What should a business website have? A practical checklist

The short answer

A business website should make clear within seconds what you do, who you do it for and how to reach you; show real proof of your work; load fast on phones; give each important service its own page; and publish a privacy policy if it collects personal data. If you sell online, local consumer law usually adds more requirements, and we cover the Colombian ones below.

What every visitor looks for first

Visitors usually arrive from Google, an ad or a referral, and they are comparing options. The first things they need to find are:

• What you do and who it is for, in one sentence at the top of the home page, without vague slogans.
• Your services or products, each on its own page: what is included, who it is for and how to hire you.
• Proof of your work: projects, your own photos, clients or case studies with results you can back up.
• Who you are: the company, the city or country you serve from and, when it applies, the team.
• How to reach you without searching: WhatsApp, phone, email and business hours visible on every page.

What makes a website trustworthy

Trust is built from details people can verify:

• Your own domain (yourcompany.com) and an email address on that domain instead of a free mailbox.
• A secure connection (HTTPS, the padlock in the browser) on every page.
• Real company details: legal name and, if you sell online, tax ID and address, along with your contact channels.
• Your own photos and screenshots instead of stock images that appear on other sites.
• Up-to-date information: current services, no expired promotions and no broken links.
• Policies linked in the footer: privacy, cookies and terms of use.

What a website needs to generate leads

A good-looking site that brings in no leads is not doing its job. To turn a visit into a conversation, every page needs one clear action: send a WhatsApp message, request a quote or buy. It helps when the WhatsApp button opens the chat with a message that already names the service the person is interested in, and when forms ask only for the data you need.

Answering questions before they come up also sells: how the process works, how long it takes, what you need from the client, payment options and coverage. A FAQ section on each service page covers much of that and also answers real searches on Google and on AI search tools.

The technical foundation to show up on Google

Google cannot rank what it cannot load or understand. The minimum:

• Fast loading on phones, where most visits come from.
• A unique title and description on every page, and a single main heading (H1) that says what the page is about.
• Clear, stable URLs (yourcompany.com/web-development/) without odd parameters.
• A sitemap (sitemap.xml) and a robots.txt file that does not block important pages.
• Organization structured data (name, logo, contact details and social profiles) so search engines can identify the company.
• Your property verified in Google Search Console, the only way to know which pages Google indexed and which searches you appear for.

Legal basics: privacy and cookies

If your website collects personal data, through a contact form, a sign-up or analytics, most countries require you to tell people what you collect, why and how they can exercise their rights. The details depend on where your customers are: in Colombia it is Law 1581 of 2012 and Decree 1377 of 2013, which require a published data processing policy and consent before collecting the data; in the United States, rules vary by state and by industry.

In Colombia, registering databases with the Superintendence of Industry and Commerce (RNBD) is only mandatory for companies and non-profits with assets above 100,000 UVT and for public entities (Decree 090 of 2018); every other company must still comply with Law 1581. Colombia has no cookie-specific law, but if you use analytics or advertising cookies that process personal data, it is good practice to explain them in a cookie policy.

Selling online to customers in Colombia

Article 50 of Law 1480 of 2011, Colombia’s Consumer Statute, sets obligations for anyone selling products online in the country. Among them:

• Identify the business: legal name, tax ID (NIT), address for legal notices, phone and email, clearly and kept up to date.
• Describe products accurately and show the total price including taxes, shipping costs separately, payment methods and delivery time.
• Show an order summary before payment and send an acknowledgment of the purchase.
• Offer a way to file requests, complaints and claims on the same site, with a date and time record.
• Explain the right of withdrawal and how to use it: for distance sales, customers have five business days from delivery to withdraw, with the exceptions set by law (Article 47).
• Include a visible link to the website of the Superintendence of Industry and Commerce, Colombia’s consumer protection authority.

Quick checklist

Run your site through this table. If something fails, start with whatever stops people from contacting you.

What your website does not need

Many sites lose leads to elements that add nothing: sliders that rotate before anyone can read them, pop-ups on arrival, heavy videos or animations that slow down mobile loading, autoplay music, generic copy that could belong to any company, and social media buttons more prominent than the contact button. Before adding something, ask whether it helps people understand you, trust you or contact you.

How we do it at PixelBot

This very site follows the checklist: one page per service with its own content and FAQ, real projects linked to the live websites, WhatsApp, phone and email on every page, a data processing policy under Colombian Law 1581, and lead tracking set up so we know which page starts each conversation.

When we build a company website, we deliver the same foundation: copy written for its customers, structured data, a sitemap, mobile speed and the legal policies that match what the site collects or sells. This article is a practical guide, not legal advice: for specific cases, review the rules with a lawyer in the country where you operate.