Why summer is actually the best time to get ahead
There is a myth that summer is quiet for trades businesses. Everyone is on holiday, nobody is thinking about home improvements, and the phone stops ringing. The reality, at least for the Berkshire businesses we work with, is rather different. Summer is when homeowners finally have time to tackle the jobs they have been putting off since February. The roof leak they noticed in March. The driveway that has been crumbling since spring. The boiler service that was due in May.
The problem is not a lack of demand. It is that your competitors are also chasing the same homeowners, and most of them are doing it badly. Here is how to get ahead of them this summer.
Your Google Business Profile is your shop window
When someone in Bracknell searches for “roofer near me” on a Saturday morning, Google does not show websites first. It shows the local map pack: three business profiles with reviews, photos, and a phone number. If yours is not one of them, you are invisible to the person who needs you right now.
The fix is straightforward but most trades businesses ignore it. Fill in every section of your Google Business Profile. Every service category. Every opening hour. Every postcode you cover. Add photos of your actual work, not stock images of smiling builders. A potential customer in Ascot wants to see a driveway you laid in Ascot, not a generic photo from a supplier catalogue.
Respond to every review within a day or two, especially the negative ones. A business that handles criticism professionally looks more trustworthy than one with nothing but five-star ratings and no replies. Google notices this too. Profiles with regular activity and review responses consistently outrank dormant ones.
Photos that actually sell your work
We audit a lot of local business websites and the most common mistake is painfully simple: terrible photos. Blurry before-and-after shots taken on a phone from 2018. Three images on a gallery page that should have thirty. A hero image of a van instead of a finished job.
You do not need a professional photographer. A modern smartphone takes better photos than most cameras from five years ago. Take before, during, and after shots of every job. Get close-ups of the details. Show the mess before and the transformation after. A patio cleaning business near Wokingham doubled their enquiry rate by simply adding twenty before-and-after photos to their website and Google profile. No other changes. Just good photos.
Reviews are your cheapest marketing channel
A trades business with fifty genuine Google reviews will almost always outrank one with five, assuming everything else is roughly equal. Reviews are also free, which makes them the best value marketing you can do.
The trick is making it easy for customers to leave them. Do not hand them a card with a QR code at the end of the job and hope for the best. Send a follow-up text or email the next day with a direct link to your Google review page. Say something like: “Thanks for your business yesterday. If you have a moment, we would really appreciate a quick review. It helps other local homeowners find us.” That is it. No begging. No discounts for reviews. Just a simple, professional ask.
Your website should answer the five questions every customer asks
Every homeowner has the same five questions when they land on a trades website: Do you work in my area? Do you do the specific job I need? Can I see examples of your work? What do other people say about you? And how do I contact you?
If your website does not answer all five within ten seconds of someone arriving, they will leave. Not because your work is bad. Because they cannot tell if you are the right person for the job.
Put your service area in the header, not buried on a contact page. List your actual services with real job photos next to each one. Make your phone number clickable on mobile. Put your best review quote on the homepage. These are small changes that take an afternoon and cost nothing, but they make the difference between a website that sits there looking pretty and one that actually brings in work.
Summer is the time to build for autumn
The phone might feel quieter in August, but the homeowners who are browsing now are the ones who will book in September. If your online presence is ready for them when they start searching, you will fill your autumn schedule before your competitors have even noticed the summer lull is over. If it is not, they will call someone else.
If you want someone to look at your Google profile or website and tell you honestly what is missing, get in touch. We do this every day for Berkshire trades businesses, and the first conversation costs you nothing.
