Most trade websites fail at the same things. They exist — they have your name, your phone number, maybe some photos — but they don't actually convert visitors into customers. Here's what the ones that do look like.
53% of mobile users abandon a page that takes more than 3 seconds to load. Most trade websites are built on old platforms with uncompressed images and too many plugins — they take 7–12 seconds. Every extra second costs you customers.
Check your speed at pagespeed.web.dev. Anything below 80 on mobile is losing you business.
Sounds obvious. You'd be amazed how many trade websites bury the phone number in the footer, or only put it on the contact page. Your phone number should be in the top header of every single page — tappable on mobile, prominent on desktop. Add "Call Now" as a sticky button on mobile.
NICEIC approved. Gas Safe registered. FMB member. BALI certified. These logos tell customers you're legitimate before they've read a word. Put them on your homepage, your service pages and your footer. If you have them, show them. Many tradespeople hide them at the bottom of a page nobody scrolls to.
Real photos of your real work convert better than any copy you can write. A potential customer looking at before/after photos of a job similar to theirs is mentally completing the transaction. Stock photos of smiling people in hard hats do the opposite — they signal inauthenticity.
Take 3–5 photos on every job. Upload to your website monthly. Even blurry phone photos of good work outperform professional stock imagery.
One page that lists all your services won't rank on Google. Each service needs its own page — "Emergency Electrician Birmingham," "Consumer Unit Upgrade Birmingham," "EV Charger Installation Birmingham" — each targeting specific search terms. This is how you capture demand from people searching for exactly what you do.
A contact form with a 2-day response time loses leads. A booking system that gives instant confirmation keeps them. At minimum, your website needs a way for customers to take action immediately — whether that's booking a slot, requesting a callback or getting an instant quote for common jobs.
TWD builds bespoke trade websites with every element on this list built in — live in 5–7 days, from £99/month.
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