Full version with all templates and detailed checks. Back to the main article
A website for your trades business: structure, content and features
A prospective customer arrives on your website with a project in mind. They may want to remodel their bathroom or arrange a repair. First, they need a clear answer: does your business take on this work, and do you work in their location? Details of the service and a relevant project then help them see how their plans fit. The route to making an enquiry is part of that explanation.
Planning a website for a trades business therefore begins with the services you offer. You can decide which pages you need before choosing colours or commissioning a provider. This BrandHoop guide takes you through a possible structure for a small business in Austria and shows which questions remain when choosing between a website builder and having the site built for you.
The page list and bathroom renovation example are editorial planning aids. They describe neither a real business nor a completed client project or trades services offered by BrandHoop. [a]
What belongs on a trades website?
The website should explain the services you actually offer. The homepage gives visitors an overview; for a more involved service, they then need further details. They also need information about the area you cover and the people responsible for their enquiry. Examples of your own work, approved for publication, can support this explanation. These project examples are also known as project references.
A contact page brings together your phone number and email address, plus an enquiry form if needed. Information about the operator and the processing of personal data also belongs in the plan. Which mandatory information applies to the business and its website depends on the applicable rules. [1] [2]
At this stage, this is a list of content. You do not need to turn it into an equally long list of individual pages. If your range of services is small, several topics can share a page. A separate page becomes worth considering when a service raises different questions and needs a fuller explanation. [b]
In this guide, 'homepage' means the main page. 'Website' refers to all the pages together, including services, project examples and contact. Because the words are often used interchangeably in everyday conversation, a quotation should specify the scope: does it cover the homepage or the whole website?
A sample page list
A planned overview of pages is often called a sitemap. Here, it is about planning the content: which customer question does each page answer, and where does it lead next? For a bathroom renovation business, the overview could look like this. Partial renovation only belongs in it if the business actually offers that service. [a]
| Page | Purpose from the visitor's perspective | Useful next step |
|---|---|---|
| Homepage | See whether the service and region fit their project | View the relevant service or get in touch |
| Service overview | Distinguish between the jobs actually offered | Go to the relevant service page |
| Bathroom renovation | Understand the scope, responsibilities and process | Send a project enquiry with the location and a short description |
| Partial renovation, if offered | Find out whether a limited renovation is part of the service | Send a relevant enquiry or choose an alternative |
| Area covered | Check whether the business works at the project location | Get in touch; for locations on the edge of the area, first check whether the business covers them |
| Projects | Compare completed work with their own project | Go to the related service or contact page |
| About the business | Get to know the contact person, experience and specialisms | Get in touch about a relevant project or question |
| Contact | Find a suitable contact method and check availability | Call, email or submit a form |
| Legal notice and privacy information | Find the operator and information on data processing | Read the mandatory information |
Each planned page also needs a check of the material available. An existing text may be suitable for revision; a project photo may still need permission for publication. Decide who will supply the content before starting the design. A projects page without any projects ready to publish can wait.
This overview forms the basis of the menu. Labels such as 'Services', 'Projects', 'About us' and 'Contact' name the content directly. The area covered can have its own menu item or a clearly visible section on a suitable page. Using the same terms in the menu and page heading makes the connection clear. Clear, recognisable menus are also among the recommendations of the W3C's Web Accessibility Initiative. [3]
The legal notice and privacy information can also be linked in the footer. This is the section at the bottom of the website. The legal requirement for the legal notice to be accessible still applies. [4]
When does a service need its own page?
A bathroom renovation raises different questions from a small repair job. A renovation involves, for example, the scope of the service and the coordination of the work. For a repair enquiry, visitors first need to know whether your business takes on that type of job and how to reach you. These different needs are a reason to explain the information on separate pages.
An additional page needs its own content. If it is still unclear which question it should answer and which next step it should offer, a section on an existing page is often enough for now. The same text under a new heading does not make the explanation more precise. [b]
The homepage: services and region at a glance
The top of the homepage answers the visitor's first question: what does your business do, for whom and in which area? A statement such as 'Your reliable partner for everything' leaves these points open. A specific description gives the rest of the page a direction.
