A small business homepage does about seven things in a fairly predictable order: says what you do and where, offers a way to act, routes people to the right service, proves you are real, shows the work, answers the obvious question, and repeats the way to act. The two most often missing are the service area and any sense of price.

What a homepage is for

Not to describe your company. To get someone to the right place quickly, or to let them act immediately if they already know what they need.

Most visitors arriving on a homepage fall into two groups. Some know exactly what they want and are looking for the number. Others have a problem and need pointing at the right service. A homepage that serves both is doing its job; one that serves neither is usually trying to be a brochure cover.

The sections, in order

1. What you do, where, in one line

The first thing on the page, in plain words a customer would use. Not a slogan. "Residential electricians serving Langley and the Fraser Valley" tells a visitor in two seconds whether they are in the right place, which is the only job this line has.

2. A way to act, immediately

A tappable phone number and a primary button, visible without scrolling. Some visitors are ready on arrival and making them scroll to find the number loses a portion of them.

3. The services, as routes

Three to six, each linking to its own page. This is the routing function and it is the main structural job the homepage does. Names should be what customers call the work, not internal terminology.

4. Why you, in specifics

Years established, licensing, insurance, guarantees, response times. Concrete and checkable. Every competitor claims quality and reliability, so those words carry no information; a licence number and a stated response window do.

5. Evidence

Photographs of real work and two or three reviews quoted with a first name and a place. This is the section that persuades, and it is the one most often replaced with stock imagery, which achieves the opposite.

6. The obvious question, answered

Usually money, occasionally timing. A short section naming what affects price, or giving a typical range, answers what almost everyone is wondering and almost nobody publishes. This is where a small business can differentiate at no cost.

7. The way to act, again

At the bottom, because someone who read the whole page is the most qualified visitor you have and should not need to scroll back up.

The two that are usually missing

The service area, in writing. Named places, in the body of the page rather than only in the footer. It is one of the two questions every visitor has and it is absent from a remarkable number of sites, which means those visitors leave to find someone who answered it.

Any sense of price. Not necessarily a figure. Naming the variables is enough to stop someone assuming you are expensive or evasive, and it is a differentiator precisely because most competitors avoid it.

What does not need to be there

Order matters more than length

A long homepage is not a problem. People scroll comfortably, provided each section gives them a reason to continue.

What loses them is the wrong order: company history before services, a large image with no text explaining what the business does, or the phone number appearing only at the bottom. Those are sequencing faults rather than length faults, and fixing the order costs nothing while cutting content costs you the material that persuades.

The test

Show your homepage to someone who does not know your business, on a phone, for ten seconds. Then take it away and ask what you do and where.

If they can answer both, the top of the page is working. If they cannot, no amount of content further down will compensate, because most visitors never get there.

Frequently asked questions

What should be at the top of a homepage?

What you do and where, in one plain line, plus a tappable phone number and a primary button. A visitor should be able to tell in two seconds whether they are in the right place.

How long should a homepage be?

Long enough to do its seven jobs. People scroll comfortably when each section gives a reason to continue, so the common problem is the order of sections rather than the total length.

What is most often missing from a small business homepage?

The service area written into the page rather than hidden in the footer, and any indication of price. Both are questions almost every visitor has and most competitors leave unanswered.

Should my homepage have a slider?

Rarely. Visitors seldom wait for the second slide, it slows the page, and it usually replaces one clear message with three that nobody reads.

Where should the phone number go?

Visible without scrolling and repeated at the bottom, as a tappable link on every page. Some visitors are ready on arrival and making them hunt for it loses a portion of them.

How do I know if my homepage works?

Show it to someone unfamiliar, on a phone, for ten seconds. Take it away and ask what you do and where. If they cannot answer both, content further down will not compensate.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

Homepage doing everything except getting people to the right place?

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