If you are starting out, or changing where your work comes from, a marketplace listing is usually the faster way to get in front of homeowners. A simple tradie website is the one you own, and it is what makes everything else you pay for work harder.
Most tradies do not need to choose. They need to know what each one does, then do the cheap one first.
What each one does for you
A marketplace listing is a profile on someone else’s site. Homeowners who are already looking for a tradie find the site, and your profile sits next to others. You are renting attention. When you stop paying or the site changes its rules, the attention goes.
A website is a few pages at an address that is yours. It does not bring in many enquiries by itself in the first months. What it does is answer the question every homeowner has before they ring: is this business real, and does it do what I need?
Think of it this way. A listing helps people find you. A website helps them believe you.
| Question | Marketplace listing | Your website |
|---|---|---|
| Who owns it | The marketplace | You |
| Who else is on the page | Your competitors | Only you |
| What you give up | Fees, and some control of how you appear | Time to set up and keep current |
| Works with your own ads | No | Yes, it is where the ad sends people |
| If you stop paying | You disappear | It stays up |
What a basic tradie website needs
Not much. A site that works for a tradie fits on one page and answers six things:
- What work you do, in the words a homeowner would use. “Deck builder” beats “outdoor living specialist”.
- Which suburbs or regions you cover.
- Photos of finished jobs, taken on a phone in daylight, with the suburb named.
- Your licence number and insurance, where your state requires you to show them.
- A phone number that you tap to call, and a short enquiry form.
- What happens next: “We reply the same day and book a time to see the job.”
The form is where tradies usually slip. Ask for the job, the suburb and a phone number. Anything more and people give up. Then check what arrives, and answer it fast. How fast to respond to building enquiries covers why.
Set up a free Google Business Profile at the same time. Google’s own help says that verifying a profile tells Google you are authorised to represent the business, and that businesses with complete and accurate information are more likely to show up in local search results. That is a statement about likelihood, not a promise of position. While you are there, add your services, the areas you cover and a few job photos.
Test it like a homeowner
Once the site is up, check it on your own phone the way a homeowner would. Tap the number and make sure it rings you. Fill in the form and time how long it takes to reach you, and where it lands. If it goes to an inbox you check once a day, fix that before anything else.
Then ask someone outside the trade to find three things in under a minute: what you do, whether you cover their suburb, and how to get a price. If they hunt for any of them, move it higher up the page. Do the same check every few months, because phone numbers, suburbs and photos go out of date.
What a listing cannot give you
A listing is worth having when you need work soon. But there are things it cannot do.
- It cannot be your base. You do not own the relationship with the site’s audience. The rules, the fees and the layout can change without you.
- It cannot carry your own ads. If you run ads on Google or Facebook, the homeowner needs somewhere to land. A listing page is shared space, with other businesses a thumb away.
- It cannot show the whole job. A form and a few lines do not show how you handle a site, a variation or a tricky council approval.
- It cannot filter for you. Many listings go to more than one business at once. Speed decides who wins, and you are on the tools. If you are weighing that model, buying leads for your trade business sets out the questions to ask.
A simple order of work
This is the order most tradies are better off following.
- This week: claim and complete your Google Business Profile. It costs nothing.
- This month: put up the one-page website above. Use your own photos.
- If you need work now: add a listing or another paid source, and send it to your website as well as your phone. Tradie leads in Australia compares the sources. Keep a note of each job and where it came from.
- After a few months: look at your notes. Which source gave jobs you won, not just calls you answered? Spend more there and drop the rest.
If you do not want to build the site yourself, that is a reasonable thing to pay for once. See websites for trades and builders.
When you are ready to run your own ads, the website matters more. A bought click or a bought enquiry lands on it. If it is thin, you are paying to send people somewhere that does not convince them.
Common questions
Do tradies need a website?
Not to get a first job, since most tradies start on referrals and a phone number. You need one once strangers have to decide whether to trust you before they ring, such as when you start running ads.
Is a marketplace listing better than a website?
They do different jobs: a listing puts you where homeowners are already looking, alongside other businesses. A website is yours, works with your own ads and keeps working if you stop paying a marketplace.
Do I need a Google Business Profile as well?
Yes, set one up. Google says businesses with complete and accurate information are more likely to show up in local search results, and verification tells Google you are authorised to represent the business.
How many pages does a tradie website need?
Usually one page that does the job: what you do, where you work, a few photos of finished work, your licence details and one clear way to ring or send an enquiry. More pages can come later.