What a small business website needs: what 1,142 live sites actually show
A contact form, a map, the phone number, photos and reviews are on almost every live Pindrop site. Booking, menus and FAQs are the optional extras. The short list, from real sites.
Most advice on what a small business website should include is a long checklist. Looking at the 1,142 sites currently live on Pindrop, built by people selling websites to local businesses, the list that actually ships is short.
| Section | Share of live sites |
|---|---|
| Contact form | 99% |
| Map and directions | 99% |
| Photo gallery (3 or more photos) | 95% |
| Phone number | 87% |
| Customer reviews | 56% |
| Social media links | 22% |
| Menu | 13% |
| Online booking | 12% |
| FAQ | 3% |
The five every site needs
- The phone number, at the top. Most local customers want to call, and on a phone that number should be one tap.
- Where you are. An address and a map. Customers check it before they drive.
- Real photos. The storefront, the work, the team. Stock photos are the first thing an owner asks you to change.
- A way to reach you that isn't the phone. A short contact form catches the people who look at 11 at night.
- Reviews. Only 56% of live sites show them, usually because the business has few. If the business has good reviews, put them near the top: they do more selling than anything you write.
The extras, only when they fit
- A menu for restaurants, cafes and bakeries. On most other sites it does not belong.
- Online booking for salons, barbers, nail salons and trainers, who book by appointment. It is on 12% of live sites, almost all of them in those trades.
- An FAQ only when customers keep asking the same questions (a cleaner's service area, a trainer's cancellation policy). On 3% of sites, and it should stay rare.
- Social links if the business actually posts. A link to a dead Facebook page hurts more than it helps.
What to leave out
Long about pages, mission statements, blogs the owner will never update, and anything that needs the owner to send you content before the site can go live. The best small business site can be built from what the business's listing already says, and then improved once the owner has said yes.
How we counted
- Every site live on Pindrop on September 26, 2026 (1,142), excluding Pindrop's own test accounts. A section counts when it is switched on and has content (for example, at least one review, at least three photos).
