There's a lot of noise about what a small business website "should" have. Animations, chatbots, fancy galleries, pop-ups, AI assistants, integrated booking systems. Most of it doesn't matter — at least not until you've got the basics right. Here's what actually does.

What you need: #

  • Clear headline: Within 5 seconds, someone should know what you do and who you help. Not clever wordplay — clear, plain language. If your homepage says "Empowering synergies for transformative outcomes," you've already lost people. Say what you do in words your customers would use.
  • Simple navigation: Home, About, Services, Contact. Maybe a blog or portfolio if it's relevant to your business. That's usually enough. Every extra menu item adds cognitive load. If people can't find what they're looking for in two clicks, they'll leave.
  • One clear call to action: What do you want visitors to do? Call you? Book a consultation? Request a quote? Pick one primary action and make it obvious — in your header, on your homepage, repeated where it makes sense. Don't make people guess.
  • Contact information that's easy to find: Phone number, email address, maybe a simple form. Don't bury it three clicks deep. Don't make people scroll to the footer. If someone wants to get in touch, make it effortless.
  • Mobile-friendly design: More than half your visitors are on phones. If your site is hard to read, slow to load, or has buttons too small to tap, they're gone. Test it yourself on your own phone — not just once, but regularly.

What you probably don't need: #

  • Sliders and carousels (studies show people don't click them — they're visual clutter)
  • Chatbots (unless you're actually going to monitor them and they add value)
  • Fancy animations (they slow things down, distract from your message, and often break on mobile)
  • A blog you won't update (an empty or stale blog looks worse than no blog at all)

On the blog question: This one's nuanced. You don't need a blog, but you do need some way to keep your site fresh and give people a reason to return or find you through search.

If you're going to have a blog, decide upfront: What's your publishing frequency — weekly, fortnightly, monthly? What topics will you cover? What structure will posts follow?

Then create a realistic plan you'll actually stick to. A blog with four solid posts per year is better than one with a burst of activity followed by two years of nothing.

If you can't commit to that, skip the blog and put that energy into making your core pages excellent.

Make your message clear: A simple site that's clear, fast, and answers the basic questions will outperform a fancy one that confuses people. Get the foundations right first. Make sure a stranger could land on your homepage and within 10 seconds know what you do, who you help, and how to take the next step. Worry about the extras later — or not at all.