Pages a butcher's website should have

Your butcher's shop probably has a window, a counter and a queue on Saturday morning. Your website needs to do the same job with none of the shouting. It tells people what you sell, when you're open and how to order. That's it.

You don't need thirty pages. You need the right eleven, and only the ones that match what you really do. If you don't deliver, skip the delivery page. If you don't take Christmas orders, skip that one too. Here's what each page should hold, and what to leave off.

Purpose: To tell a stranger, in about ten seconds, who you are, where you are and what to do next.

Start with your shop's real name and the town or area you serve. Say what kind of butcher you are in one plain sentence. "Independent family butcher in [your town]" works. Add a few lines on what you stock, such as beef, lamb, pork, poultry, sausages made in the shop or cooked meats, but only what's on your counter.

Then make the next step obvious. Put your opening hours and address near the top. Add a button or link for ordering if you take orders, and a phone number people can tap on a mobile. Use a few clear photos of your own shop and your own produce. Customers can tell the difference between your counter and a picture of a steak from a photo library.

Link to the other pages from here. Someone who lands on the home page should be able to reach what you sell, how to order and where you are in one click each. Keep the writing short. Keep it warm. Write it like you'd talk across the counter.

Avoid long welcome speeches, slogans about "passion for quality" that any shop could claim, and a wall of text before anyone sees your hours. Avoid stock photos of meat you don't sell. Avoid sliding banners that hide your opening times behind a rotating picture. And avoid cramming the page with every product you've ever stocked; that's what the next page is for.

Purpose: To show the cuts and products you actually stock, so people know whether it's worth the trip or the order.

List your main categories: beef, lamb, pork, poultry, sausages and burgers, bacon, cooked meats, pies, and anything else you really carry. Under each, name the cuts you commonly have. Be specific. "Rump, sirloin, ribeye, fillet, diced and mince" tells people more than "a range of steaks and joints."

Say what you do beyond selling. Do you prepare and tie joints? Butterfly a leg of lamb? Dice to order? Mince on the day? Make your own sausages? These are the things a supermarket can't match, so say them plainly.

If you sell halal meat, say so and state what you stock, but only as far as you can back it up. Search estimates give an idea of how many people look for this: "halal butcher near me" is searched around 22,200 times a month across the UK, and "butcher near me" around 201,000. Those are national monthly estimates from DataForSEO (18 October 2026), not figures for your town, so treat them as a rough sense of scale and nothing more. Don't make claims about certification rules on the page.

Don't promise that everything is always in. Say stock changes and invite people to call or order ahead. Keep prices off the page unless you're willing to update them every time they shift.

Avoid listing products you don't regularly carry. Avoid vague words like "premium" or "finest" with nothing to back them. Avoid prices that go out of date. Avoid one giant page with no headings; break it into sections people can scan. And avoid copying a supplier's product descriptions word for word.

Purpose: To explain exactly how to order ahead, and how much notice you need.

This is where your shop earns its keep. People want to know how to reserve a joint, a turkey, a hamper of sausages or a big order for a party. Tell them.

Explain how to place an order: by phone, in the shop, by email or through a form. Give the details for each. If you take orders by phone, say which hours you answer. If you use a form, keep it short: name, phone number, what they want, the date they need it and how they'll collect or receive it.

Set your own lead times and state them clearly. If you need a few days' notice for a weekend order, say so. If Christmas order books close on a certain date, put that date on the page and update it every year. Use your real dates, not a guess. Say how you confirm an order, so nobody wonders whether it went through.

Mention what you can do for events and larger gatherings, such as barbecues, parties or catering for a group, but only if you do it. Say how people get in touch to talk it through.

Say how payment works: whether you take a deposit, whether people pay on collection. Keep it factual.

Avoid promising "same-day" or "any time" if you can't deliver on it. Avoid hiding your cut-off dates in small print. Avoid a form with fifteen compulsory fields. Avoid leaving last year's Christmas dates up after they've passed. And avoid saying you'll take any order of any size; you'll have limits, and people respect hearing them.

Purpose: To tell people, truthfully, where your meat comes from and how you handle it.

People often want to know about sourcing. Answer it, but only with what you can state truthfully and back up. If you buy from named local farms and can show the records, say so. If you buy from a wholesaler or a mix of sources, say that. Honest and plain beats grand and vague.

Write about what you actually know: which farms or suppliers you use, whether animals are reared locally, how the meat is hung or prepared in your shop, and what you do in-house. If you break down carcasses yourself, say it. If you don't, don't imply it.

