Website & digital presence
Website relaunch for projects and applicants
Most trades websites say: "We do it all." Yet the business stopped wanting it all long ago – it wants the right projects. And it's looking for people. On the old website, often no one learns either.
Custom website relaunch
01Intro
The relaunch builds the website for its two real streams of visitors: customers with the right projects, and applicants looking for a good employer. For the customers that means: the website shows which projects you want – with references that prove the specialisation, transparent price ranges where they help, and an inquiry that brings photos along right away. For the applicants: a path of its own with a careers page and a two-minute application instead of a legal-notice contact. After twenty-plus years of web work I know: with trades businesses it's structure and solid work that decide, not the photo gallery.
Straight up: not every business needs the full relaunch – sometimes what's there holds up and a targeted upgrade is enough. The review settles that before any effort is spent. And a website won't change which inquiries you attract if you keep offering "everything" – the decision about which projects you want is one I can support, but not make for you.
02Demo
The website of a fictional trades business as a structure diagram. Toggle: on the left you see what 14 years of bolting-on has become – on the right the same content after the relaunch. Turquoise marks the path to the inquiry.
03How it works
- 01
Settle the starting point, the projects and the goal
Which jobs come in through the website today, which ones should – and how many applications? The comparison gives us the target: what the new site should do, and how we'll measure it.
- 02
Plan the structure and the paths
Page structure and the features needed are planned before anything is designed: one page per service area, references as proof, the inquiry a click away from anywhere – and the applicant path thought in from the start.
- 03
Design that belongs to the business
No template look and no stock-photo fitters: the design grows out of your authentic material – job sites, team, workshop. That's what convinces customers and applicants alike.
- 04
Build, fill, wire it up
Technical build in the right stack, content sharpened together, the inquiry (with photo upload where it helps) and a short application form connected cleanly. Fast, mobile first, no ballast.
- 05
Upkeep, measurement, room to grow
By the end it's clear who maintains references and jobs and how, what gets measured – and where the site can dock on later: router, project qualifier, a bigger recruiting build.
04Stages
A relaunch needn't be a big project – you can also start with whichever stream is pressing hardest right now.
Entry: the focused path
A landing page for the most important goal – the project inquiry OR the careers page. A fresh presence for the core, without touching the whole website.
Extended: the full relaunch
Structure, content, design, both paths and maintainability – the website is rebuilt as a whole: for projects and for applicants.
Full build: AI-ready from the ground up
The relaunch is built as a data base from the start: services, project types and FAQs as structured content – the foundation for a router, a qualifier and later assistants.
05Technical implementation
- The stack follows the project: an Astro/code website for maximum control and speed, Webflow for visually maintained presences, or an existing CMS as the base.
- References, services, team and jobs live as structured CMS fields – adding a new project takes minutes, not an agency order.
- The inquiry with photo upload and the short application form run through a clean back end – with a clear storage and data-protection rule.
- Local visibility is part of it: structured data (LocalBusiness, Service), a Google Business check, load time on mobile – that's where customers and applicants both search.
- Groundwork always included: technical SEO, mobile build, tracking after a data-protection review.
- Optional as its own layer: an inquiry router as a website component – prepared for, even if it only comes later.
for context · This shows how something like this usually gets built – not how it has to be built for you. What actually fits is worked out in the project: around your existing setup, your team, and what stays easy to maintain.