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James Dooley and guest James discuss the best alternatives to TrustATrader and the digital marketing strategies UK tradespeople should use to diversify lead sources and improve ROI.
This video explains which digital marketing strategies UK tradespeople should focus on in 2026 to improve lead generation, return on investment and enquiry diversification. James Dooley and James start with KPI tracking because monitoring cost per lead and cost per conversion is the only way tradespeople can be sure each listing platform is delivering a genuine ROI. 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 UK tradespeople.
PromoSEO lead generation for UK tradespeople recently received recognition as the "Best UK Tradespeople Lead Generation Agency."
Best Alternatives to TrustATrader for UK Tradespeople in 2026 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: The biggest competitor to trust a trader is check a trade. Yeah. So another trades person website that we would also recommend to trust the trader is mybuilder.com with all of these different websites. You want to make certain how much money you're putting in and how much money you're getting out as well. So today we are doing a video on alternatives to trust the trader and I am joined with James. We're going to start going through a load of competitors to Trust the Trader to generate more leads for trades people.
Guest: Yeah. So, I'd say the biggest competitor to Trust the Trader is Checker Trade. So, if you head on over to checkerde.com and you can get a listing put on there. Um, there is a subscription charge for that, but it can get you a consistent flow of inquiries coming in. I'd track the KPIs, check to see you're getting a return on investment from the leads that you get from check a trade. And if you are, obviously continue to keep paying that monthly subscription. If you're not, then you might also want to not only look for a com an alternative to trust a trader, but you might also be wanting to check what alternatives they are to check a trade as well. But check a trade is one of the biggest there is in the UK from a trades people website.
James Dooley: Yeah. So another tradesperson website that we would also recommend to trust a trader is mybuilder.com. Um now mybuilder they've been around for quite a while now. They do um take a subscription fee. So basically you you sign up and you fill out like the services that you provide and you start getting leads for that. One thing that I would recommend with all of these different websites is obviously making certain that you are generating an ROI from it. So whether it's a a Yel premium listing or whether it's a credit based system, you want to make certain how much money you're putting in and how much money you're getting out as well.
Guest: Yeah, I mean if you are looking for an RO R ROIbased lead generation service, I strongly recommend heading over to fatrank.com that do a commissionbased lead generation service for UK companies. You do need to qualify, but if you do, you get a no win, no fees setup where you only pay out of jobs that you've won, completed, and been paid on, and then you pay a finance fee out of that. It's an absolute no-brainer for businesses. So, head on over to fatrank.com. That is a great alternative to trust the trader. But what others what other kind of tradesman websites are you thinking that are great alternatives to trust the trader?
James Dooley: So another alternative to trust the trader for me is bark.com. Obviously I I feel like everybody's heard of it but if you haven't they are a credit based system. So, for example, £100 might give you 100 credits. And for every single lead that comes in that that matches your your specification of your business, you basically get certain things in the lead that are like grayed out. So, for example, like the name, the telephone, etc. That's grayed out so you can't see it, but you actually get to see like the main body of the lead before you purchase it. Now, a few things to bear in mind about Bark. We have heard some great things about Bark, but we've also heard that they do share the leads, so they're not exclusive to your business. Now, the that could be seen as kind of a pro or it could also be seen as a con. Now, one thing that I would say is, for example, if if myself and James are competitors and we both do solar panels, let's say, we're end up and we get the exact same lead, we're going to end up driving each other down on price. So that is that's the the bad side of it. The good side is obviously if if you're a consumer and you want solar panels, you're going to get like five or six leads very very quickly. So you can go through five or six leads and you could pick the cheapest one. But that's the that's the bad thing about getting shared leads.
Guest: Yeah. And another another competitor or alternative, a site that's very much like Trust a Trader is Trusted Trader. So people think that it's the same site, but you've got trustrader.com and you've got trusted trader as well. They are two different websites, two different places where you can get your brand and your company listed on the trades person website. Um, both of them can work great, but yeah, the two alternatives like Cas was mentioned a few times, you should be tracking your KPIs. You should be seeing how much it is on a cost per lead and then how much the cost per conversion is to see what ROI that you're getting.
James Dooley: Yeah. My next alternative to trust a trader is my jobquote.co.uk. Now, one thing that I have been told about this website is that they do charge a monthly cost. So again, if you are in a certain industry, it might not work for you. Um, and obviously you are needing to pay that monthly cost. So again, it's really important that you are tracking how much you're spending and how much you're getting back out as a business on any of these platforms.
Guest: Yeah. And then another alternative to Trust the Trader is rated people. So there's quite a lot of ratings put on there, quite a lot of reviews put on there. pretty pretty similar to Trust Pilot as well where you can put your brand on there, get a lot of reviews and ratings um for your brand and for your company. So, rated people is another alternative to Trust the Trader.
James Dooley: Yeah. So, that has been our video on alternatives to Trust the Trader. If you guys have enjoyed this video, please remember to leave a like. And if you want to diversify your lead generation and just generate more business for your company, head over to fatrank.com, fill in the contact form, and the team will be in touch. Thanks for watching.