Dublin 11 is Finglas and Ballymun and the ground between them: Glasnevin North, Ballygall, Poppintree, Dubber out by the M50 and the N2. It is the district of the garage, the van and the industrial unit, with Jamestown Road and the business parks around it full of mechanics, tyre centres, valeters, motor factors and trade suppliers, and two main streets, Finglas village and the rebuilt Ballymun Main Street, full of barbers, takeaways and family shops. Website design in Dublin 11 is mostly about making those businesses findable by people who come from well beyond the postcode. We are Dublin based and we come out to the unit or the shop.
Garages, vans and the M50
A Finglas garage does not serve Finglas alone. The M50 at junctions 4 and 5 and the N2 bring in cars from Blanchardstown, Santry, Cabra, Glasnevin, Swords and the airport road, and most of those drivers found the garage by searching ‘mechanic near us’ or ‘tyres Dublin 11’ with the engine light on. The same goes for the roofers, electricians, skip hire and breakdown recovery firms based in the units: the customer is wherever the job is, and the search is ‘roofer Finglas’ or ‘skip hire Dublin 11’ from a kitchen in Castleknock. For all of them the Google Business Profile is the shop window, the reviews are the reputation, and the page is where the customer checks that the business is real before ringing.
Finglas village and Ballymun Main Street
Finglas village keeps its old shape around the Main Street and the church, with barbers, chippers, pharmacies, pubs and shops that have been there for decades. Charlestown Shopping Centre out on St Margaret’s Road is where the big weekly shop happens. Ballymun’s Main Street was rebuilt after the towers came down, with the Axis arts centre, the civic offices and new shops along it, and Ikea out by the M50 pulls shoppers from across the country past the door. Walk-in trade on both main streets is searched by name: ‘barber Finglas’, ‘Chinese Ballymun’, ‘pharmacy near Charlestown’. Trades and motor are searched by the number as often as the name.
Where Dublin 11 customers look
Three places. Google Maps on the phone, which shows the garages and shops nearest to wherever the person is stuck. The local Facebook groups, where someone asks for a roofer and gets five names and five arguments. And the reviews, which are read closely here because a lot of the trade is motor work and nobody wants to be caught twice. A page that shows the premises, the people, the services with ‘from’ prices and a tap-to-call button, matched to a Google Business Profile with the right category, Dublin 11 and the D11 routing key, is what turns the search into a phone call. The guide to getting onto Google Maps covers the pin, the categories and the duplicate listings that catch out businesses that have moved units.
Takeaways on Facebook, garages on word of mouth
The takeaways and barbers on both main streets usually have a Facebook page with the menu as a photo and hours that were right two years ago. The garages and the trades often have nothing but a number painted on the van. Neither can be found by a search, and a photo of a menu cannot be read by Google or by ChatGPT. A short page with the menu as text, or the services as a list, plus the hours and a phone button, is a day’s work and it holds for years. Bad reviews are the other thing owners here worry about, and the guide to replying to bad Google reviews shows the calm way through.
Finglas, Ballymun and what it costs
Finglas and Ballymun have their own pages, Glasnevin sits across the line with Dublin 9, and Cabra and Dublin 7 are the next stop south on the Luas at Broombridge. Neither plan has a contract. Essentials is €499 then €50 a month; Complete is €1,499 then €100 a month, with the bookings, payments, review requests and monthly Google work built in. The pricing page has the detail, and businesses we build for has a page per trade, including mechanics and breakdown recovery.