If most of your work comes through Checkatrade, MyBuilder or somebody passing your number on, you already have a business that works. The question is whether you want a second route in that you own, and what it takes to build one.
For some decorators the honest answer is not yet, and I’d rather say that at the top than at the end of a quote.
The directories are the competition, and you’re paying them
Search for a decorator in almost any town and the directories are sitting at the top. That’s the actual competitive situation, and it’s a particular one, because you’re often paying the same platforms that outrank you.
The lead costs money, it goes to several of you at once, and the customer arrives already comparing you on price. None of that is a reason to leave the platforms. It is a reason to want some work arriving directly.
What a directory can’t do is show somebody your finish. That’s the one thing you have that a listing doesn’t, and it’s usually sitting unused.
Your photographs are worth more than they’re being used for
Before and after shots of your own jobs are the most valuable thing on a decorator’s website. They usually end up in a gallery page with no words attached, which wastes them.
Attach the words. What the room was like, what the problem was, what you did about it, what it took. A page about a job in a named area, with your own photographs and a plain account of the work, is something no competitor can copy and no directory can reproduce. It also happens to be the kind of page that earns local visibility.
Keep the images sensible in size, name the files after the job instead of IMG_4471, and write real alt text. That’s about ten minutes per job, and it’s what turns a gallery into something that actually earns visibility.
Domestic and commercial want different things
A decorating website usually speaks to one homeowner at a time, which makes sense until you look at how differently the other side behaves.
Somebody wanting a hallway done searches locally, decides quickly and cares about price and mess. A letting agent, a builder, a landlord with a portfolio or an office manager is looking for reliability, availability and whether you can handle several properties. They search different words and they’re worth more per relationship.
If you want more of the second kind, the site has to say so somewhere, and a lot of them never do.
Where I’d start
Depends what’s in the way already. If the site is slow on a phone, has no clear phone number, or nobody can tell which enquiries came from search, none of the rest matters yet.
After that, roughly:
- The Google Business Profile, complete and accurate, with a review habit. Google says local results depend mainly on relevance, distance and prominence, and reviews are the part of prominence you can build on purpose.
- A handful of job pages with your own photographs and a written account, covering the kind of work you want more of.
- Pages for the areas you actually cover, not every town within an hour.
- The measurement, so you can see which enquiries came from search and which came from the platforms you’re paying.
A decorator booked solid to spring doesn’t need any of this, and I’d tell you that before quoting for it.
Would Google Ads help?
Possibly, though it’s rarely where I’d start for a decorator. The jobs vary enormously in value, and paying for clicks on a hallway repaint is a quick way to spend money.
Where it earns its keep is the higher value work: full house repaints, commercial contracts, specialist finishes. That means being specific about what you’re advertising for. My Google Ads service covers how I’d approach it.
What about AI answers?
Ask an assistant how to find a decorator and you’ll get advice about checking insurance, asking for references and getting three quotes, usually with the directories named as where to look.
That tells you what somebody is being primed to ask before they call you. If your site doesn’t answer the insurance question, doesn’t show references and doesn’t make getting a quote easy, you’re losing people at exactly the point the assistant told them to check.
Worth running a few of those questions yourself and seeing what comes back. There’s more under AI search visibility.
Who this suits
Established decorators who want work arriving directly instead of only through platforms.
Decorators with a specialism, whether that’s heritage work, spraying, commercial contracts or high-end finishes, where far fewer businesses compete.
Small firms with a team, where keeping several people busy takes more than referrals.
What does it cost to work together?
I can’t price this from a trade name. It depends on what’s there now and what turns out to be wrong. I’d look at the site, whatever you can share from Search Console, and what’s actually ranking in your area. Then I’d tell you what I’d do first, why, and what it would cost.
Most of the work happens remotely, and I’m near Liverpool if a conversation in person would help. Nearby towns are on the locations page.
Questions people ask
Should I stop paying for Checkatrade?
Not on the strength of a website that doesn’t exist yet. Build the direct route first, measure what it brings, and then you can make that decision on numbers instead of on principle.
How many photos do I need?
Fewer than you think, with more written around them. Ten jobs documented properly will do more than two hundred images in a gallery with no context.
Do I need pages for every town nearby?
No, and a stack of near-identical town pages tends to work against you. Cover the areas you genuinely work in and can talk about specifically.
Is a decorator’s website even worth having?
It is if you want anything other than price-led enquiries. A listing puts you next to four competitors on cost. Your own site is where you can show the work and set the terms.
Do you work with trades outside the North West?
Yes. The work is remote and my clients are spread around the country. Decorating has its own page here because the directory problem shapes everything, not because location matters. Other trades are on the trades page.
Start with an assessment
Tell me what you’d like more of and what you’re currently paying the platforms. I’ll look at the site, your profile and what’s ranking locally, then tell you where I think the first useful change is. You can request a free assessment or get in touch. Other sectors are on the industries page.