# Websites for local businesses that actually look good.

> Custom website design for UK businesses of any kind and any size, from sole traders to multi-site companies. £299 to set up, then £99 a month for design, copywriting, hosting and support - live in 3 working days.

- Source: https://nerdsharks.com/web-design
- Publisher: Nerdsharks (Exeter, Devon, UK)
- Updated: 2026-09-27

Most small business websites are bad in the same three ways. They were built from a template, so they look like nine other businesses in the same town. They were built once and never touched again, so the opening hours are wrong and the phone number is out of date. And they were built by someone who never asked what the business actually needs a website to do, so the thing that should be obvious - call us, book us, come here - is buried three scrolls down. We do the opposite of all three.

## Designed for your business, not adapted from a template

Every site we build starts from what your business needs to happen when someone lands on it. A plumber needs the phone to ring. A restaurant needs a table booked. A builder needs an enquiry with photographs attached. Those are different websites, and they should not look like the same website with a different logo dropped in.

- Designed from scratch around what your customers actually do
- No page-builder sprawl, no plugin stack, no template licence
- Typography and colour chosen for your business, not picked from a theme
- You see the design before we build it

## Built to be fast, on a phone, on a bad connection

Most of your customers will see your site on a phone, often on mobile data, often while standing outside somewhere. A site that takes six seconds to load has already lost half of them. We build static, lightweight pages that load almost instantly, because speed is the least glamorous and most valuable thing a small business website can have.

- Mobile-first - designed for phones, not shrunk to fit them
- Images compressed and served in modern formats automatically
- No heavy frameworks loading in the background
- Tested on real devices and slow connections

## Set up so Google can actually find it

A beautiful website nobody can find is an expensive business card. Every site we build ships with the technical foundations search engines need: clean page titles and descriptions, proper heading structure, structured data, a sitemap, fast loading, and correct indexing setup. That is not an SEO campaign - it is the baseline that should be included in every build and usually is not.

- Unique page titles and descriptions on every page
- Structured data so search engines understand your business
- Sitemap and indexing set up and submitted
- Google Business Profile guidance for local search

## Then we keep it working

The monthly fee is the part most agencies do badly. Ours covers hosting, the SSL certificate, uptime and security monitoring, daily backups, and two small changes every month - new opening hours, a swapped photo, a reworded paragraph. It means the site does not quietly rot for three years until someone notices the contact form stopped working in 2027.

- Managed hosting and SSL included
- Uptime and security monitoring
- Monthly backups
- A small change every month, included

## Included

- Custom design, not a template
- Mobile-first responsive build
- Enquiry form that lands in your inbox
- On-page SEO and indexing setup
- Managed hosting and SSL
- Ongoing support and monthly changes

## Not included

- Ongoing SEO campaigns and link building
- Paid advertising management
- Logo and brand identity design
- Product photography

## The offer

- **Monthly**: £299 upfront, £99/month (the upfront is a setup fee), 12-month minimum term. We build it, host it and look after it - and after 24 monthly payments, it is yours.
- **Own It**: £1,795 upfront, £49/month, no minimum term. Buy the website outright. It is yours to keep, move or cancel.
- **Pro**: £6,950 upfront, £299/month, 12-month minimum term. No limits. For large, multi-site and fast-growing businesses.
- Payment: The setup fee is paid when you book, and it starts the design. Monthly fees are collected by Direct Debit, covered by the Direct Debit Guarantee, from the day your site goes live.
- Guarantee: You see your finished design on your phone and approve it before anything goes live, with two full rounds of changes included. Nothing launches until you are happy with it. The Monthly plan runs for 12 months from launch.
- Bolt-ons: Google Business Profile management £29/month; Local SEO pack £49/month; Business email £5/month. Coming soon, not yet on sale: Missed-call text back, Review booster.
- VAT: We are not VAT registered, so there is no VAT to add to these prices.

## Questions

### What do I get for £99 a month?

You get a website designed from scratch for your business, with every word written for you, and everything needed to keep it running: up to 12 pages, a blog section, tap-to-call on every page, quote and booking-request forms that reach your phone, on-page SEO, Google Business Profile setup, hosting, SSL, monitoring, daily backups and two small changes a month. On the Monthly plan there is a one-off £299 setup fee when you book.

### How long does it take to build?

We aim to have you live within 3 working days of your 15-minute call and your approval of the design. The main variable is content - how quickly you can get us your text, photographs and details. Larger builds take longer, and we will give you a realistic date before we start rather than an optimistic one.

### Do I own my website?

On Monthly, you pay the website off as you go: we own and run it while you are paying, and after 24 monthly payments it becomes yours and the monthly drops to £49 for hosting and care, with no minimum term. Your domain, words and photos are yours from day one. On Own It and Pro, you own the website outright once the build is paid for. Once a website is yours, cancel the monthly service and it is still yours - we hand over everything so you can host it anywhere. Your domain is registered in your name. If you already have one, we connect it; if not, we set one up for you and hand over the login.

### Is it a template?

No. Every site is designed from scratch for your business. We do not use WordPress themes, page builders or template marketplaces, which is why two Nerdsharks sites in the same line of work do not look like each other.