Grumpy is right on the mark with his comments above.
In addition, I would stresss the importance of being able to EDUCATE your customers on the generalities of your product or trade with a well done website. This will not only help you in search engine order (belive me content is extremely important to google which in turn feeds other search sites) but educating the potential client gives you a chance to do a couple of important things.
1) Educating the reader allows you to present general facts about your business or trade that other sites may not. Why is this important? A couple of reasons - First lets be honest, most people dont have a clue what goes on behind the sheetrock, giving them a general idea of what you do as a contractor makes them more likely to be able to articulate what it is they think they really want. Second - If you have a particular way of doing things that others cut corners on (not too specific but a general idea is what I am speaking of) then you can highlight your strengths so as to draw them in. Gun safe manufacturers tend to do this a lot. They talk about their particular strengths and manuafacturing practices and gently dis the competition to some degree.
2) By how you educate the viewers of your website you can cull out people that want a quick fix (unless that is what you are into) by presenting yourself as a builder of QUALITY stuff that is going to obviously cost a few bucks. This eliminates those folks that think that their 'simple' remodel should cost 500 dollars. If the photographs and text are compelling enough you will not only weed out the cheapskates but you will also draw in and be more likely to get a call from the more affluent that want a good looking job done RIGHT.
A couple of general comments if you are going to set up a website yourself or with a designer: (and no I am not fishing, we have been inactive for well over a year except for maintenence of our current clients).
Probably the most important point on websites however is that your webpages will sell your service for you 24 hours per day. This means that for those potential clients that can not their routine long enough to have a cojent conversation during regular business hours YOU become a more viable option.
Rarely will people happen upon your site who are not looking for what it is you are selling. Since they are already looking for what you are offering, your site can pull them to you like a magnet if it is done right. Remember too that people will often be looking on their leisure time.... either at work when they dont want to work or at home when they have time to kill. Give them a reason to stay on your site and you increase the chance of a sale or lead. The best of all worlds is when they look at the clock and realize they have taken 90 minutes to look at your site, read your aticles, look at your pretty pictures, and realize that they were supposed to be on-and-off the computer in 10 minutes. Grab em and hold em with good content.
Be sincere in your presentation and give them a lot of high quality photographic eye-candy to look at. My opinion is start with a good basic set of ideas you want to promote and then give them lots of opportunity to drill down into the site for details on materials and practices if they care to. The more details, the more sticky your site and the longer they will stay there looking. In addition, they may just be able to come to you with half of your questions already answered because you have already educated them on what materials you can use and some of the options of how you can do the job. For instance a roofer might explain the different types of shingles, tiles, and other materials, their approximate differences in reliability and cost, thus helping the client to be part way decided when he calls you.
The more pages the better (as long as it is not just filler crap) because it will help your search engine order and because it keeps the customers on your site.
Think of a website like a super fine glossy brocurure that you are not limited as to the printing costs and numbers of pages. How valuable would a 50 page door hanger or mailed flier be in getting leads? What if it was printed on slick paper and had flat out top-notch photographs included?
I admit being very web-centric, but I'll do a search on my town +whatever online before I pick up a phonebook. I have a feeling this is becoming more and more the norm for lots of people.
Charles