Treemasters Arboricultural & Forestry — trade website

Tree surgery and forestry contractor, based in Seaham and working across County Durham and Tyne and Wear. A custom-built trade website whose job is to get the phone ringing.

Visit the live site →

The client

Treemasters Arboricultural & Forestry are tree surgeons and forestry contractors based in Seaham. They cover everything from a single overhanging branch to full site clearance and forestry management, and they take emergency call-outs. The site puts their qualifications and insurance where an employer or a homeowner can see them straight away, because in that trade those are the things people check before they ring.

The problem

A tree surgery business does not need a clever website. It needs to turn up when somebody searches for the exact job they have — a stump that needs grinding, a tree down across a drive at seven in the morning — and then make it obvious how to get hold of somebody.

That means two things. Every service has to be a page in its own right, written the way customers describe the problem rather than the way the trade describes it. And the phone number has to be one thumb-press away on a phone, on every single page, because that is where these enquiries start.

What I built

• A custom WordPress theme, built for this business rather than bought and bent into shape. No page builder, so there is no bloat sitting between the visitor and the page.
• Six service pages, each on its own URL: tree surgery and pruning, tree removal, emergency call-out, forestry management, site clearance and stump grinding.
• An area section covering Seaham, Sunderland, Durham, Peterlee, Hartlepool and South Tyneside, so the site has something to say when somebody searches with a place name attached.
• A quote request form that asks for the things Treemasters actually need to price a job — name, phone, email, location, the service required and a description — rather than a generic contact box.
• Click-to-call throughout, including a permanent call button on mobile.
• A blog, so there is somewhere to answer the questions customers ask before they commit to a quote.

The technical side

The theme is hand-built PHP and CSS. The enquiry form is handled inside the theme with a WordPress nonce on submission, so the form cannot be posted from somewhere else — that alone removes most of the automated junk a public form attracts, without putting a puzzle in front of a real customer.

Structure was the other half of the work. Six services, six pages, six sets of headings, each one aimed at a different search. That is unglamorous and it is most of what makes a trade site work.

On a phone

Built phone-first, because that is where the enquiries come from. The layout reflows down to a narrow screen without anything spilling off the side, the call button stays reachable with one thumb, and the pages are light enough to open on a patchy signal at the side of a road.

Being found

Search engine basics were done properly rather than bolted on: a page per service, headings that match how people search, an SEO plugin configured rather than installed and forgotten, and the site structured so that the area pages and the service pages support each other instead of competing.

The result

Live at treemaster.guru, with six service pages, an area section, a working quote form and a blog. Treemasters own the site, the domain and the content.

“From start to finish, the service was professional, fast, and spot on. They took the time to understand my business and what I needed the website to do. The site loads fast, works perfectly, and already makes my tree surgery business look far more professional online.”

Jacko74 Fisher, Treemasters — Google review

More work

• KPM First Aid Training — another rebuild for an independent business, with a custom plugin behind it
• SR7 Transport — a quote tool and job management system I built for my own transport business
• Fishing Lives — a members and moderation platform, built and run by SR7
• Back to all work

Want the same for your trade?

If you are a tree surgeon, a joiner, a roofer or any trade relying on a Facebook page and word of mouth, tell me what you do and I will come back with a straight answer and a fixed price. Get a quote or call 07538 227194.