A website for a partnership
A partnership website has to introduce two or more people without pretending to be a firm of twenty. Naming the partners individually is usually stronger than describing the partnership as an entity.
Use cases
Short answer
A partnership site works best when each partner is visible as a person with a specialty, rather than absorbed into a collective voice. Say who does what, who a client will actually work with, and how the partnership is structured. Plan for a future separation while setting up the domain and accounts.
Name the people
Clients hire people. A page introducing two named professionals with distinct backgrounds is more persuasive than a page describing a partnership as an abstract organization.
It also answers the practical question a client, or an answer engine describing your firm, will ask first. Somebody making contact wants to know who they will speak to, and a site that blurs this produces an awkward first conversation.
Give each partner a real page with their background, their specialty and their photograph. Our page on about pages covers the shape for each one.
Two partners with genuinely different backgrounds is also a story worth telling. How you came to work together, and what each of you brings, answers a question every prospective client is quietly forming.
Say who does what
A partnership usually exists because the partners are good at different things. Making that split explicit is useful information rather than an internal detail.
It also routes enquiries correctly. A client who knows which partner handles their kind of work arrives at the right conversation, which saves time on both sides.
Where the split is not clean, say how it actually works. Either of us can take this and we decide between ourselves is honest and perfectly acceptable.
Put the split on the service pages as well as the about page. Somebody reading about a particular kind of work wants to know who handles it there and then, not three clicks later.
Size, stated honestly
Do not inflate. A two-person partnership describing itself in language suited to a large firm creates an expectation that the first meeting will contradict.
Small is also a selling point. Direct access to a principal, no handover to a junior, and one conversation rather than five are genuine advantages worth stating.
Our page on honest claims covers where describing a business generously becomes misrepresenting it. Nothing here is legal advice.
What a partnership site needs
The list below covers what a prospective client is working out. Most partnership sites answer the first two items and leave the rest to the first conversation, which costs enquiries.
- Each partner named, with background and photograph
- Who handles which kind of work
- Who the client will actually deal with
- The legal form of the business, stated plainly
- Credentials for each partner, with issuing bodies
- One contact route, clearly monitored
- What happens if your usual contact is unavailable
The legal form matters
State how the business is constituted, because it affects who a client is contracting with and it is often a required disclosure depending on the trade and the jurisdiction.
Put the registration details somewhere findable rather than buried. Our page on terms covers what usually belongs alongside them.
Take your own advice on what your profession and jurisdiction require. Nothing on this site is legal advice, and the requirements differ meaningfully between trades.
Owning the site together
Register the domain in the business name, not in one partner's personal name. This is the detail that causes the most trouble later and it costs nothing to get right now.
Make sure both partners have access to the registrar, the hosting and the analytics. A single point of access is a risk in any business and a particular one in a partnership.
Keep a written note of where everything lives. It is dull and it is the thing that matters on the day somebody is unavailable or has left.
Do the same for every account attached to the business. Hosting, analytics, the business profile, the review platforms and any advertising account. Sole access to any of them is a risk to both partners.
Planning for a separation
Partnerships end, amicably or otherwise, and the website is an asset with a value. Agreeing in advance who keeps the domain avoids an argument at the worst possible time.
Keep client records in a system both partners can access and export. That is separate from the website and it is the asset that actually matters.
If the partnership does dissolve, redirect rather than delete. Our page on redirects covers keeping the accumulated value pointing somewhere useful.
Questions people ask
Should we name the partners individually?
Yes. Clients hire people, and two named professionals with distinct specialties are more persuasive than an abstract partnership. It also answers the practical question of who the client will actually speak to.
Can we make the firm sound larger?
You should not. The first meeting contradicts it, and small is a genuine selling point: direct access to a principal, no handover to a junior, one conversation rather than five. Nothing here is legal advice.
Whose name should the domain be in?
The business name, with both partners having access to the registrar, hosting and analytics. Domains registered personally by one partner are the detail that causes the most trouble later.
What happens to the site if we separate?
Agree in advance who keeps the domain, since it has accumulated value. Keep client records in a system both can access and export. If the partnership ends, redirect rather than delete.
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