Web design in Chatham for a town in the middle of change
More calls and enquiries, a website that makes you look the part, and none of the technical side to worry about.
Chatham is being rebuilt around the waterfront and the university campus. I build websites for the businesses trading through it.
162 reviews across four sites, rated 5.0 on Google and WixGet your site online for only £199, £99 setup and your first month, then from £100 a month. 12‑month minimum. No VAT to add. SEO kept up every month.Live in as little as 2 weeks200+ projects10+ years building websitesWix Legend Partner
Covering the whole district rather than Chatham on its own? See web design in Medway.
Already have a site and want it to rank? See SEO in Chatham.
Local knowledge
What a website has to do for Chatham customers
Chatham is the commercial centre of Medway and the one changing fastest. The Historic Dockyard pulls in visitors from well outside the county, the university campus at Chatham Maritime brings thousands of students and staff, the Pentagon anchors the retail end, and the waterfront has been under regeneration for years with more of it still to come.
That gives you an unusually mixed customer base for one town. A cafe near the Dockyard is serving tourists in August and almost nobody in February. A takeaway near the campus lives and dies by term dates. A trade business three streets back is serving the same residential roads it always has, regardless of either of them.
So the honest answer to what your website should say depends entirely on which of those you are. The mistake I see most often is a site written as though Chatham were one single market, when in practice it is at least three sitting on top of each other, running on completely different rhythms.
There is also a real gap opening between the businesses that have adapted and the ones that have not. Chatham has more visible competition than the other Medway towns, and more of it is now genuinely decent. Turning up with a site built in 2018 is far more noticeable here than it would be in Rainham or Strood.
- Opening hours that reflect term and season
- Naming Chatham Maritime and Luton
- Parking spelled out, the centre is confusing
- Booking or ordering that works on a phone
- Reviews up front, competition is visible
- Photos of the real premises, not stock
What it costs
What a Chatham website costs
Get your site online for only £199
£99 setup and your first month, then from £100 a month. 12‑month minimum. No VAT to add. SEO kept up every month.
Custom design, hosting, SEO and small changes done for you within 2 working days, in one price.
From £800
Plus £25 a month hosting, rolling, 30 days' notice.
Taking bookings or payments through the site? That is from £150 a month on the monthly plan (card fees paid by you), or from £1,000 bought outright, plus £25 a month hosting.
162 reviews
Rated 5.0 on Google. Every one left by a real client on Google, Wix, Facebook or another public review site, where you can read them for yourself.
“Owen has been very helpful and speedy in the process of creating my website. He was able to get my site up and running within less than a week. Great communication, great guy overall. Highly recommend!”
My work
A few sites I've built
Picked from all my projects, so not only from Chatham. Each one has its own page with the whole story.
See all the work
Ollie Rastall Photography
A golf course photography site moved off Wix and rebuilt in code, built around the work itself: courses, greenkeeping teams and the machinery they run.
Source Office Supplies
QR code landing pages for Source's printed flyers: one page per campaign, a short survey, and every enquiry labelled with the flyer it came from.
Dubarry Events
A bilingual website in English and Simplified Chinese for an event, exhibition and AV production company near Heathrow, built in code on Astro.
What I do
What I build for Chatham businesses
A website that brings in work, and help getting it found on Google.
Web Design
A custom designed site for your Chatham business that looks professional, is fast on phones and makes it easy for customers to call. Built properly and looked after for you.
I built on Wix for years, until its limits kept getting in the way, so I now build in code, and your site can still come with an editor so you can change it yourself. I still fix Wix sites, and build new ones on Wix if that is what you want.
SEO in Chatham
Already have a site and need it found? Advanced SEO is a one-off job, from £300, one off, and SEO in Chatham has a page of its own. If I build your site on a monthly plan, SEO is already included and kept up every month.
Who this is for
The Chatham businesses I build for
Hospitality & food
Cafes, restaurants, takeaways and bars serving the Dockyard visitors, the campus and the town centre. Hours, location and a booking or ordering link do more work than anything decorative, and they shift with the season.
Town centre retail
Shops in and around the Pentagon and the High Street, competing with Bluewater and with online. Being findable for specific products, and being obviously open, is most of the battle before anyone walks in.
Trades & construction
Builders, electricians and fit-out firms working across the regeneration sites and the residential streets behind them. Steady year-round work that does not care about tourists or term dates in the slightest.
Common problems
What I see missing on Chatham websites
Written for one market
A site aimed at everybody in a town with tourists, students and residents on completely different clocks ends up speaking clearly to none of them. Pick the one that actually pays your bills and write for them.
Nothing about parking
Chatham town centre is genuinely confusing to drive into and park in. Sites that never mention where to park, or which car park is nearest, lose visitors who simply give up and go somewhere easier.
Ignoring term and season
Term dates and tourist season swing trade here more than in the other Medway towns, and almost no local site reflects it. The homepage says the same thing in August as in January, which is wrong half the year.
Sitting still while others move
Competition here is more visible and more capable than in the neighbouring towns. A site that was fine five years ago now sits beside several that have been rebuilt since, and the comparison is not flattering.
Not sure how yours measures up? Tell me about it and I'll look at it with you
Chatham web design questions
Do you work with Chatham businesses?
Constantly. I'm in Gillingham, about ten minutes away, and Chatham is one of the towns I know best. Meeting in person is easy if you'd prefer that to email.
Most of my trade is students. Can a website help with that?
Yes, and it's badly underused locally. Students arrive every September with no local knowledge and search for everything on a phone. A site that answers hours, prices and location instantly does very well with them.
Do you cover Chatham Maritime and Luton?
Yes, along with Walderslade and Wayfield. Chatham Maritime in particular behaves like a separate market to the town centre, and your site should reflect that rather than lumping them together.
What does a website cost?
At WebOws Design in Gillingham, Kent, there are two ways. Get your site online for only £199: £99 setup and your first month, then from £100 a month. 12-month minimum. That covers a custom site hand built in code, hosting, SEO and small changes done for you. Or, if you want to edit it yourself, the same kind of site bought outright from £800, plus £25 a month hosting, with a fixed quote agreed before anything starts. No VAT to add either way.
Can you handle online ordering or bookings?
Yes. It adds time to the build and I'll say so at quote stage rather than discovering it halfway through, but for food and hospitality here it usually pays for itself quickly. Taking orders or bookings through the site is a bookings site: from £150 a month on the monthly plan, or from £1,000 bought outright plus £25 a month hosting.
Nearby
Areas near Chatham I also cover
I work right across Kent, not only in Chatham. These are some of the nearby towns with a page of their own.
By trade
Pages by line of work
The kinds of business above, each with its own page about what a website has to do in that line of work, in Chatham or anywhere else in Kent.
Worth reading next
Quick quote
Tell me about the business. I'll confirm the right plan and when you could be live.
I usually reply within a working day. Or call 01634 984929 and speak to me directly.
Let's talk about your Chatham website
Not sure yet what you need? Tell me about the business and I'll say honestly what would help and what wouldn't. Asking costs nothing.