The best small business websites, and what to steal from each one.
Big brands have big budgets. These are owner-run businesses, most of them in Louisville, whose websites do the basics so well they are worth copying: say what you do, show who you are, and make the next step easy.
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Websites I have built for Kentucky businesses
The short answer
The best small business websites are not the flashiest. They say what the business does and where in the first screen, show real people and a real place, answer the practical questions (hours, location, how to order, what it costs to get started) and make one next step obvious on a phone.
Below are six Louisville businesses whose sites do that well, then five small business sites I built, each labeled as mine, with the one idea worth taking from each.
What makes the best small business websites
I judged every site on this page by the same five questions a customer asks without knowing it:
- What do you do, and where? The answer belongs in the first screen, in plain words.
- Are you real? Real photographs of the people and the place, a history if you have one, and a name behind the business.
- Can I do the thing I came for? Order, book, call, visit or ask, from any page.
- Did you answer my practical question? Hours, address, parking, shipping, how a tour works.
- Does it work in my hand? Most visits to a local business site start on a phone.
None of the sites below is perfect, and none needs to be. Each one does at least one of these things better than most of its competitors.
The first six are independent Louisville businesses, chosen only because their sites do something well. The last five are sites I built for clients, kept in their own section and labeled as mine, so you can weigh them knowing that.
Carmichael’s Bookstore, Louisville: booksellers with names
Carmichael’s describes itself as Louisville’s oldest independent bookstore, and its site sells books online alongside a busy calendar of author events, storytimes and book clubs.
The part worth studying is Staff Picks. Instead of a generic bestseller list, the page lists dozens of booksellers by name, each linking to the books they recommend. It is the online version of the person behind the counter who knows what you will like, and no chain can copy it.
The locations page is the other good habit: each of the three stores, including the separate children’s store, gets its own address, phone number, hours and map link.
Steal this: put your people’s names on your expertise. A recommendation from a named person sells better than a list from nobody.
Muth’s Candies, Louisville: a century of history, told in short stories
Muth’s has made candy on East Market Street since 1921, and its website at muthscandy.com treats that history as something to read, not a footnote. The homepage links to short stories, including the story of the Modjeska, and the story page walks through the decades with captioned photographs: the founding couple, the move forced by interstate construction in the 1960s, and the generations working together today.
The practical side is plain: a shop organized by product, and the store’s hours and phone number in the footer of every page. In hot months a notice at the top explains how shipped chocolate is packed.
Steal this: if your business has a history, break it into short stories a customer will actually read, and link them from the homepage.
Stoneware & Co., Louisville: selling an experience with the details up front
The pottery long known as Louisville Stoneware now trades as Stoneware & Co., and the old address forwards to the new Stoneware & Co. site, which is exactly how a name change should be handled.
The site sells dinnerware online, but its smartest pages sell experiences: a factory tour, paint your own pottery and handprint keepsakes. The tour page states the days, the times, the price and who to contact for a private group. The site even tells visitors which entrance to use. A heritage page traces the pottery back to 1815 and through each owner since.
Steal this: if people can visit you, answer every question about the visit on one page, down to the door they walk through.
Please & Thank You, Louisville: every way to buy, in one menu
Please & Thank You is a cookie and coffee shop with several locations around Louisville, and its main menu reads like a list of ways to give them money: ship cookies, the gift shop, locations and menu, office treats, grocery locations, wholesale, and order ahead or delivery.
Each café gets its own entry with its address, phone, the year it opened and a link to order ahead for pickup there. A long press section does the bragging, so the homepage can stay on the products.
Steal this: list every way a customer can buy from you in the main navigation. People who want to ship a gift and people who want to order for the office should both find their door in one glance.
Bourbon Barrel Foods, Louisville: a founder timeline and a reason to come back
Bourbon Barrel Foods makes barrel-aged soy sauce, bourbon-smoked spices and sauces in Butchertown. Its homepage opens with a single line about artisan food from the heart of Bourbon Country, then tells the company’s story as a short dated timeline, from the first batch in 2006 to a new storefront with tours and tastings in 2023.
Two things keep customers coming back. A Learn section holds recipes, stories and videos, so a buyer has a reason to return after the first bottle. And the visit page gives the address, store hours and tour times, with tours booked online.
