WebSmiths

This is our most frequently asked single question, and you can expect to pay between £400 to £6,000 for most types of websites we design; we have made super-complex websites for more, but these are rare and far beyond what most small businesses need. Of course, it really depends on what type of website you want, but to answer the question as fully as possible, about £1,600 to £2,500 is a reasonably average fee window for what the majority of clients want. On the lower side, a static 3-page website with a Homepage, About Us and a Contact Us, and up to around 10 pictures, could be done for as little as £400 in terms of our fees. A domain (around £20) and website hosting would also be needed, but hosting can be paid for monthly for as little as around £14 - £20 per month. So all in all, quite a cheap solution given the cost of most things these days. Such a website will look totally professional, will load quickly on all devices and will be fully responsive - it just won't have a huge number of pages, sub-menu items, special features and content; otherwise, it will still be perfect in layout and design. Once you start adding more content and pages, plus things like special effects, blogs, vlogs, Visa/Mastercard payment windows, videos and additional forms, then the price will increase. The important thing to note with WebSmiths is that we ALWAYS stick to YOUR BUDGET - if you tell us you can only afford £1,000 then we will make you a website that fits with that amount. You won't get any unexpected bills from us. We also offer an option to pay monthly and can do websites for as little as £100 per month (this includes your domain and hosting) if you are on a contract with us. Please ask!

While it is certainly the case that there are some very good web designers advertising on platforms like Fiverr and Upwork, none of them (to the best of our knowledge at least) will make a decent website for anything like $100. If you work out how long it takes to choose and register a domain (in your legal name NOT the web designers), set up the DNS, collect all your content, photos, other images (or source these from stock photos), agree on fonts and colour schemes, then actually build the website, review the website with you, test all the pages load properly, repeat the exercise for the mobile version, then host the website on a reliable server, again test everything (e.g. load speed), test all the contact forms and links, set up the SEO properly with considered keywords, register your site on Google et cetera - does anyone really believe a professional web designer is going to do all this properly for $100? So, we would just say to anyone considering this option, if you only want a few quickly cobbled together pages to display on the internet, you might get lucky and achieve that, but in our experience, you won't get any of the other essential features that professional firms like WebSmiths provide.

If you know that you are going to need changes, for example because you expect to add additional services or products for sale then we can build a Content Management System (CMS) into the backend of your website so that you can edit your services, prices and terms yourself whenever you like. If it is a more substantial change or something unexpected, then we are happy to make any changes for you at our normal hourly rate (currently £50 p/h ) or as part of an ongoing maintenance contract if you have chosen one.

To be brutally honest, the answer will always be "No". To be fair, we have tried previously on a few occasions to do this, but it's a complete waste of time. If you happen to like the layout, pictures, colours, etc., we can copy those, but in terms of the underlying design, we will have to start again from scratch. Anyone who is tempted to try for a super cheap solution from somewhere "exotic" really needs to bear in mind that it is super cheap for a reason - we can't fix these sites.

Most simple websites (e.g. a website with a Home, About Us and Contact Us page) don’t usually need to be updated that often, so we would normally say either just pay us ad hoc to make any changes or take out our most basic £25 per month maintenance contract. When you take out a maintenance contract, you get a big discount on our normal hourly rate of £50 per hour, so for £25 per month, you will get as much as 1 hour of work per month for no additional charge (1 hour would cost £50 without a contract). This suits many people. In addition to any work you ask us to do, we will automatically do a security audit on your website and data storage setup once per annum to ensure your site and data are as secure as they can be. For the vast majority of clients, the maintenance fees would cover the cost of this. As part of the annual review, we will also check your Cookie and Privacy Policies to ensure they are still compliant with any GDPR updates, and we will suggest changes you might need to make if data legislation has changed.

Yes, we believe you should. FAQs are a great way to help site visitors find quick answers to common questions about your business and create a better navigation experience. By using some kind of interactive layout like this one, it also encourages your visitors to interact with your website rather than just skim over it. For whatever reason, research shows that website visitors like clicking on interactive features and are more likely to read something that they have clicked to see!

An FAQ page/section can be used to quickly answer common questions about your business, like: "Where do you ship to?", "What are your opening hours?", or "How can I book a service?". We suggest including anything that people often ask and/or anything that you think hasn't been sufficiently covered in your main website text.

Responsive Web Design (RWD) is a method of building websites so they automatically adjust to look good and function properly on any screen size — from mobile phones to tablets to large desktop monitors. Instead of creating separate versions of your site for each device, a responsive website uses flexible layouts, scalable images, and smart design techniques to reorganise and resize content depending on the screen it’s being viewed on. Fully Responsive vs. Partly Responsive: What’s the Difference? There are two main types of responsive design approaches: Fully Responsive Design A fully responsive site is built using modern layout techniques like flexible containers, media queries, and device-based styling. It responds not just to phones and desktops, but also adapts fluidly to in-between sizes like tablets (both portrait and landscape). These sites often use breakpoints to fine-tune how things look on each device type. Pros: Maximum control, looks polished on all screen sizes, especially tablets and ultrawide displays. Cons: More time-consuming to build and thus more expensive, which may be especially a concern for small businesses on a budget. Partly Responsive Design Partly responsive websites use simpler tools that provide two or three preset views (usually one for desktop and one for mobile). They work well on most screens but don’t always optimise perfectly for some tablets (particularly older ones or those with unusual resolutions). Pros: Faster and cheaper to build, often more than sufficient for small businesses whose users are primarily on phone or desktop. Cons: May display less elegantly on some tablets or hybrid devices, but will display the information. So, Why Should You Care? Most web traffic today comes from mobile devices, and even desktop users expect websites to behave well when they resize the browser window. A responsive website ensures that: Visitors have a good experience no matter what device they’re using Your site looks professional and trustworthy Google doesn’t penalise your site in search rankings for poor mobile usability. That said, if you’re a small business with a limited budget, it’s perfectly reasonable to go for a partly responsive solution that handles the basics well. Investing in a fully responsive design makes more sense when tablet traffic is high, or you need a site that looks polished on every screen type. In short: responsive design isn't optional anymore — but how deeply responsive your site needs to be depends on your audience, your budget and your goals. If 60% of your traffic is coming from mobile phones, 35% from desktops/laptops and only 5% (or less) from tablets it might seem like a waste of money to pay hundreds of pounds more for a fully responsive site when a partly responsive site will display perfectly on all desktops/laptops and phones (and most modern tablets) anyway. Of course, we can offer you either option, and we can discuss this further during our initial video meeting. Unlike some other web designers, we won't try to drive you down the fully responsive route if you can't afford it, and an analysis of your traffic indicates that it isn't necessary for you.