The pages every business website needs at launch, what each one must contain, which pages to add later, and extra pages by business type, from local services to online stores.
Every business website needs six pages at launch: Home, About, Services or Products, Contact, Privacy Policy and a custom 404 page. Add Terms, an FAQ and a proof page (testimonials or case studies) soon after, then pages specific to your kind of business. What matters more than the count is that each page answers one question a visitor has.
Below is the full list, what each page must contain, and extras by business type.
| Page | The visitor's question | Priority |
|---|---|---|
| Home | Am I in the right place? | Launch |
| Services / Products | Do they do what I need? | Launch |
| About | Can I trust them? | Launch |
| Contact | How do I reach them? | Launch |
| Privacy Policy | What happens to my data? | Launch |
| 404 page | Where do I go now? | Launch |
| Terms | What are the rules? | Soon after |
| FAQ | Will they answer my worry? | Soon after |
| Testimonials / Case studies | Did it work for others? | Soon after |
| Blog or resources | Do they know their subject? | When you can keep it up |
The homepage has roughly one screen to tell a visitor what you do, for whom, and where. Must include:
Test it: show the page to someone for five seconds and ask what you sell. If they cannot say, rewrite the headline.
For a service business, the strongest structure is one overview page plus one page per main service. Each service page should cover:
Separate service pages also help search. A page titled "Roof repair in Denver" can rank for that search; a single "Services" page listing ten things usually ranks for none of them. For an online store, the equivalent is well-organised category pages and complete product pages with photos, price, delivery information and returns.
People read About pages to decide whether you are real and reliable. Include:
Skip the mission-statement filler. A photo of the actual team outperforms stock images of people shaking hands.
Make contacting you effortless:
Put your phone number and a contact link in the header or footer of every page, not only here. Our post on footer design examples shows how to fit this in cleanly.
If your site uses a contact form, analytics or an email signup, you are collecting personal data, and many privacy laws require you to say what you collect, why, how long you keep it and who you share it with. Link to the policy from the footer and near forms.
Terms (or Terms of Service) matter most if you sell online, take bookings or offer accounts: they cover payment, cancellations, refunds and liability. Generators and templates can give you a starting point, but they must match what you actually do. If in doubt, have a lawyer review them.
If you use non-essential cookies and have visitors from the EU or UK, you will usually also need a cookie consent banner.
People land on broken links more often than you think: old ads, typos, pages you renamed. A custom 404 page keeps them on the site with a short apology, a search box or links to your main pages, and your contact details.
FAQ. Collect the questions customers actually ask by phone and email. Answer them in full sentences. This page reduces repetitive enquiries and often appears in search for question-style queries.
Testimonials or case studies. Real names, specifics and results. "Replaced our boiler the same day we called" is worth more than "Great service!" A case study with the problem, what you did and the outcome is stronger still.
Blog or resources. Only start one if you can publish regularly. A blog with two posts from three years ago signals the business may be inactive.
| Business type | Add these pages |
|---|---|
| Local services (trades, cleaning, repair) | One page per service area or town you serve, Emergency or Same-day page, Reviews |
| Restaurants and cafes | Menu (as HTML text, not only a PDF), Reservations, Location and parking, Private events |
| Appointment businesses (salons, clinics, coaches) | Booking, Pricing, New client information, Cancellation policy |
| Online stores | Shipping, Returns and refunds, Size guides, Order tracking, Account |
| Professional services (accountants, lawyers, consultants) | Team profiles, Industries served, Case studies, Resources |
| Agencies and freelancers | Portfolio, Process, Pricing or packages |
| Nonprofits | Donate, Volunteer, Impact or annual report, Events |
For the search side of each page, use our on-page SEO checklist, and if you are still deciding scope, our website planning guide walks through it step by step.
If you want these pages drafted for you, We.Inc can generate a full business website, with home, services, about and contact pages, from a short chat description of your business. You then edit the text and images visually or in code and publish with hosting and SSL included. You can also browse templates to see common page layouts.
At launch: Home, About, Services or Products, Contact, Privacy Policy, and a custom 404 page. Most businesses should also add Terms, an FAQ, and testimonials or case studies soon after, plus pages specific to their type such as Booking, Menu, or Shipping and Returns.
Enough to answer what you do, who it is for, why to trust you and how to get in touch. For many small businesses that is five to ten pages at launch. Adding one page per main service usually helps more than adding general pages.
It can work for a very simple offer, an event, or a new business testing demand. The limit is search: one page can only target a small set of searches, so businesses with several services usually benefit from separate pages for each.
If you collect personal data, including through contact forms, analytics or email signups, privacy laws in many places (such as GDPR in the EU and UK and various US state laws) require you to explain what you collect and why. Requirements differ by location, so check the rules that apply to you or ask a lawyer.
How we research, test and update this page: our editorial policy. We.Inc is our own product.
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