Web design in Bishop's Stortford that holds its own against London.
I make bespoke websites for the professional firms of Bishop's Stortford, the independents around its market square and the businesses on Stansted's doorstep. I have made more than 1,600 websites since 2001, and I still design and build every one myself.
A market town with London down the line and the airport up the road.
Bishop's Stortford sits on the Liverpool Street line and the M11, which makes it an unusual mix: a Hertfordshire market town with London commuters, Castle Park and the river, professional firms serving the people who travel into London each day, and a steady stream of businesses linked to Stansted Airport, ten minutes up the road.
It also means that a website here has to work harder than most. A Bishop's Stortford firm is competing with London's search results for the same client, so its website has to be found for what the firm does in the town itself, and then to make the case, at first sight, for choosing a firm close to home.
I have clients along the M11 corridor, and the studio is in Littleport, near Ely, about 50 minutes' drive away. Most of the work happens over email and video, and I am glad to come down for the first conversation, a photography day or the launch.
Three firms that are chosen on trust.
Here are three websites from the portfolio: an independent mortgage broker, a lender to UK housing associations, and an IT support company with a managed-print cost calculator built for it. Their clients are handing over something that matters, and each website has to earn that confidence before any meeting takes place.
Everything the partners will ask for, already in place.
If you are choosing on behalf of the partners, a board or a committee, you will be asked later why you chose as you did.
For the partners, the board or the committee
Confirmable in writing before any work begins
- Insurance
- Professional indemnity insurance is in place.
- References
- References are available, and you are welcome to speak to them before you decide.
- Purchase orders
- PO numbers and 30-day terms are available on request.
- Payment
- Larger projects are paid in three stages: a deposit, a payment on approval of the design, and the balance before launch.
- A change of scope
- The new price is agreed in writing before any extra work happens, so nothing creeps once the work has begun.
- Cover
- A trusted associate is on call for anything urgent while I am away, so that nothing rests on any one person, including me.
- Ownership
- Every account is held in the firm's name: the domain, the hosting, the email and the analytics.
Every email answered by the person who built the site.
Every email is read and answered by me no later than the end of the next working day. At launch there is a 30-minute training session and a written guide to the things you will change most often, and afterwards, on a care plan, changes are made by me rather than passed to a queue.
“I have found Adam to be more than technically capable, reliable and trustworthy. The results gained have been excellent, and I liked working with him so much I used him again.”
What businesses in Bishop's Stortford ask on the first call.
These are the questions that open most first calls, from the cost to who actually does the work, and if yours is not here, you are welcome to send it to me and I will answer it plainly.
Do you work with businesses in Bishop's Stortford?
Yes, I work with businesses across Cambridgeshire and the East of England, and with clients further afield over Zoom. Bishop's Stortford is about 45 miles from the studio in Littleport, near Ely, a drive of about 50 minutes, and the standard of the work, and the person doing it, are the same wherever you are.
How much does a website cost?
Every website is quoted to the job, because no two firms need quite the same thing. After a free 30-minute call you receive a written proposal within two working days, with one fixed price and a launch date, whether you bring your own words and photographs or would like the research, the words and the photography handled for you. That price holds however long the work takes.
How long does it take?
It takes about four weeks from the discovery conversation to launch for a website, and about six for an online shop. The launch date goes in writing beside the price before we begin, and I plan the work backwards from it, so that you can tell the people you answer to exactly when to expect it.
Who actually does the work?
I do, and there is no one in between, no junior and no outsourcing: the person you brief is the person who designs, builds and looks after your website, and the same person who replies when something needs changing.
Do we have to meet in person?
No, there is no need: I have never met many of my clients in person, and the work is no worse for it. If you would rather sit down together, though, Bishop's Stortford is close enough for me to come to you.
Will my site show up on Google?
Every website is built lean and fast, with the search work done properly from the first day: a clean structure, sensible page titles, quick load times, local schema and your Google Business Profile. For a Bishop's Stortford firm competing with London in local search, that foundation does a great deal of the work, and ongoing SEO can build on it should you want it.
Everything a website includes, and the proposal as it arrives, are set out on the web design page. The nearest of the other towns I work in each have a page of their own.
Tell me about your business in Bishop's Stortford.
You are welcome to book thirty minutes on a call, or to leave a note in the form about where the current website falls short, and I will reply by the end of the next working day. The call is most useful when there is a real project in mind, so that the thirty minutes are well spent. If I can help, the written proposal follows within two working days; if I am not the right fit, I will say so.
Or write to enquiries@adamlord.co.uk. For a fuller picture, the project brief takes about ten minutes.
Tell me about the current website
Thank you. Your message is with me.
It has come straight to me rather than to a queue, and I will reply by the end of the next working day.