How to get more enquiries from your trade website

Two problems, not one

"My website doesn't get me work" is usually one of two problems:

• Not enough people find it.
• People find it, then leave without getting in touch.

They have different fixes. Work out which one you have before changing anything. If your site has a visitor count (many website builders include one), look at it: a site with plenty of visitors and few enquiries has the second problem.

Getting found

• Set up your Google Business Profile. It is free, and it is what appears on the map when someone searches for a trade near them. Add your service area, opening hours and photos, and ask happy customers for reviews there.
• Say what you do and where, in plain words, on your home page and page titles. "Boiler installation in Leeds" is what people search for; "Excellence in heating solutions" isn't.
• Give each main service its own page. A page about boiler installs and a separate page about power flushes can each be found for their own search.
• Answer the questions customers ask. How long does it take? Do I need to move out? What affects the price? Pages that answer real questions are the kind search engines tend to show.
• Make sure it works on a phone. Many people look for a trade on their phone. Open your site on yours and try to get in touch.

Turning visitors into enquiries

• Show your work. Photos of real jobs, ideally before and after, do more than any amount of description.
• Show you are real and trusted. Your name, your area, how long you've been trading, your trade body or registration (Gas Safe, for example), and reviews from real customers.
• Make contact easy from every page. A phone number that can be tapped on a mobile, and a short form.
• Say what happens next. "We'll reply within a day" is reassuring. Silence isn't.
• Give some idea of price. Customers who can't tell whether you're in their budget often leave to find someone who tells them. A guide price, a typical range or a "from" price all help (we cover the options in Should you put prices on your trade website?).

Be quick when they do get in touch

An enquiry is worth most in the hours after it arrives. A customer who fills in three forms on a Saturday morning may well go with whoever replies soonest. If you can't reply quickly, an automatic reply saying when you will is better than nothing.

Give visitors something to do

A visitor who isn't ready to phone may still be willing to do something smaller. A price calculator is one example: the customer answers questions about their own job and gets a guide price, then decides whether to send it to you. For the customer it is a reason to stay on your site. For you, each enquiry arrives with all their answers.

Build A Quote makes price calculators for trade websites. Each one asks the questions you'd ask on a visit and gives a guide price on your rates, so the enquiries you get are from people who have already seen a number. It sits on your existing website, alongside everything above, not instead of it.