A good tradesperson website does one job: turn a stranger into a phone call. That means a headline that says the trade and the town, a number you can tap, a clear list of services, the area you cover, proof you are real, pages that load on a phone, and a Google listing that matches the site. Get those right and the page earns its keep. Flashy extras rarely do.
A lot of trade sites look fine and win no work because they miss the basics. This is the checklist I use at Page Forge when I build websites for tradespeople from Hassocks.
What should the headline actually say?
The first thing someone sees should tell them, in plain English, what you do and where. “Reliable plumber in Hassocks and Mid Sussex” beats a slogan every time. Visitors decide in a couple of seconds whether they are in the right place. If they have to hunt for the trade or the town, they hit the back button and ring the next firm.
Do not open with “Welcome to our website”. Do not open with a Latin-sounding company name and no trade. The heading is not a brand exercise. It is an answer.
BW Electrical’s page leads with the electrician, the registration and the patch. Oilfire leads with oil, OFTEC and Uckfield. Sindall leads with building work and Haywards Heath. Different trades, same rule. The headline is a label, not a poem.
Where should the phone number sit?
At the top of every screen, large enough to tap with a thumb. Most people browsing on a phone want to call there and then. They will not squint at the footer or copy a number onto the keypad if the next result makes it easier.
Add a short form as well, for the people who would rather send a photo of the job in the evening. One primary action is enough. Five competing buttons are how ready customers stall.
The golden rule: never make someone work to get hold of you. If you only remember one item from this list, remember this one. Buried contact details sit at the top of the quiet-failure list.
How specific do the services need to be?
Spell out the jobs. If you are an electrician, list consumer units, rewires, EV chargers, fault-finding, EICRs, extra sockets. If you are a heating engineer, list servicing, breakdowns, installs, oil or gas, heat pumps if you do them. People search for tasks. Seeing their task listed reassures them you are the right person.
“We do all electrical work” does not land the same way. It also gives Google less to work with. You do not need a paragraph per service. A tight list, written as people speak, is enough on a one-pager.
Skip the jobs you do not take. Padding the list with work you will turn down wastes the next call and trains the wrong traffic.
Why name the towns instead of “Sussex and beyond”?
People want to know you will actually turn up before they bother calling. Naming Hassocks, Burgess Hill, Hurstpierpoint or Haywards Heath does that. It also helps local search, so someone typing “carpenter near Burgess Hill” has a better chance of finding you.
“Serving Sussex and beyond” is true of almost everyone. It is useful to almost no one. Be honest about the catchment. If you will drive to Brighton for the right job, say so. Do not pretend you are a Brighton firm if you work from a village mid-county.
Phoenix Piling covers Sussex, Surrey and London because that is the real working radius for a specialist contractor. A domestic spark claiming the same area looks like a lead-gen page.
What proof belongs on a trade site?
This is the item that wins or loses the job. Strangers need a reason to trust you, so put proof where they look:
- Customer reviews that are genuine, with a name and a town if you have them.
- The qualification that matters in your trade: Gas Safe, OFTEC, NICEIC, NAPIT, FENSA, and so on.
- Photos of real jobs. Your board, your boiler, your extension. Stock images fool no one.
- Insurance, stated plainly.
Sindall can put more than 200 Checkatrade reviews near the top because that number is real. Most trades cannot. Use what you have. A handful of honest Google reviews beats a wall of anonymous five-star lines.
Never invent a scheme, a review or a ranking. Customers check, and so does Google.
Does speed and mobile layout really matter?
Yes. Most people will find you on their phone, often standing in a kitchen that has just gone wrong. If the site is slow or fiddly, they are gone before it loads. A good trade website loads quickly and works on a small screen: big number, readable type, no pinch-and-zoom.
Speed is not a nice-to-have. Google prefers fast, mobile-ready pages and treats the slow ones as worse results. If you are unsure, read is my website mobile-friendly and test on your own phone, on mobile data, not on the office Wi-Fi.
You do not need animation, a video background or a slider. Those are how trade sites get heavy. Photos, compressed. Text, short. Contact, obvious.
How does the website work with Google?
A brilliant page is no use if nobody can find it. You need the basics on the site (clear text about the trade and the towns) plus a properly set-up Google Business Profile. That free listing is what puts you on the map when someone searches nearby, and it is where the star rating shows.
For most tradespeople the profile is the single biggest source of new enquiries. The website finishes the job: it matches the name and number, proves the work, and gives the searcher somewhere to tap. They work as a pair. A profile with no site, or a site with no profile, is half a presence.
If you already have a page and it feels quiet, a free website audit is a sensible first step. I will tell you what is missing. I will not invent a traffic figure.
A standard Page Forge site is £99 to set up and £29 a month, or £299 a year. SEO and GEO start at £99 as a one-off. Multi-page and shop work is quoted. If you want the checklist built rather than read, get in touch.
Frequently asked questions
Do I really need more than a Facebook page?
A Facebook page is a fine extra, but it is not a substitute for your own website. You do not control it, it is hard to find through Google, and it does not give you a professional first impression. Your own one-page site shows up in searches, looks the part, and works when you are on a job.
How many pages does a tradesperson’s website need?
For most tradespeople, one well-built page is plenty. A single page covering who you are, what you do, where you work and how to reach you is easy to read on a phone and quick to load. Builders with a real portfolio sometimes need more room. That is a quote, not the default.
What is the one thing most trade sites get wrong?
Hiding the phone number, or making it tiny. The next most common misses are no registration on show, stock photos, and a headline that never names the trade or the town.
Should I write “cheap” or “affordable” in the headline?
I would not. It attracts the wrong calls and says nothing about the work. Price can sit later, if you publish it. The headline should say the job and the area. Let reviews and photos do the rest.
How much does a good trade website cost?
At Page Forge a standard one-pager is £99 plus £29 a month, or £299 a year. That includes hosting and the dull upkeep. SEO and GEO from £99 one-off.
Can I add a shop or extra pages later?
Yes. Start with the page that wins calls. If you later need a second town page, a project gallery or a shop, that is quoted separately. Do not buy a ten-page site because a template offered the slots.