What should a trades website include?

If you’re a tradesperson, your website has one job: make it easy for someone nearby to trust you and get in touch. It doesn’t need to be big. It needs to cover the right things.

Most customers are on their phone, in a hurry, and comparing a few names. They’ll spend a few seconds deciding whether you look like the right person.

The essentials

1. What you do and where, straight away

The top of your home page should say your trade and the area you cover. “Electrician covering Beccles, Halesworth and Southwold” tells people and Google exactly what you offer.

2. A phone number that works with one tap

On a phone, your number should be a button that starts a call. Put it at the top of every page. Plenty of trades customers would rather ring than fill in a form.

3. A simple enquiry option

For people who’d rather write, add a short form: name, phone, what they need. Keep it to a few fields. The Nielsen Norman Group, who research how people use websites, advise cutting every field you don’t need, because shorter forms get filled in more often.

4. Proof that you do good work

Real photos of your own jobs, and real reviews from real customers. Generic stock photos make people wonder whether you’re the real thing. A few of your own beat a gallery of anyone else’s.

5. The services you offer, in plain words

List what you do using the words customers use. “Boiler repair” rather than “heating solutions”. If there’s a job you don’t do, say so, because it saves you wasted calls.

6. Where you work

Name the towns and villages you cover. A short list is fine. Don’t list places you won’t travel to.

7. Your credentials

Any registrations, qualifications, insurance or trade body memberships that matter in your trade. Some are the law: anyone doing gas work must be on the Gas Safe Register. Others, like NICEIC for electricians, are schemes you choose to join. Show your registration number so customers can check it. Only include ones you actually hold, and keep them current.

8. A short “about” section

Who you are, how long you’ve been doing it, and a photo of you. People hire people. A few honest lines are plenty.

Make it easy to trust

• Use your real name and business details.
• Show your reviews, ideally linked to your Google Business Profile.
• Make prices or guide prices clear where you can. If you can’t give a price, say how you work one out and what the first visit includes.
• Say how quickly you usually reply.

What to leave out

• Long paragraphs of company history
• Stock photos of people in hard hats
• Lots of pages with nothing useful on them
• Pop-ups and auto-playing videos
• Words customers don’t use, like “solutions” and “bespoke”

Check it works on a phone

Open your site on your own phone. Can you find your number in two seconds? Does it load quickly on mobile data? Is the text readable without zooming? If not, it’s probably costing you calls. Google’s free PageSpeed Insights tool will show you how fast it loads.

A website is only part of it

Your site works best alongside a complete Google Business Profile and a steady flow of reviews. Many local customers will find you on the map first and visit your site second, so the two should say the same thing.

Want it done for you?

Our Simple site is £625 + VAT (£750 including VAT), and it covers the essentials above. You answer a few simple questions and send us some photos, and we do the rest. Our page on websites for trades shows how it works for trades.