5 Top tips for creating the best trade websites

How to build the best trades website

Having a good website for your trade company is no longer a ‘nice-to-have’. It’s a must-have. As you compete against your competitors for sales, your website is essential to growing your brand and making a good name for yourself.

As a digital extension of your business, your website should be a top priority. Here are our top five tips for creating the best websites for trade and construction.

1. Make your offer clear

Within a few seconds of landing on your website, your audience should know exactly what your offer is. In the trade industry, there are so many areas where you can specialise, such as small or large-scale jobs, residential or commercial, etc. Whatever your specialty is, make it known.

Reduce any chance of confusion on your site by making your services as clear as day. This is particularly important in what’s referred to as ‘above the fold’. Above the fold is the top section you first see when you land on a website.

Use this section to make your service offering strong and immediately grab the user’s attention, so they don’t bounce off to another site.

Once you’ve captured their attention, make sure that your homepage showcases:

• The services you offer
• Why they should pick you – your point of difference
• Your qualifications, experience and industry knowledge.

Plus, keeping your service offering clear is great for SEO (Search Engine Optimisation), as you’re using all the right keywords that search engines are looking for. For example, mentioning on the homepage that you’re a carpenter in Sydney is good for clarity and local SEO.

2. Make it easy to navigate

How pleasant or easy a person’s experience on your website is can be the make-or-break for you. An easy-to-navigate website helps your prospective clients find what they’re looking for and hopefully, positioning your brand as the better choice.

Put yourself in your customers’ shoes. What sort of things would you want to see or find out on a trade website? It could include:

• Services information
• Contact details
• Prices or an easy way to get a quote
• Examples of what you’ve done (e.g. portfolio, testimonials).

Make life easy for your customers and help them find what they’re looking for. We promise it’s worth it.

3. Dazzle with high-quality images

In the building and construction industry, it’s not enough to simply talk about your work. You’ve got to show it off! It’s your opportunity to highlight the quality and variety of work you can do for your customers.

Are you going to achieve this with a pixelated shot of a messy workplace in the background? No. You put your heart and soul into your trade – so give people the chance to be wowed by it.

Here are a couple of ways you can leverage your photos:

• Display the variety of projects you work on
• Show you’re relevant and sought-after by updating projects regularly
• Use before and after shots to your advantage
• Use a chronology of a project to give people the full picture.

Using high-quality images – throughout your website – that are aligned with your branding, tells your story and amazes potential customers.

4. Ensure it’s friendly across all devices

According to a 2018 report by Statistica, mobile has overtaken desktop searches. Search engines like Google now push mobile-first indexing. This means that if your website does not work well on different devices (i.e. it doesn’t have responsive design) it’ll hurt your ranking and exposure.

So what is a mobile-friendly website? Essentially, it means that your website functions well on a mobile device. It can include:

• Responsive design
• Page speed
• Using text that can be read without zooming in
• Not having to scroll excessively
• Easy-to-navigate menu.

The good news is that Google is taking the guesswork out. Check your website using Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test.

5. Back yourself with testimonials and reviews

In the trade and construction industry, there are plenty of people who have been burnt by bad experiences. Hands-down the most effective way to demonstrate why customers will have a good experience is sharing customer testimonials and reviews.

A positive review works as an advocate for your business. It adds social proof and has a legitimising effect. In fact, nearly 97% of consumers read reviews for local businesses and 88% of people’s buying decisions are influenced by an online customer service review.