You already sell on WhatsApp and post on Facebook, so paying for a website can feel like a waste. Yet the same questions arrive every day: how much is it, are you open on Sunday, where exactly are you, which number do I pay?
The short answer: most small businesses don't need a big website. They need one page that answers those questions, a free Google Business Profile so people can find it, and a QR code that sends customers to it. All three can be free, apart from printing.
Why WhatsApp and Facebook are not enough on their own
WhatsApp and Facebook are good for talking to customers who already know you. They are weaker at bringing in new ones.
- WhatsApp works once someone has your number. A customer who has never met you has to find that number first.
- Facebook posts scroll away. The price list you posted in March is buried under everything since, and not every customer uses Facebook.
- Google is where people search. Google had about 97% of search engine use in Kenya in October 2026 (StatCounter). A Business Profile puts you on Google Search and Maps (Google), and your page gives the full answers.
Not everyone is online. DataReportal counted about 23.4 million internet users in Kenya in October 2025, around four in ten people (DataReportal). So a website does not replace your signboard, your phone or word of mouth. It adds one more way in.
If nearly all your customers are regulars who pass by every day, like a mama mboga's, a website will change little for now. If you want new customers, deliveries or orders from people who have never seen your shop, one page helps.
What customers check before they visit or order
These five answers belong on your page, because they are what people ask before they come or pay:
- Prices. Your main items and their prices, or a starting price for a service.
- Opening hours. Every day of the week, including Sunday, and any changes for public holidays.
- Location. The town and area, a landmark ("behind the county offices") and a map link. If you deliver, the areas you cover and the charge.
- How to pay. Your Till, your Paybill and account number, or your Pochi la Biashara, and the name M-Pesa shows, so customers know the money reaches you. Still choosing one? See Till, Paybill or Pochi la Biashara.
- How to order. A WhatsApp button, a phone number, and what to send: the item, how many, and where to deliver.
Example: what the same questions cost you
A made-up example. A hardware shop in Thika gets 12 messages a day asking for a price or directions, and each takes about 2 minutes to answer. That is 12 x 2 = 24 minutes a day. Over 26 working days it comes to 624 minutes, more than 10 hours a month. With a page that has the answers, many of those replies can become one link.
What a good one-page website has
From top to bottom, as it shows on a phone:
- Your name, what you sell and where, in one line. For example: "Water refills and delivery in Milimani, Kisumu".
- Buttons to order on WhatsApp and to call. A WhatsApp link is wa.me/ followed by your number in international format, with no plus sign, spaces or first zero, so 07XX XXX XXX becomes wa.me/2547XXXXXXXX (WhatsApp).
- Prices for your main items or services.
- Opening hours for each day.
- Where to find you: area, landmark, map link, and your delivery areas and charges.
- How to pay: your M-Pesa numbers and the name that shows.
- A few real photos: the shop front, so people recognise it, and your main products.
What it does not need: many pages, a blog, a login or card payments. Being right matters more than design. A wrong price or old opening hours do more harm than a plain page, so check yours on the first of every month and on the day a price changes.
When a bigger website is worth paying for
- You sell across Kenya and send orders by courier, so customers need a full catalogue.
- You need many pages, such as a school's programmes, a hotel's rooms or a training centre's courses.
- You want your own web address (a domain), such as yourname.co.ke. These .ke names are registered through registrars accredited by KENIC, which runs the .ke registry, and you renew them with your registrar (KENIC).
Until then, one correct page beats a big site nobody updates.
Set up a free Google Business Profile
A Google Business Profile is the panel with your name, map pin, hours, phone number and photos that shows on Google Search and Maps. Adding or claiming one costs nothing (Google).
- Go to business.google.com/add and follow the steps. Pick the category that fits you best.
- Add your phone number, opening hours (with special hours for holidays), photos and the link to your one-page website. Restaurants and cafés can add a menu with prices (Google).
- Verify it. Google picks the method for you, such as a phone call or text, an email, a live video call or a postcard, and its review can take up to five business days (Google).
- No shop for customers to visit? If you deliver or go to customers (a boda delivery, a mobile salon, a plumber), remove your address and list the areas you serve instead, up to 20 of them (Google).
Google reviews changes before they show on your profile (Google), so update your hours a few days before they change.
QR codes on posters and receipts
A QR code is a square pattern a phone can scan to open a link. Point yours at your one-page website and put it where customers already look:
- a poster at the counter and on the door;
- receipts and delivery notes (a stamp or a sticker works on handwritten receipts);
- delivery bags, containers and the side of the van;
- business cards and flyers.
Before you print a hundred copies:
- Test it with two or three different phones, from where a customer would stand.
- Print the web address under it, for phones that can't scan.
- Say what they will get: "Scan for prices and to order on WhatsApp".
How to get a free one-page website
With a free Risiti account, your business gets its own website at risiti.ai/your-business-name. It shows what you sell and the prices, your opening hours, where to find you and the M-Pesa numbers to pay, and customers can send orders and bookings straight to your WhatsApp. It also gives you a QR code to print on posters. More on the business website.
Then put the link everywhere customers already meet you: your Google Business Profile, your Facebook page and your WhatsApp profile. That way every one of them points to the same page, and it is the right one.
What to do today
- Write down your answers to the five questions: prices, hours, location, how to pay and how to order.
- Put them on one page, your own site or a free business website.
- Create or claim your Google Business Profile and add the page's link.
- Print the QR code and put it at the counter and on your receipts.
- Set a reminder for the first of each month to check your prices and hours.
Sources
- StatCounter: Search engine market share in Kenya, October 2026
- DataReportal: Digital 2026: Kenya
- Google: Get started with Google Business Profile
- Google: Add or claim your Business Profile
- Google: Edit your Business Profile
- Google: Verify your business on Google
- Google: Manage your service areas for service-area and hybrid businesses
- WhatsApp FAQ: How to use click to chat
- KENIC: Frequently asked questions