What you buy
A service website is proof you do the work, and a way to reach you.
A service business is someone who shows up and does the work. Plumber. Salon. DJ. Church secretary. Lawn. Trailer. Therapy office. The customer is not shopping a catalog of 200 SKUs. They are checking that you are real, that you cover their town, and that a human will answer. A website for that job is proof plus a contact path. It is not Shopify. It is not an app. Anyone who sells you a store because “every business needs e-commerce” is selling the wrong product.
We sell the right product on purpose: a brochure site. Brochure is not an insult. Most standard jobs finish in under 72 hours when the brief is clear. Worldwide, 24/7. Phone (813) 328-6079. Bill is in Tampa / Zephyrhills. No public storefront. Service shops in other cities are still this shop.
What has to be on the first screen
The name as you answer the phone. One sentence: what you do, for whom, where. A photo that could actually be you — the truck, the chair, the finished roof, the plate, the sanctuary. A tap-to-call number as a real tel: link, not a picture of a van. Hours, or “by appointment,” if that is true. Towns you will actually drive to. A form or the booking tool you already live in. That is the list. A stranger in a parking lot should finish it in five seconds. A website for the business is the same list in shorter form.
- Photos of finished work. Phone photos in daylight beat stock hard hats. Photos from your phone.
- Towns or a radius you honor. Not “and surrounding areas” for the whole state.
- Copy a human would say out loud. Not “passionate about excellence.” Copy that gets calls.
- License or insurance line only if you want it public. We will not invent a contractor number.
- A logo is optional. A typed name is a mark. You do not need a logo.
- Prices if the range is real next month. Hide them if every job is a walkthrough. Prices on the site.
Contractors have a tighter version of this: jobs, towns, a form that works on a jobsite phone. Read contractor must-haves if that is the trade. A church, a salon, a DJ, a tutor — same bones, different photos. New shops do not need a 40-page brand film in week one. Website for a new business.
What service shops waste money on
A cart. You do not sell 200 products. You sell a visit. If you already take deposits in Square or a booking tool, we point at that button. We do not rebuild it at this price. A members area so customers can “track their job.” They will call you. An app. A chat widget nobody staffs while you are on a roof. Chat vs a form. A blog you will not write. A splash page. Autoplaying music. Stock people shaking hands in front of a skyline that is not your town.
SEO retainers bundled into a $150 website. Basic SEO here is a title, a meta description, and Open Graph. We do not promise #1 on Google for “plumber” in a metro. Anyone who does is selling a hope. A Google Business Profile is a different job from the website. Both should tell the same hours and the same towns. Wrong hours on the site are worse than no site. People drive to a locked door. Wrong hours.
| You think you need | You probably need |
|---|---|
| A store | A brochure plus a link to Square / Jobber / Vagaro you already answer |
| Ten service pages and a CMS | One honest page, or a few rooms you will keep current |
| A chat bot | Tap-to-call and a short form. Name, phone, town, what is broken |
| #1 on Google | A real title tag and a Google Business Profile. Different jobs |
| A 40-field quote form | Four fields a thumb can finish with gloves off |
| Stock crew photos | Three jobs you actually finished |
| A members area | Quoted separately. Not this price |
What it costs here, and how to brief it
If you only need hours, a phone, and three job photos this weekend, the $49/month hosted website is the floor. You host it. hosting included if you want it ($54).
Send: business name, one sentence, towns, photos, the number you pick up, hours, license line if you want it, current URL if any, domain or a yes that we should help. That is the brief. The full list. A person proofs the draft. You send one list of changes. Not a cart, app, or members portal at this price. After you pay, the sequence is boring on purpose: what happens after you pay.
Live work from this shop is public: /work/ — Dodo, Pets Helping Pets, Tampa’s Best DJ, LazerMerch, petcalendar.pet, US Helping the World. Those are this shop’s own sites, not fake client revenue. Labeled samples by trade: /examples/. Hire path: /hire/. City pages: /where/. Forms notify tampasbestdj@gmail.com. If Instagram is currently the whole company, read Instagram vs a website first. The grid is not a phone number a stranger can tap from a search.
Free next step: paste the URL you hand to customers now. The $49 hosted plan: $49 down, then $49/month.