1. No clear contact information above the fold
The most common mistake on trade websites is burying the phone number. When a customer lands on your site needing a plumber or electrician, they want to call you immediately. If they have to scroll, search, or click through to a contact page to find your number, many will leave and call the next result instead.
Your phone number should be visible at the top of every page, ideally as a clickable link on mobile so customers can call with one tap.
The fix: Put your phone number in the header so it appears on every page without scrolling.
2. The website does not mention specific locations
A website that just says "we cover the South West" or "based in the North" is invisible for location-specific searches. Google needs to see the actual city and town names on your pages to rank you for those areas.
Most trade websites have a single homepage that mentions their town once. Their competitors have individual pages for every town they cover — "Plumber in Stockport," "Plumber in Salford," "Plumber in Bury" — and those pages rank for exactly those searches.
The fix: Create dedicated location pages for every town and city you work in.
3. The site is not mobile-friendly
Over 80% of local trade searches happen on a mobile phone. A website that looks fine on a desktop but is awkward to use on a phone — small text, buttons that are hard to tap, images that do not load properly — will lose the majority of your visitors.
Google also uses mobile performance as a ranking factor. A poor mobile experience directly hurts your rankings.
The fix: Test your site on your own phone. If you have to pinch, zoom, or struggle to find the phone number, it needs fixing.
4. The website is slow
A website that takes more than 3 seconds to load loses over half its visitors before they even see it. This is a well-documented fact. Slow websites are also penalised by Google in search rankings.
Common causes include uncompressed images, cheap hosting, and outdated website builders.
The fix: Test your site speed at PageSpeed Insights (search for it on Google). Anything below 70 on mobile needs attention.
5. No calls to action
Many trade websites show what the business does but never tell the customer what to do next. A customer landing on a plumber's website should immediately see "Call now for a free quote" or "Book an emergency callout." Without a clear prompt, many visitors will passively read and leave without contacting you.
The fix: Every page on your website should have a visible, prominent call to action — ideally a phone number and a contact form.
All five of these mistakes are fixed as standard in every Climbwise website. We build sites specifically designed to convert trade business visitors into paying customers.