The short answer. To build your business website, work in this order:
- Decide what the site must bring in: calls, quote requests, bookings or sales.
- Pick the type of site (brochure, online store or web app) and how to build it: builder, WordPress, AI tool or professional.
- Register a domain name in your company's name and prepare your legal pages.
- Gather your content: copy, photos, logo, reviews and prices.
- Build the essential pages, test them on a phone, then launch.
- Tell Google about the site, set up your Google Business Profile and count the enquiries you get.
Decide what the website must achieve
A business website isn't a brochure that happens to be online: it's a sales tool. Before you think about colours or technology, answer three questions.
- Who needs to find it? Someone typing “electrician near me” on their phone expects something different from a buyer comparing three suppliers.
- What should visitors do? Call, request a quote, book, order or visit your shop. Pick one main action and let it shape every page.
- How will you know it works? Count the calls, forms and bookings that come from the site. Without that number, you can't tell whether it pays for itself.
Write the answers down: that one-page brief will help you choose a tool and compare quotes like for like.
Brochure site, online store or web app?
| Type | What it does | Good fit for |
|---|---|---|
| Brochure website | Presents your business and generates calls and enquiries | Trades, professional services, restaurants, local businesses |
| Online store | Sells online with a catalogue, checkout and order management | Retailers, makers, producers |
| Web app | Bookings, customer accounts, online quotes, internal tools or a SaaS product | Businesses whose customer journey doesn't fit a template |
When in doubt, start simple and plan for what comes next. That's how we approached Kalao Pizza, an artisan pizzeria near Montpellier: first a fast site with a database-driven menu, then an online cart trialled in beta.
The type of site also drives most of the budget. For sourced price ranges, see our guide to what a small business website costs.
Builder, AI tool or professional?
There's no perfect option, only options that fit your budget, time and ambitions better or worse.
| Option | Best if… | Strengths | Limits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Website builder (Wix, Squarespace, Shopify…) | Small budget, simple needs, some spare time each week | Quick to learn, hosting included | Template look, fewer SEO controls, hard to move elsewhere |
| WordPress | You want a flexible, widely used platform | A huge choice of plugins and developers | Updates and security to manage, paid plugins that add up |
| AI website generator | You want to test an idea or get a first draft | A first version in minutes | Generic copy to check; SEO, tracking and compliance still to do |
| Professional (freelancer or agency) | The site must bring in business, stand out or do something specific | Strategy, custom design, technical SEO, support | Higher upfront cost, a few weeks of lead time |
When a builder like Wix is enough
Let's be honest: for many small businesses, a builder does the job. If you're just starting, money is tight and your needs fit in five pages (home, services, about, reviews, contact), Wix or Squarespace will serve you well. Choose a clean template, put real effort into your words and photos, and check from day one that you can keep your domain if you switch tools.
The real cost of a builder is your time: learning it, writing, updating, tuning SEO. Without that time, the cheapest option can cost you customers.
Building your site with AI: what works and what doesn't
It's the big trend of 2026: most builders now offer an assistant that generates a site from a few questions, and tools like ChatGPT or Claude can write copy or even code a page. To clarify your offer or beat the blank page, they save real time.
The limits show up quickly: copy that sounds like your competitors', made-up details to check (opening hours, prices, guarantees), code that's hard to evolve, and nothing in place for cookie consent or lead tracking. Google doesn't penalise text because AI helped write it; it acts against content mass-produced to manipulate rankings, as its guidance on AI-generated content explains. What counts is usefulness: your photos, your prices, your work.
When is an agency worth it?
Hiring a professional makes sense once the site has a real commercial job to do, for example when:
- the site has to generate enquiries every week, and every lead matters;
- you want a brand that looks like you, not a template seen a hundred times;
- you need a specific feature: bookings, online quotes, customer accounts, a link to your till or CRM;
- you're redesigning an existing site and can't afford to lose your rankings;
- you simply don't have the time, because your business comes first.
One example: hair salons often depend on booking platforms that take a commission and own the customer relationship. That's why we built Salon, our online booking engine: the diary lives on the salon's own website, with no platform commission or subscription.
That's our everyday work as a website design agency, on site around Montpellier or remotely: start from your goal, then build the simplest thing that reaches it.
Domain, hosting and legal basics
Your domain name
It's your address on the web (yourbusiness.com). Keep it short, easy to say over the phone and close to your business name. A country extension (.fr, .co.uk) reassures local customers; .com suits an international business. In France, a domain typically costs €5 to €50 a year before VAT, according to France Num (in French).
Hosting
Your host keeps the site online around the clock. With a builder, hosting is part of the plan; otherwise, France Num cites simple hosting from about €5 a month before VAT, more for a database-driven site or a store. Beyond price, check speed, automatic backups, HTTPS and support.
Legal pages, privacy and cookies
The rules depend on where your business is based. In France, every business website must publish a legal notice (mentions légales) with the company's identity and registration number, contact details, VAT number where applicable, the name of the publication director and the host's details. The official checklist is in French.
In the EU, the GDPR covers the personal data your contact form collects, so publish a privacy policy. Analytics or ad trackers that set cookies generally need consent, and in France the CNIL (in French) requires refusing to be as easy as accepting. Elsewhere, check your local rules.
The pages every small business site needs
An effective brochure site usually fits in five to eight pages, each with a clear job.
| Page | Its job | What to include |
|---|---|---|
| Home | Say in seconds what you do, where and for whom | One clear sentence, your area, a call to action, proof (reviews, work) |
| Services | Explain each key service, ideally one page per service | What's included, who it's for, timelines, “from” prices if you can |
| Work | Prove what you can do | Real photos, before and after, context, a client quote |
| About | Build trust | Your story, your team, your commitments, real photos |
| Contact | Make it easy to get in touch | Tap-to-call number, short form, address or service area, opening hours |
Content that makes the difference
- Your own photos beat any stock image: your premises, your team, your projects, your food.
- Copy in your customers' words: “bathroom renovation in Montpellier” rather than “innovative interior solutions”.
- A visible call to action on every page, especially on mobile: call, book, request a quote.
- Prices, even indicative ones: a range reassures people and filters out enquiries that aren't a fit.
Content is what delays most projects. Prepare it early, whether you build the site yourself or with a provider; it's also the first step of our process.
Getting found on Google from day one
A new site won't reach page one on its own, but a few steps at launch lay solid foundations:
- A unique title and description for each page, with your trade and your town, for example “Plumber in Montpellier: repairs and renovation”.
- One page per service rather than a catch-all page.
- A fast, mobile-friendly site: compressed images, no heavy animations, text readable without zooming.
- Google Search Console: verify your site and submit its sitemap so Google discovers your pages quickly.
- A Google Business Profile: for a local business, it's often what shows up first, on Google Maps. It's free.
- Structured data (address, opening hours, business type) to help Google understand who you are.
- Your first customer reviews, requested from your very first jobs.
Google's own SEO Starter Guide is a good next read, with no technical background needed. As for Google's AI-generated answers, they rely on the same ranking systems as regular search, so no special file is required: clear pages that answer your customers' questions directly are what count.
How long until you're visible? For local, specific searches, first results often appear within 3 to 6 months; competitive keywords commonly take 6 to 12 months or more. Be wary of guaranteed top spots: Google itself says no one can guarantee a number one ranking.
After launch, the work continues: reviews, social media, local ads. Our guide on how to grow your business online covers the nine steps we recommend to small businesses.