Website Design in Aberdeen for Small Businesses and SMEs
Bespoke websites, written and designed from scratch. Built to bring in enquiries, not just look good on a laptop screen.
Your website is the first thing people check. Make it count.
Someone hears about your business. A recommendation at a school gate, a name passed on by a contact, a van they spotted in Westhill. The first thing they do is look you up.
What they find in those next ten seconds decides whether they call you or carry on scrolling.
If your site was built in a hurry five years ago, or by a cousin who was good with computers, or by a company who sold you a template and disappeared, it is quietly costing you work. Not dramatically. Just steadily, in enquiries you never knew you almost had.
I build websites for businesses across Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire that need their site to do something. Every project is designed and written from scratch around your business, your clients and the way you actually win work.
Who I work with across Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire
Aberdeen is not one market, it is about six of them stacked on top of each other, and the businesses doing well right now are not always the ones you would expect. These are the people I am best placed to help.
Energy and engineering consultancies.
The small firms coming out of the North Sea shake-up. Subsea, decommissioning, inspection, carbon capture, offshore wind services. You have deep technical expertise and a website that reads like a tender document. I spent five years as a Design Engineer before I did this, so I can read your capability statement and turn it into something a client understands on the first pass.
Professional services.
Accountants, solicitors, financial advisers, surveyors, consultants. You sell trust, and trust is largely a design and copy problem.
Private clinics and practices.
Dental, aesthetics, physio, therapy, veterinary. High-value treatments, competitive local search, and a website that has to reassure a nervous person before it converts them.
Trades and construction.
Not the quick-quote end of the market. The architects, renovation specialists and builders whose average job runs into five figures and whose website should look like it.
Food, drink and hospitality.
Producers, distilleries, farm shops, venues and visitor experiences. The North East visitor economy is having a genuinely good run, and the brands capitalising on it are the ones with a story told properly.
If you are somewhere else entirely and the work matters to you, get in touch anyway. The list is a guide, not a gate.
What's included in every website project
No two sites I build look alike, but the foundations underneath them never change, because they are the part that works.
Strategy first. Before anything is designed, I map out who your clients are, what makes you different, and what has to happen on each page to turn a visitor into an enquiry. Every layout decision that follows comes from here.
Copywriting, written by me. Not placeholder text for you to fill in on a Sunday night. Real copy that sounds like you and speaks to the people you want to attract.
Custom design, page by page. Built from scratch, section by section, on desktop and mobile. Nothing decorative for the sake of it.
SEO foundations. Page titles, meta descriptions, site structure, heading hierarchy, image optimisation and page speed. The technical groundwork most business owners would not know to ask for, done before launch rather than bolted on afterwards.
Launch and aftercare. Domain, hosting, redirects, the lot. Then ongoing support so you are confident running the thing yourself. I do not build a website and vanish.
Branding or deeper SEO can be added to any project if you are starting fresh or your current identity no longer reflects where the business is. Logo, alternative marks, colour palette and typography, all designed to sit properly with the new site.
Website Design and Copywriting, Handled Together
This is the bit that separates a website that looks expensive from one that earns its money back.
Most designers hand you a beautiful shell and a content questionnaire. You then spend six weeks avoiding it, the launch slips, and the words that eventually go in were written at eleven at night by someone who hates writing about themselves.
I write the copy as part of the design, not after it. The two happen at the same desk, in the same week, which is why the finished pages flow instead of feeling like text poured into boxes. You will need to tell me about your business, and I will ask a lot of questions. But the writing is mine to worry about.
Bespoke web design, not a template with your logo dropped in
There is a version of website design in Aberdeen that costs a few hundred pounds. It exists, it is easy to find, and for some businesses it is honestly the right call.
It is not what this is.
A templated site gives you the same structure as every other business who bought it, arranged around what the template wanted rather than what your clients need to see. It looks fine. It rarely sells anything.
A bespoke site is built around your specific client journey. Where the proof goes. What objection gets answered on which page. How someone moves from curious to in touch. That is a strategic decision made forty times over the course of a project, and it is not something a template can make for you.
