The Great Business Website Formula
Created 2011, from an actual NW eSource client flyer · updated August 2026. Nine things a small business website needs to be your best salesperson — recovered from our own archive, built for real clients whose sites you'll see below, and brought current for a web with Core Web Vitals, plugin security, and AI answer engines. The original nine points held up remarkably well; we added a tenth for what 2011 couldn't have seen coming.
How the Great Business Website Formula works
A website has one job: be the best salesperson your business has, working around the clock. That job breaks into nine parts — the exact nine we handed clients in 2011, on a single-page flyer, back when "the internet" was still something a small business owner had to be talked into.
- 1 · Wow Factor Graphics — design that takes people's breath away, and keeps performing.
- 2 · Call to Action Content — the page guides the visitor instead of leaving them to figure it out.
- 3 · CMS Website Engine — a site you can log into and edit yourself, not one you have to call someone about.
- 4 · Integrated Blog — the breath in the website; keeps it current and builds authority.
- 5 · Live Testimonials Form — happy customers get to say so, right on the site.
- 6 · Email Signup Form — a soft ask for the visitor who isn't ready to call yet.
- 7 · Header Email & Phone — contacting you never takes an extra click.
- 8 · Sidebar Contact Forms — after-hours visitors can still reach you without hunting for a page.
- 9 · Custom Get a Quote — the ready-to-buy visitor starts customizing their order right there.
From the 2011 original“The Great Business Website Formula — a well built website is your best business tool!” That was the whole pitch, printed across the top of a flyer we handed to clients fifteen years ago. It's still the whole pitch. The nine things underneath it changed less than you'd think.
The nine points, in plain English
The same nine things, in the words of the original flyer — what each one is, and why it still does the job.
1 · Wow Factor Graphics
Your website should literally take people's breath away when they first see it. It should continue to perform and remain contemporary.
2 · Call to Action Content
The user experience on a website should be guided — people want help making the right decision.
3 · CMS Website Engine (WordPress)
Editable, expandable & updateable — WordPress is here to stay and easy to learn, you can log in and make changes.
4 · Integrated Blog
The breath in your website — a blog keeps it current and establishes you as a thought leader in your industry.
5 · Live Testimonials Form
Customers feel like they are contributing to your success when they are happy with your service.
6 · Email Signup Form
Not everybody is ready for a phone call so they won't submit their full information — but they may want more information from you for a purchase later.
7 · Header Email & Phone
Getting ahold of you should be easy and shouldn't even require an extra click.
8 · Sidebar Contact Forms
After hours customers can't call you — sidebar contact forms mean they don't even have to click anywhere else to submit their information.
9 · Custom Get a Quote
This allows the customer who is ready to buy now to start customizing their order — by taking ownership they walk themselves further down the sales path and save your consultants time on the phone.
The original Great Business Website Formula flyer, 2011
This flyer is real — recovered from our own client materials, files dated 2011, and preserved exactly as it looked, real client sites and all. We don't have a confirmed date it first went out the door, so we're not going to claim one; what we know is that it was created and used in 2011, the same year and the same client era as our Local Search Marketing Formula.
Front and back of the original flyer, from NW eSource's client materials, circa 2011 — recovered from our own archive and preserved unchanged. Click either side to view it full size.
What your website content actually has to do
The back of the same flyer broke the formula down one layer further — what the content on your site must accomplish, how we get it there, and a real example for each. We've kept every row, example included.
| The content must: | How we do that: | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Speak to their situation | A problem, as a question | “Are you tired of…?” |
| Alleviate their top concerns | A paragraph | “Some people worry that… well no more!” |
| Demonstrate market leadership | A value proposition | “The Local Leader In…” |
| Provide value comparatively | A paragraph and/or image | “Our competition charges X but only gives you Y…” |
| Show a positive track record | Testimonials | detailsbymark.com/comments.htm |
| Compellingly invite the sale | A coupon or contact form | “Spring Special gets you…” |
| Answer any other questions | An FAQ page or FAQs on service pages | “How long until the service is complete?” |
The example, and what he actually saidThe flyer's own table cites a real client's site — Details By Mark, an auto detailer — as the example of doing testimonials right. We still have what that client told us about the work behind it: “Northwest eSource built me two websites and called me every day with the leads — so far we have had 96 leads! I have a feeling it is only going to get better. I am #2 AND #3 on Google for Portland Oregon Auto Detail.” — Mark Haffey, Details By Mark.
What’s changed about business websites since 2011 — and what hasn’t
This formula has been sitting in our client files since local search was new. Here's an honest accounting of what fifteen years did to it.
Still true
Contact information on every page. Real testimonials. A clear call to action. An FAQ that answers the question before somebody has to call and ask. The flyer's own checklist — nine keys to a quality website, seven top website issues — reads like it was written for 2026, not 2011. We didn't touch it. See it below.
