and loads quickly on mobile data.
9. The browser shows a padlock, not a "not secure" warning.
10. Your page title and description are filled in.
11. The address is on your Google Business Profile.
12. A friend has tried to book you and told you what confused them.

What it will cost you

For most small businesses, a builder costs about $200 to $600 a year, with a domain on top at $10 to $20. A freelancer is $1,500 and up, once, plus hosting. With WeBoss, building is free and going live is $14.99 a month. The full breakdown, with what changes the price, is in the cost guide.