FAQs

No two websites are the same. A modest gardening blog is understandably cheaper than a mammoth 50 page store. For that reason it’s not helpful to disclose price breakdowns until I know more about your project. Projects literally range from £500 to £10k+, and that’s obviously not a helpful ballpark.

Before work begins, I tally exactly what you need from the website: page quota, dynamic features, content management, SEO, image editing – the list goes on. I then propose a fixed price for everything we’ve discussed. That price will be written into a formal proposal before work begins, and will change only if the scope widens.

Like its price, a website’s timeframe cannot be pinned down until the details have been ironed out. That being said, the turnaround for a medium-scale website lies in the 6-12 week mark. That allows for plenty of time revising designs, testing layouts and getting you acquainted with the dashboard.

A large part of the process depends on the client’s response. So, if you’re quick to reply and detailed in feedback, that helps the job move much quicker.

Depending on my schedule, urgent projects can be expedited.

I design and develop websites. You can hire me for everything at once, or for a select part of the process. If you already work with a designer and wish for me to code from Figma/XD files, smashing. Or, I can provide the design mockups for you to hand over to your developers.

Yes. I can hop aboard whatever project management tool you use and liaise with your colleagues and service providers. This can be done on a white-label basis if required.

Digital agencies may hire me as a dedicated development partner – be that for one project or ongoing support. That includes speaking on your behalf to SMT, clients and stakeholders.

In most cases I build my themes from scratch and avoid cumbersome “drag and drop” editors. In my experience this is a more effective and future-proof way of creating a website. Believe me, I’ve been asked to fix enough Elementor bugs – and move clients to a smoother system – to know!

However, there are exceptions. Some briefs are small or simple enough that a bespoke build isn’t warranted. Others are so suited to a particular theme that it doesn’t serve to rewrite what already works. Where required, I can work on/fix third-party themes and plugins. They’re not for every business, and I’ll be sure to advise which route is best for your goals and budget.

Content and photos take a surprisingly long time to gather; the earlier you begin, the smoother the process will be.

Photos/branding and imagery will be required first, that way I have the foundations on which to base the design.

Content can come later, and I can work with you to finesse page priorities/tone/SEO effectiveness. For an explainer on effective content strategy, see this guide. It’s old, but the basic principles hold up.

The age old question! Your site will be equipped with the means to rank on search; it will be coded well, load fast and obey an extensive “pre-launch checklist” that ensures search engines understand it, crawl it, and index it.

If we’re transitioning from a pre-existing website, I can assist you with redirects/Google Search Console to ensure traffic is appropriately rerouted.

That said, these things do not guarantee good rankings – nothing can. SEO is a protracted, ongoing task that requires input not just from the website, but from backlinks, PR strategy and countless wider factors. I can help with this either as part of the web build, or as a separate project post-launch.

Prior to going live, I go through a checklist to ensure everything behaves as it should and the site has no superfluous code/settings. We then arrange a call/meeting to discuss how to update it, maintain it and best practices for its longevity.

After launch, you are free to manage the site yourself. You are not beholden to me for updates, and you have access to all the areas you need to grow it further.

For those who want retainer support, I am available for regular, pre-booked hours that ensure everything ticks along nicely. For others, I’m here on and “as and when” basis.

Yes, I can work with external APIs and SAAS providers to ensure third-party applications are integrated into your website. That could be a booking system, events management, advanced data tracking or any other creative use of these tools.

Yes. While I don’t offer hosting myself, I will login on your behalf and make sure the site launches smoothly. If that requires DNS changes and assistance with domain/hosting migration, that can be arranged.

For newcomers, I can also advise on the better hosting providers; I’ve worked with enough to know the good from the clunky!

Absolutely. Mobile and desktop browsing work in tandem, and with “mobile-friendly” being a known ranking factor it’s crucial that you appear professional from every angle. Your website will scale down gracefully for all devices – whether laptop, desktop, tablet, smartphone or anything in between.

For my part, the cost is fixed. You pay for my time once and after the project concludes, I am available on an as-and-when basis with no obligation.

Depending on your requirements, the website may require a small subscription or two (to a third party) in order to accommodate some of the more complex features. For example, we might integrate an event booking system which takes a cut of each signup. Perhaps you’ve found a premium plugin that’s such a good match it’s worth the £50 price tag. These would be small, specific and deliberate expenses which should enhance the business and earn their keep tenfold.

