What pages should a small business website have? It’s one of the first questions service providers ask when building or redesigning their site. And the answers they find online range from “just one page with everything above the fold” to “you need 14 pages minimum plus a blog, podcast section, and three different ways to book a call.”

Neither extreme is helpful. The truth is that the number of pages on your website matters far less than whether those pages actually do their job. And their job is simple: build trust, answer questions, and move people toward contacting you.

Research from Stanford’s Web Credibility study found that 46.1% of consumers assess a website’s credibility based on its overall visual design. That judgment happens fast, and it includes not just how your site looks but how it’s organized and whether visitors can find what they need. A cluttered website with pages that serve no clear purpose creates confusion. A sparse website missing essential information creates doubt. Neither converts.

This blog gives you a straightforward checklist for deciding what pages a small business website needs based on what actually drives trust and inquiries. No fluff. No arbitrary page counts. Just a practical sitemap that works for service-based businesses.

How to Know If a Page Belongs on Your Website

Before getting into the specific pages, let’s establish what makes a website page worth having. Every page on your site should do at least one of these three things: build credibility, answer a question your potential client has, or move them closer to reaching out. If a page doesn’t accomplish any of these, it’s taking up space and potentially diluting the pages that do matter.

Service businesses have an advantage here. Unlike e-commerce sites that might need hundreds of product pages, you can build an effective small business website with relatively few pages as long as each one pulls its weight.

What Pages Should a Small Business Website Have? The Non-Negotiables

When figuring out what pages a small business website should have, start here. These are the essentials. If your website is missing any of them, you’re leaving trust and conversions on the table.

Homepage

Your homepage is doing more work than any other page on your site. Nielsen Norman Group recommends treating it like an elevator pitch, quickly and clearly communicating what you do and what visitors can accomplish on your site. They are not there to admire your hero image. They want to know immediately what you do, who you do it for, and why they should keep scrolling. 

A strong homepage includes a clear headline that communicates your value proposition, a brief overview of your services, some form of social proof (testimonials, client logos, or results), and an obvious path to learn more or get in touch. Think of it as a map, not a brochure. Your homepage should orient visitors and point them toward the information they need, not try to tell them everything at once.

About Page

This page matters more than most business owners realize. In a B2B Web Usability Report, 16% of people said About or Company information is the first section they look at, and 52% said they want About or Company information available from the homepage. That makes sense because trust is a deciding factor. Edelman reports that 81% of consumers take trust into account when making a purchase decision.

Your About page isn’t really about you. It’s about building the trust and connection that makes someone feel confident hiring you. Yes, include your background and qualifications. But frame everything through the lens of how your experience benefits your clients. What problems have you solved? What perspective do you bring? Why did you start this business in the first place?

Services Page(s)

Your potential clients need to understand exactly what you offer and whether it’s right for them. This might be a single services overview page or individual pages for each service you provide. The right approach depends on the complexity of your offerings.

For service businesses with two to four distinct offerings, individual service pages often work better. Each page can go deeper into what’s included, who it’s for, and what results clients can expect. This structure also helps with search visibility since you can optimize each page for specific terms people might be searching.

If you have a single signature service or a simple offering, one comprehensive services page might be enough. The key is providing sufficient detail for someone to understand what working with you actually looks like.

Contact Page

This one seems obvious, but 44% of website visitors will leave a site that doesn’t display contact information clearly. Your contact page should make reaching out as simple as possible.

Include a contact form that asks only for essential information. The more fields you require, the fewer people will complete it. Add your email address and phone number for those who prefer direct contact. If you have a physical location or serve a specific geographic area, include that information too.

Consider adding a brief note about what happens after someone reaches out. How quickly will you respond? What’s the next step? This reduces uncertainty and makes people more likely to actually hit send.

High-Value Pages Worth Adding

Once you have the essentials covered, these pages can significantly strengthen your small business website’s ability to convert visitors into clients.

Testimonials or Case Studies

Social proof is one of the most powerful trust-building tools available. Pew Research Center found that 40% of Americans nearly always rely on online reviews when making purchasing decisions. When you make it easy for people to see real experiences from real clients, you reduce the hesitation that keeps them from taking the next step.

A dedicated testimonials page gives you space to showcase client feedback in detail. Even better, case studies that walk through specific client transformations demonstrate your expertise while helping potential clients envision their own results. If you’re just starting out and don’t have many testimonials yet, prioritize collecting them. Even two or three strong testimonials make a difference.

FAQ Page

An FAQ page does double duty. It answers the questions that might be holding potential clients back from reaching out, and it reduces the time you spend answering the same questions repeatedly.

Think about what people ask during discovery calls or initial consultations. What concerns do they raise? What do they want to know about your process, timeline, or pricing? Those questions belong on your FAQ page. This isn’t about being evasive. It’s about respecting your visitors’ time and giving them the information they need to make a decision.

