01
Business website design and build
Pages planned around what your customers need to find, designed for phones first and built to load quickly, with templates your team can extend without asking a developer for every new page.
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Birmingham and the West Midlands
Web design for Birmingham businesses
Websites for Birmingham firms that need enquiries, orders or bookings from their site, designed around what customers look for and built to load quickly on a phone. We are a UK software company with a registered office in London and a remote team, so projects run by video call with one named contact and a written quote agreed before work starts.
Thanks, that’s with us.
A senior engineer reads every enquiry and will reply as soon as they can.
Want to take it further now?
Book a time that suits you, or send a message on WhatsApp.
- Business websites from £3,000, excluding VAT
- Run remotely: we have no office in Birmingham
- Old pages redirected one by one when a site is replaced
- “I was impressed by their ability to deliver unparalleled quality at an extremely fast pace and for great value.”ClutchAngelos BougasManaging Director, Ocley Group
- “Shahrukh did an excellent job creating a fully customized portal for my car auction business…FiverrMichael JonUnited Kingdom
- “I absolutely love the way Shahrukh works! He is a pro at handling React and Django features…UpworkJohnson C.React / Django feature build
- “The team responded to comments immediately, and corrected the mistakes exactly as I provided the comments.”ClutchGiorgi MumladzeFounder/CEO, Club Confide
2020
Building since
1,000+
Clients served
UK
Registered company
4.6/5
Rated on Clutch
Quick answer
What web design in Birmingham involves now
A Birmingham business website now has three readers. The customer has to understand the offer on a phone and act on it. Google has to be able to crawl and index the pages. And AI assistants such as ChatGPT, which more buyers now ask for recommendations, have to be able to read the page without running JavaScript. Plenty of sites manage the first reader on a desktop screen and quietly fail the other two.
What the site has to do also depends heavily on the trade, and Birmingham and the wider West Midlands have a broad mix of them. A precision engineering firm in the Black Country sells to buyers who want specifications and a way to send drawings. A jeweller in the Jewellery Quarter sells pieces people want to see up close before they trust a website with the payment. A firm on Colmore Row is judged on its people and its credibility, and a restaurant in Digbeth or the Balti Triangle lives on its menu, its opening hours and bookings made from a phone. One template does not serve all of them, so a useful brief starts with which of these businesses you are.
The city also has no shortage of web design agencies and freelancers, which makes choosing one mostly a matter of asking the right questions: who builds the site, who owns it afterwards, how the old addresses are redirected, and what happens after launch. Those checks are set out further down this page, and they apply whoever you hire.
To be plain about how we work: SpiderHunts has a registered office in London and a remote team. We do not have an office in Birmingham. Projects run through video calls, shared documents and a staging site you can check on your own phone, with one named contact throughout. If you want an agency that will sit in your showroom to plan the site, pick one with premises in the city. We would rather say that now than after a call.
What we do
Website design and development for Birmingham businesses
Six kinds of work. Most projects are a rebuild of an existing site rather than a first website, which is why the redirects and the editing experience get as much attention as the look.
02
WordPress sites
The sensible choice when staff publish regularly: news, case studies, job adverts, events. Built on a lean theme with a short plugin list, so updates stay routine rather than risky.
03
Shopify and online shops
Stores for retailers and makers: product templates, variants such as size or metal, delivery rules and payments, with the catalogue structured so search engines can crawl it properly.
04
Redesigns and migrations
Replacing a site without throwing away what it already earns. Each old address that carries traffic or links is redirected individually, tested before launch and checked again afterwards.
05
Web applications and portals
When the site needs logins, trade accounts, quoting tools or a booking system, it has become software with a front end, and we build it as software.
06
Care after launch
Hosting, software updates, backups, speed checks and a monthly allowance of small edits, from £150 a month. It is optional: you can also look after the site yourselves.
