A good trades or local-business website does three jobs: it proves you're real, it answers the questions people would otherwise phone to ask, and it makes calling, texting or emailing you the obvious next step. Most Markham sites we review fail on at least one. We build and repair sites around those three jobs, and nothing else.
What a Markham buyer looks for in the first ten seconds
A homeowner in Greensborough with a leaking water heater, or a facility manager in Cachet looking for a backup electrician, will scan for the same things:
- Do you serve my area? A clear service-area statement naming the Markham communities you cover, and nearby cities if you go there.
- Do you do my job? Separate pages for your main services, not one long list.
- Can I trust you? Real photos, how long you've been in business, licences you genuinely hold, and recent reviews.
- How do I reach you, right now? A phone number that taps to call, plus text and email, visible without scrolling.
If any of those take more than a few seconds to find, the visitor goes back to Google and taps the next result.
What's included
- Structure planned from your services and communities. Usually a home page, one page per main service, a service-area page, an about page with your story, and a contact page.
- Copy written from an interview. We ask how you work, what customers usually worry about and what makes your crew different, then write it in plain language.
- Speed and mobile first. Most local searches happen on phones, so pages are light, quick and readable on a small screen.
- Accessibility basics. Readable contrast, sensible headings and descriptive link text. Larger Ontario organisations have obligations under the AODA; confirm yours with the province, but good accessibility helps every visitor regardless.
- Tracking that tells the truth. Calls, texts and emails from the site are counted by page, so you know which pages earn their keep.
- Content that follows Google's guidance. Google asks for helpful, people-first content; we write for customers first and search engines second.
Timeline
| When | What happens |
|---|---|
| Week 1 | Interview, review of your current site and competitors, page plan agreed |
| Weeks 2–3 | Copy drafted; you gather photos of real jobs and your team |
| Weeks 3–5 | Design, build and your review rounds |
| Week 6 | Launch, redirects from old pages, tracking checked |
How results are measured
We compare the share of visitors who call, text or email before and after launch, by page and by source. We also check that pages load quickly on mobile and that the old site's search traffic carried over. A good-looking site that converts fewer visitors is a failure, and we'd tell you.
Mistakes to avoid
- Hiding the phone number. It belongs at the top of every page, not just on the contact page.
- One page for everything. "Plumbing, heating, drains, renovations" on a single page ranks for none of them.
- Forgetting redirects. Moving to a new site without redirecting old addresses can throw away years of search history.
- Claims you can't back up. "Best in Markham" invites doubt. Specifics, such as response times and real job photos, persuade far better.
- Letting someone else own the domain. Make sure the domain and hosting are registered to your business.
What we need from you
A site is only as good as the material behind it. We'll ask for a list of your main services and the ones you'd like more of, the Markham communities and nearby cities you cover, twenty or so honest photos of real jobs and your team, any licences or registrations you genuinely hold, and an hour of your time for the interview. Owners who send those quickly get their site weeks sooner.
How it connects to everything else
The site is the landing point for local search and paid search, and it hosts the capabilities page used in business-park marketing. Website packages and plan discounts are covered on the pricing page. We build marketing websites only; we don't perform any trade work.
Frequently asked questions
Who owns the website when it's finished?
You do: the domain, the content and the hosting account. If we ever part ways, you keep everything, and we hand over access cleanly.
Do I need a new site or can you fix the one I have?
Often a fix is enough. If your site loads quickly and gets calls, we'll improve pages, speed and tracking rather than start over. We recommend a rebuild only when the site is slow, hard to edit or misleading.
How long does a website take?
A small trades site of five to ten pages usually takes three to six weeks, depending mostly on how quickly we get photos, job details and approvals from you.
Will the site be in other languages?
It can be, if your customers need it. Any translated page is checked by a qualified translator rather than left to machine translation, because a clumsy page in someone's first language does more harm than good.