Most tradesperson websites are built to impress other web designers. Not to win work.
That's the problem. A tiler in Bristol doesn't need a parallax hero, a chatbot called "Hi! I'm Brendan!", or a 47-page lookbook of stock photos. He needs a website that does six things well and ignores everything else.
After 20 years in marketing — and a few years now spent building sites for tradespeople specifically — here's the honest list. The version no agency will sell you, because they make their money on the things you don't actually need.
Six things right. Ten things ignored. That's the whole game.Part one — what your site needs
The six things that actually matter
Service pages packed with detail and specifics
Generic service pages are why most tradesperson websites lose work. "We do rewiring" is not a service page. It's a sentence.
A real service page tells your customer what's involved, how long it takes, what it roughly costs, what's included, what isn't, and what to expect on the day. Anticipate every doubt they might have. Answer it before they ask. By the time they reach the bottom of the page, the only question left should be "how soon can you start?"
This is also where Google decides whether you actually do the thing you say you do. A 200-word service page tells Google you're guessing. A 1,200-word service page with FAQs, pricing context, and process detail tells Google — and ChatGPT, and Perplexity — that you're the real deal.
Location pages that prove you actually work in the area
Service pages tell people what you do. Location pages tell them you do it where they live.
These pages aren't quite as important as service pages — but they're how most people will find you. Someone searches "electrician Eastleigh" and lands on your Eastleigh page. They want to see something that proves you know the area: which streets you've worked on, the estates you cover, what a typical job in that part of town looks like. Not just "we cover Eastleigh and surrounding areas" pasted onto every page.
The flow is location-page-in, service-page-out. They arrive locally, then click through to check you can actually do the job they need. If both pages do their job, they call.
Proof you're a real person who's done this before
Customers don't trust websites. They trust other customers. Show them.
Real reviews displayed on the page — not just a Google badge linking off somewhere else. Real photos of jobs you've done: your van outside a real customer's house, the consumer unit you replaced last week, the bathroom you tiled in October. Your accreditations shown plainly with the actual logos. Years in the trade. Number of jobs done.
This is the layer that turns "they say they can do it" into "they've actually done it." Without it, you're just text on a screen.
Customers don't trust websites. They trust other customers. Show them.
A phone number that works in one tap
Around 70% of tradesperson searches happen on a phone. The customer wants to call now.
If they have to pinch-zoom to find your number, copy-paste it into their dialler, or scroll through a footer to dig it out — you've lost them. They've already tapped back to Google and clicked the next result.
Click-to-call. Top right of every page. Sticky on scroll for mobile. Unmissable. This isn't a design choice. It's the bare minimum.
A contact form with a proper "what happens next" journey
A form on its own is just a form. A form is the start of a relationship — and most tradesperson websites treat it like a black hole.
Get this right and you stand out from 90% of your competition. The submission needs a confirmation page that says something specific: "Thanks, Sarah. I'll be in touch within 2 hours." Not "Form submitted." Not a generic redirect. Something human, with a real expectation set.
Then an auto-reply email that lands within 30 seconds saying the same thing — so they're not refreshing their inbox wondering whether it sent.
People want to know that filling in your form leads somewhere. That you'll handle their enquiry professionally and quickly. That they're not shouting into the void. Most websites fail this test. Don't.
Content structured so AI search engines can answer questions about you
This is the bit nobody else is doing yet. Which is exactly why now is the moment.
When someone asks ChatGPT or Perplexity "who's a good electrician in Southampton?" — the AI doesn't read your website the way a human does. It looks for clear, structured answers to specific questions. FAQ blocks. Direct-answer paragraphs. Schema markup that tells it exactly who you are, what you do, and where.
Get this right today and you've got a head start while every other tradesperson is still trying to figure out what AEO means.
The 10 things you can ignore
Now the fun half. Things you absolutely do not need, despite what an agency will try to sell you:
A website that wins work isn't a brochure. It's a tool.
Build it for the customer who needs you, not for the design awards you'll never enter. Six things right. Ten things ignored. That's the whole game.