Start by defining what you want the site to do: generate leads, sell products, or provide information. That determines your navigation structure and primary calls-to-action. Most small business sites need 5–8 pages maximum: Home, About, Services or Products, Contact, and maybe Blog or Portfolio. More pages without traffic dilute authority and complicate maintenance. Choose a mobile-first layout because 60–70% of small business traffic comes from phones in most Canadian markets. Put your phone number and contact button in the header on every page. Use a single-column layout on mobile with clear hierarchy: headline, value proposition, proof element (testimonial or photos), and action button above the fold. Desktop can expand to two columns if needed. Speed matters more than features. Pick lightweight hosting (not bottom-tier shared plans that cram 500 sites on one server) and a simple theme with minimal plugins. Aim for under 3 seconds load time on mobile. Each second of delay past that costs you 7–10% of conversions in our testing. Compress images to 100–200 KB each using WebP format where possible. For content, write for humans first: explain what you do, who you serve, and why you're different in plain language. Small businesses often bury their service list or hide their service area, then wonder why calls don't come. Make both obvious. Include your city and region in headers and footers if local clients matter. Skip these common traps: auto-playing videos, complex mega-menus, homepage sliders (they reduce conversions 15–20% in A/B tests), and stock photos of handshake guys in suits. Use real photos of your work, your team, or your location. If budget allows, invest in 5–10 professional photos rather than a fancy slider or animation library. At Ottawa SEO, we typically deliver small business sites on WordPress with Oxygen or Bricks builder, hosted on LiteSpeed servers. Total build ranges from 8–20 hours depending on custom design needs and content volume. The goal is a site you can update yourself without breaking layout or speed.