Before starting a website for your trade business, gather the information you use when explaining a job to a new customer. A service list, a few relevant photographs and clear contact details give your designer something practical to work with.
You can begin with rough notes. For an electrician, plumber, builder or other contractor in Laois, the useful detail is often already in project folders, quotation notes and the questions customers ask. The task is to decide what belongs on the website and check that it is accurate.
Write a separate note for each main service. Explain who it is for, the work it includes and what usually happens before you can give a price. Include any limits that customers need to understand, such as whether you take on small repairs or only larger installations.
For each service, give your designer:
These notes help establish which services need their own pages. They also give the person writing the copy specific information to use instead of repeating a general description across the whole site.
List your normal coverage and explain any differences by job type. You might travel further for a substantial project than for a small callout. Give your designer the real arrangement so the website can describe it accurately.
Keep your business base separate from the areas you cover. Mention places such as Portlaoise, Portarlington or Abbeyleix only where you genuinely work. If availability or travel needs to be confirmed, explain that in the brief.
Choose photographs that show the kind of work you want to explain. Keep the original files where possible and group pictures by project. For each example, note what the customer needed, what you did and what the photographs show.
A finished installation may need a close-up and a wider view to make sense. Before-and-after photographs can also be useful when the difference is visible. Check that you have permission to use the images and agree whether the customer or location can be identified.
If you have no suitable project photographs yet, say so. Photography can be planned as part of the project, with responsibility and cost agreed before the website build.
Joe Higgins Electrical Services Limited is based in Moyadd, The Swan, Wolfhill, Co. Laois, and serves homeowners across Leinster. We built its website to present the business and its electrical services.
The website separates new builds, full and partial house rewiring, grant-related electrical works, and ventilation and moisture-control installations. Visitors can read about a particular service before using the published phone number, email address or contact page.
For someone preparing a similar website brief, the useful lesson is the level of detail behind those service headings. Explain the work you undertake and the questions a customer needs answered, then give each page a clear route to an enquiry.
Visit Joe Higgins Electrical or read our Joe Higgins Electrical website launch article for the project background.
Supply the business name you want displayed, your logo, the phone number customers should use and the email address that receives enquiries. Confirm opening or contact hours and any response times you are prepared to publish.
Provide current registration or membership details relevant to your trade, together with logos you are authorised to use. If you want testimonials included, supply the approved wording and attribution. Choose someone in the business to check these details before publication.
Describe what you need to know before returning a call or arranging a visit. A name, contact details, job location and short description may be enough to start. If photographs would help, discuss whether an upload field is useful and who will review the files.
Agree which mailbox receives form notifications and who responds when the usual contact is unavailable. During launch testing, send a clearly labelled test enquiry and confirm that it reaches the intended mailbox. Check the phone and email links on a mobile as well.
Put the text, photographs and business details in one shared folder, with a contact person for questions. Identify any existing website pages that need to be retained, rewritten or redirected, and confirm who controls the domain and hosting accounts.
Ask the quotation to explain who writes the copy, enters it and checks revisions. Agree the content needed for launch and who will maintain it afterwards. Product or service changes and additional pages should be scoped separately from ongoing technical care.
Send us a brief outline of your services, the areas you cover and the material you can supply. We can discuss the page structure and identify any missing content before agreeing the build.
Explore our web design service for Laois businesses or contact Istech about your website. For help defining the overall scope and costs, read our website budget planning guide.
