3 Steps to Create a Small Business Website: An Expert Guide
"I'm bootstrapping and doing everything by myself. How am I supposed to create a small business website?"Greetings, small business owners. Our article here holds the answer to your question. Read on…
"I'm bootstrapping and doing everything by myself. How am I supposed to create a small business website?" Greetings, small business owners. This guide holds the answer: how to build an inexpensive website for a small business at a lower cost and in a shorter time.
Ah … small businesses. How they bring so much joy and so many challenges for the owner and the small team. With limited funds, zero to a few team members, and endless competition, growing a small business seems like a near-impossible deal. Sales become the main focus and everything else sits low on the priority list, including building a website.
Is a website necessary for a small business?
Roughly a quarter of small businesses still have no website at all (28%, per a 2021 Top Design Firms survey). The most common reasons owners give are that a site does not feel relevant to their industry, that they lack the in-house expertise, or that they are short on time and budget.
So, does your small business actually need a website?
We say, yes. And here's why.
A website can benefit your small business in many ways
By having a website, your small business will:
- Exposure to the billions of Google searches that happen every day
- 24/7 presence for your audiences
- Lower marketing costs with targeted audiences
- Personalized user/customer experience
- Clear data & reports to analyze
That being said, if you want your small business to scale and grow, a website is among the strongest tools you can use. And here's how you can build an inexpensive website for your small business.
A small business without a website is invisible to the buyer who opens Google first.
How to create a small business website
We've seen how a small business has dozens of limitations to face: limited bootstrapped funds, limited team members, limited knowledge, limited experience, limited time. But let's not get too caught up in them. Instead, we'll help you find a way around them so you can create a website for a small business despite the many limitations.
Always start with your branding
We'll never tire of reminding you how important branding is for your business, no matter how big or small.
Branding is the heart of your business and marketing. It shows on your website. It tells your audiences what you value and what you're against. So, having solid branding allows you to attract only like-minded people, those who are on the same page as you. In other words, you're not wasting your budget on random people with opposite interests.
For example, if your business supports sustainability and it reflects on your branding, you will resonate with eco-conscious people who might even be ready to spend more money to support eco-friendly brands. Your marketing budget and manhour can be optimized for this segment, not on people who don't prioritize sustainable living.
How to do it
- Write one plain sentence: who you serve and what you stand for. Every design choice flows from that.
- Lock a 3 to 5 color palette in Coolors and copy the exact hex codes into a notes doc.
- Pick one heading font and one body font in Google Fonts and pair them.
- Keep palette, fonts, and logo in a single shared file so every page pulls from the same source.
See a worked example
Say you run a small sustainable coffee roaster. If you settle on your palette and one type pairing before designing anything (for example, deep forest green and kraft brown with a single serif for headings), the homepage, your product photos, and your social posts end up looking like the same company. You also stop re-picking colors from scratch on every new page, which is where a lot of DIY sites quietly drift and start looking generic.
Tools to use
Coolors to lock a 3 to 5 color palette, Google Fonts to pair a heading and body font, and the Adobe Express color wheel to check contrast against WCAG.
Steal our AI prompt
Act as a brand strategist for a small business. Here is what we do and who we serve: [describe your business in 2-3 sentences]. Draft a one-paragraph brand foundation covering our core value, the type of customer we want to attract, and the tone our website copy should use. Then suggest 3 color-palette directions with hex codes and 2 Google Fonts heading/body pairings that fit that tone. Keep it practical for a DIY site.
Use a system that meets your needs & budget
Web design and website development can use up much of your time, resources, and budget. But there is a way around it.
Nowadays, most small businesses opt for DIY by using website builders or page builders to create an inexpensive website faster. With these platforms, you don't need to worry about web design and development costs and resources. They come with customizable templates and drag-and-drop features, so you can build a website for a small business in-house or even by yourself!
Here are our go-to website builders and page builders:
Website builders
Shopify is great and optimized for e-commerce sites. For other types of websites, we love Squarespace.
Page builders
For our e-commerce clients, we normally recommend BigCommerce. While for others, and our website as well, we use Elementor.
But remember, page builders require a Content Management System (CMS) and so far, WordPress never disappoints.
How to do it
- Write down your one main goal: sell products, book appointments, or generate leads.
- Match the goal to a lane: hosted store (Shopify, Squarespace) versus CMS plus builder (WordPress + Elementor).
- Start a free trial or install on one platform and rebuild a single page before committing.
- Add up the real monthly cost (plan, theme, plugins, transaction fees) so budget is a decision input, not a surprise.
See a worked example
As a rough rule that tends to hold: if selling products is the whole point, a hosted store like Shopify usually gets you live fastest and handles payments and inventory for you. If you mostly need pages, a blog, and room to grow, WordPress with a builder like Elementor gives you more control for a lower monthly cost, at the price of doing a bit more setup yourself. A local service business often lands on the WordPress side; a maker selling 40 SKUs often lands on Shopify.
Tools to use
Steal our AI prompt
I run a small business and need to choose a website platform. Here is my situation: [describe your business, your main goal (sell / book / generate leads), rough monthly budget, and how comfortable you are with tech]. Compare Shopify, Squarespace, and WordPress + Elementor for my specific case. For each, give the realistic monthly cost, what I would have to set up myself, and the single biggest reason to pick or skip it. End with one recommendation and why.
Pay extra attention to UX
While you can save on web design and web dev costs, we recommend investing time and effort to optimize and streamline your user experience (UX). Here are some points you need to focus on:
- Choose a clean, non-intrusive visual design & animation (if any)
- Display only relevant information in an easy-to-understand flow & order
- Clearly describe what your business does, what product/service you offer, what makes your business different, and why people should trust & buy from you
- Provide after-conversion services via email, text message, or phone call
How to do it
- State what you do, who it is for, and the next step in the first screen, above the fold.
- Run your live URL through Google PageSpeed Insights and fix the mobile issues it flags first.
- Walk your top page against Nielsen Norman Group's 10 usability heuristics and note every violation.
- Watch 3 to 5 real people (or Maze testers) try to complete your main action, and remove whatever makes them pause.
See a worked example
A quick gut check that often surfaces problems: open your homepage on your phone and give yourself five seconds. If a stranger could not tell what you sell, who it is for, and what to tap next, that is your first fix, before any visual polish. Slow load hurts the same way; pages that take several seconds on mobile tend to lose visitors before they read a word.
Tools to use
Google PageSpeed Insights to score real load speed and list mobile fixes, the NN/g usability heuristics to audit any page, and Maze to watch real people try your main action.
Steal our AI prompt
Act as a UX reviewer. Here is my homepage: [paste your headline, subhead, main button text, and a short description of the page sections]. Evaluate it against Nielsen Norman Group's 10 usability heuristics. Tell me: (1) can a first-time visitor tell what we do, who it is for, and what to do next within 5 seconds, (2) the top 3 usability problems in priority order, and (3) one concrete rewrite of my headline and main call-to-action.
What first steps can you take to create a small business website?
We know that it all seems a lot, and you're probably wondering, "How on earth do I accomplish all this?"
Let's break it down into smaller, simpler steps:
- Work on number 1 first: your branding
- Plan your budget, timeline, and resources
- If needed, hire an in-house team member or a freelancer
- Consult with an expert, mentor, or coach if you need a more personalized, professional help
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