Web design · Chester
Web design in Chester, built to a proper finish.
I am Jake, and I build websites for Chester businesses on spec, so you see the finished site for yours before you pay the rest. From £297, live in 7 days, on your own domain, and built to a standard that suits a city that trades on how it looks.
From £297, live in 7 days, on your own domain.
Web design in Chester
I am Jake, and I run FORGE. I do web design in Chester for businesses that live or die on how they look, from the independent shops and galleries along the Rows to the professional firms working out of the Georgian streets near the Cathedral. Every site starts at £297, goes live within 7 days, and you see the finished thing for your business before you pay the rest. Chester sets a higher bar than most places, and your website should clear it rather than let you down.
A city that trades on how it looks
Chester is a place people choose to come to. The walls, the Eastgate Clock, the two-tier Rows, the racecourse on the Roodee, the Cathedral, the river down at the Groves. Visitors and locals alike expect a certain standard here, and they judge a business on it in seconds. If your frontage on Bridge Street or Watergate Street is immaculate and your website looks like it was thrown together in an afternoon, the two do not match, and it is the website letting you down. I build sites that carry the same weight as a good Chester frontage: considered, clean, and finished properly. Nothing loud, nothing off a template, nothing that undercuts the impression you have spent years building in person.
Built for a discerning, higher-spend audience
Money in Chester is often careful money. Buyers here do their homework, compare, and expect to be treated as though their business matters. A cheap-looking site tells that audience you cut corners, and they notice. Whether you run a law or accountancy practice near the centre, an interiors studio, a private clinic, or a restaurant off Northgate Street, your website is usually the second thing a Chester customer sees after a recommendation, and it either confirms that recommendation or quietly kills it. I write and build every page around that moment. Clear about what you do, honest about what it costs, easy to act on, and polished enough that a careful buyer feels comfortable choosing you over the next name on their list.
Found by visitors, not just neighbours
A lot of Chester spend walks in from outside. Day-trippers, weekenders, people down for the races or a show, tourists working their way round the walls and the Rows with a phone in hand deciding where to eat, shop or stay. That means a good share of your customers are searching with no local knowledge, on mobile, right now. I build so those people find you: fast pages, clear service and location detail, proper Google Business Profile groundwork, and structure that search engines can actually read. Hospitality and independent retail especially live on being found at the moment someone near the Cross or Grosvenor Park decides where to go next. I make sure that when they look, you are there, and you look worth choosing.
Fast, because slow undoes premium
You can have the most polished design in Cheshire and still lose the sale if the page takes five seconds to load. A discerning visitor reads a slow, clunky site as a business that does not quite have its act together, and they are back on the results page before your homepage has finished loading. So I do not build on WordPress with a stack of plugins bolted on. I build static sites that sit on a fast global network and open almost instantly, on hotel wifi, on 4G halfway round the walls, wherever your customer happens to be. Speed is not a technical footnote in a city like this. When the first impression is everything, a fast site is part of looking premium, and a slow one quietly contradicts everything else you are telling people.
Tried a website before and felt short-changed?
Plenty of Chester businesses have paid decent money for a website and ended up with something they were almost embarrassed by, or that nobody could find, or that they were never allowed to touch again without paying an agency to change a phone number. I do it differently. I build the site on spec first, which means I do the work and you see the finished result for your business before you pay the rest. If it is not right, the only thing at stake is the £99 deposit, which covers some of the build time. It starts at £297 to build, which includes the first three months of care, then £49 a month after that if you want me to keep looking after it, or £129 a month if you want ongoing content and local SEO work as well. The site is yours, on your own domain, with no lock-in. That last part is simply how it should be, not something I want a medal for.
How it works
From message to live in four steps.
- 01
Message me
Tell me what you do and where you are on WhatsApp. No forms, no call to book.
- 02
£99 to start
A £99 deposit gets your build going and comes off your quote. It covers some of the build time.
- 03
I build it, you see it
I build the whole site, framed around your work, and send it to you finished to look at.
- 04
Pay the rest, go live
Happy with it? You pay the balance, it goes live on your own domain, and it is yours to keep.
What you get
What a site from me includes.
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Built on spec
I build it first and send it finished. You see the real thing before you decide, not a mock-up.
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Live in 7 days
From the go-ahead, your site is live within a week. No months of back and forth.
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On your own domain
It goes live in your name. You own the site and everything on it, with no lock-in.
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Genuinely fast
Static pages, no WordPress. Fast pages rank better and turn more visitors into calls.
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Found on Google
Built to be found in local search, with the plumbing done properly from day one.
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Looked after
Someone looks after it and changes it when you need. Two small edits a month, your listing kept current.
Who I build for
Trades and businesses in Chester.
- Professional Look as credible as you are and win higher-value clients. No directory to lean on here, just being found and trusted, on a fast site that is yours.
- Local business Fill the diary and drive footfall without paying per booking. Booking-led and occasion-led work, shown off and easy to choose, on a site you own.
- Home services Get found for the jobs happening on your street. Visual, seasonal, recurring work, shown off and easy to book, live in 7 days on your own domain.
What it costs
A straight price.
From £297 to build it, first three months of Care included, then £49 a month.
You own the site outright and can stop the monthly plan whenever you like. Hosting is part of Care and Grow, so one of those keeps it online after the first three months, or you host it yourself. See the full pricing.
Common questions
Questions I get asked.
Do you really build the site before I pay anything?
Yes. I do the work and send you the finished website for your business first, then you decide. In a city where people judge on how something looks, I would rather show you than describe it. If it is not right for you, the only thing at stake is the £99 deposit.
How much does web design in Chester cost?
It starts at £297 to build, and that includes the first three months of care. After that it is £49 a month if you want me to keep looking after it, or £129 a month if you also want ongoing content and local SEO. There is no separate setup fee and no surprise invoice later.
My business is fairly high-end. Will a £297 site look cheap?
No. The price is low because I build lean and fast, not because the work is basic. I build clean, considered sites that hold their own next to a good Chester shopfront. Nothing loud, nothing template, and nothing that undercuts the impression you have built in person.
Will the site work for visitors and tourists, not just locals?
That is a big part of how I build for Chester. A lot of your customers arrive from outside, on the walls or the Rows, deciding on their phone where to eat, shop or stay. I make the pages fast, clear on mobile, and easy to find at the moment someone nearby is choosing.
I get most of my work by word of mouth here. Do I still need a website?
Word of mouth in Chester is strong, but the recommendation almost always gets checked online before anyone commits. Your website is the second thing they see, and it either confirms the recommendation or quietly kills it. A polished site makes people who were already told about you feel safe choosing you.
Do I own the site, or am I tied into you?
You own it, on your own domain, with no lock-in. If you ever want to walk away, the site is yours to take. That is simply how it should work, not a favour I am doing you.
Can you help me get found on Google in Chester?
Yes. I build every site so search engines can read it properly, with clear service and location detail and your Google Business Profile set up correctly. I cannot promise a ranking overnight, but the foundations are done right from day one so the work actually has a chance to land.
How long until my site is live?
Seven days from the point we agree to go ahead. I build on spec, so most of the work is done before you have paid, which is why it moves quickly. You are not waiting weeks for drafts and revisions that go nowhere.
Tell me what you do and I'll build you a site on spec, so you can see it before you pay. See the full pricing, browse the work, or get in touch.