Last reviewed October 2026.
These web design tips will make a small business website look professional and work better: use two fonts and a few colors, show real photos, write a headline that says what you do, keep one main button, show proof and your phone number, and check everything on a phone. Most take under an hour to apply.
The tips are grouped into four parts: look, words, trust and technical basics. Each one says what to do and how to check it. For the reasons behind them, read our principles of good website design. This list is part of our small business web design guide.
In this guide
- How to use these web design tips
- Part 1: Look
- Part 2: Words
- Part 3: Trust
- Part 4: Technical basics
- Write it down: a one-page style sheet
- A made-up example: three fixes in one hour
- Tips at a glance
- Mistakes that make a site look dated
- Which tips first?
- When tips are not enough
- Frequently asked questions
- Next steps
How to use these web design tips
Do not try to apply all fifteen at once. Pick your homepage and your top service page. Work through one group at a time. After each group, look at the page on your phone. Small, tested changes beat a big redesign that nobody checks.
Part 1: Look
Tip 1. Use two fonts, not five
One font for headings and one for body text is plenty. Pick fonts that are easy to read, and use them the same way on every page. Extra fonts make a site look messy and add weight that slows loading.
Check: view three pages side by side. Do headings look the same on all three?
Tip 2. Pick a small color set and use it with purpose
Choose a main color, an accent for buttons and one or two neutrals. Use the accent only for actions. If everything is bright, nothing stands out.
Make sure text is easy to read against its background. WCAG 2.2 asks for contrast of at least 4.5 to 1 for normal text and 3 to 1 for large text. Free contrast checkers will test your colors in seconds.
Check: paste your text color and background into a contrast checker.
Tip 3. Use real photos
Real photos of your work, your team and your town build trust. Generic stock images of smiling strangers do the opposite, because visitors have seen them everywhere. Our guide to website photos for small business shows how to take good ones with a phone.
Check: cover your logo. Could the photos belong to any company? If yes, replace them.
Tip 4. Give things room
White space is the empty space around text and images. Leave enough of it. Crowded pages are hard to scan. A bit more space between sections and around buttons makes a page feel calm and clear.
Check: squint at the page. Can you see separate groups, or is it a wall?
Tip 5. Make every button look the same
Pick one style for main buttons and one quieter style for secondary actions. Use them everywhere. When buttons change shape and color from page to page, visitors have to work out each one again.
Check: are your main buttons the same color, shape and size on every page?
Part 2: Words
Tip 6. Write a headline that says what you do and where
“Welcome to our website” wastes your most valuable line. Say what you do, for whom and where, such as “Furnace repair in Carlisle and the Cumberland Valley.” Our homepage guide has more examples.
Check: show your homepage to a stranger for five seconds. Ask what you do and where.
Tip 7. Break text into short chunks
Most people scan before they read. Nielsen Norman Group’s eyetracking research found an F-shaped scanning pattern when nothing guides the eye. Its advice is to put key information in the first two paragraphs, use clear headings and use lists. Keep paragraphs to a few lines.
Check: can you get the gist of the page by reading only the headings?
Tip 8. Write links that say where they go
“Click here” tells a visitor nothing. “See our roof repair services” tells them what to expect. Clear link text helps people who scan, people who use screen readers and search engines. The W3C accessibility rules ask that the purpose of a link can be told from its text.
Check: read only your links out of context. Do they still make sense?
Tip 9. Pick one main action per page
Call, request a quote or book. Choose one for each page and repeat it. Five equal choices make visitors do nothing.
Check: what is the one thing you want a visitor to do on this page? Is it the biggest button?
Part 3: Trust
Tip 10. Show proof where people decide
Put reviews and real results near your main button, not buried on a separate page. Use real names or initials, with permission. Do not make up quotes or ratings. If you have no reviews yet, say what you do clearly and ask your next five customers for one.
Most people look at more than one place before they choose. BrightLocal’s 2025 survey of 1,026 U.S. consumers found that 74% use two or more review sites when deciding on a local business. So proof on your own site backs up what they find elsewhere.
Tip 11. Show your phone number and address clearly
Put the number in the header and the footer. Make it tap-to-call on phones. Show your address and service area. Keep your name, address and phone number the same as on your Google Business Profile.
Check: from any page, can you find a way to call you in two seconds?
Tip 12. Tell visitors who you are
A short About page with real people, real history and real service areas helps. Keep it plain and true. Skip long founder stories that do not help a customer decide.
Tip 13. Keep the footer useful
Include contact details, hours, main links and any license numbers that apply. Many visitors scroll to the footer when they cannot find something. Treat it as a second menu.
Part 4: Technical basics
Tip 14. Check every page on a real phone
Phones are close to half of U.S. web traffic. StatCounter showed mobile at 49.1% and desktop at 48.47% in September 2026. Google also uses the mobile version of your pages for indexing. Test the homepage and top service pages on a real phone. Our mobile-ready checklist gives ten checks.
Check: read, scroll and tap without zooming. Call from the page.
