How we design websites that work

  1. Discovery, understanding your business and goals
    Before we open a single design tool, we sit down with you and work out what the website is actually for. That sounds obvious, and it’s the step most agencies skip. We get a real answer to three questions. Who is your customer, what do they need, and what does success look like for you twelve months from now. We also look at where your traffic comes from today, where you’d like it to come from, and what you’ve tried before.
  2. Planning, mapping out your site’s structure
    A site map isn’t just for search engines. It’s for the person trying to find the contact form on a Tuesday evening on a phone with three percent battery. We plan the structure of your site around the journeys that matter, then test the plan against your stakeholders before any design starts. If you’ve got an existing site, we use the analytics and the search data to back the structure with evidence rather than opinion.
  3. Design, bringing your website to life
    This is where the brand comes in. Colour, typography, photography, illustration, motion. We design the homepage and a representative inner page first, then sign those off before producing the rest. That avoids the death-by-a-thousand-cuts review cycle. We use real content where we can, because lorem ipsum lies to you about whether the design will hold up.
  4. Content, SEO-friendly copy that works
    You can’t bolt content on at the end. We write the copy in parallel with the design, with the search terms agreed at step one already in mind. Every page has a clear job: tell the visitor what they need, give them a reason to act, and tell Google what the page is about. We can write the lot, work alongside your in-house writer, or take what you’ve already got and give it a sharper edit.
  5. Build, fast, secure and SEO-friendly
    Build is where good design either holds together or falls apart. We build clean, fast, accessible front-end code, with the content layer set up so non-technical staff can keep it current. We don’t bolt on unnecessary plugins, we don’t pad pages with frameworks they don’t need, and we don’t use templates dressed up as bespoke. The technical SEO basics are built in at this stage, not retrofitted.
  6. Testing, making sure everything runs smoothly
    Before launch, every page gets put through a tightening process. Browser testing across the modern Chromium, Firefox and Safari builds. Device testing on real phones and tablets. Accessibility testing with WCAG 2.2 checks. Performance testing with Core Web Vitals. Forms and integrations checked twice. Analytics double-tagged. We don’t ship a site we wouldn’t put our own name on the home page of.
  7. Launch, going live the right way
    Launches go wrong when nobody plans for the boring bits. URL redirects, search console resubmissions, sitemaps, robots files, monitoring. We schedule launches outside busy hours, brief your team on what to expect, and stay on the case for forty-eight hours afterwards in case anything wobbles.
  8. SEO services, helping you get found on Google
    A new site without an SEO plan is a billboard in the desert. We start the SEO work the day the site goes live, with a defined ninety-day plan covering technical health, content priorities, link-building targets, and local optimisation. SEO isn’t a one-off project. It’s a discipline.
  9. Support, we’re still here after launch
    The launch isn’t the end. The first ninety days after a site goes live is where most of the early-stage feedback comes in, and where the small fixes that lift conversion happen. We stay close, with monthly check-ins, monitoring in the background, and a support arrangement so you know exactly who to call when something needs attention.

We design for people we can name

Before any design work starts, we define audience personas: short, concrete profiles of the main groups who will use the site, what each of them arrives needing, and what would make each of them act. For a school that means prospective parents, current parents, students, staff, governors and the local community. For a manufacturer it means the design engineer, the procurement manager and the distributor, who want entirely different things from the same site.

Every decision that follows, from the navigation to the photography to the calls to action, is checked against those people rather than against taste. It is the difference between a website the team likes and a website the customer uses, and it is why our first meetings are about your customers rather than about colours.

Already know what you need?

Book a fifteen-minute call with a senior member of the team. Not a salesperson. We’ll listen first.

Book a fifteen-minute call
Phone: 01746 769612

Three things people worry about before commissioning a website

We don’t guess, and we don’t follow a one-size-fits-all playbook. Every website and every business is different, which is why we start every engagement the same way: by understanding exactly what’s happening with your site right now.

“What if it goes over budget?”

It won’t. Our quotes are fixed in writing. If something genuinely changes the scope, we tell you, you decide, and we agree the new number. We’ve never sent a client an unexpected invoice in twenty-five years.

“What if I don’t like the design?”

We design the home page and one inner page first, sign those off with you, and only then produce the rest. That stops the death-by-a-thousand-cuts review cycle and makes sure we’re aligned before the bulk of the work starts.

“What if my SEO drops when we launch?”

It shouldn’t. We map every old URL to a new one, set up the redirects, resubmit the sitemap, and monitor Search Console daily for the first month. On most rebuilds, organic traffic grows after launch rather than dipping.

Common questions about our website design process

How long does the design phase take?

Two to four weeks from kickoff to first concepts, depending on how quickly you can give feedback.

Can I see designs before I commit to a build?

Yes. We offer a paid concept phase as a standalone deliverable. If you go on to commission the full build, the concept fee is credited.

Do you provide stock photography?

Yes, included in most projects. We can also brief and manage a photography shoot if your budget supports it.

What if I want to change platform later?

The site is yours. Code, content, hosting, all of it. You can move it to another agency or another platform whenever you choose.

Will I be able to update the site myself?

Yes. Every site we build is set up so non-technical staff can edit content, publish news, swap images and add pages without needing a developer. We hand over with written documentation and a recorded walkthrough.

How do payments work?

Half of the agreed fixed price on signed order, a quarter at design sign-off, and the final quarter at go-live, so nothing is due at a stage you have not seen. Monthly services such as hosting and support run by Direct Debit.

Who owns the copyright in the design?

You do. All copyright in the website design transfers to you on completion, and every image on the site is properly licensed, bought by us or by you or supplied by you, so nothing on your website can come back to bite you later.

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Ready to commission a website that actually pays its way?

You will get a fixed quote agreed in writing before any work starts, a senior team that does not disappear once the invoice is paid, and a site built to bring in enquiries rather than win design awards. If the scope changes, we tell you, you decide, and we agree the new number.

Start with a fifteen-minute call with someone who will actually do the work, not a salesperson. We will listen first and tell you honestly whether we are the right fit.

Book a fifteen-minute call