Small business websites are frequently commissioned as a design project and evaluated on how they look. What determines whether they work is more mundane: whether people find them, whether they load, and whether a visitor can do the thing they came to do.
Decide what the site is for
Most small business sites serve one of a few purposes, and the design follows from which:
- Credibility — someone has your name and is checking you exist and look competent. This needs very little: what you do, where, proof, contact.
- Lead generation — getting an enquiry. Needs clear service description, evidence, and a low-friction way to make contact.
- Transaction — selling online. A different and considerably larger project.
- Support — reducing phone calls with information customers repeatedly ask for.
A site trying to do all four badly is common. One doing the relevant one well is better.
The basics that most sites get wrong
- Contact details on every page, including a phone number that is a clickable link on mobile. A surprising number of sites hide this.
- Location. New Zealand customers want to know where you are. “Serving the Waikato” on the home page removes a doubt.
- Speed. Slow sites lose visitors before the design is seen. Oversized images are the usual culprit.
- Mobile. Most traffic is mobile. Test it on an actual phone rather than a resized browser window.
- Current information. Wrong hours, a disconnected number or a 2019 news page costs credibility immediately.
Being found
For most New Zealand small businesses, local search does more than anything else.
- Claim and complete your Google Business Profile. Free, and for a local business it frequently drives more enquiries than the website.
- Be consistent across every directory: same business name, address and phone number, exactly.
- Write for what people actually search — the plain-language term for your service plus your location, rather than industry jargon.
- Have a page per main service rather than one page listing everything.
- Reviews matter, and asking satisfied customers is legitimate. Incentivised or fake reviews presented as independent breach the Fair Trading Act.
Own your own assets
This catches people out repeatedly:
- Register the domain in the business name, not your web developer’s. Check the registrant on the .nz register.
- Hold the logins for hosting, domain, analytics and your Business Profile.
- Confirm copyright ownership of the design and content in your developer contract. Work by a contractor frequently belongs to the contractor unless the agreement says otherwise.
- Keep an export of your content.
Businesses that discover their developer owns their domain during a dispute have a genuine problem.
Legal requirements
Distance selling engages Fair Trading Act disclosure obligations: who you are with a physical address, total price including unavoidable fees, delivery timeframes and returns policy, all before the customer commits.
Consumer guarantees apply online exactly as in store. Change of mind is not a statutory right; if you offer it, distinguish it clearly from customers’ legal rights.
A privacy statement is needed if you collect personal information, and the Privacy Act 2020 now includes an obligation to notify people where information is collected indirectly. Cookie and analytics use should be disclosed.
Security and maintenance
A website is software and needs updating. Unpatched content management systems and plugins are among the most commonly exploited things on the internet.
Minimum: automatic updates or a maintenance arrangement, multi-factor authentication on admin accounts, HTTPS, and backups that are actually tested. A defaced or compromised site damages credibility and can trigger privacy obligations if customer data is involved.
Measure something
Install analytics and watch a small number of things: visitors, which pages they land on, and how many make contact or buy. Without that, redesign decisions are guesses.
business.govt.nz publishes digital guidance for small business, and the National Cyber Security Centre publishes website security material. Both free.
