When a business asks me for a new website, the first conversation is usually about how it should look. That matters — but the things that decide whether a site actually brings customers are less exciting.
Here’s the checklist I go through for every small-business site.
What it needs
1. It must be fast on a phone
Most of your visitors are on a phone, often on mobile data, often in a hurry. If the first screen takes several seconds to appear, many of them are gone before they see anything.
That’s a big reason I build with Astro: pages are pre-built, light, and quick by default. (I explain the reasoning in Why I left WordPress for Astro.)
2. The answer to “why am I here?” in five seconds
Someone opening a clinic’s website wants opening hours, location and a phone number. A restaurant visitor wants the menu and a way to book. A shop visitor wants products and prices.
The first screen should answer the main question, and the main action — call, book, buy, get directions — should be one tap away on every page.
3. Google can understand it
You don’t need an “SEO package” to start. You need the basics done properly:
- a clear title and description on every page,
- real text that says what you do and where (e.g. “walk-in clinic in Rethymno”),
- a sitemap, clean URLs, and fast pages,
- a complete, up-to-date Google Business Profile — for local businesses, often more important than the website itself.
4. It speaks your customers’ language
If your customers are tourists, English (and maybe German or French) matters. If they’re locals, the site needs proper Greek — not a translated afterthought. Many businesses here need both.
5. Easy ways to reach you
Phone number that dials when tapped. Email. WhatsApp or Viber if that’s how your customers talk. A short form for people who don’t like calling. And then — this is the part people forget — someone actually answering, quickly. (That’s where an inbox with AI-drafted replies helps a lot.)
6. It’s safe and looked after
HTTPS, backups, and someone responsible when something breaks. A site that’s online but quietly broken is worse than you’d think.
What it doesn’t need
- A slider on the homepage. Few people wait for slide three.
- Twenty pages on day one. Five good pages beat twenty thin ones. You can add more when you have something to say.
- Heavy animations and video backgrounds that cost seconds of loading for decoration.
- Every plugin and widget that exists. Each extra thing is more to load, more to maintain and more to break.
- A blog you’ll never update. A blog is great — if you’ll actually write. Otherwise, skip it until you will.
A simple test
Open your current website on your phone, outside, on mobile data. Time how long until you can see what the business does and how to contact it. Then try to call, book or find the address using only your thumb.
If that felt slow or awkward, your customers feel it too — and it’s one of the easiest things in marketing to fix. If you’d like a hand, send me a message.