How to get more enquiries from your trade website

Quick answer: most trade customers visit your site on a phone, in a hurry, with one question: can this person do the job, and how do I reach them? Make the number one tap away, make your work easy to see, and make it quick to send an enquiry. Nobody can promise a set number of enquiries, but these changes remove the most common reasons people leave.

Plenty of trade websites look fine and still bring in very little. Usually the problem is not the design. It is that the site makes a busy customer work too hard. Here is what to fix, in order of how much difference it tends to make.

1. Put your phone number where a thumb can reach it

Most people visiting a trade site are on their phone. Your number should be at the top of every page, and it should be a click-to-call link, so one tap starts the call. If customers have to copy a number from the page and paste it into their dialler, some will give up and ring the next person on the list.

2. Add a WhatsApp button

Plenty of customers would rather send a message and a photo than have a phone call, especially for quotes. A WhatsApp chat button next to your call button lets them do either. It also means you get a photo of the job before you have even spoken.

3. Say what you do and where, in plain words

Right at the top of your home page, state your trade, the towns you cover and how to reach you. "Roofer in Epsom and Surrey" beats a clever slogan every time. Customers (and Google, and AI tools) should know within a few seconds whether you are the right person. My guide to local SEO explains why this matters for being found as well.

4. Keep the enquiry form short and useful

Ask for the things you need to quote: the type of job, the postcode and how urgent it is. Skip the long form with ten boxes. Fewer fields means more completed enquiries, and the answers mean you can reply properly the first time.

5. Show real work and real reviews

Customers are letting you into their home or onto their property, so they want proof. Photos of your own jobs, before and after where you can, and genuine reviews do more than any claim about quality. Show your Google reviews on the site, and read my guide on why reviews matter for AI search for ways to collect more.

6. Give each service and area its own page

A page for each main service, and for each area you cover, gives customers a page that matches what they searched for. "Kitchen fitter in Ewell" is a better landing page than a general "Services" list. It also helps people searching for that exact thing find you.

7. Make it fast

A slow site loses people before they have seen anything. Large photos are the usual cause. A fast site is better for customers and is something Google looks at too.

A simple weekly check

1. Open your site on your own phone, with mobile data rather than wifi.
2. Time how long it takes to find your number and tap it.
3. Send yourself a test enquiry and see whether it arrives, and how quickly.

If any of those feel slow or fiddly, your customers feel it too.

What to expect

These changes remove friction, which usually means more of the visitors you already have get in touch. How many visitors you get in the first place depends on being found, and that is controlled by Google and AI tools, not by anyone you hire. Results also depend on your competition, how long your domain has existed and the number and quality of your reviews. Be wary of anyone who promises a particular result.

If you would like a hand, you can build a quote for a site with all of this built in, or ask for a free website check on the contact page. My guide to getting your trade business recommended by ChatGPT covers the AI side.