For the fictional bathroom renovation business, 'Bathroom renovation for property owners in the Graz area' would be one possible opening. Graz is used here as an example location. A button alongside it can lead to an enquiry. A visible phone number also makes sense if your business can take calls. [a]
Below that, there is room for a brief description of your main services. If a service has a detailed page, its link leads there. A jump back to the top of the page does not replace this further information. A short section about the business and a selection of your own work can add to the overview.
In the design, this information and the contact options take priority. Large images should not push the services so far down that visitors have to search for them first. The phone number, menu and enquiry button also need clearly recognisable positions on a smartphone. An elaborate animation can wait until the services are clearly explained. [b]
Explaining your services clearly
On a service page, a customer can compare their project with what you offer in more detail. First, they need to understand the scope: which jobs does your business do itself, which are done by partner businesses, and which do you simply refer to others? For 'coordination of trades', for example, this includes which businesses are involved and who coordinates their work. The specialist term can stay if its meaning is clear to the customer.
The requirements matter just as much. The service must fit the projects and buildings described. The page explains what you need to clarify before taking on a job, where you work and what information starts the planning process. This brings together the questions from the first customer conversation in the text.
Terms such as 'everything from one provider', 'accessible' and 'complete renovation' need an accurate scope and appropriate conditions. If a plumbing business takes on individual jobs, the description should say exactly that. A complete renovation would be a different promise. [b]
The length depends on how much needs explaining. Repetition can be removed, while unanswered questions need room. Google also explicitly states that it has no preferred word count for content. [5]
Example: a bathroom renovation page
The following structure is an adaptable sample. The page title and opening name the service, target customers and actual area covered. It then becomes clear whether the business offers complete renovations, carries out individual jobs or coordinates the businesses involved. This scope comes before the description of the benefits. [a]
In the main section, related jobs can be explained together. Planning and installation work could be included, as could coordination with other businesses, provided the business takes on these tasks. The limits form part of the same explanation: which jobs are outside the service offered?
Next comes what still needs to be known for an initial assessment. In the sample, this might include the pipework, the condition of the room or structural constraints. Any necessary site visit is explicitly mentioned. The size of a flat alone cannot determine how long a renovation will take; a firm completion date requires the relevant conditions to be established. The sample therefore makes no general promise about timing.
The process must also reflect how the business works. One possible sequence would be to receive the enquiry, discuss the project and check the existing conditions. The next steps are to agree the scope and quotation, then organise the work. A business that works differently describes its own process.
A relevant project example can follow. It needs work the business has actually completed itself and permission to publish it. If no such project is available yet, leave the section out for now. An attractive bathroom photo or an image created with artificial intelligence (AI) does not, on its own, prove that the business has completed the work.
Frequently asked questions come from actual customer conversations. They might cover the coordination of partner businesses and the assessment before a quotation. Whether residents can use the bathroom during the work also needs an answer that reflects the particular job. Open questions remain clearly identified as such.
At the end, 'Enquire about bathroom renovation' can lead to the contact page if the business offers this service. A short note alongside it explains which details help with an initial assessment. For a joinery business, for example, dimensions and intended use would be relevant; for a painter, the underlying surface and the rooms involved. The sequence can be used elsewhere; the content depends on the actual work. [a]
Showing your business and your work
The area covered answers a practical question: does your business work at the project location? Naming specific towns, districts or a clearly described region is often enough. More distant locations can be added with 'by arrangement' if that matches your process. 'Throughout Austria' only fits a service that is available accordingly.
A separate location page needs additional, accurate information. If only the place name changes in otherwise identical text, visitors learn very little more. For a small business, a good section on the area covered is therefore one possible starting point. Separate location pages can follow later if they answer their own questions. [b]
On 'About us', you can explain what the business specialises in and who handles enquiries. Accurate details of the business history provide context. Professional titles and qualifications, as well as claims about experience, need supporting evidence. Before publishing team photos and personal details, clarify what those involved have approved. The WKO explains that photos of people require consideration of personality rights and data protection as well as rights to use the images. [6]
A project example continues this account through a real job. The initial situation and your own contribution make clear what your business actually did. You need the necessary rights to use other people's images and text. [6] Customer testimonials must be genuine. The article on project examples on your website shows how to choose and describe a project. [b]
Contact and smartphone use
A clear service description and an area that covers the project location lead to the next question: how does the prospective customer reach your business? Extra features make sense when they support this process or the handling of enquiries within the business. A form, appointment booking feature or chat therefore also needs someone responsible behind the website.
