How to make a fantastic small business website

Ensuring your business has a strong online presence in 2025 is not an option, it’s a necessity. With the UK Budget of 2024 slamming small businesses with higher costs, there is ton of pressure to minimise expenses while increasing profits; the answer to that is the almighty business website.

I say ‘almighty’ business website, because clients often halt the build process at the point of having something like an online/digital business card.

However, when built correctly, a small business website is the central cog in a powerful marketing process that

• attracts potential customers,
• captures sales data for effective marketing
• creates impulse for customers to purchase your products or services.
• and more

If you’d like to learn more about how a website can truly transform your business, get in touch for a free 30 minute consultation -no strings attached. If, however, you’re already keen to make a website for your small business in 2025, and want to understand the next steps, keep reading this comprehensive guide on How to Make a Small Business Website for 2025.

How to Make a Small Business Website: A Step-by-Step Guide to Get You Going in 2025

In this post, I’ll share the essential steps to creating a small business website, which will place you in a better position to gain new leads and sales in the coming year.

1. Pick and Register a Domain Name:

First of all – choose a domain name for your website. If you’re unsure what a domain name is, you can think of it as being similar to your home address, as opposed to the coordinate numbers that would otherwise identify the location.

33 Belford Avenue is a human friendly version of something like 13.632466,-49.388057. Similarly, mywebsite.com is a human friendly version of an internet IP such as 35.152.15.37. Keep it simple, memorable, and easy to spell. It could be your business name or related to what you offer. However, I have seen many clients choose a domain that is too specific to a niche or product. This results in them becoming ‘boxed in’ by their domain name. For example, what happens when “Kitchens of Devon” start selling a bedroom range?

How to pick a domain name:

• Keep it simple. You want something that people can easily remember and type into their browser, including that annoying phone address bar. One to three words is ideal.
• Keep it broad. Generalising your domain name to an ‘umbrella’ level brand concept or service means you have room to pivot in the future.
• Avoid complex or bizarre spellings, especially those that might need explanation. So, having to say: “It’s Kitchens, but with no T and a Z at the end” is just not going to work.
• Avoid numbers or hyphens. While they don’t have a negative SEO impact, it’s fiddly to explain or remember. “Visit my website at ‘awesome digital marketing .co.uk’, but with hyphens as the spaces” is too complex. You need to be able to say it in two seconds or have someone read it a glance.
• Make it memorable. Your domain name should stick in people’s minds and be relevant to your offering, whether it’s your business name or an industry reference. If your business name is taken, avoid going for a variation. Instead, brainstorm terms and words related to your offering or product, to come up with something suitable.
• Don’t make it memorable…for the wrong reasons. Many well meaning folk have bashed words together with no punctuation to form a seemingly innocent domain name, but fallen foul of our less than respectable pattern recognition; meaning: if people get half a chance to see a silly word in amongst a bunch of letters, they will. Take a look at this art cafe domain idea below! Don’t hit “Buy” on that one!

How to register a domain name

Once you’ve settled on the perfect domain name, it’s time to check if it’s available and register it before someone else snaps it up.

They generally cost around £15 per year, but you’ll often find an intro deal and get yours for a bargain on the first year. There are plenty of domain registration services out there, such as 123 reg, but -in most cases- it’s just as well to register your domain with your actual web host.

You simply need to check if a domain name is available and -if it is- go through a simple cart system to create your account with the registrar. This is where you’ll take care of your DNS settings and handle billing.

2. Pick your website host

To display your website on the internet, you’ll need a web host. Think of this as being like a phone contract service. O2 handle the hardware and software to connect your phone to all other phones. A web host does the same thing for your website.

How to choose your web host

Assuming you’re not getting sucked into the trap of using something like Shopify, Wix or Squarespace (which comes with its own hosting), you’re gong to need to find a web host that suits your needs.

When choosing a web host, you need to consider the probable size of your site, security and the back up and restore protocols.

Inclusion of webmail is also a bonus, although I would advise using an external email service, such as Google Workspace or Microsoft 365. It’s also important to consider the customer service and support available with these services, especially if you’re new to this and will need the guidance.

Siteground is my go to host for small and large projects . It has great performance, support and scalable features, but their start up price is competitive against even the cheap and horrid hosts, so you’ve nothing to lose by using them for your first year.

A small business website is not going to be resource heavy, but great customer support, a clean and easy interface and some automated processes are going to be your best friend during a learning curve; go with Siteground.

3. Design and Make your business website

Unless you opt to use a DIY website builder, you’ll need to design and develop your website with either hard coding or a Content Management System, like WordPress. WordPress powers over a third of the internet’s websites and, after years in the industry, it is still my best suggestion for small and medium business.

For the record, I’m not saying not to ‘Do It Yourself’, but I will say that Shopify, Wix or Squarespace are closed systems that do not affordably scale with your business…and they don’t have a ton of options either. Many business owners find they need to overhaul their entire web presence after experiencing growth in the first year and realising these options don’t scale.

If you’re set on using a DIY solution, instead of hiring a designer, it’s now as easy to do it yourself with WordPress; with a whole range of Drag and Drop Website Builders to choose from; you get the benefits of DIY with the feature-rich system of WordPress and affordable scalability. Which website builder should you use? I use two. Elementor is best for beginners and more basic websites. Breakdance is best for use by an experienced developer who will hand the site over to the client; and you’ll get more out of your build.

