Who is Trustmark Trades? A £299 flat-fee website and local SEO system

Not to be confused with

The marketing arm trades at marketing.trustmarktrades.com and is based in Hove, East Sussex. The name is similar to TrustMark, the government-endorsed quality scheme for tradespeople. The two are separate things. Check which one you are dealing with before relying on any accreditation claim.

No founder is named on the site and no founding year is given. The company says it has a network of 170 or more members.

The system in one table

Everything is bundled into a single monthly plan. The company says it runs on software it built itself rather than a third-party website platform.

The small-town strategy

This is the distinctive part. Rather than trying to rank a roofer first in Brighton, the system builds many pages for the smaller towns and villages around a client's base, where fewer firms are competing for the same searches.

The published case studies follow this logic. They report page counts and call volumes for an electrician, a drainage, plumbing and heating firm, and a paving, landscaping and roofing business. The figures are the company's own.

The company does not guarantee rankings or call volumes. That is a point in its favour. Any agency that does guarantee them should be treated with caution, as our guide to checking an agency is legitimate explains.

Price and terms

At £299 + VAT the system sits in the lower-middle of the market for a website-plus-SEO retainer. It is more than a basic pay-monthly website and far less than a managed Google Ads account once ad spend is included. See where it lands against others in our round-up of the cheapest fixed-fee trades agencies.

One thing to establish: who owns the website and its content if you cancel. A system built on proprietary software may not be portable. Ask directly.

• £299 + VAT per month
• No setup fee
• No contract
• No per-lead charges
• Leads are not sold or shared with other members

Trades covered

The site names builders, roofers, solar installers, demolition contractors, electricians, drainage, plumbing and heating firms, and paving and landscaping businesses. It also says it works with every UK trade.

The town-page approach suits trades that travel across a rural or semi-rural patch, such as the firms in our groundworkers marketing agency rankings. It is less compelling for a trade whose customers are concentrated in one dense city.

Who it suits

A sole trader or small firm outside a major city that wants a predictable monthly cost, dislikes paid ads and is happy to let a system run in the background. The no-contract terms lower the risk of trying it.

It is less suitable for a firm that needs leads this month. Local SEO pages take time to rank, and the company itself declines to promise call volumes.

Before you sign

• Ask who owns the domain, the site and the written content on cancellation.
• Ask how many other members operate your trade within your patch.
• Ask to see a live member site for your trade and check it ranks for a town search yourself.
• Ask what happens to the tracked local phone number if you leave.
• Confirm in writing that there is no minimum term and how notice is given.

Frequently asked questions