By Alwan Technologies · Published
A practical guide for trades who already get recommendations: help referred customers check your work, understand your services and send a useful enquiry.
A recommendation starts the conversation
You may have plenty of work through recommendations. In that case, a website does not need to replace word of mouth. Its first job can be to help the person receiving your name check that you do the kind of work they need and find the right way to contact you.
Think about what happens after someone recommends you in a group chat. The potential customer may want to see a bathroom similar to theirs, check your service area or share the project with a partner. A link that answers those questions is useful even before it brings a single visitor from Google.
Decide which job the website should do
There are different reasons to build. You may want a professional place to send existing enquiries, a way to show more of a particular service, or a foundation for attracting new customers. Write down the main reason. It affects the pages you need and how you will judge whether the site is useful.
If you are fully booked and want a simple place to show your work, start there. Do not buy a complex lead system just because it appears in a package. If you want more renovation work and fewer small repairs, make the renovation experience visible with suitable photographs, clear scope and the questions needed for a survey.
Make the recommendation easy to check
Use your actual business name, working contact details and the areas you genuinely cover. Group real project photographs by service so a customer can find work relevant to their job. A short caption explaining what you did is more helpful than an unexplained gallery of every photo on your phone.
Show genuine reviews with their source where you have permission to use them. Keep qualifications and accreditations accurate. A small collection of clear, current evidence is a stronger starting point than stock photographs presented as completed jobs or vague claims that cannot be checked.
Ask for the details that move a quote forward
A useful enquiry form asks for the service, area and a short description of the job. Depending on the work, photographs and rough timing can help. Keep an obvious phone or WhatsApp option for someone who prefers to talk, and test every route on your own phone before the site goes live.
Our Meti Motors case study uses a photo enquiry and site visit for gate work. Allload’s courier website gathers the load and journey details needed for a quote. The pattern is the same: collect information that makes the first reply useful. Neither business needs to promise a fixed price before it understands the job.
Treat Google visibility as a separate piece of work
Having a website does not guarantee a position in search. Google says local results depend mainly on relevance, distance and prominence. Complete and accurate business information helps it understand what you offer, while the searcher’s location and other signals also affect what appears.
Keep the website and your Google Business Profile consistent. Use the services and locations that describe the real business, and keep hours and contact details current. Avoid copying the same page for dozens of towns you do not meaningfully serve. Once the site is live, use Search Console to see whether it is indexed and which searches actually show it.
Start small and measure the right thing
Ask new enquiries how they heard about you and whether the website helped them decide. Separately record visits from search, completed enquiries and the work those enquiries become. A rise in website visits is not the same as more suitable jobs, and a referral that converts after seeing your work still has value.
Our current launch offer is £99 to build, usually £399, for the first ten sites, followed by a monthly plan from £17.99. You can request a free preview before deciding. The pricing page explains the scope and ongoing support; a search ranking or a number of leads is not promised.
The short answers
- Is a Facebook page enough for a trades business?
- It may already be useful for your business. A website adds a place you control for service information, organised project photos and contact details, which you can link from Facebook and recommendations.
- Will a new website guarantee more work?
- No. It can support referrals and make enquiries easier, but results depend on the offer, evidence, visibility and follow-up. Agree the website’s job and measure suitable enquiries rather than assuming visits will become sales.