The website will need to be maintained; whether that’s through you, me, or somebody else is your decision. These days website maintenance is relatively straightforward, and many decent hosting companies do most of the heavy lifting themselves.

Prior to launch we’ll have a dedicated maintenance chat and go through the routine steps required to keep your website nice and clean. It is then up to you whether to manage this yourself or entrust it to another person.

The horror stories stem from the fact that there are countless millions of WordPress websites out there, ranging from industry standard (secure) and ramshackle abominations (insecure).

WordPress, at its core, is a very robust system. With the world’s best developers constantly improving it, the CMS is forever evolving to deal with day-to-day security risks.

Your hosting plays a big part in this too. Those who’ve reported WordPress security risks are often, unfortunately, hosting them through dodgy servers and creaky old internet providers. Wherever possible, I’ll match you with the better services so that the security features are baked in.

Finally, I can add a bunch of additional security layers on top of your website for everybody’s peace of mind. This includes two-factor authentication, malware scans, firewalls, DDoS alerts, cloud backups, stringent IP blocking, and more.

I will build the site with certain guardrails in order to maintain visual consistency and ensure things don’t fall out of your brand guidelines. Having said that, you will not be locked out of anything, and if your heart desires it you can unpick, unpack, dismantle, and overhaul the website in any reasonable way. Obviously, you would need some WordPress know-how to achieve, but in theory you could pass the websites I build from the developer to developer, and they would be able to extend it or modify it.

Yes. I have inherited many websites that were built by another developer or agency who, for whatever reason, can no longer do maintain it. I liken this to cooking in somebody else’s kitchen; I will get to the outcome, but sometimes the tools may be in an unfamiliar place.

Obviously, there are instances where websites grow so old and so dusty that there are limits on what I can do, but I always take reasonable steps to get the best outcome, and if something’s not possible I can suggest a workaround.

SEO is not to be gift-wrapped in a day, a week or even a month. It is an ongoing, delicate operation, the results of which unfold over a longer period of time. I don’t offer magical, overnight solutions; such shortcuts don’t exist with search engine optimisation.

What I do offer is a service from experience, carefully tested in accordance with Google’s guidelines and best practices, and my own intuition.

I’m afraid not. These days social media is such a specialism that it is better suited to those who live and breathe it. As someone who it reticent about social media use, I can’t honestly claim to be an expert on “beating the algorithm”.

I only offer organic SEO and not paid clicks or advertising. However, I know a number of very talented providers and I’d be more than happy to send them your way.

No, no, no. There is no person or agency that can game the system to top position. If that were so, everyone would have the top position, and the laws of mathematics would implode.

Please be wary of anyone or any software that purportedly boosts buyers to the top spot. There is no such thing. All you are doing is wasting your money and risking the SEO health of your website.

This depends. There are cases where a website is so disheveled that the time spend improving it for SEO would be better used creating something anew. This tends to be an exception to the rule; only in a last resort would I recommend we start from scratch.

Wherever possible, I will work on and improve the set up that you have in order to minimise disruption, keep cost down, and maintain consistency for your site structure.

No. My policy has always been that I focus on the active task of designing and developing websites, and in the immediate process of technical support. I’ve been around hosting for long enough to know what I am good at and the real-world demands of maintaining servers.

The common practice for developers is to repackage hosting and sell it on behalf of a larger provider. In eschewing this I’m probably not very savvy, but I sleep sounder knowing I am not beholden to a third party for the day-to-day upkeep of my clients’ websites. That responsibility, in my view, is best left to those who live and breathe this stuff; the task of hosting is a demanding job that requires the full capacity of any one person, or organisation.

Yes! I’ve worked with the best and the very worst. It gives me great pleasure to know that my clients’ websites sit on fast and secure platforms. Conversely, my soul dies a little when I’m required to sift through the dusty, haggard control panels of age-old providers.

This does depend on your goals and budget, but broadly speaking I would say that a good web host should include:

• one-click restore for when you need it
• baked-in speed and security measures
• the means to spin up a staging website
• unfettered access to all areas of the control panel without locking you behind tantalizing upsells

Beware of critical features (such as backups) being sold to you for an additional cost. Those should, in my view, be a given in 2027.

Obviously there are cases where more complex websites require refined and very specific specs. Where this is the case we can discuss what’s required.

I can certainly try. You’d be surprised at the longevity of long-forgotten website files. Wherever possible I can work with you – liaising with other providers if needed – to retrieve critical assets from across the web.