Tailored Web Design From a Freelance Web Designer in Sunderland

A Freelance Web Designer will often be less expensive than a typical creative agency. A freelance web designer will typically have less overheads than an agency, and be able to work in a more agile way – dipping in and out of projects as needed.

Often, there’s more flexibility too for late stage changes and adjustments to your project – You’ll also be working directly with the person who is actually doing the work, not an agency secretary or a project manager.

A Freelance Web Designer doesn’t mean you’re getting less for your money either – most Freelancers (myself included) have spent many years working for web design agencies, learning from industry pros and honing their craft – this means you’re often getting the same level of experience and expertise with a freelance web designer, as you would hiring an agency.

Individual Freelance Web Designers will all charge slightly different rates and price projects differently. I typically price a project based on the number of unique templates, the complexity of the design and any custom development that’s required. I’ll typically ask for a brief, then put together a proposal and offer a fixed price quote. Because I charge on a per project basis, you’ll always know where you stand – the price I quote, is the price you’ll pay. No hidden fees.

Bespoke websites taken from concept to completion typically start at around £2000.

A typical website takes between 6 – 8 weeks to go from concept to completion. More complex websites will naturally take longer. I’m always happy to discuss more urgent projects with client, and find interim solutions if the requirement is to have somthing live sooner. Typically a project will run as follows:

Strategy & Planning

We’ll talk. Quite a lot. About your business, your objectives, your competitors, and your story.

Then we’ll devise a plan.

Concept Design

I’ll design high-fidelity concepts for your new website. We’ll discuss them and revise as needed. No limits.

We move on only when you’re happy.

Development

I’ll set up a test site and send you a link. Then I will work live so you can see changes as they happen.

We’ll have regular catch ups and you’ll start preparing for launch…

Launch

The big day, D-Day, T-minus 0 seconds. It’s ALIVE!

The site goes live. We’ll monitor it in the first few days and optimise for performance.

Nope. I’ll produce as many designs as needed to get us to a place where we’re all happy. The design phase typically lasts around 2 weeks, but can be extended if we need more time to get it right. This doesn’t impact the final cost.

The most common requirements for any new project include:

• Access to your domain name (login for your domain name registrar)
• Access to your web hosting account (if applicable)
• Branding Assets
• Photo / Image Library
• Draft Content
• Sitemap
• List of sites you like / Competitor websites

Premium themes, in my experience are often more trouble in the long run. They limit creativity and can be hard to customise. As time goes by, they can become out of date and insecure, and updating them can be difficult if they’ve been heavily customised. Premium themes also come loaded with extrenous libraries – so as to provide a one-size-fits-all solution, meaning they can be slow to load and slow to use.

Your site will be built with SEO in mind. I’ll test the site against accessibility standards and Google’s Core Web Vitals to ensure it’s as fast as it can be. Post launch, I’ll ensure the appropriate cacheing is implemented and convert all images to webP/SVG.

I’ll work with you to identify your target audiences, so we can pinpoint any low hanging search engine optimisation fruit.

As well as SEO, we’ll consider the User Experience, and ensure a user friendly experience throughout.

I can offer guidance in writing SEO friendly content, and can connect my clients with trusted SEO specialists who can help elevate your digital marketing post launch.

I manage a private server in a UK based data centre, exclusively for my web hosting clients and I’m hands on, so I’ll be working on your website every month, not just hosting it.

All websites on my private servers are scanned for vulnerabilities and backed up, every day. I retain backups for 12 months.

I’ll proactively monitor your site and receive instant alerts should it go down.  In the event of any outage, I’ll likely have solved the problem, before you even realised there was one.  And if that wasn’t good enough I’ll also maintain your website’s plugins and core – taking care of all required back ups at no extra cost.

Yes, I work mostly from home in Sunderland however, I work remotely online with my clients.  Approximately half of the work I do as a Freelance Web Designer is for businesses in Sunderland, but I work with clients throughout the UK and the USA.