Dublin 5 is the family northside between the Howth Road and the Malahide Road: Raheny, Killester, Harmonstown and Kilbarrack strung along the DART, Artane around its roundabout and shopping centre, Coolock around the Northside Shopping Centre, Edenmore in behind. Houses from the 1930s to the 1970s, schools, clubs and small parades of shops. It is trades country, and website design in Dublin 5 is mostly about making a plumber, a salon or a creche easy to find and easy to trust. We are based in Dublin and we drive out to you.
Where the recommendations happen
Nothing gets hired in Dublin 5 without a recommendation, and the recommendation now happens in a WhatsApp group or a local Facebook page. Someone asks for an electrician, three names come back, and then the quiet part: each name gets typed into Google. The electrician with a Google Business Profile, a page with photos of real jobs and a handful of reviews gets the call. The one with nothing but a mobile number gets passed over, even though he was recommended. The same goes for a creche, a hairdresser, a driving instructor or a kids’ football club: the group starts it, the search finishes it.
Two roads and a railway
Customers here move along the two spines. The Howth Road carries Killester, Raheny and on out to Sutton; the Malahide Road carries Artane and Coolock towards Malahide. The DART stops at Killester, Harmonstown, Raheny and Kilbarrack and takes the commuters into town, which is why a lot of Dublin 5 searching happens on the train at 6pm: ‘chipper Raheny’, ‘barber Artane open late’, ‘pharmacy near Killester station’. A business page should name its own road and the nearest DART stop, and a trade should name the string of places it serves along both roads rather than one pin on a map.
What the page needs for D05
The village name, Dublin 5 and the D05 routing key, written the same on the site and on the Google Business Profile. For a shop or salon: hours, prices, parking (there usually is some, which is worth saying) and photos of the actual place. For a trade: a list of services with ‘from’ prices, photos of finished jobs in local houses, the areas covered, and a phone and WhatsApp button at the top of the page on a mobile. For a creche or after-school club: who runs it, the hours, the age range and how to enquire. For a club: training times and a contact for new members. None of that is complicated, and none of it can be done on a Facebook page in a way Google can read.
Chippers, salons and the Instagram page
The takeaways, chippers, nail bars and hair salons around Artane Castle, Northside and Raheny village often have a busy Instagram and nothing else. Instagram is fine for the regulars. It fails the new family on the road who searches ‘nails Dublin 5’ or ‘Chinese Coolock’ and gets a map of competitors with hours and menus. A short page with the menu or price list, the hours and a call button fills that gap. Getting more Google reviews is the next step once the page exists, because reviews are what the parents in the group screenshot to each other.
Village pages and what it costs
Raheny, Artane, Coolock and Kilbarrack have their own pages, and Killester sits on the line with Dublin 3. Monthly cost starts at €50 with Essentials, which is €499 to set up. Complete is €1,499 to set up and €100 a month, and brings bookings, payments, review requests and the monthly Google work. The pricing page has the list. The plumbers and electricians pages show what we build for the two trades this district has most of.