Portfolio or Work Samples

For service businesses where the work is visual (design, photography, creative services), a portfolio page is essential. For other service providers, this might take the form of case studies, project summaries, or examples of deliverables.

The goal is showing, not just telling. Potential clients want evidence that you can do what you say you can do. A portfolio provides that evidence in a way that written descriptions alone cannot.

Nice-to-Have Pages (Depending on Your Stage)

These pages can add value but aren’t essential for every small business website. Consider your specific situation before adding them.

Blog

A blog can be excellent for attracting organic traffic, demonstrating expertise, and giving potential clients a sense of your perspective. But it only works if you actually maintain it. An abandoned blog with posts from two years ago does more harm than good.

If you’re committed to creating consistent content, a blog is worth the investment. If you’re not, skip it for now and focus on strengthening your core pages.

Pricing Page

Whether to include pricing on your website is a genuine strategic decision, not a one-size-fits-all answer. Displaying pricing can qualify leads and save time by filtering out people who aren’t a good fit. But it can also oversimplify complex services or scare off clients who would have been willing to pay once they understood the value.

For standardized services with clear deliverables, a pricing page often makes sense. For custom or high-touch services, you might prefer to discuss pricing during a consultation. Either approach can work. The wrong choice is being vague or hiding pricing in a way that frustrates potential clients.

Process Page

A page that walks through how you work with clients can reduce anxiety and set expectations. This is particularly valuable for services that involve multiple phases or where the client experience is a significant part of your value proposition.

If your process is straightforward, you can incorporate this information into your services page instead of creating a separate page.

Common Website Bloat Mistakes to Avoid

Knowing what pages a small business website should have also means knowing what pages it shouldn’t. Website bloat happens when you add pages because you think you should have them rather than because they serve a clear purpose. Here are common culprits.

• Separate pages for every minor variation of your service. If you offer the same core service with slight modifications for different industries, you probably don’t need 15 different pages. One well-written services page that addresses various applications is usually more effective than a maze of nearly identical pages.
• A news or press page with nothing on it. If you haven’t been featured anywhere yet, don’t create an empty press page hoping to fill it later. It just highlights what’s missing.
• Resource pages that are really just link collections. Unless you’re curating genuinely valuable resources that your audience can’t easily find elsewhere, these pages add little value and can actually send people away from your site.
• Mission and vision pages separate from your About page. For most service businesses, your mission and values belong on your About page, not on their own page that visitors have to hunt for.

Structuring Pages for Natural Flow

The pages themselves matter, but so does how they connect. Your website should guide visitors through a logical journey that builds trust and leads toward action.

Every page should have a clear next step. Your homepage should point to your services. Your services pages should lead to testimonials or case studies. Your case studies should make it easy to get in touch. Think of your website as a conversation, not a filing cabinet.

Navigation should be simple and predictable. Nielsen Norman Group research shows users often leave web pages in 10 to 20 seconds, and the first 10 seconds are critical in the decision to stay or leave. A clean main navigation with your core pages, plus a footer with additional links, covers most needs. Avoid dropdown menus that hide important pages or creative navigation labels that confuse more than they clarify.

Calls to action should appear throughout your site, not just on your contact page. This doesn’t mean aggressive popups on every page. It means making it consistently easy for someone who’s ready to reach out to do so, regardless of which page they’re on.

Your Small Business Website Page Checklist by Stage

The right website structure depends partly on where you are in your business.

• Just starting out: Focus on the essentials. A strong homepage, clear about page, one solid services page, and a contact page will serve you well. Add testimonials as you collect them. Don’t worry about a blog or extensive case studies until you have the client experience to draw from.
• Established but growing: This is the time to build out individual service pages, add detailed case studies, and consider a blog if content marketing fits your strategy. An FAQ page becomes more valuable as you notice patterns in client questions.
• Mature business: You have the credibility and content to support a more robust site. Consider adding process pages, resource sections, or specialized landing pages for different audience segments. But resist the urge to add pages just because you can. More isn’t automatically better.

The Bottom Line

The question of what pages a small business website should have doesn’t have a one-size-fits-all answer. But the framework for deciding is consistent: every page should build trust, answer questions, or move visitors toward becoming clients.

Start with the essentials (homepage, about, services, and contact). Add testimonials and an FAQ page as you grow. Build from there based on what your specific audience needs, not based on what someone on the internet said you should have.

The best websites aren’t the biggest ones. They’re the ones where every page has a purpose and every element moves visitors toward working with you.

Building a website that actually converts requires more than just having the right pages. It requires strategic thinking about how those pages work together to tell your story and guide visitors toward working with you. If you’d like help creating a website structure that supports your business goals, I’d love to chat. Head over to my contact page to start the conversation.