What should a business website contain? A complete, honest checklist
By Dominic Binotubo · · 6 min read
Most visitors decide within seconds whether to stay on your website or leave. They're asking three silent questions: What is this? Is it for me? Can I trust them? Everything on your website should help answer those questions quickly. Here's what to include, why, and what to leave out.
Part 1: The top of your homepage (the most important space you have)
The part of the page people see before scrolling decides whether they scroll at all. It should include:
- A clear headline that says what you do. "Bespoke suits and native wear, made to measure in Lagos" beats "Welcome to Excellence". If a stranger can't tell what you sell in five seconds, rewrite it.
- Who it's for or where you work. "For busy professionals", "Delivering across Abuja", "Serving clients worldwide".
- One main button. The single most important action, such as "Chat on WhatsApp", "Book a fitting" or "Shop now". One clear choice works better than five competing ones.
- A real photo or video. Your products, your space, your team or your work. Not a generic stock photo.
Part 2: The pages most business websites need
Home
A short summary of everything: what you do, your main services, proof that you're good, and how to get in touch. Think of it as the shop window.
Services or products
Explain each service clearly: what it is, who it's for, what's included, how long it takes and the price or starting price. If you offer several distinct services, give each one its own page. That helps customers find exactly what they want, and it helps Google show the right page for the right search.
Pricing (yes, really)
Many businesses hide their prices, hoping people will get in touch to ask. Some will. Many just leave and buy from someone who shows prices. You don't need a full price list. "From ₦X" or a few example packages is enough to tell people whether you're in their budget. It also filters out people who were never going to buy, so you spend less time on dead-end conversations.
About
People buy from people. Share who's behind the business, why you started, how long you've been doing it and what you care about. Include a real photo of you or your team. This matters even more for online businesses, where customers can't visit you.
Work, gallery or portfolio
Show real examples: finished jobs, happy customers, before and after photos. For service businesses, a short story about each project (the problem, what you did, the result) is far more convincing than photos alone.
Reviews and testimonials
Customers trust other customers more than they trust you. A 2026 Clutch survey found 96% of consumers check reviews before buying a product or service for the first time. Use real reviews with names (and photos, with permission). Link to your Google reviews too. Never fake reviews: people can tell, and it destroys trust when they find out.
FAQ (frequently asked questions)
Write down the questions customers ask you on WhatsApp every week: delivery, payment, timelines, refunds, sizes, what's included. Answer them on your site. It saves you time, removes doubts, and these answers often show up in Google searches.
Contact
Make it effortless to reach you:
- A WhatsApp button that opens a chat with a ready-written message.
- Phone number (tap to call on mobile).
- Email address, ideally on your own domain (you@yourbusiness.com rather than a Gmail address).
- Your address and a map, if customers visit you.
- Opening hours and how quickly you reply.
- A simple contact form, kept short. Every extra box you ask people to fill in makes fewer of them finish.
Legal pages
A privacy policy (what information you collect and what you do with it) is expected, and required by data protection laws like Nigeria's Data Protection Act and Europe's GDPR if you collect personal details. If you sell online, add terms and conditions and a refund or returns policy.
Part 3: Things that build trust (often forgotten)
- Up-to-date information. Old prices, discontinued products, last year's dates or "© 2021" at the bottom make people wonder if you're still in business.
- The padlock in the address bar. This means your site uses HTTPS, which keeps information sent to it private. Browsers warn visitors about sites without it. Most hosting includes it for free.
- Working links. Social media buttons that go nowhere, or WhatsApp buttons with the wrong number, look careless. Test every one.
- Consistent details. Use the same business name, phone number and address on your website, Google Business Profile and social media.
- Payment logos and security, if you take payments, so customers know their money is safe.
Part 4: Things your website needs behind the scenes
Customers won't see these directly, but they make a big difference:
- It works perfectly on phones. By Statcounter's figures, more than half of web browsing in Nigeria happens on mobile, and other measurements put it higher. Buttons should be easy to tap, text easy to read without zooming, and nothing should spill off the side of the screen.
- It loads quickly. Google's research found the chance of someone leaving rises by 32% as a mobile page's load time goes from 1 to 3 seconds. Photos must be resized and compressed (made smaller in file size without visibly losing quality).
- Google basics. Each page needs its own title and short description (what shows in Google search results), clear headings, and descriptive text on images. Your site should be submitted to Google Search Console, Google's free tool for website owners.
- A way to measure visitors. A simple, privacy-friendly analytics tool tells you how many people visit, where from, and which pages they look at.
- Backups and updates, so a problem doesn't wipe out your site.
Part 5: What to leave out
- "Welcome to our website." It wastes your most valuable space. Say what you do instead.
- Sliders that change every few seconds. Visitors rarely see past the first slide, and they slow your page down.
- Music or video sound that plays automatically. People browse in offices, on buses and in bed. They'll leave.
- Pop-ups the moment someone arrives. Let them see your content first.
- Walls of text and jargon. Short paragraphs, plain words, clear headings.
- Leftover placeholder text like "Lorem ipsum" or "Your text here". It happens more often than you'd think.
- Every single thing you've ever done. Show your best work. Too many choices make decisions harder.
A quick self-check
Open your website on your phone and ask a friend who doesn't know your business to look at it for ten seconds. Then ask them:
- What does this business sell?
- Who is it for?
- Roughly how much does it cost?
- How would you contact them?
- Would you trust them with your money?
If they hesitate on any answer, that's where to improve first.
Want a website with all of this built in? See website design, read what to prepare before you build, or start a project.