Contact options and responsibility
A tappable phone link can prepare a call on a smartphone. [7] An email address opens up another way to get in touch. An enquiry form can bring the project details together; it only becomes useful to your process when the message arrives in the intended place and someone handles it. The guide to enquiry forms covers choosing fields and testing the feedback.
For the first contact, the project location, a short description and a way to get in touch may be enough. The exact fields depend on your process. Information needed only later does not have to make the first enquiry harder. The W3C also recommends that forms ask only for information needed for the task in question. [8]
After submitting the form, visitors need clear feedback. If there is an error, they should understand what they can correct; if submission succeeds, it must be clear that the process is complete. The W3C covers this guidance in its tutorial on form feedback. [9] Delivery to the business is a separate check: a success message on the website alone does not prove that the test message is in the right inbox. [b]
Responsibility for new enquiries therefore belongs in the planning of the contact process. This applies equally to callback requests and appointment bookings. A chat only belongs on the website once someone in the business can handle incoming requests. The stated availability must match this.
Testing the website on a smartphone
Responsive design means that the layout adapts to the screen size. Google recommends this approach and uses the mobile version of the content for indexing and ranking. [10] Indexing means that Google includes content in its search index. Ranking refers to its position in the search results. The recommendation for responsive design does not promise any particular position. The details are in Google Search Central: Mobile-first Indexing.
Your own test should cover the homepage and service page, along with the menu and contact options. The text should remain readable on a narrow screen without readers having to move each line from side to side. The W3C also describes this adaptation of content under 'Reflow'. [11] Important content and features must remain accessible. Menu items and buttons need to be clearly recognisable. [3]
For the form, the test continues through to receipt of the message. This includes a deliberately incomplete attempt: are the error messages clear, and is the information already entered retained? A complete test enquiry must then arrive in the intended inbox. [b]
Building the website also includes HTTPS, which means an encrypted connection. [12] Preparing images appropriately and providing access to administer the website are further tasks. The quotation should name the software used and state who will handle these points. They belong in the technical specification of the services.
Once the website has been built, search engine optimisation, or SEO, can follow. Its aim is to help search engines find and understand content. [5] The guide SEO for trades businesses explains the ongoing work involved.
Legal notice and privacy information
The legal notice and privacy information need details about the actual business and the services used. They therefore belong in the plan before the website is published. The following guidance concerns business websites in Austria.
Information about the operator
The legal notice (Impressum) gives visitors information about the website operator. Which further details are needed depends, among other things, on the legal form of the business and the applicable rules. The WKO overview of a correct website legal notice explains the different areas of application and points to examples for different legal forms. [1] Another business's details therefore cannot simply be copied.
The E-Commerce Act (ECG) requires easily and directly accessible information about the operator. This includes details allowing rapid, direct contact, including an email address. [13] According to the WKO's explanation, an email address alone is not enough; a further contact option is also required, such as a phone number or web form. [4] The basis for this is explained in WKO: Informationspflichten nach dem E-Commerce-Gesetz.
Data protection and cookies
Data protection depends on what your website actually processes. This concerns the contact form and embedded services, but also hosting, the service where the website is stored. The privacy notice must match these processing activities. For business websites, the WKO specifically mentions the privacy notice and the lawful use of cookies, tracking and analytics tools. [2] Tracking here means recording visitor behaviour. An overview is provided by WKO: Datenschutz für KMU.
A generic consent checkbox below every form does not establish which data is processed for which purpose. This assessment is still necessary. A generic privacy notice likewise cannot be applied to every business and technical setup without being checked. [b]
Cookies are small pieces of information stored by a visitor's browser. Cookies that are not technically necessary require valid prior consent. The Austrian Data Protection Authority explains this principle in its decision on the use of cookies. [14] Whether your website needs a consent solution, and which one, depends on the services it actually uses. The mere presence of a contact form does not establish this.
Website builder or agency?
A website builder provides templates and building blocks that you use to assemble the website yourself. An agency or freelancer, meaning an independent service provider, can build it for you. In both cases, the website needs accurate content and contact details. Where the text and images approved for publication will come from is therefore part of the decision.
