Answers, with the numbers behind them
We measure before we write. A figure on these pages is either ours and dated, or a published price with its source named.
Nothing charged until you have seen it.
10 answers published so far. The phrases they answer carry 5,000 searches a month in the UK, last measured in September 2026.
The other answers
Pay monthly web design, and the clause to read first
What a monthly website actually includes, the 2 clauses to check before you sign, and how it compares with paying an agency once.
Guide 790 searches a month Read the answerWhat a UK business website legally has to have
Privacy policy, cookie banner, company details and accessibility, for a UK small business site. What the law actually requires, and what it does not.
Guide 200 searches a month Read the answerIs your website mobile friendly?
Check whether your website loads, is encrypted, fits a phone and answers fast enough to hold a visitor. It takes one request and no sign-up.
Guide 590 searches a month Read the answerHow a UK local business ranks in its own town
What actually moves local rankings in the UK: the profile, the town on the page, the citations, and the reviews. In the order that pays.
Guide 200 searches a month Read the answerDo I need a website if I already have a Google profile?
What a Google Business Profile does on its own, the 3 things it cannot do, and the 2 cases where a UK local business needs no website at all.
Guide 210 searches a month Read the answerThe best website builder for a UK small business
Wix, Squarespace, GoDaddy, WordPress and Shopify compared for a UK trade or shop, on price, time to live and what happens when you need a change.
Roundup 420 searches a month Read the answerCheckatrade alternatives, compared on how the lead arrives
MyBuilder, TrustATrader, Rated People, Bark and Google Business Profile, compared on how the lead reaches you and what it costs. Including the one that is free.
Comparison 470 searches a month Read the answerWhat Checkatrade costs a tradesperson
What Checkatrade charges, how the tiers work, what you actually get for the money, and when a website of your own is the cheaper way to be found.
Guide 590 searches a month Read the answerWhat a website actually costs in the UK
Real UK prices for every route to a small business website, and what each one charges again in year two. Agency, freelancer, builder and built-for-you.
Comparison 1,440 searches a month Read the answer
How anything here gets written
These pages exist to be quoted, by a person or by an assistant. That only works if every figure on them survives being checked.
- A number is ours and dated, or public with its source named
- No round figure that somebody liked the shape of, and no statistic quoted from another blog that quoted a third.
- The answer comes first, in one paragraph
- A piece opens with the whole answer before the argument, so a reader who leaves after 10 seconds still has it.
- We say when the answer is that you need nothing
- Two of these pages end by telling a reader not to buy anything. A page that can only reach one conclusion is an advert.
- Prices are the ones actually quoted in the UK
- Where a supplier publishes no price we say the band trades report paying, and we say that is what it is.
The rest of the site
- Your town We measured the high street in 868 UK towns before writing a word about any of them. Your town's page prints how many local sites we fetched, how many failed, and the date we checked.
- Your trade A plumber, a salon and a dental practice need 3 different sites, because their customers decide in 3 different ways. A trade's page says which, and which plan it lands on.
- Your own site Put your address in and we fetch it the way a phone would. It takes one request, nothing is stored, and if it passes we say so rather than selling you a replacement.
Tell us about the work.
Answer 6 questions, add your photos and say where to send it. It takes about 5 minutes, talking or typing. No call, no card, nothing to sign.
Talk us through all six.
Press record once and answer the 6 below. Take as long as you like.
- What do you do, and who for? Example: I am a plumber. Mostly emergency callouts for homeowners, some landlords.
- Which towns do you cover? Name the places you would actually drive to, or the postcodes you work.
- What jobs do you want the phone to ring for? The work you want more of, and not everything you are able to do.
- Why do people pick you over the next name on the list? Say it the way you would say it standing in somebody's kitchen.
- What should someone do when they land on your site? Ring you, fill in a form for a quote, or send a message?
- Anything you want it to look like? A site you like, the colour on your van, or nothing at all. Nothing at all is a fine answer.
Any order is fine. Say something twice, come back to a thing you forgot, stop to think. It all stays in one recording and we sort it out at our end.