What should a cleaning business website actually have on it?

Most people who find your cleaning business online make up their mind in under a minute. They're on their phone, probably on a lunch break, and they want three answers: do you cover my area, can I trust you in my home, and how do I get a price?

Get those three right and you're ahead of most cleaning websites out there. Here's what we put on every site we build, and a few things we happily leave off.

1. The areas you cover, in plain words

"Swindon and surrounding areas" doesn't tell anyone much. Does that include Wroughton? Highworth? The new estates out past the M4? Someone in a village five miles away will assume you don't come to them and move on to the next cleaner.

List the towns and villages you cover, and add postcodes if you have a clear patch. It helps customers decide quickly, and it helps Google understand where to show you.

2. Proof you can be trusted in someone's home

You're asking people to hand you their keys. Before they do, they want to know a few things:

• That you're insured. Say so, and say what for, for example public liability cover.
• Whether you and your team are DBS checked.
• How long you've been going.
• What you look like. A real photo of you, or your team in uniform, beats any stock photo of a woman holding a spray bottle and laughing.

None of this needs a whole page. A short line near the top of your homepage and a photo does the job.

3. A clear way to get a price

Every page should make it obvious how to get a quote. That means a button at the top, a phone number people can tap to call, and a short quote form.

Keep the form short. Name, postcode, type of clean, number of bedrooms and bathrooms, how often, and the best way to reach them. That's enough to give a ballpark price. Every extra question you add loses you a few enquiries.

If most of your customers message you on WhatsApp, put a WhatsApp button on there too. Meet people where they already are.

4. Your services, explained the way customers think

You know exactly what's in an end of tenancy clean. A tenant who's moving out for the first time doesn't. They're worried about getting their deposit back and want to know if you'll do the oven, the inside of the fridge and the skirting boards.

For each service, say who it's for and what's included. A simple checklist works brilliantly here, and it saves you answering the same questions on the phone.

5. Prices, or at least a starting point

Plenty of cleaners don't want to put prices online, and that's fair enough, as every home is different. But a starting point, like "regular cleans from £18 an hour" or "end of tenancy from £180", filters out people who were never going to book and makes everyone else more confident to get in touch.

If you'd rather not show any prices, at least explain how you work them out, for example by the hour or by the size of the property.

6. Reviews from real customers

Reviews are the closest thing to a friend's recommendation, and that's still how most people find a cleaner. Put a few of your best on your site with a first name and area, like "Sarah, Old Town", and link to your Google reviews so people can see there are more.

Not got many yet? Ask your regular customers after their third or fourth clean, when they're happy and used to you. Send them the link directly so it takes them ten seconds.

7. A site that works properly on a phone

Most of your visitors will be on a phone, so that's how your site should be designed first. Big buttons, text you can read without zooming, and pages that load quickly on a dodgy 4G signal. Check your own site on your phone now. If you have to pinch and zoom, so do your customers.

Things you can skip

An online booking calendar

For regular domestic work, most cleaners want a chat or a look at the property before agreeing a price and a slot. A good enquiry form does the job better. Online booking makes more sense if you sell fixed-price, one-off jobs like oven cleans.

A long "our values" page

A short paragraph about who you are and why you started, with a photo, does more than a page of words about passion and excellence.

A blog you'll never update

We know, we're writing this on a blog. But a blog with one post from three years ago looks worse than having no blog at all. Only add one if you'll actually write for it.

Embedded social media feeds

They slow your site down, they break when Facebook or Instagram change something, and they often show your oldest posts. A simple link to your pages is enough.

Don't forget your Google Business Profile

When someone searches "cleaner near me", your Google Business Profile often shows up before any website does. It's free, so set one up if you haven't, add photos, keep your hours up to date and link it to your website. The two work best together.