What changed
Wow Factor Graphics now has to survive a Core Web Vitals check and a mobile-first crawl — a slow “wow” site never gets seen by Google or a human. WordPress is still the right engine, but plugin bloat and security debt are now the number one real-world killer: our own audit of 1,800 small business websites found 48% stale or neglected. Sidebar contact forms lost ground to click-to-call, SMS, and booking widgets, because most of that traffic is a thumb now, not a mouse. And the blog is still the breath in the website — it just also feeds the AI answer engines now, not only Google.
New for 2026
Schema and structured data didn't exist as a real factor in 2011 — search engines mostly read what a human would read. In 2026 it's the label that tells Google and AI answer engines exactly who you are, what you do, and where you work, and it's often the difference between getting cited and getting skipped. We added it as the formula's tenth point; it's also the core of our GEO service.
The other sixteen items, recovered verbatim
The back of the flyer also listed nine “keys to a quality website” and seven of the most common website problems. Read them next to each other — they still describe exactly what separates a site that works from one that doesn't.
NW eSource’s keys to a quality website
- Stunning & balanced graphic design
- Contact information on every page
- Usability, simplicity — fun!
- Compelling content, written for the viewer
- Compelling calls to action
- Customer testimonials
- Well-positioned, smart contact forms
- Sales process guidance
- Establish your authority
Top website issues we still find
- The website appears incomplete or has limited information
- Contact information isn't on every page
- There are no customer testimonials
- There are no compelling offers or calls to action
- The graphics need an upgrade — readability, appeal, and leads
- The site isn't optimized for Google (title, headings, keywords & links)
- The site has a major design flaw — it sends visitors to another website
A great business website, done for you — one flat price
Everything above is the formula — yours to use. Where we come in is execution: the design, the CMS setup and security, the copy that speaks to your customer's situation, the testimonials and contact forms, and the schema that gets you cited. Most rebuilds start with a free look at what you already have.
Great Business Website Formula questions, answered directly
What owners ask about this formula — answered first-sentence, no mysticism.
What is the Great Business Website Formula?
It's NW eSource's nine-point framework for a small business website that actually works, created in 2011 from real client work: Wow Factor Graphics, Call to Action Content, a CMS you can edit yourself, an Integrated Blog, Live Testimonials, an Email Signup Form, Header Email & Phone, Sidebar Contact Forms, and a Custom Get a Quote form. We updated it for 2026 with a tenth point — schema and structured data — everything else held up.
Does a website formula from 2011 still apply in 2026?
Mostly, yes. The nine original points were never about trends — they were about removing friction between a visitor and a decision, which doesn't go out of style. What changed is the terrain underneath a few of them: wow factor now has to survive a Core Web Vitals check, WordPress is still the right engine but plugin bloat is now the real risk, and a sidebar form now competes with click-to-call and SMS. We kept the spine and updated the parts the internet actually changed.
What's the single biggest problem with small business websites today?
Neglect. NW eSource audited 1,800 small business websites and found 48% were stale or neglected — outdated plugins, abandoned blogs, broken contact forms, nobody minding the site after launch. The 2011 flyer's own “Top Website Issues” list — incomplete information, missing contact info, no testimonials, no compelling offer — reads like a description of exactly what neglect produces.
Why does WordPress plugin security matter so much more now than in 2011?
In 2011, WordPress's editability was the selling point — you could log in and make changes yourself. That's still true, but running a CMS for fifteen years without maintenance is how sites accumulate outdated plugins, unpatched vulnerabilities, and abandoned themes. The CMS didn't get worse; the accumulated debt on unmaintained sites did. A CMS is only an asset if somebody keeps it current.
What is schema, and why didn't the 2011 formula mention it?
Schema is structured data — a machine-readable label on your page that tells Google, an AI answer engine, or a voice assistant exactly what your business is, what you offer, and where you work. It wasn't a meaningful ranking or citation factor in 2011; search engines mostly read what a human would read. In 2026, AI answer engines lean on schema to decide who to cite, which is why we added it as the formula's tenth point.
How is this different from the Local Search Marketing Formula?
The Local Search Marketing Formula is about being found — showing up in the Map pack, organic results, and AI answers for local searches. The Great Business Website Formula is about what happens once someone lands on your site: whether the page itself does its job, looks good, builds trust, and converts a visitor into a lead. They're companion formulas — one gets the traffic, the other keeps it.
Can I apply this formula to my own website myself?
Yes — that was the point of the original flyer, and it's the point of this page. Wow-factor design, a call to action on every page, contact info in the header, a testimonials page, an FAQ — none of that requires us. Where it gets harder is the CMS security work, the schema markup, and the page-speed engineering behind Core Web Vitals; that's the part most owners hand off.
What does NW eSource charge to rebuild a website using this formula?
One flat price, not a per-page or per-feature bill. We start most rebuilds with a free scan of your current site and a free rebuild offer, so you know exactly what's broken and what it costs to fix before anything is agreed to.
One of a growing set of formulas.
The Great Business Website Formula joins the Local Search Marketing Formula as part of a growing set of NW eSource formulas — named frameworks, kept current, free to use. Two more are in the works.
Where's your website leaking business?
Pick the situation that fits. Free assessment — no commitment, no pitch.
Free assessment. No commitment. No pitch.