Pricing
What website design costs in Birmingham, and why quotes vary
With us, a business website starts from £3,000 and the optional website care plan from £150 a month, both excluding VAT. Those are starting points for a straightforward site. What you actually pay is set in a written quote with scope agreed up front, after a call where we both understand what the site has to do.
If you collect quotes from several Birmingham suppliers, expect them to differ widely, and not only because of overheads. Quotes often price different things. One includes writing the pages and moving the old site across; another assumes you supply every word and leaves the redirects out without saying so. Before comparing figures, line the quotes up against the same list of what is included.
These are the things that move the price most. None of them is about how many colours the design uses.
| What changes the price | Why it matters | What to ask |
|---|---|---|
| Page templates | A site built from a few reusable templates costs less than one where every page is laid out by hand | How many templates, and can we add pages ourselves? |
| Writing the content | Writing or rewriting pages usually takes longer than building them | Who writes the pages, and how many rounds of changes are included? |
| Moving an existing site | Every old address that earns traffic or links needs mapping to a new one | Is the redirect map in the quote, and who checks it after launch? |
| Connected systems | Booking tools, CRMs, payment providers and stock feeds each need connecting and testing | Which systems are connected, and whose subscription pays for them? |
| Shop catalogue | Products, variants and delivery rules multiply the setup work | How are products imported, and who adds new ones later? |
| More than one language | Each language needs its own pages, translated by a person | How will search engines tell the language versions apart? |
| Care after launch | Hosting, updates and backups are ongoing work, not a one-off | What is included each month, and what is charged separately? |
Online shops
Ecommerce website design in Birmingham
Birmingham has a long tradition of making and selling things, from the jewellers and silversmiths of the Jewellery Quarter to the trade suppliers and wholesalers spread around the city. Moving that trade online raises questions a brochure site never has to answer.
For high-value pieces, the product page has to do the job the shop counter used to do: close-up photography that still loads quickly, clear details of metal, stones and sizing, and an honest statement of how long made-to-order items take. Commissions and bespoke work usually sit better as an appointment or enquiry request than as a basket, because the price depends on a conversation.
Trade and wholesale buyers want different things altogether: account pricing, quick reordering, minimum quantities and payment on invoice rather than by card. That often points away from an off-the-shelf theme and towards a store with proper trade accounts, or a custom build connected to the stock system you already run.
On platforms, Shopify suits most retailers who want to run the shop themselves. WooCommerce makes sense when the shop sits inside a content-heavy WordPress site. Magento (Adobe Commerce) and fully custom builds tend to justify their cost only with large catalogues or complicated trade rules. If you already run Magento, a better shop does not have to mean moving platform: sometimes the better project is a faster theme and a cleaner catalogue on the system you have.
Choosing a supplier
How to choose a web design agency in Birmingham
Whether you hire us or someone else, these six checks separate a supplier who will leave you with a working asset from one who will leave you with a dependency. Each one takes minutes, and none needs technical knowledge.
- Check 01
Ask who actually builds it
Some agencies design in-house and pass the build to a subcontractor. That can work well, but you should know who to call when something breaks, and who holds the code.
- Check 02
Check who owns the domain and hosting
The domain, the hosting account and the site files should be in your name, or transferable to you. Be wary of monthly website rental arrangements where you never own what you paid for.
- Check 03
Open their recent sites on your phone
Not the portfolio screenshots, the live sites. Do they load quickly on mobile data? Can you find the phone number and the prices without hunting for them?
- Check 04
Ask how old pages are redirected
If the answer is vague, or redirects are missing from the written scope, that is where a redesign tends to lose the search traffic the old site had built up.
- Check 05
Ask to see the editor
Request a short demonstration of adding a page or changing a price. If it needs a developer, every future change becomes another invoice.
- Check 06
Get the scope in writing
Pages, templates, integrations, rounds of changes and what is excluded. A quote that fits on one line is a price, not a scope.
