Deciding in seconds

Somebody looking for a tradesperson rarely opens one site at a time. They have a search results page or a WhatsApp recommendation with two or three names on it, and they are working through them in the same few minutes, looking for a reason to stop looking.

That comparison is not close reading. Nobody sits down to study a plumber's site the way they'd study a mortgage offer. They land, they scan, and they either see what they came for or they go back and tap the next name. A site built to be read carefully is built for a moment that mostly does not happen.

What the scan is actually looking for

The reader wants to know three things fast: does this business do the job they need, does it cover where they live, and is there a way to reach it right now. None of those three needs a paragraph. Each one needs to be sitting where the eye lands first.

This is why the detail that ends up mattering is not the writing on the page but what's on it and where. A Gas Safe Register number, a list of towns actually covered, a phone number that's tappable: these are the things a comparison decides on. The full list of what should be visible and what should be reachable in a tap is covered on The Details a Trade Website Should Show.

Losing the comparison happens quietly

Nobody rings up to say a site was too slow to make its case. They simply don't ring at all, and the business never finds out it was in the running. That's the part worth taking seriously: the competing sites aren't necessarily better built, they just answered the scan faster.

On the first screen

What has to be there before a visitor scrolls

Somebody comparing tradespeople checks a handful of things fast, and usually from a phone. These are the ones that need to be visible on the first screen, or reachable in a single tap from it.

  • The trade and the town, in words

    Something like 'electrician in Leeds'.

  • A phone number that dials on tap

    Set up to open a call directly.

  • The scheme registration, on the page they land on

    A Gas Safe Register number or a NICEIC registration shown where it is first seen.

  • A photograph of finished work

    One clear job photograph, reachable in a single tap, so the visitor is not taking the standard of the work on trust alone.

  • The areas covered, stated

    The towns or postcodes the business actually works in, written out.

  • A second way to get in touch

    An email address or a contact form for the visitor who would rather not ring first.

The reasoning behind each of these, what a scheme registration should look like, how areas covered should be written, how job photographs get from a phone onto the page, is worked through on its own page.

Which absences end the visit

A visitor to a trade website is not reading it the way a competition judge would read it. They are checking for one or two specific things, and if those things are missing, they leave without noticing anything else on the page. The site has not failed a test. It simply did not answer the question fast enough, and there is always another name to try.

What counts as an absence that ends the visit

Some gaps are fatal in a way others are not. A missing testimonial or an outdated photo gallery might cost a little confidence, but the visitor usually reads on. The following, when missing, tend to close the tab straight away:

  • No phone number or contact route visible without scrolling
  • No clear statement of which trade the business does and which areas it covers
  • No scheme registration number, where the work is gas, electrical, heating or windows
  • No photographs of work the business has actually carried out

Why these particular gaps end things

Each of these answers a question the visitor is already holding before they land on the page: can you do this job, do you cover my postcode, are you allowed to do this kind of work, and has anyone else's job looked anything like mine. When the answer is not visible, the visitor does not assume it exists somewhere further down. They assume it is not there, and move to the next result.

The scheme registration point is worth being specific about. A Gas Safe Register number, an NICEIC registration or a FENSA number is a claim that can be checked against a public record, and a visitor who has been caught out before is more likely to check than skip. What that number should say, and where it comes from, is covered on the page about scheme registration wording.

Area coverage works the same way but ages differently. A list of towns is only as good as the day it was last checked against where the business actually takes jobs, and that question is covered on the areas covered page. Photographs carry their own weight too: a visitor comparing two tradespeople is often just comparing which one has a picture of a job that looks like theirs, a point set out on the job photographs page.