Tip 15. Name pages and images so people and search engines understand them
Give each page a unique title that describes it, and use short, descriptive web addresses. Google’s starter guide advises a title that is unique to the page, clear and concise. For images, write alt text that describes what the image shows, and use short, descriptive file names instead of “IMG_1234.jpg”.
Check: search Google for site:yourdomain.com and look at how your page titles read in the results.
Write it down: a one-page style sheet
Professional sites look consistent because someone made decisions once and wrote them down. You can do this in a notes app. It takes about thirty minutes and saves hours later, especially when more than one person edits the site.
| Item | Your decision | Rule |
|---|---|---|
| Heading font | Name and sizes for H1, H2, H3 | Same on every page |
| Body font | Name, size, line spacing | Readable on a phone with no zoom |
| Main color | Hex code | Used for headings and links |
| Accent color | Hex code | Used only for main buttons |
| Text and background | Two colors that pass the contrast check | Never pale text on a photo |
| Button styles | Main and secondary | One of each, everywhere |
| Photos | Where they come from, who takes them | Real work and real people |
| Tone of voice | Three words | Plain, direct, friendly |
Share the sheet with anyone who writes or edits your pages. New pages then match the old ones without a design meeting.
A made-up example: three fixes in one hour
Picture a small landscaping company with a dated homepage. The owner has one hour and picks tips 6, 9 and 11.
- The headline changes from “Welcome” to “Lawn care and landscaping in Cumberland County.”
- The row of five buttons becomes one main button, “Request a quote,” and a quiet phone link.
- The phone number moves into the header and becomes tap-to-call.
Nothing in the layout moved, and no new tools were bought. A visitor can now tell what the company does and how to reach it in one screen. This is a made-up example. It shows the size of change that is realistic in an hour, not a promise about results.
Tips at a glance
| Tip | What to do | Time needed |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Fonts | Two fonts, same use everywhere | 20 minutes |
| 2. Colors | Small set, accent for actions, check contrast | 30 minutes |
| 3. Photos | Replace generic images with real ones | Half a day |
| 4. White space | Add room between sections and around buttons | 30 minutes |
| 5. Buttons | One style for main, one for secondary | 20 minutes |
| 6. Headline | Say what you do and where | 15 minutes |
| 7. Short text | Headings, lists, short paragraphs | 1 hour |
| 8. Links | Descriptive link text | 30 minutes |
| 9. One action | One main button per page | 20 minutes |
| 10. Proof | Reviews near the main button | 1 hour |
| 11. Phone and address | Header, footer, tap-to-call | 20 minutes |
| 12. About | Short, real, useful | 1 hour |
| 13. Footer | Contact, hours, links | 20 minutes |
| 14. Phone check | Test top pages on a real phone | 30 minutes |
| 15. Titles and alt text | Unique titles, alt text, file names | 1 hour |
The times are rough guides for a small site, not promises. Photo work takes longest.
Mistakes that make a site look dated
- Auto-playing sliders that hide your message.
- Stock photos of people shaking hands.
- Walls of text with no headings.
- Many fonts, many colors, many button styles.
- A phone number that is not tappable.
- Pop-ups that cover the page the moment it loads.
- Copyright years in the footer that stopped long ago.
- Reviews with no names or dates, or copied from somewhere else.
Which tips first?
If you only have an hour, do these four, in this order.
- Tip 6: fix the headline.
- Tip 11: make the number tap-to-call.
- Tip 9: pick one main button.
- Tip 14: test on a real phone.
These four change what a visitor sees first and whether they can reach you. The rest improve the feel of the site.
When tips are not enough
If your layout is fixed-width, your pages load slowly, or you cannot edit the site yourself, tips will only go so far. Our 9 signs you need a new website and refresh vs. redesign vs. rebuild guides explain how to tell.
Frequently asked questions
What makes a website look professional?
Consistency, clear words, real photos, enough space and no broken parts. A site that is plain and tidy beats one that is fancy and messy.
How many pages should a small business website have?
Enough to cover each main service and answer key questions. See what pages a small business website needs.
Do I need a designer to apply these tips?
No, you can do most of them in a page builder. A designer helps with photos, layout and speed, and with changes to the theme.
Should I follow design trends?
Only if they pass the checks above. If a trend slows the site or hurts reading, skip it.
How do I know if my changes worked?
Compare calls and form messages before and after, over several weeks. Use Google Analytics and your phone log. Do not judge on a few days of data.
Next steps
Pick one page and one group of tips today. Make the changes, then test on your phone. If you would like a second set of eyes, our free website teardown looks at your site the way a visitor does. Or book your strategy call and we will plan the changes with you.
Keep reading
- Small Business Web Design: The Complete Guide
- What Pages Does a Small Business Website Need?
- What You Need Before Building a Website
Want help with this in Carlisle or Central PA?
Webfactory Media is a Carlisle, PA agency. See our Carlisle web design and website redesign pages, or call (888) 849-2397 and we will look at your site for free.
