What to put on your small business home page

Your small business home page has one job: help a stranger decide, quickly, whether to contact you. That means saying what you do and where, showing how to reach you, giving some proof that you are good at it, and pointing to one next step. Everything on the page should serve one of those. If a section does not, it can live somewhere else or go.

The first screen: what people see before scrolling

On a phone, the first screen is small, and many visitors decide in it whether to stay. It should hold four things:

A headline that says what you do and where. "Dog grooming in West Asheville" or "Bookkeeping for contractors in the Twin Cities". Not "Welcome" and not your slogan.
One supporting line that gives a reason to choose you: "Walk-ins welcome six days a week" or "Same-week appointments, fixed monthly fees".
Your main action, as a button: "Call 555-0136", "Book a groom", "Get a quote".
A real photo of your work, your place or you.

Your logo and menu sit above all this, small. They do not need to be big; people know whose site they are on.

For help with the headline itself, see how to write a website headline that says what you do.

What you offer

Below the first screen, show your main services or products. Keep it scannable:

Three to six items, each with a short name, one sentence and, if you have one, a photo.
Each item links to its own page with the details.
Use the words customers use. A salon's visitors look for "balayage" and "men's cuts", not "color solutions".
Put the most requested service first.

If you offer many things, group them here and keep the full list for a services page. A home page that lists forty services helps nobody find the one they came for.

Where you work, or where you are

Customers need to know right away whether you are an option for them.

If customers come to you: your town or neighborhood, the street address as a link to maps, and a line about parking if it is tricky.
If you go to customers: the towns or area you cover, in a short sentence, with a link to a fuller service area page.
If you work online or by phone, say so, and say which states or regions you serve if that matters for your trade.

Do not save this for the footer. It is part of the decision.

Proof that you are good

People hesitate before calling a business they do not know. The home page should give them reasons to trust you, from what you can show honestly:

Two or three short reviews, with the customer's first name and town, and a link to read more on Google.
Photos of real work, a few on the home page, more on a gallery page.
Credentials that matter in your trade: license, insurance, certifications, association membership. Our guide on showing licenses, insurance and certifications covers which ones customers care about.
How long you have been at it, if you can back it up.
You. A small photo and a line or two about who runs the business, with a link to the About page.

If you are new and have little proof yet, that is fine; show your work, explain your process and say plainly who you are.

How you work

A short section explaining what happens when someone contacts you takes the fear out of the first call. Three or four steps are enough:

Call or send a message.
We reply the same day and set up a visit or a time.
You get a written quote before any work starts.
We do the job and clean up.

Adapt it to your trade. A dentist's steps are different from a caterer's, but every customer wants to know what to expect.

One clear next step, repeated

Decide what you most want visitors to do: call, book, request a quote, visit. Then:

Use that as the main button on the first screen.
Repeat it at the end of the page, after the proof, when people are ready.
Keep the wording consistent. If the top says "Get a quote", the bottom should too.

You can offer a second choice, like "or send us a message", but avoid five competing buttons. Our guide on calls to action has examples by trade.

What to leave off the home page

Long history. Your story belongs on the About page; a line on the home page is enough.
Every service in detail. Link to the service pages instead.
Old news. A "latest news" box with a post from three years ago makes the business look closed.
A rotating slider. Most people see only the first slide.
Social media feeds that pull in your latest posts. They are slow and often show something irrelevant.
Pop-ups that cover the page on arrival.

The bottom of the page

The footer, at the very bottom of every page, is where people look for details:

Business name, phone number, email and address or area.
Hours.
Links to the main pages and your Google reviews.
Your license number, if your trade requires one.

Check it on a phone

Once the page is drafted, open it on your own phone and try:

Can you tell what the business does from the first screen?
Does the phone button dial?
Is any text too small to read?
How long does it take to load on cellular data?

Fix whatever fails. A home page that looks great on a computer and clumsy on a phone is failing most of its visitors.

What to do this week

Write your headline: what you do, and where.
List your three to six main services in the order customers ask for them.
Pick two short reviews and get permission to use them with a name and town.
Choose the one action you most want visitors to take.
Pick the best real photo you have for the top.

If you have a site already and want to see its home page rebuilt around these pieces, you can see your site rebuilt first and compare it with the one you have.