Websites & e-commerce
Website advice before you commission a build.
A new website is the most expensive way to solve a problem nobody has diagnosed. I establish what is genuinely underperforming first — and whether it can be fixed for a fraction of a rebuild.
Website auditPlatform choiceSpeedWooCommerceMigrationSupplier selection
Advice first. Building only when that is the answer.
Most websites do not fail on design.
A rebuild is almost never the first answer
When a website is not returning what was expected, the reflex is to replace it. That feels like action. In practice the problem usually sits in one or two places: the page where visitors drop out, a form that does not work on a phone, a load time costing you half your traffic, or an offer that is not clear on the page.
A rebuild sometimes fixes those things along the way, at ten times the cost and with all the risk of a move: lost visibility, broken links, functionality that quietly disappears. So my first job is establishing what actually underperforms and whether it can be fixed on its own.
What a website audit examines
I look at the site the way a visitor sees it and the way a search engine sees it, and then at the side you use yourself: administration, speed, dependencies and the running cost attached to it.
- Where visitors drop out and what that step costs.
- Speed and stability on mobile, not just on a fast laptop.
- Technology and maintenance: plugins, updates, hosting, security, backups.
- Visibility: structure, indexing, and whether the site can earn search traffic.
- Manageability: can you change the things you change often?
- Cost: what you pay annually, and for what.
E-commerce: growing without tearing it all down
With stores the question usually arrives as a platform debate: should we move off WooCommerce, should we go to Shopify, is this system still right? That is almost always the second question. The first is which step in the buying process leaves money on the table: product findability, choice points, shipping cost, payment methods, or the process after the order.
When a migration genuinely is the right answer, it becomes a decision with a price and a risk you hear about beforehand. Not something discovered halfway through.
From decision to delivery
I build on WordPress and WooCommerce when that is the right choice, and say so when another platform or your current supplier fits better. What you get either way is a brief clear enough to quote against — so you receive comparable proposals rather than three different interpretations.
Questions that belong answered up front.
A good brief is worth more than a cheap builder.
Ways to buy website and e-commerce advice.
Website review
An independent read on an existing site or store: what underperforms, what it costs, and the order to address it in.
- Prioritised findings
- Speed and mobile behaviour
- Technical risk
- Fix-or-replace recommendation
Platform and build advice
For businesses starting a rebuild or migration who want to do it once, properly.
- Requirements and scope on paper
- Reasoned platform choice
- Migration risk and approach
- Brief ready to quote against
Implementation
When building is the right answer, I take it from decision to working solution — myself, or alongside your supplier.
- WordPress and WooCommerce
- Speed and technology
- Handover and maintenance
Frequently asked.
We think we need a new website. Is this useful?
Yes, and often the cheapest half hour of the project. Sometimes the answer is: build, but differently from what you had in mind.
Do you only work with WordPress?
I build on WordPress and WooCommerce, but advise across platforms. If something else fits better, you hear that.
Can we lose visibility in a migration?
Yes, it happens regularly. Which is why redirects, URL structure and indexing belong in the plan before anything is built.
What if our current supplier has to do the work?
Fine. Then I write the brief and assess the result. I do not need to be the builder.
What about speed?
Speed is measurable and rarely mysterious. In most cases it comes down to images, plugins, hosting and how the pages are assembled.
Build, or look first?
Send me the site and what you expect from it. I will tell you whether a rebuild is worth the money here.