Small Business Digital
How to Write a Trades Website That Wins Jobs
1 July 2025
Most trades websites are written by people who know the trade very well and know very little about what makes a website visitor decide to make a call. The result is websites full of language that the tradesperson would use with a colleague, describing services in technical terms, listing equipment and qualifications in detail, and being comprehensively accurate about everything except the thing the visitor actually needs to know.
Writing a website that wins jobs requires understanding what the website needs to have and what a potential customer is thinking when they land on it, and writing directly to that.
What the visitor is thinking
When someone lands on your website, they have usually just typed something like “electrician Drogheda” or “roofer near me” into Google. They are in a moment of need. They are not browsing. They are looking for someone to help them with a specific problem, and they are likely to contact the first business that convincingly answers three questions:
Can you do what I need done? Are you in my area? Can I trust you?
Every word on your website should help answer one of those three questions. Words that do not answer any of them are getting in the way.
The headline that works
The most common headline on trades websites is the business name. “Murphy Electrical Services.” This tells the visitor who you are. It does not tell them whether you can help them.
A headline that does more work: “Registered Electrician Serving Drogheda and Louth. Available for Callouts, Rewires, and New Installations.”
This headline answers all three of the visitor’s questions in two lines: yes I can do electrical work, yes I am in your area, yes I am registered (trust signal). The business name can go elsewhere.
Writing about services
Services should be described in the language a customer would use, not the language of the trade. A customer who needs their bathroom rewired searches for “bathroom rewiring” not “complete electrical circuit installation to current ETCI standards”. Both describe the same thing. Only one is what the customer would type.
Write one paragraph per main service. Lead with what the service is in plain language. Add one sentence about what it involves. Add one sentence about why it matters or who it is for. That is enough.
Avoid lists of services that have no description. “Rewiring. Fuse boards. Lighting installation. EV chargers.” This tells the visitor you do these things. It does not help them understand whether you can do their specific version of them.
Writing about your area
The area section of a trades website does more SEO work than any other page element. Understanding the words that rank locally matters because the words you use to describe where you work are the words Google matches to local searches.
Do not write: “We serve the greater Louth area and surrounds.”
Do write: “Based in Dundalk, we provide electrical services across Louth, including Drogheda, Ardee, Carlingford, Dundalk, and surrounding areas.”
The second version contains the specific place names that people search for. The first version contains none of them.
The about section that builds trust
The about section on most trades websites is written in the third person and reads like a press release. “Murphy Electrical Services was founded in 2008 with a commitment to quality and customer satisfaction.”
Write in the first person. Tell a short, direct story. “I started Murphy Electrical in 2008 after fifteen years working for a commercial contractor in Dublin. Most of my work is domestic: full rewires, fuse board upgrades, and fault finding. I’m RECI registered and carry full public liability insurance. I return calls the same day and I’m on time.” That is a more convincing human being than a corporate mission statement.
The call to action throughout
Every page of your website should have a clear call to action focused on converting visitors: a phone number to call or a form to fill in. Not just on the contact page. On every page.
The visitor who reads your service description and wants to call should not have to navigate to find the number. It should be visible where they are, in the moment they decide to act.
Maebh Collins builds and manages digital presence for small and micro businesses in Ireland, including website copywriting for trades businesses.
Maebh Collins is a Chartered Accountant (FCA, ICAEW), Big 4 trained, with twenty years of experience building and running international businesses. She specialises in finance transformation, ecommerce operations, and digital strategy.