Websites for trades in the Borders: what makes the phone ring

If you're a builder, joiner, electrician, plumber, roofer or painter in the Borders, word of mouth probably keeps you busy. What it doesn't always do is bring the right jobs, from people who've already decided they want you. A good website for trades does one job: it makes the right people pick up the phone. Here's what that takes.

What customers do before they call a tradesman

Think about how someone finds you. A neighbour mentions your name, or the boiler packs in on a Sunday night. Either way, they get their phone out. They search your name, or "plumber Galashiels", and they look at what comes up.

In the minute or so they spend on your site, they're asking four questions. Do you do the job I need? Do you cover where I live? Do you look like you do decent work? How do I get hold of you? If your site answers all four quickly, they call. If they have to dig, they go back and call the next name.

That's the whole brief for a trade website. It doesn't need to be clever. It needs to answer those four questions faster than anyone else's.

Websites for trades: the must-haves

A phone number you can tap

Your number should be at the top of every page, and on a phone it should ring you when tapped. It sounds obvious, but plenty of trade sites have the number as part of a picture, or hidden on a contact page. If you'd rather people text or WhatsApp you while you're up a ladder, say so and make that a tap too.

Your services in your customers' words

Customers don't search for "domestic electrical installation solutions". They search "rewire house", "new consumer unit", "electrician near me". List what you do in the words people use, one line each, and give the main ones a short page of their own. That's also how Google works out what to show you for.

The towns you cover

Say where you work, by name. "Based in Kelso, covering Coldstream, Jedburgh, Melrose, Earlston and the villages in between." If you go further for bigger jobs, say that too. Someone in Duns shouldn't have to wonder whether it's worth ringing a firm from Hawick.

Photos of real jobs

Stock photos of a smiling man in a clean hard hat fool nobody. A photo of a kitchen you fitted in a farmhouse near St Boswells, or a roof you stripped and relaid in Selkirk, does more than any sales line. Before and after shots are even better. Your phone is fine for this; take a few at the end of every job and you'll have a gallery within a couple of months.

Let people send a quote request with photos

A lot of wasted time in trades goes on site visits for jobs that were never going to happen. A good enquiry form cuts that down. Ask for:

• Name, phone number and town or postcode
• What they need doing, in their own words
• Rough timing: urgent, next few weeks, just planning
• Photos of the problem or the space

Photos are the big one. A picture of the leaking pipe, the cracked render or the room to be painted tells you most of what you need before you get in the van. You can give a rough idea on the phone, decide whether it's worth a visit, and turn away the jobs that don't suit you without driving to Peebles to find out. On my sites, the enquiry form goes straight to your inbox as part of the monthly care.

Reviews and badges: proof you're the real thing

People are wary of trades they don't know. Everybody has a cowboy builder story. Your website is where you show you're not one.

Reviews do most of the work. Your Google reviews matter most, because people see them before they even reach your site, and Google says Business Profiles with five or more reviews can get up to twice as many customers. Put a few of your best ones on your home page too, with the customer's first name and town. If you haven't got many yet, read my guide on how to get your first Google reviews; it's mostly about asking at the right moment.

If you're Gas Safe registered, NICEIC approved, or a member of a trade body or scheme, show it. Check each scheme's own rules on how you can display their logo, and include your registration number where they allow it. Customers can look you up, and some will. Insurance is worth mentioning too: a plain line saying you're fully insured reassures people more than you'd expect.

What not to bother with

A trade website doesn't need much. You can safely skip:

• A long "about us" story on the home page. Keep it to a couple of lines, with a photo of you, and put the rest on an about page.
• Sliders that rotate through photos. Nobody waits for them.
• Blog posts you'll never keep up. One good page per service is worth more.
• Prices you can't stand behind. If every job is different, say "free quotes" and explain what affects the price. If you do have standard prices, such as a boiler service, show them.

A quick checklist for your trade website

1. Phone number at the top of every page, tap to call on a phone
2. Every service listed in plain words, the main ones with their own page
3. Towns you cover named on the home page
4. At least six photos of real jobs, ideally with before and after
5. A quote form that asks for photos and a town
6. Google reviews on show, and a link to leave one
7. Trade scheme badges and insurance, if you have them
8. A matching Google Business Profile with the same name, number and area

If you work across the Borders, a short page for each main town helps too. I've built sites like that before: Kaizen Service Accommodation has a page for every town it covers, and it's a simple way to show up when people search with a place name. There's more on how that works in my local SEO guide.

Get the phone ringing

You're busy, and building a website is probably the last thing you want to spend an evening on. That's fine. Ask for a free concept and I'll show you what your trade site could look like within 7 days, with nothing to pay if you don't want it. You can ask for one here.