The Free Trades Website Checklist

A visitor should know within seconds whether you can do the job. List your main services plainly on the homepage — 'roof repairs', 'new roof quotes', 'flat roofing' — so the customer instantly recognises you can help. Vague or jargon-heavy copy loses enquiries before you've had a chance to win them.

Tell a local customer you work in their town, and tell Google where you operate. Listing the towns and areas you serve reassures the visitor you cover them and helps you rank for 'your trade near me' searches. This is one of the highest-impact, easiest wins on the whole site.

Most trades enquiries start with a phone call, and most visitors are on mobile. A phone number that calls you in one tap on every page is the single simplest conversion tool you can add. Make it impossible to miss — put it in the header, the footer, and on every contact block.

Not everyone wants to call. A short form asking for name, phone number, a couple of details about the job and a message captures the customers who prefer to enquire in writing. The easier it is to fill in, the more enquiries you'll capture — keep it short.

Customers can't inspect your workmanship before they call, so showing it is what turns a browser into an enquiry. Before-and-after shots, finish details and completed jobs all build trust. Even good phone photos, presented cleanly, make a big difference.

Display real reviews and your Google rating, and link to your Google profile so the evidence is verifiable. Reviews customers can actually go and check are far more convincing than screenshots. Keep asking happy customers to leave a review — this compounds over time.

The majority of your visitors will be on a phone. If your site doesn't work smoothly on a small screen — tiny buttons, text you have to zoom into, forms that are awkward to tap — you'll lose the enquiry. Mobile-first isn't optional for trades; it's where the work comes from.

A slow website costs you visitors. If a page takes too long to load, people simply leave and call the next roofer on the list. Keeping images optimised and the site lean means it loads quickly and feels professional — and it's something Google also rewards.

The plumbing of your site matters for being found. This means proper page titles and headings, service pages aimed at what people search, clear navigation, and connection to a Google Business Profile. When this structure is right, Google can understand and rank what you do.