Small Business Website Launch Checklist

Start with the job your website has to do

Your site needs a job before it needs a design style. A local service business needs the site to answer three questions fast:

• What do you do?
• Where do you serve customers?
• How does someone book, call, or ask for a quote?

Write those answers in plain language. If a customer would not say the phrase out loud, keep cutting.

For many small businesses, a five-page site covers the core job: Home, About, Services, FAQ, and Contact. That fits the Patchwork Sites Launch package at $997 when you do not need a CMS.

Pick the right page count before design starts

Page count drives scope. Scope drives price and timeline.

Use this quick split:

Do not hide extra pages inside a vague project brief. Name them up front. A builder can price the work with fewer surprises, and you avoid awkward change-order talks halfway through the build.

Gather copy before you pay for polish

Your designer cannot fix missing facts. Before the build starts, collect the basics in one document:

• Business name, service area, phone number, email, and address if customers visit you
• Short description of each service
• Pricing notes if you show prices on the site
• Hours, booking link, intake form needs, and emergency contact rules
• Licenses, certifications, guarantees, or policies you want shown

Patchwork Sites does not sell standard copywriting as part of the base website packages. Bring the words. Rough notes are fine. A good build can structure them, but you still know the business better than anyone else.

Decide which photos are real and which can be stock

Bad photos can make a solid website look unfinished. No photos can slow the project down.

Sort your image plan into two buckets:

• Real photos you will provide: team, location, vehicles, products, completed work, or before-and-after examples you own
• Stock imagery you can use as support: backgrounds, industry context, or neutral page visuals

Patchwork includes stock imagery. You provide custom photos if you want your actual people, shop, truck, clinic, salon, or jobsite on the site.

Check the booking path like a customer

A booking embed works when the path makes sense. Open a private browser window and test the full flow:

1. Land on the home page.
2. Find the main call to action.
3. Click to book, call, or request a quote.
4. Submit a test request if the form allows it.
5. Confirm the right person receives the request.

If you use Calendly, Square, Google Calendar, a field-service app, or another booking tool, collect the embed link before the website build starts. Patchwork includes booking embeds across all tiers, but you still own the tool and account.

Set SEO basics before launch day

You do not need a giant SEO campaign to launch a clean local business website. You do need the basics done right.

Check each core page for:

• One clear page title
• One H1 that matches the page purpose
• Local service terms where they make sense
• Meta description that tells customers what to do next
• Internal links between related pages
• Fast mobile layout
• Contact details customers can find without hunting

If you need deeper SEO work, Patchwork offers SEO add-ons from $297 to $397. If you need ongoing strategy or content marketing, that needs a separate scope.

Choose your update plan before the site goes live

A website can launch clean and still fail later if nobody knows how updates happen.

Pick one path:

• You do not edit the site often. Launch can work without a CMS.
• You want to update services, hours, photos, announcements, or posts. Grow gives you Sanity CMS.
• You need multiple content types, custom forms, or integrations. Ask for a Custom quote.

For Grow and Custom builds, hosting and support can run $49 to $99 per month. If you want hands-off help after launch, budget for it now instead of treating it like a surprise later.

Confirm ownership and handoff

Before you approve a proposal, ask what you own after launch.

You should know:

• Who owns the domain
• Where the site is hosted
• Who controls the GitHub repo
• Who can make updates
• What happens if you stop monthly support

Patchwork Sites builds on a modern setup that avoids proprietary lock-in and includes GitHub repo handoff. You do not get trapped in a closed website builder just because you needed an affordable launch.

Run the final pre-launch pass

Use this last check before the site goes live:

• Phone number works on mobile
• Contact form sends to the right inbox
• Booking link opens the right calendar or tool
• Address links to the right map listing
• Hours match Google Business Profile
• Service area appears on the site
• Photos load on mobile
• Page titles and meta descriptions exist
• Favicon and social preview image appear
• Privacy and terms pages are linked if you use them

Do this pass on your phone. Your customers will.

Ready to pick a tier?

If you need a clean five-page site and no CMS, start with Launch at $997.

If you want to update content yourself, choose Grow at $1,797.

If your site needs eight or more pages, custom forms, API work, or multiple CMS content types, get a Custom quote.

Patchwork Sites keeps the scope clear so small businesses can stop overpaying for basic web work and still launch with a site that looks legitimate.