Frequently asked questions

Hi, I'm Jake Kidde-Hansen. With more than 20 years of website design and development experience, I can help you get the most out of your website, set goals, and work to achieve them.

what I help with

  • Website design and development
  • Site check-up: a review of your website with recommendations on SEO, performance, GDPR and accessibility
  • Solution design: from database design to user-flow development and content management systems
  • SEO and traffic analysis: reporting, review and changes to improve your numbers
  • Social media campaign design: campaign templates for in-house implementation
  • Email marketing: reviewing existing campaigns or setting up new ones
  • Monthly management of your website

Email me on jake@web-fundi.com for any queries.

Common questions

How much does a website cost?

Here's a rough guide, so you have a sense of scale before we ever discuss your project:

  • Brochure site (a handful of pages, no database) - from £500
  • Small business site with a simple CMS - typically £1,200 to £3,000
  • Bespoke web app (custom database, user accounts, admin panel) - from £3,000
  • Ecommerce - varies with catalogue size and payment/shipping complexity, typically from £2,500

What actually drives the price is the number of pages, any custom functionality (bookings, logins, integrations with other systems), and how ready your content is before work starts.

The best approach is to be upfront with your web designer about your budget. They can then outline what is possible within it. Email me for a website chat.

What is SEO?

SEO is Search Engine Optimisation, and is not one single thing. It is a digital marketing strategy that includes content, technical and off-site actions such as link-building, social media activity and press releases.

Done well, SEO helps your website reach page one of Google for the keywords you have identified, and helps you become an authority that provides real value to the people who find it.

I can review your current SEO strategy, carry out competitor analysis, and recommend and carry out actions to improve it.

What are important website attributes?

Mobile-friendly, fast, easy to use, accessible, search engine optimised, with engaging and relevant content and on-brand design - these are the main attributes to prioritise.

More than half of website traffic now comes from mobile devices, so speed and a technically well-executed, mobile-friendly design matter. Ultimately, the goal is an attractive, guiding and responsive experience for users.

Is website speed important?

Most website browsing now happens on mobile devices, which are more constrained by bandwidth and processing power than a home computer. Google also indexes mobile-friendly websites first.

Speed influences user engagement, and user engagement influences Google - so if mobile users bounce back to Google after clicking your website, that is a negative signal.

How can I improve my website speed?

Website speed can be improved by reducing the amount of data - video, images, codebase - needed to display the site. This includes compressing and resizing images, or choosing a better format. Some popular CMSs are large by default, so if your site isn't big, it's worth reconsidering that approach.

Email me for a speed report.

How long does it take to build a website?

A couple of weeks is realistic to design, develop and launch a small site, provided the design is approved quickly and content is ready. For larger sites with bespoke systems, two to three months is a realistic timeframe.

Email me for a chat about your requirements.

Is WordPress a good solution?

WordPress is an amazing platform, used by millions of websites worldwide. But it has drawbacks: it's a large codebase that's constantly probed for vulnerabilities, so it needs to be kept patched and up to date, and that codebase means your site isn't as fast as it could be. Because it's used by millions, your site can also end up looking rather generic.

Whether WordPress is right for your website is always worth investigating, since a hand-coded alternative can give you something faster, more secure and genuinely unique.