Plenty of tradespeople have a website that someone built a few years ago. A friend, a cousin, a VA, an agency that is long gone. It exists, so it feels like the job is done.
But a bad website can do more harm than having none. It tells customers you do not pay attention to detail. Here are seven signs yours might be costing you work.
1. It is slow
Load it on your phone with the wifi off. If you are staring at a blank screen, so are your customers, and many will give up before it appears.
2. It looks wrong on a phone
Most people look at trade websites on their phone. If text is tiny, buttons are fiddly or you have to pinch and zoom, visitors will leave.
3. You cannot find the phone number
If it takes more than a second to find how to ring you, the site is working against you. A tap-to-call button should be easy to spot.
4. It does not say where you work
“Serving the local area” is not good enough. Visitors and Google both need to see the actual towns you cover.
5. It has one page
A single “Home” page with everything on it cannot rank for each of your services. See why one page per service matters.
6. The photos are stock or out of date
Generic photos of smiling builders, or work from ten years ago, do not build trust. Customers want to see real, recent work.
7. You do not control it
If you do not know who owns your domain, cannot log in, and have to chase someone every time you want a change, you do not really have a website. You have a problem. Read why you must own your domain.
What to do about it
You have two options: repair or replace. If the foundations are sound, a rebuild of key pages may be enough. If the site is slow, old and hard to change, starting fresh on a proper structure is usually cheaper than patching it.
Either way, make sure you end up with a site you own, can change easily and that is built for phones and local search.
If you would be embarrassed to hand a customer your website on your phone, it is time to rebuild.
Let us have a look
Not sure where yours stands? Get in touch and we will tell you honestly whether to fix it or start again. Or see what a new site costs.