Most small business homepages make the same mistakes: they bury the important information, lead with a vague tagline, or try to say everything at once. A homepage has one job — get the right person to take the next step. Here’s what needs to be on it.
1. What you do, immediately
Within three seconds of landing on your page, a visitor should know what you do and who it’s for. Not a clever slogan. Not a mission statement. What you actually do.
“Nelson plumber — same-day call-outs across Nelson, Tasman, and Richmond” is more useful than “Quality service you can trust.” One tells you something. The other tells you nothing.
This is your headline. Get it right before you do anything else.
2. How to contact you
Your phone number should be visible without scrolling — ideally in the top-right corner of every page. On mobile, it should be a tap-to-call link.
This sounds obvious. A surprising number of small business sites make you hunt for a contact number, or bury it on a separate contact page. Don’t make people work for it. If they’re ready to call, let them call.
3. What you offer
A short list of your main services — not an exhaustive menu, just the headlines. Four to six items is enough. Each one should be a phrase your customers would actually use, not internal jargon.
“Bathroom renovations, kitchen plumbing, hot water cylinders, blocked drains” is more useful than “Residential and commercial plumbing solutions.”
4. Why you
This is the section most small businesses either skip or write poorly. You don’t need a lot — two or three sentences about who you are, how long you’ve been doing it, and what makes you worth calling over the next person on the list.
Local specifics help. “We’ve been building in the Nelson region for twelve years” means more than “experienced professionals.” People hire people they feel they can trust. A bit of personality goes a long way.
5. Evidence
Social proof — reviews, photos, past work — matters more than almost anything else you can put on your homepage. People want to see that other people have hired you and been happy about it.
This doesn’t need to be elaborate:
- Three to five real Google reviews, quoted on the page
- A handful of photos of your work (before/after where relevant)
- Logos of recognisable clients or projects, if you have them
If you have a Google Business Profile with reviews, pull the best ones onto your site. Don’t rely on people clicking through to Google to find them.
6. A clear next step
Every homepage needs a call to action — something you want the visitor to do next. For most small businesses this is simple: call us, or fill in a contact form.
Make it obvious. A button that says “Get a free quote” or “Call us today” in a colour that stands out from the rest of the page. Don’t leave people wondering what to do next.
What to leave off
- A paragraph about your company history that no one asked for
- Stock photos of people shaking hands or staring at laptops
- An auto-playing video
- A live Instagram feed (it pulls focus and often looks messy)
- Jargon, buzzwords, or anything that sounds like it was written for a corporate annual report
Simplicity is underrated. A homepage that does six things well will outperform one that tries to do fifteen things adequately.
A useful test
When you think your homepage is done, ask someone who doesn’t know your business to look at it for ten seconds and then tell you: what does this business do, and how would you contact them? If they can answer both questions easily, you’re in good shape.
Virgola designs and builds small business websites across Nelson, Tasman, and Marlborough. If you’d like a fresh set of eyes on your current site — or you’re starting from scratch — get in touch.