Checkatrade vs your own website: which one do you need?

What Checkatrade is good at

It puts you in front of homeowners who have gone to a trusted directory specifically to find a trade. The vetting and the reviews give a new customer a reason to trust someone they have never heard of, and for a trade starting out with no reviews anywhere else, that borrowed trust is worth a lot.

It also brings its own search visibility. A large directory ranks for searches a brand-new website will not rank for in its first months.

Where it falls short

You appear in a list next to your competitors, sorted by rules you do not control. The customer is comparing you with three others on the same screen, often on price.

You pay a membership fee for as long as you want to be listed, and when you stop paying, the listing and the profile you built go with it. Check their current pricing directly, because membership costs change and vary by trade and area.

Your profile looks like everyone else's. There is only so much of your work, your personality and your standards you can get across in a directory template.

What your own website does instead

It is the result people land on when they search for your business by name, which is what happens after almost every recommendation, van sign or leaflet. If nothing comes up, or a directory profile comes up beside your competitors, some of those people ring someone else.

It is yours. Nobody else sets the rules, puts a competitor beside you, or switches you off. Your photos, reviews and pages keep working for years, and they carry on building up your presence on Google every month they are there.

It can rank for the searches that matter to you: your trade in your towns, the specific jobs you want more of, and the areas you want to work in.

So which first?

If you have no reviews anywhere and need work this month, a directory can bridge the gap while your reputation builds.

If you already get recommendations, your own website and Google Business Profile usually do more for the money, because they catch the people who are already looking for you. Many trades end up with both: the directory as one source of leads among several, and the website as the home base everything else points to.

Whichever you choose, put your own website address on your directory profile where the platform allows it, so a customer who likes the look of you can see your full portfolio.