The Essential Website Checklist for Small Businesses

A client once showed me her new website, proud of the design. It looked great — until I tried to call her business from the site. No phone number anywhere. No WhatsApp link. No contact form. A beautiful website with no way for customers to reach her.

Here’s the checklist I wish every business owner had before going live.

The basics (non-negotiable)

1. Mobile-friendly design — test on your phone, not just your laptop. Over 80% of Rwandan internet users are on mobile
2. SSL certificate — your URL should show https://, not http://. Chrome marks non-SSL sites as “Not Secure”
3. Fast loading — under 3 seconds on mobile data. Test with Google PageSpeed Insights
4. Clear business name and what you do — visible within 1 second of landing
5. Contact information — phone, WhatsApp, email, location. Clickable on mobile

Content essentials

1. Services or products page — what you offer, with enough detail for someone to decide
2. About page — who you are, why you exist, why someone should trust you
3. Pricing information — even ranges. “Contact us for pricing” loses 70% of visitors
4. Real photos — of your work, your team, your space. Not stock photos
5. Call-to-action — every page should tell the visitor what to do next: “Book Now”, “Get a Quote”, “WhatsApp Us”

Technical must-haves

1. Google Analytics (or any analytics) — if you can’t measure visitors, you can’t improve
2. Google Business Profile — claim it and link it to your website
3. SEO basics — unique page titles, meta descriptions, heading structure
4. Working links — click every link on your site. Fix broken ones
5. Favicon — the small icon in the browser tab. Without it, your tab shows a generic icon

Bonus points

• Customer testimonials or reviews
• FAQ section addressing common questions
• A blog or insights section for SEO (you’re reading one right now)
• Social media links
• Privacy policy page (required if you collect any user data)

No website is perfect at launch. But getting these 15 items right means you’re ahead of 90% of small business websites in Rwanda. If you’re starting from scratch, services like Kisimenti build all of these into their standard packages — nothing to configure yourself.