A Kent Guide
Web design for Kent small businesses.
A no-nonsense guide to getting a website that actually earns its keep — written by a local developer in Cliffe Woods, Kent.
Why local matters
Kent is full of small businesses — trades, salons, cafés, clubs, therapists, tutors — that live and die by word of mouth and a Google search. A website is where those two meet. When someone in Rochester or Medway types your name (or your service) into Google, your site is the first impression they get before they call.
Working with a local designer means real conversations, faster turnaround, and a site built around the actual customers you serve — not a generic template pushed out of a call centre.
Templates vs hand-made
Wix, Squarespace, and drag-and-drop builders are quick to set up, but they come with real trade-offs: slow load times, bloated code, subscription lock-in, and cookie-cutter designs that never quite fit your business.
A hand-made site — clean HTML, CSS and modern JavaScript — loads faster, ranks better in Google, and looks like it belongs to you, not to a builder platform. You also own it outright, so you're never held to ransom by a monthly plan.
Honest pricing
One of the biggest complaints I hear from Kent business owners is that web quotes never add up. Here's how I break it down:
- Website build: one-time cost, typically from £150 for a small business site. You own it.
- Domain name: ~£10–£15 per year, paid directly to the registrar. Yours, in your name.
- Email hosting (optional): ~£1–£3 per mailbox per month via Spacemail, if you want you@yourdomain.com.
- Maintenance (optional): billed separately, only if you want ongoing updates.
No hidden fees, no rolling contracts, no "premium plan" upsells.
How to choose a designer
Before you hire anyone in Kent, ask them four questions:
- Will I own the site? If the answer is "kind of" or "as long as you stay on our platform", walk away.
- How fast will it load? A good site should score 90+ on Google PageSpeed on mobile.
- Is it built for SEO? Proper meta tags, a sitemap, semantic HTML — not "we'll add that later".
- Can I see something similar you've built? Real examples beat stock mockups every time.
Ready to get a quote?
If you're a Kent business — whether you're in Rochester, Medway, Chatham, Strood, Cliffe Woods, or anywhere on the Hoo Peninsula — and you'd like a clean, fast website built properly, I'd love to hear about your project.