How to brief a web designer if you're a tradesperson
Most bad trade websites start with a bad brief, or no brief. The designer guesses, the tradesperson dislikes the guess, and the revisions eat the budget. A brief takes an hour to write. It fixes most of this. Here is what to put on one page and how to hand it over.
Why the brief is your job, not theirs
A designer can make a site look good. Only you know which jobs make you money, which towns you want more work in, which questions customers ask on the phone every day and which competitor's site you quietly admire. If that is not written down, the designer fills the gap with a template.
A written brief also protects you commercially. Agencies in this directory quote fixed prices for trade websites, from a few hundred pounds upwards. A fixed price only holds if the scope is fixed. The brief is the scope.
The one-page brief: ten lines
Write a sentence or two against each heading. Keep it to a page.
- 1. Who we are. Trading name, trade, years in business, number of people, base town.
- 2. The jobs we want more of. Three services, in order of value. Be specific: 'full rewires and consumer unit changes', not 'electrical work'.
- 3. The jobs we do not want. Equally useful. 'No call-outs under £100.'
- 4. Where we want the work. A list of towns or postcode districts, in priority order.
- 5. Who the customer is. Homeowners, landlords, letting agents, commercial? Age and property type if it matters.
- 6. Why people choose us. Three honest reasons. Accreditations (Gas Safe, NICEIC, TrustMark), guarantees, response time, years trading.
- 7. What we want the visitor to do. Phone, WhatsApp, fill a form, book online? Pick one primary action.
- 8. Sites we like and why. Two or three, with one sentence each. Competitors are fine.
- 9. What we already have. Logo, photos, reviews, domain name, existing site, social accounts.
- 10. Budget and deadline. State both. Designers quote differently for £500 and £2,000, and both can be the right answer.
The pages a trade website needs
Ask for these by name. A designer who pushes back on service and location pages is building a brochure, not a site that brings in work.
| Page | Purpose | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Home | Say what you do, where, and how to contact you within five seconds | Phone number visible on mobile without scrolling |
| One page per service | Rank for 'boiler installation [town]' and answer the questions a customer asks | One service per page, not a list |
| One page per main town | Rank for '[trade] [town]' | Real content about work in that town, not a copy-paste with the name swapped |
| About | Who is behind the business | Photo of you and the van; accreditations |
| Reviews | Proof | Pulled from Google where possible |
| Gallery or recent work | Proof | Before and after, captioned with town and job |
| Contact | Every way to reach you | Form, phone, WhatsApp, service area map |
What to supply, and in what state
Photos: your own, at full size, straight from the phone. Thirty real photos of your work beat any stock image. Include the van, the team and a few mid-job shots.
Words: you do not need to write the site, but you do need to supply the raw material. For each service, dictate into your phone for two minutes: what the job involves, how long it takes, what it costs roughly, what goes wrong when it is done badly. The designer or copywriter turns that into pages. Without it they write generic copy.
Reviews: a list of your best Google reviews, or permission to embed them. Accreditation logos and membership numbers. Your logo as a vector file if you have one, or the original file from whoever made it.
Five questions to ask before you agree a price
- Who owns the domain, the site files and the content when it is finished? The answer should be you. Several agencies in this directory state this plainly; Websites for Tradespeople, for example, says the client owns the site and domain outright.
- Is the price fixed, and what counts as a change request? Some providers include unlimited revisions. Others bill after the second round. Know which.
- What is hosting, and what does it cost after launch? Hosting and care plans are commonly £20 to £60 a month. Ask whether they are optional and cancellable.
- Will the site be built to rank, or just to look right? Ask specifically for service pages, location pages, page titles written for search and a connection to Google Search Console.
- What happens if I stop paying? This matters most for pay-monthly sites. Our comparison of pay-monthly and upfront website companies sets out the difference.
Pay monthly or buy outright: brief accordingly
If you are buying the site outright, the brief should state that you will receive the files and the domain at completion. If you are renting a site on a monthly plan, the brief should ask what you can take with you on leaving, and the answer should be in writing.
Neither model is wrong. A £30 a month site from Websites 4 Trades and a £995 outright build from Websites for Tradespeople serve different budgets. The brief just needs to match the deal.
Signs the designer understands trades
Our guide to agencies for small trades businesses lists providers whose portfolios are mostly trades. Start there if you want a designer who has built fifty plumbing sites rather than one.
- They ask about your service area before they ask about colours
- They ask which jobs are most profitable
- They mention Google Business Profile without being prompted
- They can show you a live trade site they built and tell you what it ranks for
- They put the phone number top right on mobile without being asked
After launch: the handover checklist
Then connect the site to your Google Business Profile, a job covered step by step in our guide to setting up a Google Business Profile for a trade.
- Domain registered in your name, with login details
- Hosting account login, or a written statement of what the agency hosts and at what cost
- Website admin login
- Google Search Console and Analytics access
- A list of the pages built and what each targets
- Written confirmation of what you own
Frequently asked questions
How long should a website brief be?
One page. Ten short headings with a sentence or two each is enough for a designer to quote accurately.
Do I need to write the website copy myself?
No, but you need to supply the raw material: a few minutes of dictated notes per service, your reviews and your accreditations. Without it the copy will be generic.
How many pages does a trade website need?
A home page, one page per service, one page per main town served, about, reviews, recent work and contact. Usually eight to fifteen pages for a small firm.
Should I own the domain?
Yes. Make sure the domain is registered in your name, not the designer's, and that you have the login.