Web Design Dartmouth is one independent designer building fast, search-ready websites for businesses here and across South Devon. No agency layers. No templates. No compromise on speed.
This page is testing itself on your device right now.
Measuring the Core Web Vitals that Google uses to judge speed…
Every page I build is held to the same standard: a performance budget, no third-party scripts you did not agree to, images sized for the screen they appear on.
Why speed matters to a local businessA few recent projects, each built around a commercial goal: more enquiries, more bookings, a clearer offer.
A hand-built comparison site engineered for speed, search and a frictionless quote journey.
An independent school website rebuilt on WordPress with the marketing team, with a GSAP-animated home page.
A family catering business given a WordPress site built to win event bookings across Cambridgeshire.
A WooCommerce plugin, cloud nesting engine and website that turn laser-cutting quotes into online orders.
Designed for the phone first, because that is where most of your customers will meet you.
Responsive is the starting point, not the finish. Each layout is composed for the screen it is on: the phone version is designed as its own thing, with the type, spacing and tap targets a thumb needs, rather than a desktop page squeezed to fit.
Images are served in the size and format each device wants, so a phone on 4G never downloads a desktop-sized picture. The result feels native wherever it opens.
How I approach web designSearch is designed in from the first sketch, not bolted on in the last week.
A website nobody finds is an expensive brochure. Search is built into every Web Design Dartmouth project, so every page I build targets one clear search topic, with the structure, headings, internal links and technical foundations that search engines reward. Local search, the map results and “near me” searches that bring in nearby customers, gets particular attention.
After launch, SEO can continue as an ongoing service: content, local visibility, technical health and the steady improvements that move a business up the results.
How I approach searchRun Google’s own PageSpeed test here. Mobile scores for performance, accessibility, best practices and SEO, plus what is slowing it down.
Design, build, search and growth, handled by the same pair of hands from the first conversation to long after launch.
Bespoke, responsive websites designed around your customers and what you want them to do.
Learn more about web designKeep what works, fix what doesn’t, and relaunch a site that is faster and easier to find.
Learn more about website redesignOnline shops built to be found, trusted and bought from.
Learn more about ecommerce websitesGoogle Ads campaigns and landing pages planned around enquiries, not clicks.
Learn more about ads managementCustom web tools, WordPress plugins and integrations when a standard site isn’t enough.
Learn more about software developmentLogos, visual identity and graphics that look right on screen and in print.
Learn more about brand & graphic designClear website copy that answers the questions your customers are already asking.
Learn more about copywritingUpdates, backups, monitoring and small changes, so the site keeps performing.
Learn more about website careThe person you brief is the person who designs, builds and optimises your website.
Agencies split a website between a designer, a developer, an SEO specialist and a copywriter, then add an account manager to keep them talking. I do all of it, which is why the parts of your site pull in the same direction, and why nothing is lost between a conversation and the finished page.
Twenty-five years of building for the web, more than fifteen of them in search and digital marketing, go into every page. Your budget goes into the website itself rather than into layers of management, and you get honest advice, including when the answer is “you don’t need that”.
More about how I workFive stages, each with a clear output, so you always know where things are and what comes next.
A conversation about your business, your customers and what the website needs to do. I look at your current site, your competitors and how people actually search for what you offer.
Structure before style. The pages, their topics, the keyword each one targets and the content it needs are agreed before any design, so every page has a purpose.
Wireframes first, then the visual design on real copy rather than placeholder text. You see every page on a phone and a desktop before anything is coded.
Hand-coded, or built on WordPress, whichever fits. Fast, accessible and tested on real devices, with the SEO foundations and forms in place from day one.
A checked launch with redirects, search console and measurement set up, then support as the business changes: care plans, SEO, ads and new features when you need them.
Hand-coded or WordPress: the method follows the brief, never the other way round.
For speed, security and total control
Plain HTML, CSS, JavaScript and PHP with nothing you don’t need. No plugins to patch, no theme to maintain, nothing to slow it down. This site is built that way, which is why it scores 100 across the board.
Hand-coded websitesFor content-heavy sites and familiar editing
Flexible and widely understood, with a plugin for almost everything. Built properly, with a lean theme and no page-builder bloat, it is fast, secure and easy for a team to maintain.
WordPress websitesMost of my clients are within an hour of the studio at Capton, on the River Dart.
I’m happy to meet in person for the conversations that deserve it, and businesses further afield work with me by phone and video call. The process is exactly the same either way.
Every area I coverThe questions business owners ask most, answered properly.
Twelve questions to ask before you commit, and the answers that should worry you.
Read the guide
The pages, content and details that turn a visit into an enquiry.
Read this one
Why search should shape a website from the first sketch, not the last week.
Open the guideIf yours isn’t here, ask me directly.
It depends on the number of pages, the level of design, whether you need copy and photography, any integrations and any custom functionality. I scope the project first and give you a clear written proposal based on what the website actually needs, with nothing padded in. If you want to understand the moving parts before you ask for quotes, read what actually drives the price of a website.
Timelines depend on the size of the site, the content and how quickly feedback comes back. Before any work begins we agree the stages, who does what and roughly when, so you always know what happens next and nothing stalls waiting for a decision.
No. I’m based just outside Dartmouth and most of my clients are in South Devon – Totnes, Kingsbridge, Salcombe, Torbay, Newton Abbot, Plymouth and Exeter – but location is rarely a barrier. I work with businesses across the UK by phone and video call, and travel for the conversations that are better face to face.
Yes, from the first conversation rather than as an afterthought. Page topics, structure, headings, internal links, copy and the technical foundations are all planned as part of the build. If you want to go further after launch, my SEO service continues the work with content, local search and ongoing improvements.
Yes. A website redesign starts by working out what is already working – rankings, pages that convert, content people use – so none of it is lost. Then I rethink what isn’t, and rebuild the site around clearer goals, better content and a faster experience.
Whichever suits the job. I build hand-coded when performance, security and total control matter most, and on WordPress when you need a familiar editor, lots of content or a shop. This site is hand-coded, which is why it loads the way it does.
Yes. Website copywriting and brand and graphic design can be part of the project or handled on their own. Designing the pages and writing the words together produces a far better result than bolting one onto the other.
That’s up to you. Some clients take the site and run it themselves. Others keep me on for website care – updates, backups, monitoring and small changes – or for ongoing SEO and ads management so the site keeps earning its keep.
Tell me what you are trying to achieve, what you already have and what is getting in the way. You don’t need a finished brief or a fixed budget in mind – a short message is enough for me to come back with sensible next steps.
A few lines about your business and what you need is enough to start. Web Design Dartmouth is just me, so I reply personally, usually the same day.
Monday to Sunday, 9am to 9pm. You talk to me, not an account manager.
