There's a tradesperson I keep thinking about. Spotless white van. Proper branded workwear. Business cards that actually look good. Website that cost £2,500 three years ago and still looks smart.
No enquiries from it. Not one this year that they could point to.
They're not unusual. They're the majority.
A website that looks professional but doesn't generate leads isn't a good website. It's an expensive brochure. The goal was never to impress people who already know you: it was to convert strangers into customers.
The Specific Ways Trade Websites Fail
These aren't abstract problems. They're the exact issues I find when I audit a trade website that the owner says "doesn't really do much."
No call to action above the fold
The first thing a visitor sees should make it obvious what to do next. If they're scrolling to find a phone number, you've already lost some of them. Your number should be clickable, prominent, and visible without scrolling, on mobile especially.
Phone number that isn't clickable
Around 70–80% of trade website visits come from mobile phones. If your phone number is in an image, or plain text without a tel: link, visitors can't tap to call. I've seen this on sites built professionally, by people who should have known better.
A contact form nobody checks
Several tradespeople I've spoken to have a form that goes to an email address they open once a week. Someone filled it in on Tuesday wanting a quote urgently. By Friday, they'd already hired someone else. If you can't respond to a form within a few hours, it may be doing more harm than good.
Gallery photos with no location in the alt text
Your gallery probably has beautiful photos. Google can't see photos: it reads the alt text. "Bathroom renovation" tells Google nothing about where you work. "Bathroom renovation completed in Lewes, East Sussex" tells Google exactly what it needs to rank you for relevant local searches.
Homepage that says "trusted local tradesperson" but never names the town
I've reviewed dozens of trade websites where the homepage mentions the county at best. "Serving Sussex" is not the same as "electrician serving Brighton, Hove, Worthing, and Lancing." Vague is invisible.
Loads in 8 seconds on mobile
If your site takes more than 3 seconds to load on a 4G connection, a meaningful percentage of visitors will leave before seeing anything. Image sizes, unoptimised scripts, and third-party fonts are the usual culprits.
No FAQs, so no chance of rich snippets
FAQs on your service pages can earn "People also ask" placement in Google results, showing your content above competitors even when you don't rank first. Most trade websites have no FAQs at all.
No meta description, so Google writes its own
The text under your page title in search results is your first pitch to someone who doesn't know you. If you haven't written it, Google guesses, and usually pulls random text from your page. The difference between a compelling meta description and a garbled automated one can be the difference between a click and a scroll-past.
Not sure where you stand? Run a free website audit and I'll tell you exactly what to fix.
The Verdict
The tools aren't the problem. The van, the gear, the professional photos: all fine. The problem is that the website isn't wired up to do what it's supposed to do.
A website is not a brochure. It's a salesperson who works 24 hours a day, doesn't need paying, and reaches customers you'd never meet any other way. But only if it's set up correctly.
The tradespeople I know who are turning down work have websites that rank, load fast, answer the right questions, and make it effortless to get in touch. They didn't get there by accident. Someone built it properly.
If that's not what your current site is doing, it's worth finding out why.
Want to talk it through? Message me directly, no forms, no waiting.