Mistakes to avoid
Launch mistakes that quietly cost enquiries
Much of the damage done by a new website happens in the week it goes live, and almost none of it is visible on the home page. These are the faults worth checking for on launch day, whoever built the site.
| Mistake | What it costs | How to avoid it |
|---|---|---|
| The staging block left switched on | Search engines are told not to index the new site, and visibility drains away over the following weeks | Check the robots settings and noindex tags on launch day, then again a week later |
| Old addresses not redirected | Links from directories, suppliers and old press coverage lead to error pages | Map every old address that earns traffic or links before the new site is built |
| Forms not tested end to end | Enquiries go to an old inbox or a spam folder and nobody notices | Send a test enquiry from a phone after launch and confirm who receives it |
| The Google Business Profile still pointing at an old page | People who find you on the map land on a page that no longer exists | Update the website link on the profile and in the main directories at launch |
| Only the home page designed with care | Most visitors arrive on service, product or area pages that got far less attention | Design the templates that carry the traffic first |
| Video and sliders filling the first screen | Slow loading on mobile data, so visitors leave before the offer appears | Lead with a clear sentence and one image sized for phones |
Common faults
Why Birmingham websites stop bringing in work
Most underperforming sites were not badly built on launch day. They drifted: the menu went up as a PDF, a plugin stopped updating, a new service never got its own page, and the person who knew how it all worked moved on. These are the faults we would look for first on an established West Midlands business site.
What tends to go wrong
- Prices, menus and product specifications locked inside PDFs that phones and search engines handle badly
- Area pages for Solihull, Sutton Coldfield and Wolverhampton that repeat the same text with the town changed
- Enquiry forms that ask for too much and send to an inbox nobody checks
- A site only the original developer could edit, and that developer has gone
- Content assembled in the browser by JavaScript, which many AI crawlers receive as an empty page
What we put in place
- Real pages for prices, menus and specifications, readable on any device
- Area pages only where there is something specific and true to say
- Short forms, tested on a phone, that reach the person who replies
- An editor your staff can use, shown to them at handover
- Server-rendered pages that crawlers and assistants can read without running JavaScript
Not sure whether you need a new site or a few fixes?
Ask for the free website teardown: a short recorded video naming three specific fixes, one each for speed, clarity and conversion. You keep it, and you can hand it to any developer you like.
Illustrative examples
Typical Birmingham website projects
Situations Birmingham businesses commonly bring to a web designer, and how we would approach each one. These are illustrations of the work, not real clients or real results.
A workshop moving commissions online
A jeweller that sells mostly to people who walk in, with a site of a few photos and a phone number. The brief: product pages for ready-made pieces, an appointment request for bespoke work, and photography that loads quickly on a phone.
Aim: commission enquiries from the site, not only from walk-ins
An engineering firm whose capabilities live in PDFs
Machining capacity, materials and tolerances described in brochures that buyers cannot search and assistants cannot read. Rebuilt as capability pages, with a request-for-quote form that accepts drawings.
Aim: buyers able to check the fit before they pick up the phone
A professional firm after a merger
Two firms, two websites and two sets of people pages, now one practice. The work is mostly structure and redirects: every valuable old address mapped to its new home, and one clear set of services and people.
Aim: one site that keeps what both old sites had earned
An exhibitor that sells at trade shows
A company that does much of its selling at exhibitions, sending stand visitors to a home page that says nothing about the show. A quick landing page for each event, reached from a QR code on the stand, with a two-field enquiry form.
Aim: stand conversations that turn into follow-up enquiries
An independent venue or restaurant
Menus as PDFs, opening hours stated differently in three places, and a booking link that misbehaves on some phones. Rebuilt with menus as real pages, one set of opening hours and booking that works from a phone.
Aim: fewer calls asking whether you are open tonight
A family business serving customers in two languages
Customers who read English and a community language, served today by one English site and a social media page. Separate pages for each language, translated by people rather than by a plugin, with layouts that handle right-to-left scripts where needed.
