How to create a website for your business (that brings in customers)

1. Decide what your website has to achieve

Before choosing colors, answer one question: when someone lands on it, what do you want them to do? The answer is usually one of these four, and it is worth keeping just one as the main one.

• Book an appointment — hair salons, physical therapy, beauty, practices, classes.
• Request a quote — renovations, wedding photography, custom work.
• Buy — product shop, packages, gift cards, downloads.
• Call or message — emergencies: locksmith, plumber, towing.

That action rules. Its button sits at the top, repeats down the page and is the only one in a color that stands out. A site with five equally important buttons has none.

2. The four ways to build it

Each one suits someone. The real difference does not show on day one, but in month seven, when you need to change a price or add a service.

The first three give you a website; booking, payments and a client list are added with other tools that you connect yourself. If you already have one and are thinking of switching, we explain what moving from Wix, WordPress or Squarespace looks like.

3. The domain: your address

The domain is what comes after "www". It costs little per year and it is the only part of your online presence that is entirely yours, so register it in your own name, never in the designer's or agency's.

• Short and easy to say. If you have to spell it out on the phone, it is a bad one.
• No hyphens or numbers unless they are part of the name.
• .com or your country's domain. A .com works everywhere; in the EU a country domain such as .ie or .de signals that you are local.
• Business name before keywords. "romeroclinic.com" ages better than "cheap-physio-boston.com".

If you do not have a name yet, the business name generator gives ideas by trade (in Spanish). And you can start on a free subdomain while you check the business works: your own domain connects later without rebuilding anything.

4. Which sections it needs, and in what order

A local business website that converts nearly always has the same structure, because it answers visitors' questions in the order they ask them:

1. Header with headline and button. What you do, for whom, where. And the main action visible without scrolling.
2. Services with prices. Or at least "from". Hiding the price does not create calls: it creates visitors who leave.
3. Proof that you are good. Real reviews, photos of your work, years of experience, qualifications.
4. Who you are. A photo of you and three lines. People book with people, not logos.
5. Booking or contact. The calendar, form or shop, without leaving the page.
6. Where and when. Address, map, hours and the area you cover.
7. FAQs. The five questions you always get by message. They save you messages and help on Google.

One well-ordered page sells more than ten half-filled ones. Add separate pages only when you have content for them: a blog you keep up, a shop with a catalog, very different services.

5. Copy that gets you chosen

Words matter more than design. A visitor takes seconds to decide whether they are in the right place, and decides by reading the headline.

• Talk about their problem, not your résumé. "Run again without pain" before "advanced manual techniques".
• Be specific. Numbers, timelines, neighborhoods, service names. Generic copy is not believed.
• Short sentences. Websites are skimmed, on a phone.
• Write the way you talk to a client. If you would not say it in person, cut it.

6. Photos: your own, even from a phone

Stock photos will do to start, but a real photo of your space, your work or you builds more trust than the best catalog image. Three tips are enough: daylight from a window, a tidy background and the phone held sideways for the header.

If you show photos of clients —a before and after, a session, a class— you need their permission. Get it in writing, even by message, and keep it.

7. Fast and built for phones

Most visits to a local business come from a phone, often on a weak signal and in a hurry. Check yours on your phone, on mobile data rather than Wi-Fi:

• Can you see the headline and main button without scrolling?
• Can you book or buy from start to finish with one hand?
• Can you tap the phone number to call?
• Does something useful appear in under three seconds?

What slows a site down most are huge images and videos that autoplay. If your platform does not optimize them for you, shrink them before uploading.

8. What the law requires

As soon as a website represents a business, there are rules. They differ between the two markets, so check the side that applies to you.

In the US:

• Privacy policy: required by several state laws (California's, for example) whenever you collect personal information, and expected by payment and ad platforms.
• Accessibility: businesses open to the public are regularly sued over websites people with disabilities cannot use. Readable contrast, alt text and keyboard navigation are the basics.
• Email marketing: CAN-SPAM rules, with a working unsubscribe link and your physical address in every commercial email.

In the EU (for example, Ireland):

• Business details: name, address, contact and registration numbers, easy to find from every page. In some countries, such as Germany, this legal notice is strictly required.
• Privacy notice under the GDPR: what data you collect, why, for how long and how people exercise their rights. Forms must link to it.
• Cookie consent: anything not strictly necessary, such as third-party analytics or advertising, only loads after consent, and rejecting must be as easy as accepting.

In both markets, if you sell online you need clear terms, the total price and your refund or withdrawal rules. We cover it in how to sell online. Copying legal pages from another site is a bad idea: they describe someone else's business. Generate yours from your real details, and have them reviewed if you handle sensitive data such as health information.

9. Getting found on Google

For a local business, showing up on Google depends less on technical tricks than on consistency. What weighs most:

1. A Google Business Profile, complete and verified, with the right category, hours, photos and a link to your site.
2. The same details everywhere. Name, address and phone written exactly the same on your site, your profile and any directory.
3. Service and place in the copy, naturally: in the headline, the services and the footer.
4. Recent reviews. Asking for them systematically is the most profitable search work there is.
5. A fast site that works well on phones. Google measures it.

Rankings take weeks or months to move, and nobody can guarantee a position. Be wary of anyone who promises one.

10. Checklist before you publish

• The headline says what you do, for whom and where.
• The main button works and leads to booking, buying or contact.
• You have made a test booking or purchase from start to finish.
• Prices and hours are today's.
• Phone and address match your Google profile.
• You have opened it on your phone and on someone else's.
• Privacy policy and, in the EU, legal notice and cookie settings are published and linked in the footer.
• Someone who does not know your business has read it and understood what you sell in ten seconds.