Web design · Southport
Web design in Southport, built to be seen.
I am Jake, and I build websites for Southport businesses on spec, so you see the finished site for your business before you pay the rest. From £297, live in 7 days, on your own domain, and built to photograph well and take bookings from day one.
From £297, live in 7 days, on your own domain.
Web design in Southport
I am Jake, and I run FORGE. I build websites for Southport businesses on spec, which means I build the site first and send it to you finished. You look at the real thing, and if it is right you pay from £297 and it goes live within 7 days on your own domain. In a town that lives on how it looks, from the canopies on Lord Street to the promenade and Marine Lake, your website is the first impression most people get long before they walk through your door.
A town that sells on how it looks
Southport is a Victorian seaside resort, and that is not a detail, it is the whole game. People come here for the look of the place, the wide boulevard of Lord Street, the arcades, the gardens, the front. So when someone is deciding whether to eat at your restaurant, stay at your guesthouse or visit your shop, they decide with their eyes, usually on a phone, usually in about five seconds.
Most websites in this town waste that five seconds. They open on a wall of text, or a slow header image that has not loaded yet, or a stock photo that could be anywhere. I build the opposite. Your best photography goes first and large, your site loads fast enough that nobody bounces, and the whole thing is built to make a visitor think this place looks worth it. In a resort town, a site that photographs your business well is not a nice extra, it is the sell.
Built to take a booking, not just sit there
A lot of the money in Southport is booking money and enquiry money. A table for Saturday night, a room for the bank holiday, tickets for something, a slot for a treatment. The person deciding is often mid-visit, standing on the promenade with a phone in one hand, and they will give you about two taps before they give up and pick someone else.
So I do not build brochures that just sit there. I build a clear path to the thing that actually earns you money. Your hours, your location and your offer are obvious straight away, and the enquiry or booking button is never more than a tap from wherever they are on the page. I build the website and that enquiry flow properly. I do not answer your phone or reply to your emails, that is your job and I will not pretend otherwise. What I make sure of is that the site does everything up to the point where it hands you a warm enquiry.
Ready before the season, not halfway through it
Southport works in waves, and everyone in the town knows the calendar. The summer fills the front, the Flower Show brings people in around August, the Air Show pulls a crowd to the seafront in September, and Christmas lights up Lord Street. If your website goes live in the middle of your busiest month, you have already missed the people who were planning the trip weeks earlier.
This is where the 7 day turnaround earns its keep. Tell me you want to be ready before summer, or before a specific event weekend, and I build to that date. You are not waiting three months for an agency to get round to you while the season you needed slips past. A finished site, live and findable, before the visitors start searching, is worth far more than a perfect site that arrives in October.
Found by visitors and by locals both
Southport has two audiences searching for you at once, and a good site has to speak to both. There are visitors typing things into a phone before or during a trip, looking for somewhere to eat, something to do, somewhere to stay. And there are locals, spread across Birkdale, Ainsdale, Churchtown, Hesketh Park and the town centre, who want a plumber, a hairdresser, a garage or a shop they can rely on.
Good web design in Southport handles that split instead of ignoring it. I make sure your location and what you actually do are stated plainly, so Google and a real person can both work out in a second who you are, where you are and whether you are the right fit. That means being clear about the areas you cover and the exact thing you offer, not stuffing a page with the word Southport until it reads like spam. Clear beats clever, and clear is what gets you found.
Independents deserve better than a template
A lot of Southport is independent. Small hospitality, one-off shops, family-run places, people who put their name and their reputation on the door. The frustrating thing is that the cheap route usually leaves you looking like everyone else, a slow WordPress template with a stock photo on top, indistinguishable from the next town over.
That is the opposite of what an independent needs. Your whole advantage is that you are not a chain, that there is a person and a place behind it, and your website should show that. I build each site around your actual business, your real photos and the specific thing you do well, so it looks bespoke because it is. You will also see the finished site before you pay the rest, so if it does not feel like you, all that is at stake is the £99 that covers the build time. For a Southport independent trading on character and first impressions, that is the version of a website that is actually worth having.
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 Southport.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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 actually know Southport, or are you a national agency?
I run FORGE from Merseyside and build for Southport businesses directly. I know Lord Street is not the same market as Birkdale or Churchtown, and that a guesthouse near the promenade sells differently to a restaurant in the town centre. You deal with me, not a call centre in another city that has never seen the place.
How does building on spec work?
I build your site first, then send it to you finished. You look at the real thing, on your own 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. Most agencies ask you to pay up front and hope, and in a visual town like Southport that is a lot to ask on trust.
My business is seasonal. Can the site be ready before summer or the Flower Show?
That is exactly why the 7 day turnaround matters here. Southport fills up around the summer, the Flower Show in August and the Air Show in September, and you want the site live and photographing well before the visitors arrive, not halfway through the season. Tell me your date and I will build to it.
I run a restaurant or guesthouse. Can people enquire or book through the site?
Yes. I build a clear, obvious path so a visitor on their phone can check your hours, see the place properly and send an enquiry or booking request in a couple of taps. I build the website and the enquiry flow. I do not answer your phone or your emails for you, that stays with you.
How much does it cost?
It starts at £297 to build, and that includes the first three months of care. After that it is £49 a month for hosting, small edits and keeping things current. If you want a page added every month and active local SEO, the step up is £129 a month. No lock-in, and the site is yours.
Do I own the website?
Yes, it is on your own domain and it is yours. If you ever want to walk away you take the site with you. I mention it as a plain fact rather than a sales pitch, because owning your own site should be normal, not a feature you pay extra for.
Will visitors searching for things to do in Southport find me?
That is part of the point. Plenty of your customers are visitors typing things into a phone before they arrive, alongside locals in Ainsdale, Birkdale and Churchtown. I build the site so it reads clearly to both, with your location, your offer and your photos front and centre, so you show up as a real, findable business.
I had a website before and it did nothing. Why would this be different?
Most sites that do nothing are slow, hard to read on a phone and built by someone who never asked what your customers actually want. Mine are fast, they load properly on a mobile on the promenade, and they lead with the thing that sells a Southport business, which is how it looks. You will also see it finished before you commit, so you are not guessing again.
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.