Your Small Business Probably Doesn't Need a Huge Website. Seriously.

When you're building a website for your business, it's very easy to convince yourself that you need everything. You start with a homepage, then obviously you need an About page, a Services page, an FAQ, a portfolio, testimonials, a contact page, a blog, and maybe three other pages because some website you found on Pinterest had them.

Before you know it, your cute little website has turned into a 14-page project and you've been "working on your website" for four months.

The truth is, most small businesses don't need a huge website. Depending on what you offer, a smaller and more intentional website might actually work better.

Figure Out What Your Website Is Supposed to Do

One of the easiest ways to simplify your website is to stop thinking about how many pages you're supposed to have and think about what you actually need people to do when they get there.

If you're a photographer, maybe you want someone to look through your work and book a session. If you sell products, you probably want them to understand what you make and head to your shop. If you're a service provider, your website might need to explain your services, answer a few important questions and give people an easy way to contact or book you.

That's really the job of your website. It should help someone understand who you are, what you offer and what they should do next. Everything else is secondary.

More Pages Don't Automatically Make a Website Better

I think there's still this idea that a "professional" website needs to have a ton of pages. It doesn't. A five-page website with clear information and thoughtful design can be much more effective than a 20-page website where visitors have to go on a scavenger hunt to figure out what you actually do.

Sometimes you don't even need five pages. I'm a big fan of single-page and mini websites for businesses with straightforward offers. A photographer who mainly needs to showcase their work and send people to a booking form might be perfectly fine with a beautiful one-page site. The same can be true for artists, beauty professionals, consultants, coaches and other small creative businesses.

Your website should be as large as your business actually requires. There's no prize for having the most pages.

You Can Always Add More Later

This is probably the biggest thing I wish more business owners remembered when building a website: it isn't permanent.

You can launch your website now and add a blog six months from now. You can create a larger portfolio when you have more projects to show. You can add an FAQ once customers actually start asking you frequently asked questions instead of sitting down and trying to predict every question a human being could possibly have about your business.

Your website can grow alongside your business. You don't have to figure out what your business might need five years from now before you're allowed to hit publish.

Smaller Websites Are Also Easier to Maintain

If you're running your business by yourself, this matters. Every page you create is another page you eventually have to keep updated. Prices change, services evolve, links break, photos get old and eventually you reread something you wrote two years ago and wonder why nobody stopped you.

Keeping your main website relatively simple means there's less digital clutter to manage. It's also one of the reasons I like Squarespace for small businesses. Once your site is built, making basic updates yourself is pretty straightforward. You shouldn't need to contact a web designer every time you want to change two sentences or replace a photo.

What About SEO?

Having more pages can give you more opportunities to show up in search results, but that doesn't mean you should create random pages just to make your website bigger. I'd rather have a few useful pages that clearly serve a purpose than a bunch of thin pages that don't really say anything.

This is also where blogging can come in handy. Your main website can stay focused while your blog gives you room to answer specific questions people are searching for and talk about topics related to your business.

I don't need to explain everything I know about Squarespace on my homepage. That's what posts like this are for.

Build the Website Your Business Needs Right Now

Your website doesn't have to look like it belongs to a company with 75 employees if it's just you, your laptop and the business you're building.

Start with what you actually need. Make those pages useful, give visitors an obvious next step and let the website expand when your business gives you a reason to expand it.

A simple website isn't necessarily an unfinished website. Sometimes it just means you knew what to leave out.