What should be on a local business homepage? (checklist)

Customers decide whether to stay or leave in the first few seconds of your homepage - and what they want to see first is simple: what you do, where you work, and how to get in touch. If your homepage answers those three in seconds, you've won the hardest part. Here's the local business homepage checklist, in the exact order that works.

The homepage checklist

Run down this list and your homepage will do its one job - turning a looker into a caller:

• 1. One clear headline. "Roofing repairs in Warrington" beats "Quality solutions for all your roofing requirements" every time. Tell visitors what you do and where you do it, in plain English, in the first line they read.
• 2. A photo of your work. Real work, not stock. A picture of the job you actually did proves you can do the job they're about to ask for. It's the fastest trust signal on the page - we've covered how photos and reviews build trust in more depth.
• 3. Your phone number, front and centre. On a phone, that means a big tap-to-call button. Don't make customers hunt for your number - most won't bother hunting, they'll just try the next business.
• 4. What you do, in a quick list. Your core services in 4-6 short bullets or simple cards: extensions, lofts, flat roofs. Enough for a glance, with detail kept for your services page.
• 5. Where you work. "Covering Warrington, Stockton Heath and Lymm" - name the places you'll travel to. Customers need to know you're local before they'll call.
• 6. Trust evidence, visible without scrolling. A handful of reviews, a real accreditation or guarantee, a couple of logos - enough to answer "are these people legit?" before the visitor has to work for it.
• 7. A clear next step. One obvious action at the bottom - "Get a free quote" button or a simple quote form. One choice, not ten. A homepage that asks visitors to do one thing gets it done.

What do customers want to see first?

In this order: proof you can do the job, proof you're local, and proof you can be trusted - then a way to contact you. That's why the checklist runs headline, photo, phone, services, areas, trust, action. Every element answers one of the silent questions every customer is asking:

• "Can you do my job?" - answered by your headline and services list.
• "Are you near me?" - answered by your areas and local details.
• "Are you legit?" - answered by your photos, reviews and badges.
• "How do I actually contact you?" - answered by your phone button and quote form.

If your homepage answers all four, visitors stay and call. Miss one, and you lose the ones who needed that answer.

Frequently asked questions

How long do I have to make a good first impression? Seconds - most visitors decide within five. That's why the headline, photo and phone number have to be visible without scrolling on a phone. The rest of the page is for convincing, not first impressions.

How long should the homepage be? As long as it needs to answer the four questions above - usually a screen or two. Homepages that ramble lose people; homepages that make a clear case and a clear next step win them.

Should the homepage be different from my other pages? Yes. The homepage's job is to get the visitor to the right next step fast. Your other pages - services, areas, about, contact - do the deeper convincing. This post walks through the full page structure for local businesses - or see how it's done in practice on our tradesman website design page.

What about links to Facebook or reviews? Fine to include as supporting evidence - but the homepage's main job is the call or quote request. If social links are the first thing visitors see, they'll click away instead of contacting you. We've got the full website vs Facebook page comparison if you're weighing it up.

If you want this done for you

Your homepage doesn't have to be something you figure out alone. Our website lease is a flat £85 a month plus VAT, and every site we build starts with a homepage exactly like the checklist above - a clear headline, your work, a tap-to-call button, your services and areas, and trust evidence, all designed to be read in seconds. Up to 2 hours of content updates every month keep it fresh, and most sites go live within 2 to 6 weeks.

If you want this done for you for £85 a month, book a free 30-minute chat and we'll sketch what your homepage should say - no jargon, no obligation. New to the whole idea? Here's how it works, in plain English.