Aim: customers finding the business in the language they search in
How we work
How a remote web design project runs
Nothing about this needs anyone to travel. What it needs is a clear brief, prompt decisions on your side, and a staging site you can check on your own phone before anything goes live.
1. Call and scope
A free video call about what the site has to do, who will maintain it and which current pages earn traffic. Then a written quote with scope agreed up front, including what is excluded.
2. Structure and design
Page structure and templates first, shared as documents and design files you can comment on. We design the pages that will carry enquiries, not only the home page.
3. Build and content
Built server-rendered on the platform agreed in the scope. Content is gathered in one shared document so nothing is lost in email threads, and you review progress on the staging site.
4. Launch and handover
Redirects tested before launch and checked afterwards, analytics and Search Console connected, and the editor shown to whoever maintains the site. Then the optional care plan, or a clean handover to your own people.
Clear scope · Regular demos · Full handover
Honest fit
When we suit a Birmingham business, and when we do not
We are a software company that designs and builds websites, not a branding studio. If you are weighing us against a web development agency in Birmingham that you can visit, these two lists should make the decision quicker.
A good fit when…
- The site has to bring in enquiries, orders or bookings
- You are replacing a site and cannot afford to lose its search traffic
- You need a shop, trade accounts or a booking system as well as pages
- Your staff need to edit the site without calling a developer
- You are comfortable working by video call and shared documents
Not the right fit when…
- You want regular meetings at your premises
- You mainly need a logo, brand identity or campaign creative
- You want the lowest possible price for a template site
- Nobody on your side can make decisions about the content
Compare options
Freelance website designer, Birmingham agency or remote UK company?
There are capable web developers in Birmingham, some freelance and some in agencies with offices in the city. There are also companies like ours that work with Birmingham businesses remotely. Each suits a different kind of project. The right choice depends on what you need most: someone across the table, a single specialist, or one team covering design, build, search and software.
| Factor | Freelance designer | Agency with premises in the city | SpiderHunts (remote) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Meeting in person | Often possible | Usually possible | No: video calls with screen sharing |
| Who does the work | One person, start to finish | A team, sometimes with the build subcontracted | Our own remote team, from design through to build |
| When someone is unavailable | Work waits for one person | Usually covered by colleagues | A named contact, backed by the wider team |
| Typical strength | Smaller sites and quick changes | Brand, design and local relationships | Migrations, performance, shops and web applications |
| Readable by search engines and AI | Varies with the individual | Varies by agency | Server-rendered pages by default |
| After launch | Ad hoc, as time allows | Retainers or hourly support | Optional care plan from £150 a month |
| Price shape | Often the lowest day rate | Agency rates, covering premises and staff | Business websites from £3,000, quoted in writing |
Sectors
Birmingham sectors and what their websites need
Birmingham's economy is broad: making and engineering, professional services, retail, hospitality and events, education and healthcare. Each puts different demands on a website, and the first job in any brief is working out which of them apply to you.
Jewellery and makersClose-up product photography, commissions and appointment requests
Manufacturing and engineeringCapability pages, specifications as web pages and quote forms that take drawings
Legal and professional servicesPeople pages, specialisms and the regulatory details clients look for
Hospitality and foodMenus as real pages, opening hours and bookings from a phone
Events and exhibitionsEvent landing pages and enquiry capture for trade show visitors
Education and student lettingsCourse, accommodation and property pages for a city with several universities
Clinics and private healthcareTreatment and fee pages, practitioner profiles and online booking
Trades and home servicesService area pages and quote forms that ask for photos and a postcode
Around Birmingham
SolihullBusiness parks, the NEC and its exhibitors
The Black CountryEngineering firms with real capability to show
Coventry and WarwickshireAutomotive suppliers and technical buyers
Sutton ColdfieldTrades, clinics and independent shops
SEO in BirminghamWhen the site is sound and visibility is the problemSoftware in BirminghamWhen the website needs an application behind itFAQ
Web design in Birmingham: FAQs
What Birmingham businesses ask before they commission a website.
