Your own website vs Checkatrade, MyBuilder and Rated People.
Directories sell you leads. A website earns you customers. Here is the honest difference, including where the directories genuinely win.
Nearly every trade I build for has paid a directory at some point, and most of them describe the same thing: the leads arrive, but so do two or three other quotes, and the job goes to whoever went cheapest that week.
That is not a criticism of the directories. They do exactly what they promise — they put work in front of you quickly. The question is what you are left holding after five years of paying for it, and whether the same money spent once on your own site would have put you in a stronger position by now.
I am not neutral here, so I will be plain about the numbers I use. My own prices are £350 all in to build the site and £19.99 a month afterwards. I have deliberately not quoted membership fees for any directory: they change, they vary by trade and area, and the only figures worth comparing are the ones on your own invoices. Get those out before you read the rest.
Side by side
Six differences that actually change your income.
Who owns the customer
A directory enquiry belongs to the directory. They hold the contact details, they decide who else sees the job, and they can put three of your competitors in front of the same customer. An enquiry through your own site comes to your phone and your inbox, and nowhere else.
What you pay per job
Directory pricing is ongoing and largely fixed: you pay whether the leads convert or not. A website is a one-off build plus a small monthly figure. Once it is ranking, the tenth enquiry in a month costs you the same as the first.
How you compete
On a directory you compete on price, because the customer is comparing three near-identical profiles. On your own site you compete on your work: your photos, your job types, your reviews, your area, with nobody else on the page.
What you are building
Every year on a directory builds the directory's brand. Every year of your own site builds yours: the domain, the search rankings, the photo library, the reviews you have collected. It is an asset you keep.
Where a directory genuinely wins
Instant volume. A new listing can bring enquiries the same week, and a new website cannot. If you need work right now, a directory buys you time while the site builds its position.
The sensible answer for most trades
Both, then measure. Keep the lead source while your website earns its rankings, count where the jobs actually came from, and let that decide the renewal rather than a gut feeling.
Do the sum
Your real cost per job, in four lines.
Write down what you paid the directory over the last twelve months. Write down how many jobs you genuinely won through it. Divide the first by the second. That is your cost per job, and it is usually a bigger number than anybody expects.
Then compare it with a one-off £350 and £19.99 a month, where the cost does not rise with the number of enquiries. If the directory still wins on that maths, keep it — I would rather you kept something that works than bought a website out of principle.
What usually happens is that the directory wins on speed and loses on everything else, which is why running both for a season is the sensible move rather than a dramatic cancellation.
What the site needs to do
A website only beats a directory if it is built to.
A single page with your logo and a contact form will lose to a directory every time. To beat one, a trade site needs a page for each job type you want enquiries for, the town names you actually cover written into the copy, your own job photos rather than stock, your reviews on the page, and your number tappable on every screen.
That is how I build every trade site: the full approach is on the web design for tradesmen page, with a separate page for each trade — from roofers and driveway firms to electricians and plumbers.
The costs are broken down properly in what a tradesman's website actually costs, and if you want to keep climbing the search results after launch there are monthly SEO packages from £119.
FAQ
Questions trades ask about leaving the directories.
Should I cancel my Checkatrade or MyBuilder membership once I have a website?
Do the directories rank above my own site on Google?
What does a directory lead really cost me?
Isn't a directory listing easier than running a website?
Can I use both my website and a directory at the same time?
Website design in your area
Every website is £350 all in and live within 48 hours of design sign-off, wherever you are. These pages cover the towns nearest the studio.
Let's design the websiteyour business deserves.
Tell me what you need and I’ll come back to you personally with a clear next step. Websites start at £350 all in. Ready when you are.