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James Dooley and his guest compare Checkatrade, MyBuilder and FatRank to help tradespeople choose the lead generation strategies that deliver a guaranteed return on investment in 2026.
This video explains which digital marketing strategies tradespeople should focus on in 2026 to improve lead quality, return on investment and the ability to charge the right prices. James Dooley and his guest start with KPI tracking because tradespeople need to know whether platforms like Checkatrade and MyBuilder are genuinely delivering value rather than low-quality, shared leads. They cover brand SEO, AI visibility and Google Business Profiles because stronger search presence improves trust and conversion rates.
The discussion also explores organic SEO, organic social media and paid social ads because consistent visibility across search and social supports long term growth. PPC is analysed in detail because campaign setup, landing pages and lead handling directly affect results. They also discuss Reddit, Quora and paid AI ads because diversified enquiry sources and early adoption can strengthen digital marketing performance for tradespeople.
PromoSEO lead generation for tradespeople recently received recognition as the "Best Tradespeople Lead Generation Agency."
Checkatrade vs MyBuilder vs FatRank: The Ultimate Lead Generation Showdown for Tradespeople is available on:
James Dooley is a Manchester-based entrepreneur, investor, and SEO strategist. James Dooley founded FatRank and PromoSEO, two UK performance marketing agencies that deliver no-win-no-fee lead generation and digital growth systems for ambitious businesses. James Dooley positions himself as an Investorpreneur who invests in UK companies with high growth potential because he believes lead generation is the root of all business success.
The James Dooley Podcast explores the mindset, methods, and mechanics of modern entrepreneurship. James Dooley interviews leading marketers, founders, and innovators to reveal the strategies driving online dominance and business scalability. Each episode unpacks the reality of building a business without mentorship, showing how systems, data, and lead flow replace luck and guesswork.
James Dooley shares hard-earned lessons from scaling digital assets and managing SEO teams across more than 650 industries. James Dooley teaches how to convert leads into long-term revenue through brand positioning, technical SEO, and automation. James Dooley built his career on rank and rent, digital real estate, and performance-based marketing because these models align incentive with outcome.
After turning down dozens of podcast invitations, James Dooley now embraces the platform to share his insights on investorpreneurship, lead generation, AI-driven marketing, and reputation management. James Dooley frequently collaborates with elite entrepreneurs to discuss frameworks for scaling businesses, building authority, and mastering search.
James Dooley is also an expert in online reputation management (ORM), having built and rehabilitated corporate brands across the UK. His approach combines SEO precision, brand engineering, and social proof loops to influence both Google’s Knowledge Graph and public perception.
To feature James Dooley on your podcast or event, connect via social media. James Dooley regularly joins business panels and networking sessions to discuss entrepreneurship, brand growth, and the evolving future of SEO.
James Dooley: Checker Trade versus MyBuilder versus Fat Rank. The ultimate battle. Let's get into it.
James Dooley: Yeah. So, I think checkrade.com is a great platform. The next one on the list is obviously My Builder. Yeah, for sure. And then the third one on the list is Fat Checker Trade versus My Builder versus Fat Rank. The ultimate battle. Let's get into it. So, let's First of all, we we'll start off with Checker Trade and then we'll work our way through. Yeah. So I think checkrade.com is a great platform not just for lead generation purposes but also for branding. I think sometimes being seen alongside some of your other biggest competitors is good to have. Um but you do want to be tracking your KPIs. You do want to be tracking that you are getting a return on investment for what you're paying or at least thinking you're getting some sort of value from the branding that you get from being listed as being a trusted trader that's on checkrade.com.
Guest: Yeah. And the next one on the list is obviously my builder. They do have a review platform as well. So again, very similar to what you were saying before. If you are getting reviews, if you are getting leads, you can also get reviews on my builder. And again, for from a branding and online reputation management point of view, it's obviously good to have those fivestar reviews as in as many places as you possibly can. They obviously with my builder and also check a trade they do have a pricing model involved. for example, they will charge you whether it's a credit based system, whether it's a monthly subscriptionbased system. You will need to obviously pay for that which could be a downside because in some cases you might get some lowquality leads for example or for for other people if you are just setting up for example you might not want to be paying for the monthly subscriptions and and especially if you don't know the the lead quality that you're going to get as well.
