Here is the short list worth spending money on, and the long list you can safely ignore.
The short list
1. Say what you do on the first screen
Within a few seconds, a visitor should know what you do, who it’s for and where you work. “Bespoke steel and timber furniture, made near Bath” beats “Crafting tomorrow, today”. Put it in the headline, not three scrolls down.
2. Make it work properly on a phone
Many local customers will find you on a phone, often straight from a Google search or a social post. Don’t trust a desktop preview: pick up your own phone and check you can read the page without zooming, tap the number to call, and fill in the form with your thumb.
3. One obvious next step
Decide what you want a visitor to do — call, ask for a quote, book a visit — and make that one action easy to find on every page. Several competing buttons usually means none of them gets pressed.
4. Contact details that actually work
It sounds obvious, but it is one of the most common problems we find: forms that go nowhere, or land in an inbox nobody checks. Send yourself a test enquiry every few months, and make sure someone is notified the moment a real one arrives.
5. Proof that you’re good at this
Photographs of real work, a few genuine reviews in your customers’ own words, and the places or clients you have worked with. Real beats polished. Stock photos of smiling handshakes do the opposite of what you want.
6. The basics Google needs
You don’t need an “SEO package” to start. You do need a clear title and description for each page, sensible headings, images that load quickly, and your business name, area and contact details written the same way everywhere. Pair the site with a Google Business Profile, which is often the first thing people see when they search for a local business.
7. Something you can keep up to date
Old prices, wrong opening hours or a “latest news” post from three years ago quietly undermine trust. Choose a set-up where everyday changes are easy to make, or where someone looks after them for you.
8. The legal minimums
A privacy policy that reflects what you actually collect. If you use analytics or advertising cookies, you also need a proper consent banner. If you don’t use them, you don’t need the banner — which is one more reason to keep things simple.
The long list you can safely ignore
- Sliders and carousels. Visitors rarely wait for slide three. One strong image and a clear headline do more.
- A blog you won’t keep up. An abandoned news page looks worse than none. Write when you have something useful to say.
- Dozens of thin pages. Five clear pages beat twenty half-empty ones.
- Every social platform. Link to the one or two you actually use.
- Animation for its own sake. Movement should help someone understand, not make them wait.
- Promises of “page one of Google”. Nobody can guarantee rankings. Be wary of anyone who does.
A test you can do today
Open your website on your phone, pretend you’ve never heard of your business, and try three things: work out what you do, find a reason to trust you, and get in touch. If any of those takes more than a few seconds, that’s where to start.