The new business website checklist

Before you build: decide the basics

A new business often launches its website before the details are settled. That is fine, as long as the essentials are clear. Work through these first, because they affect everything else.

• Your business name and whether you trade as a sole trader, partnership or limited company. This affects what must appear on the site.
• What you sell, in one plain sentence. If you cannot say it simply, visitors will not understand it either.
• Who you sell to and the area you cover.
• How people should contact you: phone, email, form, booking, or all of them.
• Your budget for the first year, including the domain, website and email. Compare the full cost over two or three years, not just the first month.

Domain and email

• Check the domain name you want is available, and that the business name is not already used by someone in your trade nearby.
• Register the domain in your own name or your company's, never a designer's or friend's.
• Turn on auto-renew.
• Set up a business email address on the domain. See our guide to a business email address.
• Turn on two-step verification for the domain registrar and email accounts.

The pages you need at launch

You do not need a large site on day one. You need a few pages that answer the questions every customer asks.

Page	What it must do
Home	Say what you do, where, and how to get in touch, within the first screen on a phone
Services	One page per main service, or one clear page if you offer only a few
About	Who is behind the business and why customers can trust you
Contact	Phone, email, form, area covered and opening hours
Privacy notice	How you handle the personal data you collect

Add a prices page, a gallery or a frequently asked questions page if they suit your business. A sole trader may need nothing more than this; a simpler, one-page approach can work well at the start.

Content checklist

• Every page has a clear heading that says what it is about in the words customers use.
• Your phone number is real text that can be tapped to call on a mobile.
• Your area covered is written out, naming towns and districts.
• Photos are your own where possible. As a new business you may not have many jobs to show yet, so photos of you, your tools, your van or premises are honest and help.
• You have avoided claims you cannot back up, such as "the area's leading" or invented review counts.
• Spelling and grammar have been checked by someone other than you.

Write your wording for one specific customer. Picture a typical person who would hire you and answer the questions they would ask: can you do my job, do you cover my area, roughly what will it cost, when can you start, and why should I trust you? A page that answers those five questions will outperform one full of general statements.

Without reviews yet, trust comes from detail: insurance, qualifications, a clear process and a named person. Add reviews as soon as you have them.

Legal and admin details

The rules depend on how your business is set up. This is a general overview; check gov.uk or an adviser for your situation.

• Limited companies must show certain company details on their website, including the registered name and number and registered office address. The requirements are listed on gov.uk.
• Sole traders trading under a business name have their own disclosure rules about showing the owner's name and an address for documents. Check gov.uk.
• VAT registered businesses should show their VAT number where required and make clear whether prices include VAT.
• Data protection. If you collect personal data through a contact form, you need a privacy notice. Many businesses that process personal data must also pay a data protection fee to the ICO; check whether it applies to you on ico.org.uk.
• Cookies. If you use analytics or advertising cookies, you need to tell visitors and, for non-essential cookies, get consent. See our guide to cookies and UK GDPR.
• Terms. If you take bookings or payments online, set out your terms clearly before people commit.

Before you press publish

1. Open every page on your phone and on a computer.
2. Send a test enquiry through the contact form and check it reaches you.
3. Tap the phone number and email links to make sure they work.
4. Check the padlock shows in the browser address bar.
5. Ask a friend who does not know the business to find your prices and your phone number. Watch where they get stuck.

After launch: the first month

• Set up your Google Business Profile so you appear on Google Maps and local results. Our Google Business Profile guide walks through it.
• Add your website address to your social media profiles, email signature, invoices, quotes and van.
• List the business in a few relevant directories and trade bodies, linking back to your site.
• Ask your first happy customers for a review.
• Add photos of your first jobs as they happen.
• Note which questions customers ask by phone and answer them on the site.
• Check where your enquiries come from. Ask every new customer how they found you and keep a simple tally, so you know whether the website, Google Maps or word of mouth is doing the work.

A new business does not need to spend weeks on its first website. Site Shifter asks six questions about your business and builds a complete site with pages, wording and photographs that you then put into your own words, so many people publish the same day. You can add pages as the business grows, and the pricing page explains what is included.

Frequently asked