Why most first websites don't do anything useful.
When I look at a new client's existing site — and I see a lot of them — the pattern is almost always the same. There's a homepage that talks about the business's "passion" and "commitment to quality", a services page that lists everything they do without explaining why any of it matters, and a contact page with a form that probably hasn't been checked in three weeks.
Nobody's fault. When you're building your first website, you write what feels right. And what feels right is usually a combination of what you've seen on other people's sites and what you'd want to say about yourself if someone asked. The problem is that your website visitor isn't asking about you. They have a problem, they found your URL somehow, and they want to know in the first ten seconds whether you can solve it.
That's the only job your website has. Everything else is decoration.
The homepage: one promise, one next step.
Your homepage needs to answer three questions, in order, within the first screen of content — before anyone scrolls. What do you do? Who is it for? What should I do next?
I worked with a painter and decorator in Faversham whose homepage opened with a paragraph about how the business was founded in 2019 and serves customers across Kent with pride. Fine. But it said nothing about what he actually did or where. We replaced it with a single line: "Interior and exterior painting for homes and businesses across Faversham and Sittingbourne. Free quotes, usually within 48 hours." Enquiries picked up noticeably within a fortnight — not because anything technical changed, but because the homepage finally answered the visitor's question.
After your opening statement, you want social proof — a couple of real testimonials with the person's name and ideally their town — and then one clear call to action. Phone number, WhatsApp link, or a booking form. Not three different options. One.
The services page: specific beats comprehensive.
Most services pages try to list everything the business offers, which ends up reading like a menu from a restaurant that does everything. The visitor can't work out what you're actually best at, and they leave to find someone who sounds more focused.
The fix isn't to cut what you offer. It's to describe each service the way a customer would describe the problem they have, not the way you'd describe the solution. "Blocked drains" works better than "drainage solutions". "Wedding photography in Kent" works better than "portrait and event photography services". It sounds obvious written out, but most sites don't do it.
For each service, I'd include: what it is in plain English, who it's for, roughly what it costs or how you price it, and how they get started. That's it. You don't need a 600-word essay about your process — you need enough for the right person to recognise themselves and know how to take the next step.
The about page: proof, not personality.
The about page is where most people go wrong in the opposite direction. They're suddenly honest and human in a way they weren't on the homepage, but in a way that doesn't actually help the visitor make a decision. "I'm passionate about what I do" — yes, presumably, most people are.
What actually helps on an about page is credibility evidence. How long have you been doing this? What have you done before? Do you have any qualifications, accreditations, or memberships that matter in your trade? Are you registered somewhere — Gas Safe, a professional body, Companies House? If you're a sole trader, say so; a lot of customers in Kent actively prefer dealing directly with the owner.
You can absolutely be warm and human here. Just be specific. "I've been fitting kitchens in Deal and the surrounding villages for eleven years" lands better than "I have a passion for transforming spaces". Both things might be true. Only one of them is useful.
What you probably don't need on your first website.
A blog. I know everyone says you need a blog for SEO, and it's not wrong in the long run, but a blog that hasn't been updated since October 2024 actively damages your credibility. If you're not going to write it consistently, don't start it.
A gallery page with twelve photos that were taken on someone's phone in 2022. Either invest in decent photography or use one or two strong images elsewhere on the site. A dedicated gallery of mediocre work is worse than no gallery.
An FAQ page for questions nobody has actually asked you yet. FAQs are useful when you genuinely have questions you're tired of answering. They're not useful as a way of filling out a site that feels thin. If the site feels thin, the answer is better content on the pages you have, not more pages.
And honestly — in most cases — a pop-up asking visitors to subscribe to a newsletter. If you don't have a newsletter, don't promise one.
Contact details: more prominent than you think.
I've lost count of the number of sites I've reviewed where the phone number is buried in the footer, or only exists on the contact page. For most Kent trades and service businesses, the phone number is the most valuable thing on the site. It should be in the header. It should be in the body of the homepage. It should be on the contact page, obviously, but also alongside every call to action.
If you use WhatsApp for business — and if you deal with customers who are over about 35 and live in East Kent, you probably should — link to it directly. The format is simple: https://wa.me/447XXXXXXXXX. Put a pre-filled message in the URL if you want: ?text=Hi%2C+I%27d+like+a+quote. Takes five minutes to set up and removes one small piece of friction for every visitor who uses it.
If you take enquiries via a form, make sure the form goes somewhere you actually check. A contact form that emails an address you haven't looked at in a fortnight is worse than no contact form, because customers assume you received it and ignored them.
A note on local signals, because they matter for Google.
Your first website should mention your location clearly and repeatedly — not in a clumsy way, but naturally. "Based in Canterbury, working across East Kent" in the footer. Your town in the page title if it's relevant. Your service areas mentioned in passing in the text, the way you'd say it to someone in conversation.
This matters because Google Business Profile and your website work together. If your profile says you're in Folkestone and your website says nothing about Folkestone, you're leaving local search ranking on the table. The fix is simple and free: just say where you are and where you work, in natural English, in the places it makes sense to say it. You don't need to stuff it in — once per page, clearly, is enough.
While you're at it, make sure your contact details — name, address, phone number — are consistent across your website, your Google Business Profile, and any directories you're listed on. Google notices inconsistencies and treats them as a mild trust signal going the wrong way.
Getting it up: what platform actually matters here.
For a first business website, the platform is far less important than the content. I've seen excellent first sites built on Squarespace for about £13 a month, and I've seen expensive custom builds that still didn't answer the three homepage questions. Get the content right first. The platform is just where it lives.
That said, if you're a trades or service business and you're starting from nothing, I'd generally point you towards either Squarespace or a simple WordPress site on a .co.uk domain — around £10 to £15 a year from somewhere like 123-reg or Namecheap. Avoid the temptation to use a free platform with someone else's domain in the URL. It reads as unfinished to the kind of customer you want.
Once the content is right and the site is live, the next step is claiming and completing your Google Business Profile — that's free, it takes an afternoon, and for most local businesses in Kent it will drive more enquiries than anything else you do in the first year. But that's a separate conversation.