Checkatrade or your own website?
A directory listing and a website do different jobs. One puts you on a list that customers already visit. The other is what people find when they search your name, and it belongs to you.
Here is what each is good at, what you are left with if you stop paying, and which to sort out first. We build websites, so we have tried hard to be fair.
They do different jobs, and plenty of trades have both
Checkatrade is a directory. Customers go there to find a tradesperson, they see a list of members who cover their area, and they pick from it. You pay a membership fee to be on that list. A website is your own place on the internet, at your own address, with nobody else on the page.
So the choice is not really one or the other. It is about which you need first, whether you are paying for something that is not earning its keep, and what you would be left with if you stopped paying. This page goes through that as evenly as we can. We build websites, so weigh it accordingly.
What a directory like Checkatrade is good at
It would be dishonest to pretend otherwise.
Borrowed trust
Customers recognise the name, and membership involves checks before a trade is listed. For a stranger choosing somebody to let into their home, that counts.
People already looking
The directory does its own advertising and brings customers to it. A new business with no reputation yet can be found there sooner than a new website would be.
Reviews in one place
Customer feedback is collected and displayed for you, in a format people have learned to read.
What a listing cannot do for you
None of this is a criticism. It is simply what a directory is.
- You are shown next to your competitors. The customer is choosing from a list, and you are one line on it.
- The profile is laid out their way. You cannot add a page for each service, or explain how you work at any length.
- The reviews live on their platform. If the membership ends, the profile and the reviews on it are no longer working for you.
- It is a running cost. It lasts as long as you keep paying, and you own nothing at the end of it.
- When somebody searches your business name, a directory profile is not the same as finding you.
What your own website does that a listing does not
The main one is easy to miss. A good share of the people who look you up already have your name. A neighbour recommended you, they saw the van, or they found you on a directory and want to know more before they ring. They search for the business, and what they find decides whether they call. If that is a proper site with your work, your prices or price guides, your insurance and your reviews, most of the persuading is done before you pick up the phone.
The second is that a site can be found for the particular jobs you want. A page about bathroom refits in your town, or emergency call-outs, or landlord certificates, can come up for exactly that search. A directory profile lists what you do. It cannot make the case for each job.
The third is that it is yours. With us the build is a one-off price, you own the site from the day it goes live, and any monthly plan is optional with no minimum term. The site also works alongside your Google Business Profile, which is free, belongs to your business and holds your Google reviews. Our guide to Google Business Profile for trades explains that side.
How to decide, depending on where you are
Three common positions, and what we would honestly suggest in each.
New, with no reviews yet
A directory can be a sensible way to get the first jobs. Set up your free Google Business Profile at the same time and ask every customer for a Google review, so you are building something you keep.
Established on word of mouth
You probably need the website more than the listing. Your customers arrive with your name, and the site is what they check. This is where a small site earns the most.
Paying for a listing and not sure it works
For one month, ask every new caller where they found you and write it down. Put the jobs won next to the fee. Then you are deciding on your own numbers rather than anybody's sales pitch.
If you keep the listing, link to it from your site and use the reviews there as proof. If you leave, do it in the right order: new site live first, cancellation second. The step-by-step for leaving a directory is on a separate page, with what the providers' own terms say.
Compare the totals, using your own quote
We are not going to print Checkatrade's prices here. They set them, they differ by trade, area and membership level, and they change. The fair way to compare is to take the monthly fee you have been quoted, multiply it by the length of the term, and write down what you have at the end.
Our figures are fixed and public. A Starter website is £395, which can be split into three payments at the same price, and it is yours to keep. The Looked After care plan is £45 a month, optional, with no minimum term. Over three years, the build and that plan together come to £2,015, and you could stop the plan at any point and still own the site. What a tradesman's website should cost goes through the numbers in more detail, and our full pricing is here.
The cheapest sensible position for most established trades is a website you own, a free Google Business Profile you keep up to date, and a directory only for as long as it pays for itself.
What trades ask us about Checkatrade and websites
Should I cancel Checkatrade if I get a website?
Not automatically. If the membership brings in good jobs at a cost you are happy with, keep it. The two do different work. What we would question is relying on a listing alone, with nothing of your own for a customer to look at when they search your name. If you do decide to leave, check your renewal date first. Our page on leaving Yell or Checkatrade covers what to sort out before you cancel.
Can I move my Checkatrade reviews to my own website?
They stay on Checkatrade, because that is where your customers posted them. You can link to your profile from your own site, and many trades do. Google reviews are different: they sit on your Google Business Profile, which belongs to your business, so they stay with you whatever you change.
How much does Checkatrade cost compared with a website?
We do not quote Checkatrade's prices, because they set them, they vary by trade and area, and a figure copied onto somebody else's website goes out of date. Ask them for your monthly fee and the length of the term, and multiply it out. Our side of the sum is public: a build from £395, yours to keep, and an optional care plan from £45 a month with no minimum term.
Will my own website get me as many enquiries as a directory?
Nobody can promise that, and we will not. A new site takes time to be found, and a directory can send work sooner. What a site does from day one is catch the people who already have your name and are checking you out before they ring. Over time, with a Google Business Profile and steady reviews, it can bring in searches of its own.
Are you connected to Checkatrade?
No. We are a web design business with no relationship to Checkatrade or any other directory. We build websites, so read this page knowing that. We have tried to be fair, and where a directory is the better choice we say so.
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