This lot have a problem the other trades do not: the work is either an emergency or it is seasonal, and the website has to handle both without falling over.
Someone locked out of their house at 9pm is not reading your about page. Someone booking an air conditioner in the first hot week of November is competing with everyone else who left it late. The site's job changes depending on which one just landed on it.
Built for: Locksmiths, Pest control, Carpet cleaners, Window cleaners, Air conditioning installers, Solar installers, Test and tag services.
For the urgent half of this work, the entire website is a phone number. It sits at the top of every page, it is a tap-to-call link on mobile, and it does not scroll away. If your after-hours rate is different, say what it is right next to it rather than surprising someone later.
This is the industry where people expect to get stung, so the businesses that give a number win. A call-out fee, a starting price, a typical range for a standard job. It does not have to be a fixed quote. It has to be enough that someone stops wondering and picks up the phone.
Air con and solar get four months of the year where the phone does not stop, and eight where it barely rings. The site should let you push the seasonal thing to the front when it matters, and it has to stay fast when the traffic spikes rather than crawling exactly when it counts.
Annual pest treatments, air con servicing, test and tag cycles, window cleaning rounds. The money in these businesses is repeat work, and the website should be collecting emails and booking the next visit rather than starting from scratch with a stranger every time.
It helps more than for almost anyone else, because emergency searches happen on a phone with no patience. People tap the first result that looks legitimate, has a visible number and loads instantly. If your site takes six seconds to appear, they are already talking to someone else. The site is not doing the selling, it is winning the tap.
Yes. Whether it is worth it depends on your work. For scheduled jobs like carpet cleaning or test and tag, a real booking calendar takes a pile of admin off you. For genuine emergencies it usually gets in the way, and a phone number does better. I will tell you honestly which one you are, and you can have both if the answer is both.
$199 to set up, then $59 a month. The monthly covers hosting, the domain, security, backups, content updates when you need them, and me picking up the phone. There is no separate bill for small changes. The monthly runs on a 12-month minimum term, then month to month: $199 does not come close to covering a bespoke build, so the rest of it is spread across the first year rather than charged up front.
12 Bar Digital, Largs North, Adelaide, South Australia. (08) 7077 0985. hello@12bardigital.com.au