A website checklist for Bairnsdale small businesses

Clear services, in plain words

Someone landing on your site should know within a few seconds what you do and whether you cover their area. The top of the home page should say something like “plumbing and gas fitting in Bairnsdale and surrounds”, not a slogan that could mean anything.

List your main services by the names customers actually use. If you travel to Paynesville, Lakes Entrance or further, say so. If there's something you don't do, saying that saves you phone calls too.

Where a service is a big part of your business, it's worth giving it its own page with a little more detail. That helps customers and search engines alike.

A contact form that actually works

A contact form lets people get in touch outside business hours, which is when a lot of people browse. But forms break quietly. Emails land in spam, or a setting changes, and nobody notices for weeks.

• Send yourself a test message every few months and check it arrives
• Ask only for what you need, such as name, contact details and a short message
• Show a clear confirmation once the form is sent
• Show your email address or other contact details as well, for people who prefer it
• Use simple spam protection, so you're not buried in junk

Your Google Business Profile, linked both ways

For local searches, your Google Business Profile (opens in a new tab) is often what people see first, with your hours, location, photos and reviews. Your website and your profile should point to each other.

Keep your business name, address or service area and contact details the same on both. If your hours change for public holidays, update both. Link to your Google reviews from your site rather than copying them, and never write reviews yourself.

A mobile layout that's easy to use

Open your site on your own phone and try to do what a customer would do. Check:

• Text is readable without zooming
• Buttons and links are big enough to tap easily
• Nothing runs off the side of the screen
• The contact form is easy to fill in on a small screen
• Your contact details are easy to find from any page

Speed: keep it light

Mobile coverage around East Gippsland isn't always great, so a heavy site can feel very slow. The usual causes are large photos straight off a camera, auto-playing videos and too many add-ons.

Resize and compress photos before uploading them. You can test your site for free with Google's PageSpeed Insights (opens in a new tab), which shows what's slowing it down. Don't chase a perfect score. Aim for a site that loads quickly on a phone.

Trust signals that are real

People want to know you're a real, local business. Things that genuinely help:

• Your ABN, and any licences or memberships relevant to your trade
• Real photos of you, your team or your work, rather than stock images
• A short, honest about section
• A link to your Google reviews

Never invent testimonials, statistics or client logos. It's misleading, and customers can usually tell.

The basics people forget

• The site loads over a secure https address
• You own the domain name, in your name or your business's name
• A privacy policy, if the site collects personal information through a form
• Opening hours, prices and staff details are still current
• Someone is responsible for updates and backups

If your business email runs on the same domain, it's worth having that checked too. Badly set up domain email is a common reason enquiries end up in spam. Email support covers that side.

Where my $600 website package fits

If your current site fails a few of these checks, or you don't have one, my $600 website package is built around this checklist: up to three pages, a mobile-friendly layout, a working contact form, basic search setup and help linking it all up.

If you're not sure what a site should cost, my guide to website costs in Bairnsdale explains the running costs too. For the computers and accounts behind the business, there's small business computer support.

Common questions