When I redesigned the website for a UK law firm, the whole project came down to one question: what does a referred client need to see in the first five seconds to feel they're in safe hands?
The firm had everything a client would want: accreditations, experienced solicitors and a long track record. The old site hid all of it behind a slider, stock photos and a menu you had to hunt through, so visitors who arrived on a recommendation had to dig for reasons to trust it.
The same question works for almost any small business site, so this is the checklist I use.
What needs to be visible straight away
What you do, in plain words. A visitor should understand your business from the first line without decoding a slogan. "Commercial cleaning for offices in Leeds" beats "Excellence in every detail".
Who it's for. People look for themselves. Naming the type of client you serve tells the right visitors they're in the right place.
Proof. Credentials, real client logos, a real number, or a short testimonial with a name attached. For the law firm, accreditation logos moved to the top of the page, because those were what referred clients were checking for.
One clear next step. A single obvious button, such as "Book a consultation" or "Get a quote", does more than five competing ones.
A way to reach you. A phone number or email that's easy to find, especially on mobile.
What to cut
- Sliders. Most visitors only ever see the first slide, so the other four messages are wasted.
- Stock photos of smiling people in suits. Visitors have seen the same photos on other sites and stop trusting what's around them.
- Vague slogans that could belong to any business in any industry.
- Autoplay video that slows the page down, particularly on phones.
A test you can do today
Show your homepage to a friend for five seconds, then hide it. Ask them what you do, who it's for, and what they'd click.
If they can't answer all three, the top of your homepage needs work, and that matters more than any colour or font choice. That's usually where my website work starts, and you can see how this thinking shaped a first-ever website in the Townend Developments case study.