Why Most Trades Websites Fail to Generate Leads (And How to Fix Yours)

Most trades businesses have a website. Very few of those websites actually generate a consistent flow of enquiries. The gap between having a website and having a lead-generating asset is wider than most business owners realise, and it is not about how the site looks. A website can be visually impressive and still fail completely at converting visitors into customers.

After working with trades businesses doing £200k to £1m and beyond, we have seen the same mistakes repeated across hundreds of sites. Here are the five most common reasons trades websites fail to generate leads, and exactly what to do about each one.

Mistake 1: The Site Is Not Optimised for Local Search

The most common and most damaging mistake is building a website that Google cannot connect to a specific location. A plumber in Sheffield whose website says "we cover the Yorkshire area" is competing with every plumber in Yorkshire. A plumber whose website has dedicated pages for Sheffield, Rotherham, Barnsley, and Doncaster, each with specific content about the services offered in that area, is competing in a much smaller pool and winning a much larger share of local searches.

The fix is to create individual location pages for every town or area you serve. Each page should be at least 400 words of unique content, include the town name naturally throughout the text, reference local landmarks or areas, and have a clear call to action with your phone number. This is not glamorous work, but it is one of the highest-return activities in local SEO.

Mistake 2: The Phone Number Is Not Prominent Enough

This sounds obvious, but the number of trades websites where the phone number is buried in the footer or only on the contact page is remarkable. For a trades business, the phone call is the primary conversion event. Every page of your website should have your phone number visible without scrolling, ideally in the top right corner of the header and as a clickable link on mobile.

On mobile, a sticky header with a "Call Now" button that persists as the user scrolls can increase call volume significantly. Most people searching for a tradesperson on their phone are ready to call. Remove every possible barrier between their intention and the action.

Mistake 3: The Site Is Too Slow

Page speed is a direct ranking factor in Google search, and it is also a conversion factor. Studies show that a one-second delay in page load time reduces conversions by 7%. For a trades website on mobile, where most local searches happen, a slow site means visitors leave before they even see your content.

The most common causes of slow trades websites are unoptimised images, cheap shared hosting, and bloated website builders like Wix or Squarespace that load unnecessary code. A well-built site on quality hosting should load in under two seconds on a mobile connection. If yours takes longer than three seconds, you are losing a significant proportion of your potential enquiries before they even arrive.

Mistake 4: There Is No Social Proof Above the Fold

When a homeowner lands on your website, the first question in their mind is "can I trust this person?" The fastest way to answer that question is with social proof: reviews, star ratings, the number of jobs completed, years in business, and photos of real work. Most trades websites bury this information at the bottom of the page or on a separate testimonials page that nobody visits.

Move your trust signals to the top of the page. Display your Google star rating and review count in the header. Show a strip of logos from industry bodies you belong to. Include a short quote from a recent customer. The goal is to make a visitor feel confident within the first five seconds of landing on your site.

Mistake 5: The Call to Action Is Vague

"Contact us" is not a call to action. It tells a visitor what to do but gives them no reason to do it now. For a trades business, the most effective calls to action are specific and low-friction: "Get a Free Quote Today", "Call for Same-Day Availability", "Book Your Free Survey". These phrases tell the visitor exactly what they will get and reduce the perceived risk of reaching out.

Every page on your website should have a clear, specific call to action that is visible without scrolling. The homepage should have at least two: one in the hero section and one after your main content. Service pages should have a call to action after every major section.

The Underlying Problem

Most trades websites were built by a web designer who understood design but not conversion. They made the site look professional, but they did not think about the journey a potential customer takes from landing on the page to picking up the phone. A lead-generating website is not just a digital brochure. It is a sales tool, and it needs to be built with that purpose in mind from the ground up.

For trades businesses doing £200k and above, the cost of a poorly converting website is not just the money spent on building it. It is the value of every enquiry that never happened because a visitor left without calling. Fixing these five mistakes can realistically double the number of enquiries your website generates within 90 days.