Still have a question?
Ask us directly. A senior engineer reads every question.
Ask about your projectDo you have an office in Birmingham?
No. SpiderHunts has a registered office in London and a remote team, and works with Birmingham businesses through video calls, shared documents and a named contact. The registered office is 182-184 High Street N, Office 14607, London E6 2JA, and the company number is 16718403.
How much does website design in Birmingham cost?
With us, a business website starts from £3,000 and a website care plan from £150 a month, both excluding VAT. Where a project lands above that depends on the number of templates, who writes the content, whether an existing site is being moved, and which systems it connects to. You get a written quote with scope agreed up front before any work starts.
What should I ask a web design company in Birmingham before signing?
Who builds the site, who owns the domain, hosting and files afterwards, how old pages are redirected, whether your staff can edit it, and what happens after launch. Ask to open two or three of their recent live sites on your phone rather than looking at screenshots. The checklist above on choosing a supplier goes through each point.
Is a freelance website designer in Birmingham a better choice than an agency?
Sometimes, yes. A good freelancer can be the right call for a small site, quick changes or a tight budget, and you deal with the same person throughout. An agency makes more sense when the project needs several skills at once, such as design, a shop, a migration and integrations, or when you need cover if one person is unavailable. If a simple template site is all you need, we will tell you so on the first call.
Will a new website lose our Google rankings?
It can. A redesign is one of the most common points at which a business loses search traffic, usually because old pages were redirected by pattern or not at all, so the addresses that earned links lead nowhere. We map the old addresses that matter one by one, test the redirects before launch and check them again afterwards. That protects what the old site had earned as far as it can be protected, but nobody can honestly promise rankings.
Do you provide web hosting for Birmingham businesses?
Yes. Hosting is part of the care plan, on a managed server we set up and look after, and we can also deploy to hosting you already pay for. A server physically in Birmingham makes little practical difference to speed for visitors in the city. What matters more is hosting in the UK, our default for UK clients, and pages that are light to begin with. Either way, the domain should be in your name, and the site is yours on full payment, as set out in the contract.
Do you build on Shopify, WooCommerce or Magento?
Yes, all three, plus custom builds. Shopify suits most shops that want to run things themselves, WooCommerce suits a shop inside a WordPress site, and Magento or a custom build suits large catalogues and trade pricing. If you already run Magento, we will look at whether a faster theme and a cleaner catalogue would serve you better than moving platform.
Can our staff update the site after launch?
That is part of the brief from the first call. We choose the editor for the people who will use it, set templates up so routine edits do not disturb the layout, and show your staff how to add pages and change prices. If you would rather not do it yourselves, the care plan includes a monthly allowance of small edits.
Do you design logos and brand identities?
No. We are a software company, and identity work is a different craft. If you already have brand guidelines, we work from them carefully. If you need a brand first, Birmingham has plenty of design studios that specialise in it, and we are happy to work alongside one.
How do we get started?
Send the form with your current site, if you have one, and a line on what it should do for you. We will reply with questions and a realistic range, then arrange a free video call. If you are not sure a rebuild is needed at all, ask for the free website teardown first.
Start here
Tell us about your Birmingham website
What the business does, who the site is for and what is not working at the moment. We will look at the current site, tell you whether it needs rebuilding or only fixing, and come back with an approach and a realistic range in pounds. If a new site is not the answer, you will hear that from us first.
- You tell us what you needTwo minutes on the form, or a message on WhatsApp.
- A senior engineer reviews itAnd comes back with questions, a realistic range and an honest view on fit.
- Free 30-minute scoping callWe talk through scope, options and a realistic estimate, with no obligation.
Thanks, that’s with us.
A senior engineer reads every enquiry and will reply as soon as they can.
Want to take it further now?
Book a time that suits you, or send a message on WhatsApp.