Keep claims you can prove. If you say "locally reared", be ready to say what "local" means to you and where it's from. If you've got a relationship with a farm, a sentence or two about it is more convincing than a paragraph of adjectives.

Origin labelling and approvals for meat have specific rules. We can't state them here. Check with your local council's food team or the Food Standards Agency before you publish anything about origin, labelling or how meat is handled, so the page matches what you're required to say.

Avoid words like "farm fresh", "traditional" or "ethical" unless you can say exactly what you mean and prove it. Avoid naming a farm you don't currently buy from. Avoid claims about welfare standards you can't document. Avoid copying wording from a supplier's website without checking it applies to you. And avoid putting anything on the page that you'd be uncomfortable explaining to a customer at the counter.

Purpose: To let someone turn up at the right time, to the right place, without ringing first.

Put your full address, written out the way a sat nav would want it, including the postcode. Add your phone number and email. Then list your opening hours for each day of the week, and say clearly which days you're closed.

Parking is where shops lose people. Say what's nearby: whether there's a car park, on-street spaces, time limits you know about, or a drop-off spot. If you're on a busy street or hard to spot, describe the shopfront. "Green awning next to the chemist" is the kind of detail that stops someone driving past.

Add a map. Most website builders let you embed one. Also say how to get there on foot or by bus if that's realistic for your location, and whether the shop is step-free, if you know it is.

Holiday hours matter. Bank holidays, Christmas week and any days you shut early all need updating. Put a short notice at the top of the page when hours change, then take it down afterwards.

Make sure the hours here match your Google profile and your shopfront sign. If they disagree, someone will turn up to a closed door and blame you.

Avoid putting your hours in an image; people can't copy it and some can't read it. Avoid leaving out your postcode. Avoid saying "plenty of parking" if there isn't. Avoid letting the page go out of date after a change of hours. And avoid burying the address in the footer only.

Purpose: To tell people how you handle allergen information, so they can ask the right questions before they buy.

The rules here are specific, and your local council's food team can tell you exactly what you must provide for the products you sell. What we can say is this: there are 14 allergen groups, and they include cereals containing gluten, milk, eggs, fish, peanuts, nuts, sesame and sulphites above 10 mg/kg. If you make sausages, burgers, pies, marinated meats or anything with added ingredients, some of those will matter to you.

Use this page to explain how customers can get allergen information. Say who to ask in the shop, and whether you keep ingredient details for products you make. If you have a printed list or folder, say so. If someone has an allergy, tell them to speak to staff before ordering, and make sure staff know the answers.

State plainly which of your products you make yourself and which you buy in, because the ingredient information comes from different places. If your recipes change, keep the page accurate.

Don't copy a generic allergen list and hope it covers you. Before you publish anything about allergens or labelling, check what you must display with your local council's food team or the Food Standards Agency.

Avoid saying something is "allergen free" unless you can fully back it up and have checked the rules. Avoid guessing at ingredients. Avoid a page that's out of step with what your staff say at the counter. Avoid leaving it blank because it feels awkward. And avoid pasting in a long legal block nobody will read; keep it plain and point people to a real person.

Purpose: To show you're a registered food business and, where it applies, display your hygiene rating.

Anyone who sells, cooks, stores, handles, prepares or distributes food must register as a food business with their local authority, at least 28 days before trading. Each site needs its own registration. Stalls, vans and online-only sellers must register too. You'll have done this already; the page is just a place to state it.

Say plainly that your shop is registered with your local authority. If you've got a hygiene rating, show it. The Food Hygiene Rating Scheme covers England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and ratings run from 5 to 0. Displaying the sticker is voluntary in England and a legal requirement in Wales and Northern Ireland. Scotland has a different scheme. So the right wording depends on where you are, and if you're unsure which applies, ask your local council.

Only show a rating that's current and real. Link to or reproduce your official rating rather than a made-up badge. If your rating changes, update the page.

If your business is a limited company, your website must show the registered company name, registered number, registered office address and where it's registered. A line in the footer, repeated here if you like, does the job.

Avoid showing an old rating after you've been re-inspected. Avoid using a badge design that isn't the official one. Avoid claiming an inspection result you don't have. Avoid leaving out your company details if you're a limited company. And avoid using this page to boast; state the facts and move on.

Purpose: To explain how people get their order, if you offer delivery or collection. Skip this page if you don't.

Only build this if you actually do it. If you do, say exactly how it works. For delivery: which areas you cover, which days you deliver, what time windows you offer and how people pay. For click and collect: how to place the order, when it's ready, where to pick it up and what to bring.