If your website needs to win work worth thousands of pounds, it is worth building properly.
Why work with an Aberdeen website designer
You can hire a web designer from anywhere. Plenty of my clients are elsewhere in the UK (or the world) and the work is just as good. But there are real advantages to someone local.
I know this market. I know what the last two years have done to businesses here, which sectors are quietly growing while the headlines are all downturn, and what your clients in Aberdeen expect to see before they trust you with a job.
I also came out of the same industry a lot of you are in. Five years as an Oil & Gas Design Engineer, studied Mechanical Engineering, and the better part of a decade since then designing and writing for businesses. Technical clients tend to relax slightly when they realise they do not have to translate everything first.
And if you would rather sit down with a coffee and talk it through in person, we can do that. Not every project needs it. Some do.
How it works
01. We talk
You tell me about your business, where you are, where you want to be, and what is not working. I ask a lot of questions. By the end of the call we will both know whether this is a good fit.
02. I build the strategy
I map out the structure and purpose of every page, your messaging, and exactly how the site moves someone from landing on it to getting in touch.
03. I write and design
Copy and design happen together. Everything is built from scratch so each section flows and nothing feels bolted on.
04. You review
You see the site come together in stages and give feedback at every step. No big reveal at the end and hoping for the best.
05. We launch
I handle the full launch. Domain, hosting, redirects, SEO checks. Then I am still here afterwards.
What a website costs
Most website projects land between £2,000 and £8,000, depending on the size of the site, the complexity of what is needed, and whether you add branding.
That is a wide range and it is deliberate. I would rather have an honest conversation about what you actually need than push you into a package that does not fit. After our first call you will get a clear proposal with a fixed price, so you know exactly what you are investing and exactly what you are getting.
Flexible payment plans are available on every project, including a six-month interest-free option. You do not need to have it paid off before the site goes live.
Where I work
I am based in Aberdeen and work with businesses right across the city and shire, including Westhill, Dyce, Bridge of Don, Cults, Portlethen, Stonehaven, Inverurie, Banchory, Ellon, Peterhead, Fraserburgh, Turriff and Huntly.
Projects run remotely as standard, with in-person meetings available locally when they would help. I also work with clients across the rest of the UK.
FAQ:
Most sites are designed, built and launched within six to eight weeks. Larger or more complex projects take a little longer, and you will have a clear timeline before we start.
My projects run from £2,000 to £8,000. You will find cheaper locally, usually template-based builds from a few hundred pounds, and you will find agencies charging considerably more. Mine sits in the middle because strategy, copywriting, design and SEO are all included rather than quoted separately.
No. Copywriting is included in every project. You will need to talk me through your business and I will guide you on exactly what I need, but the actual writing is mine.
Only if you want to. Most projects run perfectly well over calls and email. If you are local and would rather meet, that is easy to arrange.
No. I am based here and I love working with local businesses, but I take on clients across the UK. Location makes no difference to the quality of the work.
Whatever suits your business best, now and as it grows. Usually WordPress, sometimes Shopify if you are selling products. I will recommend the right fit on our first call, and whatever we build, you will be able to update it yourself without touching any code.
Often. Many clients come to me with a site they have outgrown. I will review what you have, keep anything that is working, and rebuild the rest properly.
Yes. If you have an identity you love, I will design around it. If it needs a refresh or you are starting from scratch, branding can be added to the project.
Yes. You get ongoing support to help you manage the site, make updates and keep everything running.
Let's talk about your website
If your site is not pulling its weight, or you are starting something new and want it done properly from day one, I would love to hear about it.
I take on a limited number of projects at a time so every client gets my full attention. Fill in the form and I will be in touch within 48 hours. If my schedule is full, I will tell you when the next spot opens.
I will be in touch shortly
Thank You
Whether you've got a couple of ideas, or you haven’t got a clue where to begin, at Gillian Sarah, I can give you support at every single step.
How Can I Help You?
Get in touch & let's chat