Not every business needs a 50-page website with all the bells and whistles. If you're running a local business — a salon, a trade, a restaurant, a shop — you need a website that does specific things well.

Here's exactly what matters and what you can skip.

The Essential Pages

Most local businesses only need 5-7 pages. Really. Here's what they are:

1. Home Page

Your home page has one job: tell visitors they're in the right place and guide them to take action.

Within 5 seconds, visitors should understand:

  • What you do
  • Where you're located
  • How to contact you or book

Don't bury your phone number at the bottom. Don't make people hunt for basic information. Lead with clarity.

2. Services/What We Do Page

List your services clearly with enough detail that people know if you can help them. Include pricing if possible — it saves everyone time and filters out mismatched enquiries.

If you have multiple distinct services, consider separate pages for each. This helps SEO and lets you target specific searches.

3. About Page

People buy from people. Your about page should show the human side of your business:

  • Who you are and your background
  • Why you started the business
  • What makes you different
  • Photos of you/your team (real photos, not stock)

This is especially important for service businesses where trust matters.

4. Contact Page

Make it stupidly easy to get in touch. Include:

  • Phone number (clickable on mobile)
  • Email address
  • Physical address if you have premises
  • Opening hours
  • A contact form
  • Embedded Google Map

5. Testimonials/Reviews

Social proof is powerful. Display your best Google reviews, or create a dedicated testimonials page. Real quotes from real customers build trust faster than anything you can write about yourself.

Optional But Valuable

Gallery/Portfolio: Essential for visual businesses (salons, builders, photographers). Show your work.

FAQ Page: Answer common questions, reduce repetitive enquiries, and pick up SEO traffic for question-based searches.

Blog: Great for SEO long-term, but only if you'll actually update it.

Essential Information

Beyond pages, certain information must be easy to find throughout your site:

Contact Details

Your phone number should be in the header of every page. On mobile, it should be tappable to call directly. Don't make people hunt for how to reach you.

Location

Mention your service area multiple times naturally. "Serving Leeds, Wakefield, and Bradford" in your footer. "Based in West Yorkshire" on your about page. This helps local SEO.

Opening Hours

If you have set hours, display them prominently. Keep them updated (especially for holidays). Nothing frustrates customers more than driving to a closed business because the website showed wrong hours.

Call to Action

Every page should have a clear next step. "Call Now," "Book Online," "Get a Quote," "View Our Menu." Don't leave visitors wondering what to do.

Technical Must-Haves

The invisible stuff that makes everything work:

Mobile Responsiveness

Non-negotiable. Over 60% of your visitors are on phones. If your site doesn't work perfectly on mobile, you're losing the majority of potential customers.

Fast Loading

Under 3 seconds. People won't wait, and Google penalises slow sites. Read more about why speed matters.

SSL Certificate (HTTPS)

The padlock icon in browsers. Without it, browsers show security warnings and Google downgrades your ranking. Most hosts include this free now.

Google Business Profile Integration

Your website and Google Business Profile should show consistent information (name, address, phone number). Embed your Google Map on the contact page.

Basic SEO

Proper title tags, meta descriptions, header structure, and local keywords. This doesn't need to be complicated — just the fundamentals done right.

What You Can Skip

Not everything is necessary. Here's what often wastes budget:

  • Excessive pages: If you're padding content to hit a page count, stop. Quality over quantity.
  • Complex animations: They slow down your site and rarely add value for local businesses.
  • Chat widgets: Unless you'll actually respond in real-time, they're just annoying.
  • Social media feeds: They slow your site and if your feeds aren't active, they make you look dead.
  • Automatic music/video: Please, no. Just no.
  • A blog you won't update: An empty or outdated blog looks worse than no blog at all.

The Minimum Viable Website

If budget is extremely tight, here's the absolute minimum that can still work:

  1. Single-page website with all essential info scrollable on one page
  2. Clear headline stating what you do and where
  3. List of services
  4. Contact information prominently displayed
  5. A few photos of your work or premises
  6. Mobile responsive design

This isn't ideal, but it's infinitely better than no website or a broken one. You can always expand later.

What Matters Most

At the end of the day, your website has one job: convert visitors into customers. Every element should serve that goal.

For most local businesses, that means making it easy to:

  • Understand what you offer
  • Trust that you're legitimate and good at what you do
  • Contact you or book an appointment

Everything else is secondary. Get these right, and you'll have a website that actually grows your business.