What a service website needs.

A website for a plumber, a roofer or a landscaper has one job: turn a person who needs the work into a person who calls. It does not need to be big. It needs to answer a handful of questions quickly, on a phone, for someone who is already half decided. Where a point matches a section of the Horizon framework, the section is named; the advice holds whether or not you build with us.

The five things a homeowner checks before calling.

Picture someone with water on the kitchen floor, or a furnace that quit in January. They open two or three sites and run the same check on each, in one scroll:

1. What you do. If the word for their job is not on the page, they assume you do not do it.
2. Where you work. A city name near the top settles it.
3. Whether you are legit. Licensed, insured, been around a while, real photos of real jobs.
4. What it is like to work with you. Do you show up when you say, give a price before you start, clean up after.
5. How to reach you. A number they can tap, and a form they can fill out at eleven at night.

In the framework, each has a home: the hero and services, the service-area section, the trust strip and about section, the why-choose-us band, and the phone buttons and pinned Call Now pill. Every section is walked through here.

Say what you do in the first sentence.

The headline at the top of your site should be the plainest possible statement of the work: what trade, what jobs, what town. "Licensed plumbers in [your city]. Repairs, water heaters and drains" beats a line about quality and commitment, because a visitor can match it to their problem without reading further.

Back it up with services named the way a customer would type them into a search box. Not "residential solutions." "Water heater replacement." In the framework, this is the hero headline and the four service cards under it.

A phone number as a button beats a contact page.

It is common for a service site to keep the only way to get in touch on a separate Contact page, behind a menu, with a six-field form and the number in small type in the footer.

Turn it around. Put the number in the top bar as a button, one tap on a phone. Put it again right after your services and your work, and in a contact section at the bottom with your email and hours. Every extra step is a reason to close the tab.

Offer both. Some people want to talk to a person right now. Others are on the couch after the kids are asleep and would rather type three lines and hear back tomorrow.

In the framework, the number is a Call Now button in the navigation and in the hero, and a round Call Now button stays pinned at the bottom right as the visitor scrolls.

Photos of real work matter.

A stock photo of a smiling man in a clean polo holding a wrench tells a visitor nothing. A slightly crooked phone photo of a water heater you installed last Tuesday, in a real basement, tells them you install water heaters.

Real photos prove you do the work, show the standard you work to, and make the site yours. Before-and-after pairs are the strongest kind. You do not need a photographer: shoot in daylight, hold the phone level, and take the picture before you pack up the truck.

In the framework, the hero, the service cards, the eight-photo gallery and the about section take your photos. Photos for your website covers what to shoot.

List the services you want more of.

The instinct is to list every job you have ever done. The result is a wall a visitor skims and forgets, and it pulls in the calls you do not want: the small, far-away, low-margin jobs that fill the schedule and not much else.

If the site brought in ten calls this month, which ten jobs would you want them to be? Those are your services. Pick four, write one honest line under each, and let a single "We also handle ..." line cover the rest.

In the framework there are four service cards, on purpose. Writing your services goes through the wording.

Be honest about your service area.

It is tempting to list every town within an hour's drive. Then the calls come in from the far edge, you turn them down, and the homeowner is annoyed that your site said you served them. A vague "serving the greater region" is no better; the visitor cannot tell whether it includes their street.

Name the towns you actually go to. If you charge a trip fee past a certain distance, say so. And "Not sure if we cover your area? Give us a call." is a fine line, because it invites the call instead of guessing for them. In the framework, the service-area section has a headline, a description, six city names, and exactly that line.

FAQs that answer the objection before it is asked.

Every trade has the same handful of hesitations. Do you charge to come out and look? Are you licensed and insured? How soon can you get here? What is the warranty?

Write those down in the customer's words and answer each in two or three plain sentences. Do not dodge. If you charge a diagnostic fee, say how much and whether it comes off the job. The FAQ is also where you head off bad calls: the jobs you do not take, the payment terms. Say it once here instead of on the phone every day.

In the framework, the FAQ section holds seven questions in an accordion, followed by a Still have questions? line with a call button.

Mobile first, because that is where the call comes from.

Someone with a burst pipe is standing in the kitchen with a phone in one hand, not sitting at a desk. If your site makes them pinch and zoom, hunt for the number, or fill in tiny fields, they will use the next site.

Check your own site on your own phone, as a customer. Can you read the headline without zooming? Can you tap the number? Is the form usable with a thumb? Build for the phone and let the desktop follow.

In the framework, every section stacks into one column, buttons go full width, and the Call Now pill stays where a thumb can reach it. Here it is on a phone.

The short version.

• Say what you do, and where, in the first sentence.
• Phone number as a button on every screen. Your email and hours in a contact section, not a contact page.
• Real photos of real jobs.
• Four services, the ones you want more of.
• The towns you actually go to, by name.
• Honest answers to the questions you get every week.
• Check it on your phone, as a customer.

If a section does not help a homeowner decide to call, it can go. A blog you will not keep up, a slideshow, a paragraph about your mission: none of them answers one of the five questions.

The Horizon framework is built around this list. See it section by section on the framework page. The live framework is up too, with placeholder text in brackets where your details go.