Set your own limits and say them. If you deliver only on certain days or only within a certain distance, put that on the page. If there's a minimum order, state it. If orders need a set amount of notice, tie this page back to your orders page so the lead times agree.

Explain how you keep meat in good condition between shop and door. Say only what you actually do. If you're not sure of the rules on transporting meat, check with your local council's food team or the Food Standards Agency before describing it.

Say who to ring if something goes wrong, and what happens if nobody's in. Keep it practical.

Avoid promising delivery to places you don't cover. Avoid vague timings like "soon". Avoid a page that contradicts your orders page. Avoid describing how you transport meat in terms you haven't checked. And avoid leaving this page live if you stop the service; take it down.

Purpose: To make sure the listing people see when they search for you is accurate, because for many shops it's the first thing they see.

This isn't a page on your site, but it belongs in this guide because it works with your site. It's the box that shows your shop on the map, with your hours and phone number.

Use your real-world business name, the one on your shopfront, your website and your stationery. Don't add extra words to the name to try to attract more searches. Google's guidelines say not to add keywords to the name, and you can't pay for a better local ranking, so don't let anyone sell you that.

Keep your details right. Your address, phone number, website link and opening hours should match your website exactly. Update holiday hours before bank holidays and Christmas, not after. Add your own photos of the shop, the counter and your products. Add the categories that describe what you really are.

Check it every now and then. Details drift, someone suggests a wrong edit, or your hours change and the listing doesn't. A few minutes every month saves a lot of wasted trips.

Link your profile to your site, and your site back to it, so someone can move between the two easily.

Avoid stuffing the name with extra words. Avoid leaving old hours up. Avoid photos that aren't of your shop. Avoid setting up a second listing for the same shop. And avoid paying anyone who promises to push your listing up the results; you can't buy it.

Purpose: To give people a way to see what others have said, and to give happy customers an easy way to say it.

Reviews are the words of your customers, not yours, so treat them with care. You can point people to where reviews live, such as your Google listing, and make it simple for pleased customers to leave one. A line at the till or on a receipt, or a link on your site, is enough.

If you show reviews on your website, show real ones and use them as they were written. Say where they came from. Don't edit them to sound better, and don't write your own and pass them off as customers'. Ask permission if you're quoting someone by name.

Reply to reviews. Thank people who say something kind. When someone raises a problem, answer politely, say what you'll do and keep it short. A calm reply to a poor review shows how you handle trouble.

Don't claim anything on the page about what customers think of shops like yours or what reviews mean for your business. Just make it easy to find and leave them.

Avoid offering a freebie in return for a good review. Avoid deleting or hiding criticism you can't remove. Avoid inventing a review or a name. Avoid arguing in public. And avoid a page with one review from years ago and nothing since; if you can't keep it fresh, link to the live source instead.

Purpose: To let people meet the person behind the counter, so the shop feels like somewhere they know.

Tell the story of the shop in plain words. Who runs it? How long has it been there? How did you come to be a butcher? Keep it to what's true and what you're happy to say out loud. A few short paragraphs is plenty.

Add a photo of you, or you and the team, at work. A real face does more than any slogan. Say what you do day to day: the cutting, the preparing, the sausage-making, the early starts. Mention who you serve, whether that's regular local families, restaurants or people ordering for an occasion, but only if it's accurate.

Mention any training, awards or memberships only if they're genuine and you can show them. Don't invent credentials.

If you're a limited company, make sure the legal details sit somewhere on the site: the registered company name, registered number, registered office address and where it's registered. The footer or this page both work.

End with a simple way to get in touch or a nudge towards your hours and ordering page.

Avoid a life story that never gets to the shop. Avoid claims you can't prove, such as "the best butcher in town". Avoid listing qualifications you don't hold. Avoid hiding your name. And avoid a page that was last updated years ago; if the team changes, change the page.

If you're starting from nothing, don't build all eleven at once. Do these, in this order:

1. Home page: who you are, where you are and what to do next.
2. Opening hours, address, parking and how to find you: so nobody turns up to a closed door.
3. What we sell: the cuts and products you really stock.
4. Orders for the weekend, Christmas or events: how to order and how much notice you need.
5. Registration and hygiene rating: the facts that show you're a registered food business.

The rest can follow as you get time. Build the ones that match what you do, and skip the ones that don't.

If you'd like a second pair of eyes, Seracu offers a free snapshot that shows which topics your site lacks compared with competitors. It's a quick way to see where the gaps are before you decide what to build next.