A website builder can suit a small number of pages if you have time to do it yourself. Whether you can work with the system day to day also matters. External support becomes worth considering when you need help coordinating the page plan, content and technology. What the provider actually takes on is set out in the quotation. The word 'agency' alone does not describe that scope. [b]
The following table helps with the comparison. It does not assess specific platforms; their current plans and prices belong in the respective provider's quotation. [b]
| Decision | Check with a website builder | Clarify with an agency or freelancer |
|---|---|---|
| Pages and design | Does the template suit the content needed and mobile use? | Are page structure and design included in the commission? |
| Content | Who writes the text and chooses images approved for publication? | Who supplies, revises and approves the content? |
| Features | Are the forms and other features needed available on the chosen plan? | Which features will the provider build? How will you check together that everything works as agreed (acceptance check)? |
| Access and switching providers | Which content and data can you take with you if you switch? | Which access credentials, files and rights to use the content will you receive? |
| Costs and responsibility | What ongoing fees will you pay, and what work will you need to do yourself? | Which one-off and ongoing services have been agreed? |
Using the same page list and requested features makes the proposed services comparable. The handover also belongs in the agreement. This covers the domain, meaning your web address, administrative access and rights to the content. Responsibility for later changes should also be established.
Information still needs someone to keep it up to date, including when you have built the website yourself. The website maintenance overview explains these ongoing tasks. Your own working time and ongoing services therefore belong in the comparison. Further features can be added later once their usefulness and how the business will handle them have been clarified.
How to create your page plan
The sample sitemap becomes your own plan when each page matches a service you actually offer or a specific visitor question. Alongside the page's purpose, note the next possible step. Add the texts and images you already have, along with content that is still missing or needs approval.
The plan also provides a basis for a conversation with a provider. It shows what the website should explain and what your business will contribute. Unassigned responsibility for enquiries becomes visible here, as does a missing service description. You do not need a finished design for this. [b]
Checklist for your website
For a quotation or a start with a website builder, this checklist brings together the information needed. [b]
- Goal: Which enquiries would you like to receive through the website?
- Services: Which jobs do you carry out? Which do you coordinate or refer to others?
- Target customers and area: Which customers do you work for, and in which region?
- Page list: Which pages do you need? Which content belongs together on one page?
- Material: Which texts, images, evidence of qualifications and projects of your own do you have? Which can you publish?
- Contact process: Where do enquiries arrive? Who responds, and what availability can you state on the website?
- Building the website: Who handles the page plan, text, design, technology and legal review?
- Handover: Which access credentials, rights to the content and documents will you receive?
- Acceptance check: Will you check the agreed pages, smartphone use and the journey of an enquiry through to your business together?
Open questions can remain visible in the list. A project example without permission is not yet ready to publish. Once the details are clear, a provider can describe their scope; it also becomes clear what your business will prepare itself. You can then carry on yourself. If you would like to discuss having the website built, the BrandHoop service overview helps you describe the support you would like.
Further reading
- Enquiry forms for trades businesses: choose fields and test an enquiry through to the inbox.
- project examples on your website: describe your own work clearly.
- SEO for trades businesses: make the website accessible to search engines and develop its content.
- Website maintenance: clarify tasks and responsibility for ongoing operation.
Sources and publication date
Sources checked on 16 October 2026. The sample sitemap, example page and comparison table are planning aids from BrandHoop.
Sources for the previous version checked on 16 October 2026; editorially revised on 17 October 2026. Numbers lead to sources; letters explain editorial examples or recommendations. Each note states what the source supports.
[a] Editorial examples. Content described as a sample or fictional illustrates possible situations. These are not real client cases or evidence of a measured effect.
[b] Practical recommendations. The suggested processes and decision aids are editorial applications of the principles cited. Their specific effect on enquiries or orders has not been measured here.
[c] Editorial illustration. The illustration explains a relationship. It is neither a real client project nor evidence of a measured effect.
Sources and context (14 sources)
- Das korrekte Website Impressum — Wirtschaftskammer Österreich
The freely accessible overview explains the different areas covered by the UGB, GewO, MedienG and ECG and provides templates for different legal forms. It supports the point that the required details depend on the business; it is not an individual assessment, and the linked brochure was not reviewed in full. Checked: 2026-10-16.
