Straight answers about websites
No jargon and nothing dressed up. What a site costs, what the law actually wants on it, and how to tell whether the one you have is doing any work. Written for people who fit kitchens and mend roofs, not for other web people.
What a website actually costs in 2026
From £300 to £15,000 for what looks like the same thing. Here is what separates them, and what a one-person firm actually needs.
Buy a website, or pay monthly?
£40 a month looks cheaper than paying once. Here is the year it stops being cheaper — and what you are left holding either way.
Do I need a website if I’m already on Checkatrade and Google?
The work already comes in from listings. Here is what a site adds on top, and the one thing the listings can never do for you.
What to ask before you hire someone
Nine questions, asked by email so you have the answers in writing. Most trouble later comes from one of these not being asked.
Should you put prices on your website?
"Every job is different" is true and it is still costing you enquiries. How to show numbers without being held to them.
What has to be on your website by law
Trading details, a privacy notice, cookies. What is genuinely required of a small firm in the UK — and which warnings are just sales patter.
Why isn’t my site showing up on Google?
Four reasons, in the order worth checking. Most of the time it is the first one, and it takes ten minutes.
Google Business Profile, done properly
The free listing that decides most local searches. Twenty minutes to set up and it will out-perform anything you pay for.
How to actually get reviews
Everyone means to. Almost nobody does. The difference is when you ask and how little you make them work.
The photos your site needs
Your own pictures beat stock every time, even from a phone. What to shoot and the two mistakes that spoil most of them.
Old site: fix it, or start again?
Five checks that settle it — and the one thing you must not lose either way.
Domain and hosting, explained properly
The address, the space, the padlock, the backups. What each one is and what it honestly costs.
A website, or just a Facebook page?
It is free and everybody is on it. Here is where it quietly costs you work — and why most firms end up with both.
How a website gets built
What happens between agreeing a price and going live — including the two points where it usually stalls, and both are at your end.
What to write when you’re not a writer
Most trade sites say the same nothing. Four questions that get you text worth reading — and the phrases to delete on sight.
Built to order, template, or do it yourself?
Three routes, and the honest cost of each once you count your own evenings.
What a site that brings work in looks like
Seven things that decide whether someone gets in touch, and the four-second test your front page has to survive.
Would you rather I just did it?
Send me a few lines about your firm. Within a few days you will have a mock-up of your site with a price on it — free, and nothing to sign.