Website Design by Industry

A small business needs a website because customers look a business up online before they call, and your website answers their questions, shows your work, and turns the search into a call. A social media page or a directory listing helps, but you don't own it, and it can't rank for each service you offer the way your own pages can.

A small business website should include a clear homepage, a page for each main service, an about page, real photos, reviews, your service area, and a contact page with a form and a phone number. What goes on top of those basics depends on the industry. A contractor needs photos of finished jobs, a law firm needs answers before the first call, and a manufacturer needs specifications a buyer can check.

The best small business website builder for most businesses is a platform that runs on hosting you control, can be edited in a visual editor, and grows from five pages to hundreds without a rebuild. Wix and Squarespace are simpler to start on, and they suit a small site you'll build and edit yourself. They keep much of the site inside their own systems, which limits what can change later.

Small business websites

Good small business website examples share a few traits, like real photos, a headline that says what the business does and where, a page for each service, and one obvious way to get in touch. The portfolio sorts my projects by kind of business, so you can go straight to the ones closest to yours, such as a flooring store, a wedding hair and makeup studio, a manufacturer, a pharmacy, and more.

Websites for small businesses are made by freelance web designers, by web design agencies, or by owners themselves on a do-it-yourself builder. With a freelancer, one person plans, writes, designs, and builds the site, and stays your contact after launch. I'm a freelancer, and I've built websites for more than 50 industries since 2011.

Industry-specific web design is planning a website around how customers in one industry search, judge, and contact a business, so the site shows the proof and the next step those customers expect. A roofer's customers want photos and a quote form. A law firm's want to know who will handle their case. A manufacturer's want specifications and documents.

I don't specialize in one industry. I build websites for small businesses of many kinds, including contractors, law firms, insurance agencies, manufacturers, technology companies, and travel and hospitality businesses, among others. Each industry teaches me something I can use in the next one.

Yes, I can build your site if your industry isn't listed. The same planning goes into every site. I look at how your customers search, what they need to see, and what you want them to do next. Tell me about your business in the form, and on a short call I'll walk you through how I'd approach it.

No, you don't need to explain your whole industry to me. You explain your business, and I do the research. That happens in discovery. You answer my questions in writing, at your own pace. The questions cover what your customers ask you, who you compete with, and what sets you apart. While you answer, I study how people search for what you sell and what your competitors' sites cover. Your part is the knowledge only an insider has.

No, your site won't look like your competitors' sites. I look at the sites your customers compare you to, so yours covers what they expect to find. The design and the words come from your business, drawing on your photos, your services, and the way you talk to your customers.

Yes, I can work within your industry's rules. Some industries have rules about what a website can say. Law firms, for example, work under their state's rules for lawyer advertising. You know the rules you work under, I build the site around them, and you approve every word before it goes live.

Yes, I build websites for medical practices at Joshua Paul Design, my sister brand. It's built just for independent practices, with its own portfolio. Same person, same process. Start there, and you'll be working with me either way. Both sites get the same planning, writing, and search work.