- DSGVO für KMU: Datenschutz kompakt erklärt — Wirtschaftskammer Österreich
Confirms the relevance of the actual processing of personal data, along with privacy notices, cookies and tracking and analytics tools on business websites. It does not make a general determination of the legal basis for a particular contact form or assess an actual hosting setup or a specific website. Checked: 2026-10-16.
- Menus Tutorial — W3C Web Accessibility Initiative
Original WAI guide to recognisable menu structure, usability and clear presentation of states. Supports the design recommendation for clear menus; the specific menu wording and grouping of pages are editorial suggestions, rather than empirically measured effects on conversion. Checked: 2026-10-16.
- Informationspflichten nach dem E-Commerce-Gesetz (ECG) — Wirtschaftskammer Österreich
The WKO explains general information requirements and, referring to the OGH, states that an email address alone is not enough and a further contact option is needed. The statement is explicitly presented as the WKO's explanation. The page lists additional requirements for online shops; these are not applied to every informational website. Checked: 2026-10-16.
- Creating helpful, reliable, people-first content — Google Search Central
Google states that it has no preferred word count and describes SEO as helping search engines find and understand content. No required word count, specific page count or prediction of success is inferred from this. Checked: 2026-10-16.
- Urheberrecht und Website eines Unternehmens — Wirtschaftskammer Österreich
Explains the rights needed to use other people's website content, along with personality rights and data protection for photos of people. Supports the question of permission and rights; it proves neither a business's qualifications nor the authenticity of a particular project example. This is not an individual assessment or a general claim that every publication must rely solely on consent. Checked: 2026-10-16.
- The Anchor element: Linking to telephone numbers — MDN Web Docs / Mozilla
Documents phone links and explains how their behaviour depends on the device. Supports the cautious wording that a phone link can prepare a call on a smartphone. It is not evidence of a conversation, enquiry or order. Checked: 2026-10-16.
- Forms Tutorial — W3C Web Accessibility Initiative
Recommends asking only for the information needed for the task in question. The suggested fields for project location, description and contact details are an adaptable editorial proposal. This is not a study of a trades business and includes no abandonment or enquiry rate measured for this article. Checked: 2026-10-16.
- User Notification: Forms Tutorial — W3C Web Accessibility Initiative
Supports clear success and error feedback after form submission and guidance on correcting errors. The guide proves neither that a message reaches an inbox nor that it is handled. The article states this limit immediately after the source marker. Checked: 2026-10-16.
- Mobile site and mobile-first indexing best practices — Google Search Central
Confirms mobile content as the basis for indexing and ranking, along with Google's recommendation for responsive web design. The recommendation is not a promise of a particular position or evidence of more enquiries. The introduction, configurations and equivalence of mobile content were read. Checked: 2026-10-16.
- Understanding Success Criterion 1.4.10: Reflow — W3C Web Accessibility Initiative
Explains that text should reflow in a narrow viewing area so that lines remain readable without having to scroll horizontally back and forth. The criterion has exceptions, for example for content that needs a two-dimensional layout. The article proposes a text readability test and claims neither full WCAG compliance nor a new legal obligation. Checked: 2026-10-16.
- HTTPS: MDN Glossary — MDN Web Docs / Mozilla
Defines HTTPS as encrypted HTTP communication using TLS. The article uses only this explanation; it infers neither complete website security nor compliance with data protection requirements from it. Checked: 2026-10-16.
- E-Commerce-Gesetz § 5: Allgemeine Informationen — Rechtsinformationssystem des Bundes, Republik Österreich
Primary legislation on easy and direct access to information about the operator, and on rapid contact, including an email address. The additional contact option is supported separately by the WKO's interpretation, as it does not appear in this wording in § 5 Abs. 1 Z 3. Checked: 2026-10-16.
- Bescheid der Datenschutzbehörde vom 28. Oktober 2024, D124.0507/24, GZ 2024-0.633.166 — Österreichische Datenschutzbehörde
The published decision explains the requirement for valid prior consent for cookies that are not technically necessary. The relevant extracted sections D.8 and D.9 of the accessible 21-page PDF were read, particularly D.9; no claim is made to a complete legal analysis or an assessment of specific website services. Checked: 2026-10-16.