Do I need a website if I’m already on Checkatrade and Google?
If the phone rings enough, the honest answer might be no. Plenty of one-person firms run for years on a Google Maps listing, Checkatrade and word of mouth, and there is nothing wrong with that.
But there are three things a listing cannot do, and if any of them matter to you, that is what a website is for.
What the listings do well
A Google Business Profile puts you on the map when somebody searches for a plumber near them. Checkatrade and the rest put you in front of people who have already decided to hire someone and want reassurance. Both work, and both bring real jobs.
If that is bringing you as much work as you want, at prices you are happy with, then stop reading. A website will not fix a problem you do not have.
The three things a listing cannot do
- Show your work properly. A listing gives you a handful of photos in a fixed layout. It cannot show a job from before to after, explain what was involved, or say why the awkward one took three days.
- Say what you charge. Listings push people to request a quote. A website can put the rough numbers in front of them, which filters out the people who were never going to book and warms up the ones who will.
- Belong to you. A directory can change its fees, its ranking, or its rules. Your own site cannot be taken away or moved down a list.
The cost of not having one
Most people who find you on a listing will search your name afterwards. That is the moment a website earns its money — or the moment nothing comes up and they go back to the list and click the next firm.
That check happens with the phone already in their hand. It is not about being found; it is about surviving the look-up.
The two working together
The listing and the site do different halves of the job. The listing gets you found by somebody who does not know your name. The site convinces somebody who now does.
It also works the other way: a Google Business Profile with a website link on it generally performs better than one without, and reviews you gather on Google help both.
When it is genuinely worth it
- You want bigger jobs than the ones the directories send you.
- You are paying a directory monthly and would rather that money built something you own.
- People keep asking you the same questions before they book.
- You do more than one thing and the listing only really covers one of them.
- You are competing on something other than price and need room to explain what.
Common questions
Will a website get me to the top of Google?
Not on its own, and anyone promising that is guessing. For local searches the Google Business Profile does most of the heavy lifting, and reviews matter more than the website. What a site does is let you be found for the things people type that are not just 'plumber near me' — a service, a town, a specific problem.
Can I just use my Facebook page instead?
You can, and it is better than nothing. Two catches: people without a Facebook account often see a login wall instead of your page, and the page belongs to Meta. If the account goes wrong you have no way in and no copy of anything.
I get all my work by word of mouth. Isn’t that enough?
It is, until it isn’t. Word of mouth is somebody being given your name — and the first thing most people do with a name is search it. The site is not there to replace the recommendation, it is there to confirm it.
How much work should I expect from it?
Honestly, nobody can tell you before it exists, and anyone who quotes you a number is making it up. What is predictable is the other half: people who already have your name will find something that looks like a real business.
Not sure it is worth it for your firm?
Send me a few lines about what you do. I will build the first version free so you can decide on the actual thing rather than on the idea of it.
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