Quick answer: A trades site in Kent should show the jobs you want, the towns you will travel to, and a phone button that works on a wet Tuesday night. Starter at £150 is one page. Business at £450 is up to five. Growth at £900 is 8–12 pages when you need a page per service or town.
Jobs, not jargon
Write the jobs in customer language: leaking radiator, consumer unit, end-of-tenancy clean, fence panels. Trade names matter too, but the first line should be the problem you solve.
List the area honestly. Maidstone, Gravesend, Sittingbourne, Canterbury and the rest of Kent are places this studio can build for from Coulsdon. They are not offices. Your site should use the same rule. If you will not cross the Medway that day, do not imply that you will.
The call comes first
Most trade enquiries are calls. Put the number in the header and make it a tel link. Repeat it after the service list. A form is the backup for people who are on a train or a night shift.
Photos of finished jobs, with the customer’s permission, beat a stock van. A blank space is more honest than a picture of someone else’s work presented as yours.
Which package fits a trade
One service and one main town: Starter. Several services and an about page: Business, with two revision rounds, Tag Manager and Search Console setup. Several towns with their own pages: Growth, which includes location landing pages and three revision rounds.
Hosting, the domain, VAT and writing the words are confirmed before launch on every package. A van wrap is not included. Neither is a promise that you will outrank the firm that has been on the high street for twenty years.
After the site is up
A one-page starter is often ready a few days after the content arrives. Five pages usually take one to two weeks including a revision. Growth usually takes two to four weeks. Delays are almost always late photos or a change in the service list halfway through.
Use the same business name and phone number on the site and on your Google Business Profile. Mismatched details are a common reason calls go to an old mobile.
Before you enquire
Put the jobs you want in the first screen and the jobs you will decline in a single line if that saves wasted calls. ‘No bathrooms’ is kinder than a form full of bathroom leads. The site can say that without looking negative.
Keep the van phone and the website phone identical. A second SIM for ‘the new site’ splits the calls and the Google profile.
Trade sites in Kent get judged in the time it takes to pull over. The driver needs the service, the area and a number they can tap with a wet glove. Starter is enough when that is the whole message. Business is the step up when you have several jobs worth their own paragraphs and you want Search Console attached. Growth is the step up when Gravesend, Sittingbourne or Maidstone each need a page that says something different about how you cover them. Do not buy Growth to decorate a single van route. Do not stay on Starter if the one page has become a scroll that hides the number. And do not put a stock van on the page and caption it as yours. Customers notice the registration.
Frequently asked questions
I cover several towns. Do I need Growth?
You need Growth if you want separate landing pages. One page that names the towns you travel to can be Starter, if the message stays clear.
Can you photograph the van?
Bring your own photos. We will not pass off a stock van as yours. The pictures on these articles are examples, not client work.
Do you build shops for trade counters?
A brochure with a quote form is what these packages are. A full online shop is a separate quote.
Related reading: Small business web design Web design for Gravesend firms Get a trade-site quote.