Service
Web design for small businesses
A surprising number of good businesses still run on a Facebook page, a directory listing someone else controls, or a domain that was bought years ago and never pointed at anything. It works right up until a customer wants to check you are real at ten o’clock at night.
This is a website from nothing: the domain, the hosting, the pages, the words, and the Google listing that makes you findable in the first place. You end up owning all of it.
Signs you need this
- You have no website — enquiries come through Facebook or word of mouth
- You own a domain but nothing is on it
- Your only listing is on a directory that charges you monthly
- Customers ask for a link and you have to explain there isn’t one
- You’re quoting for work against businesses that look more established online
- You want something you can update yourself without paying every time
What’s included
Designed around one job
Getting a stranger to contact you. Every page is built backwards from that, rather than starting with a template and filling in the gaps.
The words as well as the build
Most first websites stall because nobody wants to write them. I draft the copy from a conversation with you and you correct it — far easier than facing an empty page.
Findable from launch day
Technical SEO, a sitemap submitted to Google, and your Google Business Profile set up and verified. A new site is invisible by default; this is the part that fixes it.
Fast and accessible from the start
Green Core Web Vitals and WCAG AA on day one. Retrofitting either later costs more than doing it now.
Yours, entirely
You own the domain, the hosting account and the code. No monthly fee to keep your own site online, and no permission needed to leave.
30 days of aftercare
A month of free fixes after launch, when real visitors find what testing did not.
How it works
- 1
A conversation about what the business does and who needs to find it.
- 2
One price and one date in writing, before anything starts.
- 3
I draft the structure and the words; you correct them.
- 4
Built on a private preview address you can watch and comment on.
- 5
Domain pointed, Google listing verified, then live — and invoiced after.
Common questions
- How much does a small business website cost?
- A complete site starts at £849, which covers design, build, the writing and the Google setup. You get one fixed figure before anything begins, and nothing is payable until it is live and you are happy with it.
- Do I need to write all the content myself?
- No, and this is the thing that stalls most first websites. I draft it from a conversation about what you do, then you correct anything I have got wrong. Editing something is far quicker than writing from nothing.
- Will I be tied into a monthly fee?
- No. You own the domain, the hosting and the site itself. Hosting is typically a few pounds a month paid directly to the host, not to me. If you ever want someone else to take it over, everything transfers.
- How long does it take to build a new website?
- Two to three weeks once the content is settled. The build is rarely the slow part — collecting photographs and agreeing the wording usually is, which is why I draft it for you.
- Will anyone actually find it?
- Not by accident. A brand-new site has no history, so the Google Business Profile and local SEO work matter more than the design does. Both are included, and it is the part most cheap website offers leave out.
Read more about this
Choosing a web designer
The questions to ask, the answers that should worry you, and the ownership traps to avoid.
Domains and hosting
What you are actually paying for, who should own it, and what matters when choosing.
Local SEO
How to show up in local searches and the map pack — usually the highest-value SEO work a local business can do.
Words and content
How people actually read online, and how to write pages that survive being skimmed.
Areas I cover
Based in Castleford, working across West Yorkshire — and remotely anywhere in the UK.
Not sure if this is what you need? Ask me.
Send me your web address and I’ll tell you honestly what’s wrong and what it would take to fix — including if the answer is a smaller job than this one.
Other services: Website repair · Speed optimisation · Local SEO · Website redesign