Small-business website launch checklist (dentist, trades, cafe)

Published 2026-10-20 by Sidecar Tools. For freelancers and owners putting a local business online. Work through it top to bottom; every item is something visitors or search engines actually notice. Hosting terms change, so the hosting section links each provider's own page.

1. The pages you actually need

Most local businesses need four pages, not twelve. Visitors come to answer three questions: can you help me, how much, and how do I book.

2. Content to gather before you touch the code

• Business name, address and phone written exactly as on your Google Business Profile (consistency helps local search).
• Opening hours, including holiday and emergency hours.
• Service area (trades): list the towns or postcodes you cover.
• Prices or price ranges. "From $X" beats no price at all for most visitors.
• Real photos of your premises, team and work. Stock or AI images are fine as placeholders, but replace them before launch where you can.
• 3-6 genuine FAQ answers you already give on the phone.
• Licence, registration or insurance details your trade or profession requires you to show (rules vary by state and country; check your licensing board).
• Allergen and dietary information (food businesses), kept in sync with what you actually serve.
• A short privacy notice, especially if the site has a form.

3. Make the booking or contact form actually send

A static HTML site has no server, so a form needs a form service to deliver submissions to your inbox. Common options: Netlify Forms (if you host on Netlify), Formspree, or Basin. Each has a free allowance; check its current limits against how many enquiries you expect.

• Point the form's action at the service and remove any demo-only JavaScript that stops submission.
• Send a test from your phone and confirm it arrives (check spam too).
• Turn on the service's spam protection (honeypot field or CAPTCHA).
• Reply-time promise next to the button, e.g. "We reply within one working day."
• Health practices: a general-purpose form service is not the place for clinical details. Ask only for name, contact details and preferred times, and take medical history at the appointment, unless your form provider will sign a HIPAA Business Associate Agreement (US) or meets your local equivalent.

4. Hosting: pick one whose free plan allows a business site

This is the step people get wrong. Several popular free tiers exclude commercial use, and a business's own website counts as commercial.

• Buy the domain in the business's name and account, not the freelancer's.
• Connect the domain and confirm HTTPS (the padlock) works on both example.com and www.example.com.

5. Before you share the link

• Open every page on a phone. Tap the phone number: it should start a call (href="tel:...").
• Every page has its own <title> and meta description naming the service and town.
• Every image has alt text that describes it; decorative images get empty alt.
• Images resized for the web (a hero photo rarely needs to be over ~300 KB).
• Favicon set; no "Lorem ipsum", demo names or placeholder phone numbers left (search all files for them).
• Links checked, including the map and social links.
• If you add analytics or embedded maps, your privacy notice says so, and you follow your region's cookie rules.

6. After launch

• Add the website link to your Google Business Profile.
• Verify the site in Google Search Console and submit a sitemap.xml.
• Ask happy customers to review you on Google, not on your own site (self-hosted reviews carry little weight with visitors).
• Put a reminder in the calendar to update hours, prices and menu every season.