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Web Design / Oxford

Web design for Oxford businesses with something worth saying

Oxford firms sell to a discerning audience: academics, institutions, visitors and residents who read things closely. A templated website says little and says it badly. I design and build the one that says it well.

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10+ years designing and building websites for local firms Custom WordPress, not a theme with your logo swapped in Based in Watford, about 38 miles away, serving Oxford by call, video and in person
Why Oxford firms call me

Web design for a city with a lot to say

Oxford is a university city with publishing, research and healthcare organisations, a steady stream of visitors and a strong independent trade. Those audiences read carefully, and a site that looks generic stands out for the wrong reasons.

Built to be found by people searching in Oxford

Pages that say plainly what you do and where you do it, structured data that matches your Google Business Profile, and a site fast enough on a phone for someone searching on the move.

Custom, not a theme

Designed around your services and your customers, then built in custom WordPress, so the site does what your business needs rather than what a template allows.

Written and structured with care

Clear page structure and plain, accurate wording, so a careful reader finds what they need without wading through filler.

One person accountable, start to finish

The person you brief is the person who builds it, and the person you call when something needs changing a year from now.

For an audience that reads closely, the website should be built as carefully as the work behind it.
What changes

The Oxford website most firms get vs. the one built for you

The common approach

  • A template with the city name swapped in
  • Promises of page one with nothing to back them up
  • A fee that grows as the project goes on
  • No one to call once it is live

How I do it

  • A site built around your services and your audience
  • Honest advice on which searches are worth competing for
  • A clear scope and price agreed before work starts
  • Support from the person who built it
Questions people actually ask

FAQ

Why hire a web designer in Oxford rather than a large agency?

With an agency you get an account manager and a rotating team. Here you get the person who actually writes the code, which matters most when something needs changing two years after launch.

Is a web designer different from a WordPress developer?

Not here. The same person designs the site and writes the code, so nothing is lost between a designer's mock-up and a developer's build, and there is one person to ask when something needs to change.

Do you work with Oxford businesses even though you are based in Watford?

Yes. I am based in Watford, about 38 miles away. Most of the process is calls and shared screens, which works the same from Watford as from anywhere else, and I can travel to you at the key moments, such as the kick-off and the launch.

Which parts of Oxford and the surrounding area do you cover?

Oxford city centre, Summertown, Headington, Cowley, Botley and nearby towns such as Abingdon and Witney are all fine. Where your customers are matters more than where your office is.

What kinds of business do you build for?

Professional firms, clinics, independent retailers, hospitality, publishers and trades are all a good fit. The common thread is a business that wants a site built around how it actually wins work, rather than a template with its name on it.

Will a new website help me show up in Oxford searches?

A properly built site gives you the foundations: fast pages, clear service and location content, structured data and a Google Business Profile that matches it. It cannot guarantee a ranking in Oxford, and anyone who promises you a position is guessing. What I can promise is that the technical groundwork is done properly.

How much does a website cost?

It depends on what the site has to do, because a brochure site and a booking system are different jobs. I would rather look at what you need and then give you a figure than quote from a menu. My guide to what freelance web developers cost in the UK sets out the ranges.

Can you help if my current site was built by someone else and just needs fixing rather than replacing?

Sometimes, yes. It depends what is underneath it. A quick look at the existing build usually tells us whether it is worth patching or genuinely faster to start again properly.

Proof

Sites I built that are running right now

Open any of them. These are live businesses trading on the site, not mockups, and each one has a write-up of what was built and why.

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Also serving
Hertfordshire Watford St Albans Welwyn Hemel Hempstead Stevenage Hatfield Hitchin Harpenden Bishop's Stortford Letchworth Barnet Finchley Harrow Wembley North London London Hertford Luton Dunstable Berkhamsted Potters Bar Royston Baldock Bedfordshire Buckinghamshire Essex Milton Keynes Colchester Cambridge Northampton Peterborough Birmingham Bristol Manchester Southampton Norwich Brighton Reading Bedford Leicester Nottingham Leeds Coventry Sheffield Cardiff Liverpool Newcastle Exeter Portsmouth Plymouth Swansea Bournemouth Derby Hull York Cheltenham Wolverhampton Lincoln Gloucester Ipswich Swindon Bath Preston Stoke-on-Trent Sunderland
What clients say
Have worked with Terri and the team for over a decade. Brought them in to help reset cyber messaging and awareness for the biggest global news media provider in the world!
News UK
Terence and his team have been exceptional. Have used them for years, they built me a custom made website and occupy monthly SEO which has been fantastic in gaining so many enquiries every month. My company Xclusive can now expand as a result.
Xclusive Services
Available for projects

Tell me what's broken, or what you're starting.

One email or a fifteen-minute call. I read and reply to every one myself.

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