What these details are doing for the person reading them

Someone landing on a trade website is checking facts. They want to know what work you do, whether you cover their postcode, whether you're insured and registered with the right scheme, and how quickly you answer the phone. If any of that is missing, they have no way to answer their own question, and they leave to find a site that does answer it.

Missing and out of date are different problems

A detail that was never added is easy enough to notice. A detail that was added once and then left is harder to spot, because the page still looks finished. A list of areas covered, a set of scheme registrations, or a line of opening hours can all drift out of date while the text sitting around them stays exactly as it was written.

Some of that drift comes from the business changing, taking on a wider area or a new trade. Some of it comes from outside, a registration lapsing or a scheme renewing on its own schedule. Either way, the website has no way of knowing unless it's told, which is the question answered on Why a Trade Website Stops Being Any Use.

The two places this shows up first

On a trade website, the details that go missing or stale fastest tend to fall into two groups: the practical facts about the business itself, such as trades offered, areas covered and hours, and the facts a customer would want checked, such as insurance and scheme registrations. Each is worth setting out on its own terms, because the reasons a customer needs one differ from the reasons they need the other.

The five details worth checking on your own site

Each of these goes stale in a different way, and a visitor checking one of them is usually deciding whether to ring you.

  • The trades you actually offer

    A site listing work you stopped taking on, or missing work you now do, sends the wrong job to the phone or the wrong expectation to a visitor who reads no further.

  • The areas you genuinely cover

    A town list written for an old radius is wrong the day the business travels further, and it is often the first thing a visitor scans for.

  • Your hours

    Hours printed once and never revisited stop matching what actually happens, whether that is an earlier finish, a day off, or a different start time.

  • How quickly you return calls

    A stated response time is only useful while it is still true, so it needs checking against what actually happens.

  • Your business identity

    The name, and any registered or trading details shown, need to match what a visitor finds if they look the business up elsewhere.

This list covers the details that change with the business itself. Insurance and scheme registrations are a separate check, covered on their own.

Insurance, registered details, and scheme registrations

Public liability insurance covers the cost if your work damages a customer's property or injures someone while you're on site. A customer looking at your site before they book wants to know that cover exists, because it tells them who pays if something goes wrong on the job. The policy itself sits with your insurer; the website only needs to state that the cover is in place, and name the insurer if you're happy to.

Registered business details

If you trade as a limited company, your company number is a matter of public record with Companies House, the government register of companies, and a customer can look it up and match it against the name on your invoice. If you trade as a sole trader, there's no equivalent public number, but you're still registered with HMRC (HM Revenue and Customs) for tax, and the business name on your site should match the one you invoice under.

Scheme registrations

A scheme registration tells a customer that someone other than you has assessed your work against a set of standards. Gas Safe Register covers anyone working on gas appliances and installations, and registration there is a legal requirement. NICEIC and NAPIT, along with ELECSA (run under NICEIC), cover electrical work. FENSA covers window and door installation. TrustMark is a government-endorsed scheme covering a wider range of trades. Each scheme's own site lets a customer check a number against its register, and each number covers only the trade it was issued for: a Gas Safe number doesn't stand in for electrical registration, and the reverse is also true.

A scheme number on a website that doesn't match what the scheme's own register shows is something a customer can find in under a minute, before they've picked up the phone.