What a local business website needs
A local business website doesn't need to be big: it needs nine things, and one well-built screen closes more than twenty badly ordered pages. That page's job is getting the visitor to pick up the phone, so anything that doesn't help with that is in the way. What follows is in order of importance, not order of appearance.
Updated 2026-08-16
The nine that matter
1. What you do and where, in the first line
Before the logo, before the tagline. "24-hour plumbing in Hialeah and Miami Lakes" answers both questions someone arriving from Google has.
2. The phone at the top, as a link
Visible without scrolling, and dialing on tap. In the footer, half of them never see it.
3. Your cities, written out
With the names people actually use. It tells the visitor you come to them and it helps you show up in that city's searches.
4. Photos of your own work
Ten or twenty, compressed. No stock: it shows, and it signals you have no work to show. Before and after when the trade allows it.
5. A price reference
A range or a "starting at." With no reference the visitor assumes expensive and leaves, and you get inquiries from people who can't pay you.
6. Reviews or testimonials with names
Three real ones with a name and a date weigh more than any sentence about years of experience.
7. What's included in what you sell
As a list, short. What you do and what you don't. It prevents half the calls that go nowhere.
8. A contact method that isn't only the phone
A short form or WhatsApp. In Miami plenty of people message and never call, especially after hours.
9. Loading fast on phone data
Under three seconds. What almost always weighs is uncompressed photos.
What doesn't belong
**The "About Us" page with the company history.** Almost nobody opens it. One line about who you are, with your photo, does the whole job.
**The eight-section menu.** On a local business site every click loses people. Almost everything fits on one long screen.
**The auto-rotating carousel.** Nobody waits for the second image, and it slows the page down.
**The abandoned blog.** A post from three years ago says you're not working anymore. Better none than a dead one.
**Generic badges and seals.** A "100% guaranteed" badge with nothing behind it convinces nobody. A real license and insurance do.
**Music and intro animations.** They close the tab.
The order that works on a phone
- What you do and where, with the phone next to it.
- Three quick proofs: years, jobs, warranty, whatever you have.
- Photos of work.
- What's included and starting price.
- Reviews.
- FAQ.
- Phone again, at the end.
Most visitors only ever see the first two blocks. That's why everything important has to be there.
How many pages
For a single-trade business, one is enough.
It's worth splitting when services get searched differently: a roofer can have one page for repair and another for replacement, because those are different searches and different customers. There each page competes for its own search.
What doesn't help is splitting the same information across five pages to look bigger.
doubts
What people usually ask
Do I need a blog?
Only if you'll write. A live blog brings new searches; a dead one costs credibility. If you won't post monthly, skip it.
Form or phone?
Both. Some people never call and some never write. Phone at the top, short form at the bottom: name, phone, what they need.
Does it need to be in two languages?
In Miami, almost always yes. Your customer searches in the language they think in, and having both versions doubles the searches you can appear for.
What if my business doesn't have pretty photos?
Almost every trade has a before and after, even if it's a cleared drain or a cut yard. An ugly real photo convinces more than a pretty catalog one.
What should it cost?
It depends on how many pages and what functions. [Here's the full breakdown](/guides/how-much-does-a-website-cost), with what each type of provider charges.