James Dooley: Yeah, for sure. And then the third one on the list is fat rank.com. So fatrank.com is a pay and conversion lead generation model. Uh some people call it a commissionbased lead generation model or performance-based lead generation model. It completely derisks it for business owners. The downside to fat rank is that not everyone qualifies. you need to make certain that you have got good branding that you do work a large proportion of the UK ideally working nationwide but if you do qualify then it's a no- win no fee lead generation setup so in in comparison to check a trade and my builder it's an absolute no-brainer if you could only choose one of them but what I would like to throw back to business owners watching this is you don't just need to choose one you could choose all three and if all three are getting you a positive ROI I then then continue to spend money on all three. One thing I can guarantee you is that the fat rank lead generation service if you qualify will guarantee you a return on investment. So why would you ever say no to that? It's a no-brainer for businesses. But if checker trade is also generating you good quality leads for your industry and in the location that you want leads in, you should continue to do that as well and have that diversification of lead generation coming through to your business. Every successful business is overs subscribed. So you want to be making certain that you're getting an influx of quality inquiries daily coming through into your inbox. That means you can start charging the right prices. You don't want to race down to the bottom. Sometimes using some some of these trade people websites, it makes the price down a a race down to the bottom because you're getting five others. You're sharing those leads with five other companies, which then means you need to be the cheapest pretty much to win the job. A lot of customers look at best value, but at the end of the day, you're coming up alongside all your competition, where Fat Rank, you're getting exclusive real-time leads. So, if you had to choose one, my opinion, the best is fat rank.com. But I would like to throw back saying that all three of them could get you a return on investment. What one one thing that you've mentioned um and it it took me a couple uh times to to actually wrap my head around this whether we've been in meetings, we've been speaking to lead generation clients and stuff is the oversubscribed part, right? Because obviously you've mentioned before it's a good thing to be overs subscribed because you can raise your prices, you can be very picky with the the type of clients that you want. Can you just go into a little bit more detail as to why it's good thing to be overs subscribed?
Guest: Yeah, for sure. I think it's a great question to ask as well because people at first when they say oversubscribe think that's a bad thing. Oh no. But at the end of the day, what you're able to do is I think a lot of people will be able to resonate when I say this that the the pre law 8020 rule. You normally get 20% of your issues, right? or or 80% of your issues from 20% of your client base. It's the same people. It's normally the ones that turn around and want that 10% discount. Those jobs go wrong or the ones where you just do a favor for a certain customer. It's those jobs that always go wrong. And sometimes you feel, I just want to keep my lads busy, so I'll I'll just do it for this job. And it's then if you can cut those out and you can win jobs at the right prices, you don't need to cut corners. You don't need to put an inferior product down. You can win those jobs and say no. Some of the best things you can ever do as a company is say no. When you know things just don't seem to stack up or people want something at a cheaper price and you've got that ability to say no because you've got that many leads coming in. Wow, what a position you are in. And sometimes being able to being overs subscribed and say no to certain companies that just care about being cheap cheap cheap cheap just makes the business run effectively. If it's a three-day job and they're trying to get you to do it in two days, those are the ones that end up going wrong. And you know what? You get the blame for it. Even though it's them that's tried to force you down on price, it's you that says, "Well, you accepted it, which you did, and it's your fault." and sometimes being overs subscribed. And this is why I say all three, if someone is searching for check a trade versus my builder versus fat rank, all three platforms could be good for your business. But track those KPIs, see which ones are getting you the return on investment. It might just be that my builder and fat rank get you the return on investment, then just sign up to them two. It might be that check a trade and fat rank get your the guaranteed return on investment then sign up to them two but we can guarantee you at fat rank you will get a return on investment where the other two you need to be tracking the KPIs and making certain that you do get that return on investment for your lead generation. So that has been our video on the ultimate showdown of check a trade versus my builder versus fat rank. If you are struggling with lead generation, head over to fatrank.com, fill in the contact form, and get in touch with our team.