Steal this: give customers something useful to come back for. Recipes, how-tos or project ideas turn a one-time sale into a habit.
Nanz & Kraft Florists, Louisville: the promise in the first line
The first headline on nanzandkraft.com is the whole pitch: flower and gift delivery in Louisville, since 1850. The phone number sits in the header, shopping is organized by occasion (birthday, sympathy, just because), and a ZIP code check shows what can be delivered to the recipient’s address before anyone reaches checkout.
The story page backs the headline with photographs of the people who run the shop and its greenhouse.
Steal this: write your first headline as the promise a customer is shopping for, including where you serve and how long you have done it. Then let them check, early, whether you can serve them.
Five small business sites I built, and the idea in each
These are my own work, so judge them by the same five questions. Each is a small, owner-run Kentucky business.
- Old Mill Venue, Meade County (a site I built). A wedding venue that leads with atmosphere, photographed on the ground and from the air, then answers pricing, galleries, FAQs, directions and availability, because that is the order couples decide in. The inquiry form asks them to check their date. *Steal this:* put the emotional reason first and the logistics second. Old Mill Venue case study.
- Legacy Cooperages, Bardstown (a site I built). A cooperage whose whole site points at one action, the barrel quote, with nearly every photograph shot on the cooperage floor and above it. *Steal this:* decide the one action that matters and end every page with it. Legacy Cooperages case study.
- Heimerdinger Cutlery, Louisville (a store I built and run). A family business since 1861 with about a thousand products in 176 categories, live UPS shipping rates and its sharpening service sold online as a product. *Steal this:* if you sell a service at the counter, put it online next to the products. Heimerdinger case study.
- Cardinal Wings Aviation, Louisville (a site I built). A flight school at Bowman Field where each kind of training has its own page and the discovery flight is never more than a tap away, illustrated with the real aircraft I photographed on the ramp. *Steal this:* give each kind of customer a door with their name on it. Cardinal Wings case study.
- Lakeside Boat Storage, Lake Cumberland (a site I refreshed). Deliberately simple: new aerial photographs, a video tour, four bay sizes with annual pricing in one grid and a call button in the header of every page. *Steal this:* if your offer is simple, keep the site simple and put the prices where people can see them. Lakeside Boat Storage refresh.
How to use these examples on your own site
You do not need a redesign to borrow most of these ideas. Start with an afternoon and this list:
- Rewrite your first headline as what you do, where, and for whom.
- Replace stock photographs with real ones of your people, your place and your work.
- Put the phone number in the header and your hours and address in the footer of every page.
- Give each service, product line or kind of customer its own page.
- Pick the one action that matters most and end every page with it.
- Open your site on your phone and try to do that action with one thumb.
If the site cannot do those things without a fight, that is when it is worth talking about small business website design or a website redesign. If you are pricing it out, start with what affects the cost of a small business website.
Frequently asked questions
What makes a good small business website?
It says what you do and where in the first screen, shows real people and a real place, answers practical questions like hours and location, and makes one next step easy on a phone. Design matters, but clarity matters more.
How many pages does a small business website need?
Enough to give each service or product line and each kind of customer its own page, plus a story page and a contact page. For many local businesses that is somewhere between a handful and a couple of dozen pages.
Should a small business website show prices?
Show them wherever you can. A grid of sizes and rates, a starting price or a clear explanation of what changes the price all help customers qualify themselves before they call.
Can I build a small business website myself?
You can, and a website builder is a reasonable start. Most owners outgrow it when they need pages that rank, forms that feed their workflow or a store that handles real shipping and inventory.
How long does a small business website take to build?
Usually weeks, not months. The schedule depends on how many page types the site needs and who supplies the words and photographs.
One job on every page: the barrel quote.
Legacy Cooperages sells to distilleries choosing the wood their whiskey will live in for years. The site shows the people, the staves, the char and the scale of the operation, then gets out of the way of the request.
Navigation, page endings and calls to action all lead to the quote, so a busy buyer never has to hunt for the next step, on a desk or a phone.
Want your site on a list like this?
Tell me what your business does and what the website needs to make easier. I will tell you what I would change first, from the person who would build it.
