Your website has one job: turning lookers into enquiries
A homeowner or commercial client who lands on your site is usually deciding between two or three firms. They are not reading every word. They scan for three things in the first few seconds: what you do, where you work, and proof you are legitimate. If any of those are missing or buried, they hit the back button.
That means your homepage should state your trade and coverage area plainly, for example 'Groundworks and extensions across Kent and South East London', not a vague strapline like 'Building excellence since 2009'. Your phone number should be visible without scrolling, and tappable on mobile, because well over half of trade searches happen on a phone, often from site or from a client's kitchen table.
The pages that actually matter
You do not need a big site. A focused five to eight page site nearly always outperforms a sprawling one that never gets updated. What matters is that each page answers a real question a potential client has before they will pick up the phone.
Project photos deserve special attention. Genuine before-and-after shots of your own work, even taken on a decent phone in good light, beat stock photography every time. Clients can spot stock images of American builders in shiny hard hats a mile off, and it quietly signals you have nothing of your own to show.
- Homepage: trade, area covered, phone number, and one clear call to action
- Services pages: one per main service, so 'Loft Conversions' and 'Extensions' rank separately in search
- Projects or gallery: real photos with a line or two about each job and its location
- About page: who you are, how long trading, and memberships you genuinely hold
- Contact page: phone, email, a short form, and the areas you cover spelled out
Getting found locally on Google
For a trade business, ranking nationally is pointless. You want to show up when someone within your working radius searches 'builder near me' or 'roofer in Stockport'. The single biggest lever is a complete Google Business Profile linked to your site, with your services, photos, and a steady trickle of reviews from real clients.
On the site itself, mention the towns and areas you cover naturally in your page text, not as a wall of place names in the footer. A short page or paragraph for each main area you serve, describing actual work you have done there, is far more effective and reads honestly. Slow sites also get punished, so keep image files compressed; a page that takes more than about three seconds to load on 4G will lose visitors before it even renders.
What it costs and what to avoid
Prices vary widely depending on who builds it and what you need. As a rough guide in the UK, a DIY builder like Wix or Squarespace runs £10 to £30 a month plus your own evenings, a freelancer typically charges somewhere between £500 and £2,000 for a small trade site, and an agency build with copywriting and local SEO work often lands between £1,500 and £5,000. Ongoing hosting and upkeep is usually £10 to £50 a month. What you should pay depends on how much a single job is worth to you: if one extension enquiry covers the whole build cost, cheap is not automatically the sensible choice.
The common traps are worth knowing. Avoid long contracts where you never own the site or domain, because if you leave, you lose everything. Avoid sites with no clear owner for updates, since a gallery whose newest project is from 2021 suggests you have stopped trading. And never let anyone list accreditations or review scores you do not actually hold; clients do check, and it only takes one to sink your reputation locally.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Do I really need a website if I get all my work from word of mouth?
- Referrals still check you online before calling, so a site protects work you have already half won. Even a simple one-page site with photos, your areas covered and a phone number does that job.
- How long does it take for a new site to bring in enquiries?
- Direct enquiries from referrals checking you out can start immediately. Ranking in local Google search typically takes three to six months of the site being live, with reviews building on your Google Business Profile alongside it.
- Can I build it myself or should I pay someone?
- If you are comfortable with tech and short on budget, a DIY builder is fine to start. Paying a professional makes sense once each job is worth thousands, because better photos, copy and local search setup usually pay for themselves with one extra enquiry.
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