Your Website Is Either Booking Jobs or Losing Them. Here's How to Tell.
Most contractor websites look fine but don't actually do anything. No leads, no calls, just a digital business card collecting dust. Run through this checklist in 15 minutes and find out if your site is working for you or against you.
Foundation Elements
Get these wrong and nothing else matters
Would you trust a plumber whose truck says 'jims-plumbing.wixsite.com'? Neither would your customers. Get your own domain.
No padlock in the browser? Google penalizes you AND customers see a 'Not Secure' warning. That's an instant back button.
70%+ of your visitors are on their phone. If they have to pinch and zoom to read your site, they're calling the next guy instead.
Your customer's sitting in a hot house with a broken AC. They're not waiting 5 seconds for your page to load. 53% of visitors bounce after 3 seconds.
Your website should look like it belongs to the same company as your truck, your uniforms, and your business cards. Consistency builds trust.
Essential Pages
Missing any of these? You're leaving money on the table
If someone lands on your homepage and can't figure out what you do in 5 seconds, they're hitting the back button. Clear headline, clear service area, clear CTA.
One page that says 'we do everything' ranks for nothing. A dedicated 'drain cleaning in Austin' page? That's how you show up when someone actually needs you.
People hire people, not logos. Show your face, your crew, and why you got into this trade. That's what separates you from the faceless companies.
Some people want to call. Some want to text. Some want to fill out a form at 11pm. Give them every option or lose them to someone who does.
You serve 8 cities but your website only mentions one? Google doesn't know you exist in the other 7. A page for each area fixes that.
Lead Capture Elements
Traffic without lead capture is just people window shopping your website
If someone has to scroll or dig to find your number, they won't. They'll just Google another contractor. Header, footer, every page. Make it impossible to miss.
Not everyone wants to pick up the phone. Plenty of customers would rather fill out a quick form at midnight than call you during business hours. Let them.
Every page should answer one question for the visitor: 'What do I do next?' If they have to figure it out, you've already lost them.
Some people just want to ask 'how much to unclog a drain?' before committing. A chat widget catches those on-the-fence visitors before they bounce.
It's 2am and a pipe just burst. If your emergency number isn't front and center, that homeowner's calling whoever shows up first on Google.
Trust Building Elements
Your competitors have great reviews. If you're not showing yours, you're losing the comparison
You've got 87 five-star reviews on Google but your website doesn't mention any of them? That's your best sales pitch sitting on the bench. Put it in the game.
Homeowners are letting you into their house. They want to know you're licensed and insured. Especially for electrical, HVAC, and plumbing. Show it.
A picture of a crawl space you cleaned out or a roof you replaced does more selling than any paragraph of text ever will. Show the work.
'Great service!' from 'Anonymous' convinces nobody. 'Fixed our furnace at 10pm on a Saturday. Lifesaver.' from Sarah M. in Boise? That closes deals.
BBB accreditation, manufacturer certifications, trade association logos. They're trust shortcuts. A homeowner comparing two websites picks the one with badges.
SEO Fundamentals
You can have the best website in the world. If Google can't find it, neither can your customers
This is the first thing Google reads on every page. 'Home' tells Google nothing. 'Drain Cleaning Austin TX | ABC Plumbing' tells Google exactly who to send your way.
This is the two-line pitch that shows up in Google results. It's your chance to say 'click me, not them.' Make it count.
Google's not psychic. If your page never mentions 'AC repair in Phoenix,' you're not showing up for that search. Say what you do and where you do it.
Your Google Business Profile and your website should be best friends. Link them together and Google rewards you with better local rankings.
Think of it as a cheat sheet for Google. It tells search engines your hours, service area, phone number, and reviews in a format they can actually read.
Technical Must-Haves
The stuff you don't see that can quietly tank your whole site
Flying blind without analytics is like running a business without looking at the bank account. Know how many people visit, where they come from, and what they do on your site.
Here's a nightmare scenario: you've been getting form submissions for months, but the notification emails are going to spam. Test your forms. Right now. Seriously.
Websites crash. Plugins break things. Someone accidentally deletes a page. Without backups, you're rebuilding from scratch. With them, you're back up in minutes.
Outdated WordPress plugins are the #1 way contractor sites get hacked. One day your site is fine, the next it's redirecting visitors to a casino. Keep everything updated.
Broken links happen. But a dead-end 'Page Not Found' screen is a wasted visitor. A custom 404 page guides them back to your services or homepage instead.
These Mistakes Are Costing You Jobs Right Now
We've looked at hundreds of contractor websites. These are the problems we see over and over. The fix is usually simpler than you'd think.
Impact: They're gone in 3 seconds. They'll call whoever makes it easy.
Fix: Phone number in the header, every single page. Big, tappable, impossible to miss.
Impact: Google sees one generic page and ranks you for nothing. Your competitors with 30 pages are eating your lunch.
Fix: Create a dedicated page for every service you offer and every city you serve. Each one is a new door into your business.
Impact: Customers can smell stock photos from a mile away. It screams 'I don't actually do this work.'
Fix: Snap a quick photo of every job with your phone. Real work beats a $2 stock photo every time.
Impact: You've got great reviews on Google, but your website visitor never sees them. They check your site, see zero social proof, and bounce.
Fix: Embed your Google reviews right on your homepage. Let your happy customers do the selling for you.
Impact: Customer fills out your form and... nothing. No confirmation, no email, no text. They assume it's broken and call someone else.
Fix: Show a clear confirmation message and send an automatic follow-up. Let them know a real human got their request.
Impact: A footer that says '2019' tells customers you might be out of business. An outdated site feels like a closed storefront.
Fix: Auto-update your copyright year. Add fresh photos or content every quarter. Show Google and customers you're still in the game.
So How'd You Do?
Count up how many items your website actually has. Be honest. Nobody's grading this but you.
Your website might actually be costing you jobs. Not sugarcoating it. Time for a serious overhaul.
You've got the bones, but you're leaving leads on the table. A few targeted fixes could change things fast.
Nice. Your site's doing the heavy lifting. Now it's about fine-tuning and adding content to pull even more traffic.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many pages should a contractor website have?
Do I need a blog on my contractor website?
Should I show my prices on my website?
How often should I update my contractor website?
What's more important, design or content?
Should I build my website myself or hire someone?
Done Reading the Checklist? Let Us Build the Website.
We build 30-40 page contractor websites that hit every item on this list. SEO, lead capture, trust signals, the whole thing. See how it works for your trade.
See exactly how this works for your business. No sales call required.