What to put on a small shop's website: the essential pages

When someone asks me for a website for their shop, they nearly always arrive with the same mental list: "I want it to look nice, show up on Google and work on mobile". All fine, but that is like saying you want a shop with good lighting. The real question is a different one: what has to be inside so that people who come in find what they are looking for and do not walk straight back out. And the answer is much shorter than you think.

In short: a small shop's website needs very few pages, but well made ones. A home page that says what you sell and where, a products or services page, an about page, a contact page with address and opening hours, and the legal pages required by law (legal notice, privacy and cookies). If you sell online, add terms of sale with clear shipping and returns. Everything else is optional.

Think of your website as your physical shop

I have spent my whole life building window displays and in-store journeys, and a website works exactly the same way. The home page is your shop window: it has to stop people in three seconds. Product pages are your tables and shelves. The contact page is the counter, where someone asks you a question. And the legal pages are the licence on the wall: nobody comes in to read it, but if it is missing, you are taking a risk.

With that in mind it is easier to see why you do not need twenty pages. No small shop has twenty rooms. It has an entrance, a sales floor, a counter and a back room. That is it.

1. The home page: what you sell, to whom and where

It is the page that gets the most visits and the one most often wasted. Many people fill it with a gorgeous video and a poetic line and forget the basics. Three things must be clear on the home page without scrolling: what you sell, who you sell it to and where you are (or where you ship).

• +A headline that says what you do in plain words, the ones your customers would use to search for you.
• +A main button that leads to your best seller, not to "learn more".
• +A real photo of your shop or your product, not a stock image.
• +Address and opening hours in sight, even if only in the footer.

2. Products or services: a page that explains itself

If you have an online shop, this is where your categories and product pages go. If you do not sell online, one page showing what you have and what it costs is enough, even as a guide by product family. What cannot be missing is the price, when there is one. A website without prices forces customers to write and ask, and most of them do not write: they open another tab.

On product pages, fewer, well chosen words are better: what it is, what it is made of, sizes or measurements, care and delivery time. And photos with the same background and light across the whole catalogue, because consistency sells too.

3. Who is behind it

The "about us" page looks like a luxury and it is exactly the opposite. It is the one thing a big chain cannot copy from you. Tell people who you are, how long you have been at it, why you do what you do and where your shop is. With a real photo of you, not a model smiling with folded arms.

4. Contact: the page that sells most and gets least care

Many people visit a small shop's website only to find out where it is, when it opens or how to call. If that information is hidden, you have lost a visit that already came wanting to buy. A good contact page has:

• +Full address, including the floor if there is one, and a map.
• +Real opening hours, including bank holidays and summer.
• +A phone number you can tap on mobile, and WhatsApp if you answer it.
• +A short form: name, email and message. Not fifteen fields.

And all of it must match your Google Maps listing to the letter. I explained it in the post about the Google Business Profile: if your address or hours say one thing on the website and another on Google, you are the one who loses.

5. Legal pages: boring, but mandatory

There is no opinion here, it is the law. In Spain, if your website has an economic activity, article 10 of Law 34/2002 on information society services (LSSI) requires you to show, permanently and free of charge, your identity, tax ID, address and a direct contact. That is the legal notice. You also need a privacy policy if you collect data (even through a contact form) and a cookie policy if you use analytics or any non-technical cookie. As the Spanish consumer association FACUA points out, breaching the LSSI can be treated as a serious infringement, with fines from 30,001 to 150,000 euros.

Advice from someone who has seen a lot of websites: do not copy another shop's legal texts and just change the name. Every website collects different data and uses different tools. And if in doubt, have a lawyer check them.

6. If you sell online: shipping, returns and clear terms

If your website has a basket, add a terms of sale page explaining what shipping costs, how long it takes and how to return an item. Spanish consumer law gives online buyers 14 calendar days to withdraw from a purchase, and you have to say so. It also works in your favour: according to a 2024 Baymard Institute survey, 48% of US shoppers who abandoned a basket did so because extra costs (shipping, tax, fees) were too high. If the shipping cost appears by surprise at the last step, the customer leaves.

What can wait (and what you do not need)

A blog, a full online shop, a customer area or a newsletter are great when you have the time and the products to feed them. If not, it is better to start with a small, solid website than a big, empty one. One thing I do recommend even before you open: a simple page that says who you are, what you are going to do and how to get notified. That is what we did with Manta Zamorana. That way Google already knows you on the day you raise the shutter.

My minimum list, so you can print it

• +Home page: what you sell, to whom and where.
• +Products or services, with prices.
• +Who is behind it, with a real photo.
• +Contact: address, opening hours, phone and map.
• +Legal notice, privacy and cookies.
• +If you sell online: terms of sale, shipping and returns.

Six pieces. With that, a small shop has a website that complies with the law, is understood at first glance and gives Google what it needs to show you. If you want to go further, this same blog covers the most common SEO and conversion mistakes in online shops and how much a website really costs.