The 6 pages every small business website needs (and 4 you can skip)

Ask ten web designers what pages your site needs and you'll get ten different sitemaps — usually padded, because more pages sounds like more value. In reality, most small businesses need six pages done properly. Here they are, what each one must do, and the pages you're routinely sold that you can skip.

1. Homepage — the router

Its job isn't to say everything; it's to let every visitor confirm they're in the right place within seconds and route themselves onward. That means: a headline that says what you do and for whom, immediate proof you're real (reviews, work, credentials), your core services clearly linked, and one obvious action — call, quote, book. We've broken down the exact structure in what to write on your website.

2. A page per core service

The most commercially important pages on the entire site — and the most commonly missing. Each main service gets its own page: what's included, who it's for, how the process works, indicative pricing if you can, the questions customers always ask, and a clear next step. These are the pages that rank for "your service + your town", which is where buying-intent traffic lives.

3. About — the trust page

Visitors click About for one reason: can I trust these people? Answer with faces, names, your story in two paragraphs, qualifications and memberships, and photos of real humans doing real work. It's consistently one of the most visited pages on small business sites — treat it accordingly.

4. Contact — remove every ounce of friction

Phone number that's tappable on mobile, email, a short form (name, contact, message — not eleven fields), your address and map if customers visit, opening hours, and what happens next ("we reply within one working day"). Every extra hoop costs you enquiries.

5. Proof — reviews, work, case studies

One page that gathers your evidence: reviews, photos of completed work, before/afters, named case studies if clients agree. Format matters less than specificity — "Rewired a 4-bed Victorian terrace in Moseley, completed in 5 days" persuades more than a wall of anonymous five-star quotes.

6. The legal set

Privacy policy as a minimum if you collect any personal data (a UK GDPR requirement), plus terms and a cookie notice where relevant. Unglamorous, expected, and quietly reassuring to commercial clients who check.

Pages you can usually skip

• A blog you won't maintain. A "News" page whose last post is from 2023 actively signals neglect. Add articles when you'll genuinely sustain them — they help local SEO — not before.
• A generic FAQ page. FAQs work best on the service pages where the questions arise, not exiled to a page nobody visits.
• "Our Mission / Vision / Values." Customers don't care about your mission statement; they care whether you turn up. Fold anything real into About.
• A gallery dump. Two hundred unlabelled thumbnails persuade nobody. Curate fifteen strong images with captions into your proof page instead.

The test for any page

Would a real prospective customer need this to decide? If yes, build it properly. If no, its content belongs on another page or nowhere. Six strong pages beat sixteen weak ones on every measure that matters: clarity, rankings, maintenance and cost.