How to design your website

Designing a website is not just about the aesthetics and branding elements; in fact, the aesthetics should simply be the flesh that covers a strategic framework of information architecture, SEO content placement, call to actions and, of course, smooth UI and UX to assist conversion. Don’t know what these are? Then don’t build it yourself. Finding a web designer who focuses on these aspects is advised.

However, if you plan to have a go yourself, here are some tips on how to design some basic aspects of your website. You can follow all these steps in a free tool like Canva, so you can play with the visuals. Otherwise, use something like Affinity Designer or the Adobe Suite, if you have it.

• Plan your branding elements Designing a good start up website starts with a bit of doodle paper and a pen, or perhaps a play on Canva, to get your branding elements together. At least settle on two primary colours, two fonts and establish a ‘vibe’, even if it’s ‘Light and crisp’, ‘Round and colourful’.
• Start with one great page Don’t get bogged down with a complete site at this point. With one solidly designed page, you can present your business offerings, ethos, range of services or products and a firm Call To Action. Consider this an MVP website version and scale from launch. Best to get going!
• Plan the sections of your page with headings Can you scan the headings on your page and feel informed about the business and what it offers? This is what your users do. This is what Google does. Plan that framework.
• Find images that provide a visual cue for each heading Now a bit of the fun stuff! You’ll need to find images that are free to use; I recommend Pexels or Pixabay . Alternatively, you can purchase images from something like Shutterstock . They need to match the ‘brand vibe’ you settled on earlier. However, it’s always better to take your own photos of your own business. Always.
• Take it on the chin As you’re playing in Canva, or similar, you can easily move bits around and experiment. Get a range of opinions and don’t feel too precious about your work: listen to the criticism.

How to make your business website

You’ve settled on a design and now need to turn it into an actual business website.

Unless you’re a coding or web designer hobbyist, there’s a learning curve on the way. Just like laying a patio in your garden or doing your own haircuts from youTube videos, you will experience best results with your website by hiring a professional.

But if you’re up for the challenge of digesting YouTube videos and some ‘on project learning’, this is where I introduce you to Elementor Website Builder . Heads up, this is NOT a professional website building tool and I would never use it to create a client website, due to some considerable limitations, but it's far better than Wix or Squarespace if you're insisting on the DIY route.

An example of Elementor Page Builder interface

Elementor is a WordPress Drag and Drop builder which is extremely powerful and easy to use. The Pro version, out of the box, will give you all you need to build a full and fantastic website with WordPress.

Both as a freelancer and a Web and Project Manager for a marketing agency, Elementor is the tool of choice. I use it because I can hand a developed website over to my clients and they feel comfortable to update and maintain their site themselves.

You can use the All-in-one solution, which is Elementor Hosting and the Builder in one, sweet bundle. However, if you prefer to host with Siteground and control your own version of WordPress -as I do and recommend- you can also purchase the Elementor website builder and install it as a plugin.

• Install WordPress on your web host package
• Install the Hello theme, free from Elementor
• Purchase and Install Elementor Pro
• Check out some Elementor tutorials, such as my youtube channel . (Want to use the pro tool? You can follow along with my F oundation Business Website course!

4. Add Useful Pages and Engaging Content

As mentioned before, getting that home page launched as your initial learning project is a great first step, but you can immediately begin to develop the wider range of site pages in the background.

If you’re wondering what you should put on them, try and think of this one rule: Your website needs to provide value to your visitors.

Create pages that inform them about your business, products, and services and give them the information they need as well as an easy way to take action. You really don’t want Google to see visitors clicking onto your website and then clicking back to the Search Results. So put yourself in the customer’s position and consider what information they’re looking for .

Include an About Us page to tell your story, a Products/Services page (or pages) to showcase what you offer, and a Contact page so customers can reach you easily.

As part of your strategy, you’ll need to add engaging content such as blog posts to keep visitors interested. Knowing what blog posts to write is part of an SEO strategy, but keep in mind that these are the pages that rank in Google . In fact, these are the most important assets in your marketing strategy.

5. Optimize Your Website for Search Engines:

You’d obviously like your website to be found on Google (and other well known, household brands of search engine), and so you’ll need to optimise it for ranking.

Using relevant keywords in your content, meta tags, and URLs is one part of an SEO strategy, as well as making sure your website loads quickly and is mobile-friendly. However, ranking a website with Google’s ever-changing algorithm is an ongoing task which requires constant monitoring and a decided approach. The one rule that constantly ensures Google wants to rank your website well is whether Google deems it to be useful to its customers; yep, that’s right: not your customers, Googles customers. Google doesn’t really care about you or your business.

Consider creating a blog to regularly publish fresh content and attract organic traffic.

BONUS TIP: Review Your Site Before You Hit ‘Publish’

Before you launch your website, take some time to review and test it thoroughly. Check for any broken links, spelling or grammar errors, and formatting issues. Make sure all images are optimised for the web and load quickly.

Test your website on different devices and browsers to ensure a consistent experience for all visitors. Once everything looks good, hit ‘publish’ and celebrate your new online presence!