Guide

Your own website or lead site fees: which is better for trades?

Plenty of Irish trades get their first jobs through lead sites and trade directories, where you pay a membership fee or pay per enquiry. They work, up to a point. The question is whether you want to keep renting your enquiries forever, or build something of your own alongside them.

How lead sites work

You create a profile, pay a yearly or monthly fee, or pay for each lead, and the site sends you jobs in your area. Prices vary a lot between sites and change often, so check the current terms on each one before you sign up.

Where lead sites are good

Used like that, they are a tool, not a strategy.

  • When you are brand new and have no reviews yet
  • When you want work in a new area quickly
  • When the diary has a gap you need to fill this week

Where they cost you

  • The same enquiry often goes to several trades, so you are competing on price from the first message
  • You pay whether or not the job turns into anything
  • The reviews and the profile belong to the platform, not to you
  • Stop paying and the work stops the same day

What your own website gives you instead

People who find you through your own site or your Google Business Profile are looking at you, not at a list of five quotes. They have seen your photos and your reviews before they ring, so the conversation starts from trust rather than price.

Every month the site is live, it builds up your name in search for your trade and your towns. That is an asset that keeps working, unlike a lead you paid for once.

How to compare the cost honestly

Add up what you spend on lead sites over a year, then divide it by the number of jobs you actually won from them. Do the same for any website you run. That cost per won job is the number that matters, not the monthly fee on its own.

Our plan is a free build, then €59.99 a month on a 12 month minimum, which is about €720 for the first year with hosting, edits and local search work included. Whether that beats your lead spend depends on how many jobs each brings you, so track it.

Using both

Most trades who grow do a bit of both early on, then lean less on paid leads as their own site and reviews start bringing in calls. Ask every happy customer for a Google review, whichever way they found you. That is what moves you up the map in your area.

Common questions

Are lead sites worth it for tradesmen in Ireland?

They can be when you are starting out or filling gaps. Track the cost per won job and compare it with what your own website and Google profile bring in.

Can I keep using lead sites once I have a website?

Yes. Many trades do both, then scale back the paid leads once their own enquiries are steady.

Why are enquiries from my own website better?

Because the customer has already chosen to look at you, seen your work and read your reviews, rather than receiving several quotes at once.

Where to go next

Want us to sort this for you?

We build the site for free and look after the hosting, the updates and the local SEO for €59.99 a month on a 12 month minimum. Have a chat with us and see if it suits.

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