Website design & development: showcase what you do with a bespoke website.

Promote your services, share your story, or host your information. I create websites that are fast, flexible, accessible and discoverable - everything you need your website to be in 2025.

What we’ll do

Transform your ideas into a website that works for everybody.

We will provide your visitors with a clear path to cohesive and engaging content, always respecting their time and privacy – no barriers or distractions; a website without overlays, pop-ups, cookies or ads.

You will have access to a working version of the site during development and the final design will emerge over the course of several iterations.

You might want to get involved with lots of little decisions. Or you might prefer to be completely hands-off. Either is absolutely okay.

A clear track leading to Catbells summit on a sunny day in Cumbria: a metaphor for my website design and development work prioritising clear and cohesive content for your users.

Key principles

Why and how I build every website the way I do:

The web is for everybody. I work with core web technologies to create sites that are accessible and inclusive by design, because it’s the right thing to do.

Everyone’s time is important. I create lightweight, optimised websites so your users get the content they request quickly–very quickly–even on slower connections.

Screen size and display contexts vary. I use flexible layouts and fluid type scales to create websites that adjust to any device, and any viewport.

Web pages are for finding and sharing. I optimise web pages to be found and understood by people and search engines, and then stand out wherever they’re shared.

We worked with Ian to overhaul and rebuild our company website and couldn’t be happier with the results. Ian took our vague ideas and got on with turning them into a website that far exceeded our expectations. Creative, always professional; highly recommended.
— Paul Morrison, Stevens Equipment Rental

Frequently asked questions

How much does it cost to build a website?

This will probably be the most pressing question you have when thinking about any project, and the answer will always depend on the amount of work involved.

Our initial discussion will help us develop an idea of what’s involved and from there we can start to talk about an estimated cost. It will also be important for you to have a clear idea of the budget you have available.

If your budget doesn’t stretch to the estimated cost then I am happy to see if we can do things differently in a way that allows us to work together. Options might include completing the work in stages to spread the cost, or reducing the overall scope of the project.

Most websites will also involve ongoing maintenance costs which cover things like keeping the codebase up to date, adapting to browser advances, and staying aligned with search engine best practices. This is a bit like keeping a car serviced and MOT’d so you know it is performing as it should.

If you have any questions about website costs please don’t hesitate to get in touch. I am happy to talk it all through, and I won’t ever try and get you to spend your money on anything you don’t need or want.

How long does it take to build a website?

I would expect it to take between 1 and 4 months for me to build a bespoke website, assuming all the content (text, images, logos etc.) is available when it’s needed.

Our initial discussions will help us define the scope of your project and it’s level of complexity, giving us a clearer idea of the amount of work and timescales involved.

If you’d like to talk about my availability to work on a website with you then get in touch.

Do I even need a website..?

Not if you don’t want one, no. You might get all your work from word-of-mouth recommendations, or you might have a Facebook business page that you are happy with. But if you do want to get online or take full control of how you present yourself online then it might be time to talk about a website. A couple of good reasons:

  • people search for everything online and having your own website means you are out there to be found
  • even when you’re recommended a lot of people will search online to find out a bit more: a professional looking website can make all the difference.

You can start small - a single webpage with some well taken images might be all you need. And having your own domain name (e.g. www.yourbusiness.co.uk) gives you a custom email address (e.g. you@yourbusiness.co.uk).

Then you can keep it small or you can add more, and most websites will evolve over time. Add case studies, testimonials, products, a blog. And more prosaic information like policies, minutes of meetings, terms and conditions are all easier to maintain and share as a webpage (as opposed to uploading a PDF), as well as being much more accessible by design.

So if this has got you thinking then get in touch for a chat. I love building websites, but only when they’re needed. If I don’t think you need a website I’ll tell you.

How does my existing website stack up?

There are a couple of things you can do to get an idea of how well an existing website is performing. Try these with your site, my site, or any other site.

1. Go to PageSpeed Insights or WebPageTest, enter the URL for a page on your website (or mine or any other) and run the test. Both PageSpeed Insights and WebPageTest use traffic light colours (green, amber, red) so even if you don’t dig into the detail, amber or red means there is plenty of room for improvement. PageSpeed Insights also displays scores out of 100 - the higher the better.

2. If your device has a keyboard, try navigating around using only the keyboard:

  • Use the Tab key to move to the next interactive element
  • Use Shift + Tab to move to the previous interactive element
  • Use Return/Enter to activate (i.e. click) links, buttons etc.
  • Use the Spacebar to activate (i.e. click) buttons
  • Use the Arrow Keys to scroll up and down and navigate within lists.

When you are using your keyboard to navigate around a website it should always be obvious where your focus is (the default is a solid blue line around the focused element, but it can be styled differently).

These quick checks definitely don’t cover everything, but they might highlight some things for you to think about. And if you want to talk about any of the results you uncover then get in touch, I’m more than happy to answer any questions.

What are my options for managing website content?

Website content is created and maintained via a content management system (CMS).

Wordpress is the best known CMS out there so if you already have a website there’s a good chance you’ve heard of it. The websites I build can be linked to an existing Wordpress database so if you want to keep using it that’s not a problem.

Alternatively, if you find Wordpress (or any other CMS) a bit overwhelming – Wordpress lets you edit pretty much every setting in your website and there are plugins to be managed and updated – there are loads of other options which can be customised to suit your requirements and that might make editing your website a little bit less intimidating.

And if you absolutely don’t want anything to do with updating your website then that’s not a problem either - I can make all the updates you need, as and when you need to make them. In this case we wouldn’t need to integrate a CMS so that is time and money saved upfront, but some additional ongoing support costs to cover.

At the end of the day it is your website and you get to choose exactly how it is managed, maintained and updated. Get in touch to talk about your current setup, or a new website built to be as hands-on or hands-off as you like.

Is it going to be complicated?

No. And if you really don’t like computers then you don’t need to go anywhere near one. There will however, always be some questions to ask and answer, and some thinking to do, and you will need to generate some content – see "How do I decide what to say on my website?" above.

As an analogy, I think building a wall would be complicated but I could find a builder who has all the necessary skills and equipment. Websites are the same – talk to an expert and let them do the complicated stuff for you.